Terms of Engagement

by Melissa R.L. Simonin

A child's ghostly laughter. Footsteps in the night. A music box's haunting melody. Curtains closing by themselves, furniture rearranging, a disappearing afghan, the world's creepiest doll, complete with her very own coffin... pallbearers not included. Yet surprisingly spry, considering. Twenty year old Lina Phillips is left reeling after ending her engagement to long-time sweetheart, twenty-two year old Casey Travis. Convinced she's made the right choice and determined not to go back, she and her twenty-two year old sister, Patrice, leave town for the summer and travel to the countryside and the ancestral home of the Phillipses. Patrice is certain there's a reasonable explanation for all of the completely unreasonable, unexplainable events transpiring at the house. She's also convinced that the tall, dark and handsome neighbor, twenty-seven year old Evan Thompson, is worth braving a haunted house for. Not that she believes in that sort of thing. Lina struggles to move on, Casey strives to hold on, and Evan and Patrice investigate what's going on. Whatever the cause of the mysterious happenings, Patrice appears to be the target. She vows to solve the mystery and rid the house of the... completely rational explanation, whatever that is, even if it's the last thing she does. It just may be.

455 pages, Paperback

Published May 11, 2016

Reviews

[C.M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Lina Phillips and her sister Patrice come to stay at their grandparents massive old house for a while, some strange things begin happening. From a child's laughter and footsteps in the hall, furniture rearranging itself, and missing items, to a freakish doll - complete with her own coffin - who keeps turning up like a bad penny no matter how hard they try to get rid of it.

With the help of a neighbor and his dog, they are determined to get to the bottom of this, and might just end up finding love in the process.

This has quickly become one of my favorite books by Simonin. A touch creepier than her usual, it still retains the easygoing pace and humor of her other novels. All the characters were well rounded, from quirky coffee addict Patrice, to her grieving sister, to Casey- who is trying so hard to escape an impossible family in order to reclaim the girl he loves. It was a lot of fun and I am looking forward to the sequel.