The House on Tradd Street

The House on Tradd Street by Karen White

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Karen White’s novel, The House on Tradd Street, is a ghost story, a mystery, with a dash of romance-- all rolled up in one! Melanie’s own past is connected to an old house both by ancestral ties as well as the similarities in situations between her and Nevin, the gentleman she inherits the house from. They were both seemingly abandoned by their mothers at a young age and as Melanie searches out the truth of one man's past, she in turn must deal with her own.

Melanie is one of those women that we all love to hate. She is not only beautiful but she can eat anything she wants without worry about gaining a pound. She has to have complete control of her life and I actually found her to be a little OCD with regards to organizing and scheduling.

She sees her ability to communicate with the dead as a huge burden and tries to hide her gift-- mostly because experience taught her as a child that people would laugh at her and think she was crazy. Because of that, she chooses to ignore the voices and spirits around her as often as she can. She assumes that the adults in her life will laugh at her ability-- but in reality they already all know what ability she has-- they are just waiting for her to accept it.

She is considered one of the experts in Historic Home Real Estate in Charleston, yet her personal life is sort of a shambles. Melanie does not let many people get close to her-- because of being abandoned not only by her mother, but by her Father as he looses himself to Alcohol. She has been disappointed too many times to take that risk again.

There were several times that I found myself smacking myself on the head as I hollered "Seriously Melanie?" She frustrated me with some of the reckless decisions she made. Everyone could see the obvious except her, and that was a tad irritating. It felt that if Jack or her Father said one thing, then she automatically did the opposite.

I felt myself actually being afraid when she would climb the stairs to her room-- would that scary man be there again? Why did he hate her so much? That is a question that I don't think ever got resolved.

Every time she was confronted with "did she see something" and she chose to deny it, or lie about her abilities infuriated me. But, I suppose that is what makes for good conflict in a book.

The ghosts that chose to show themselves to Melanie I found to be very interesting. Why Melanie? Why wouldn't they just tell her what they wanted? But, then again, Melanie never asked. (Which, after watching Sixth Sense would have been the first thing I would have done!)

I loved the setting in the book-- Charleston. I have never been there, but felt like I was while reading the book. The descriptions were excellent, and I even found myself smelling roses a time or two.

I did think it was a little too easy to figure out. If I would have had the energy I could have figured out the puzzle because as soon as they said they needed a "key word" I knew exactly what the word was. However, I was too lazy to take the time to do that. Some parts of the plot were obvious, but because of that, it was a rather easy, delightful read. This book is a great book to snuggle up to on a cold, rainy day!





View all my reviews