KEEPER OF ENCHANTED ROOMS - Charlie N. Holmberg

It is the mid-1800's and Merritt Fernsby has inherited a family estate in remote Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island. No one has lived there in at least a century, but Merritt, happy to have something of this magnitude, is ready to move in.  But once he's in he can't leave ... the house is holding him there.  Literally. The home on Narragansett Bay, known as The Whimbrel House, is haunted and holding Merritt captive inside.

Hulda Larson has seen this before.  She's an agent with the Boston Institute for the Keeping of Enchanted Rooms and she's tamed homes before.  It's her advice to Merritt to first try to get on the house's good side.  Make it an ally rather than an enemy, and then the two can work together to understand where the haunting has come from and how to correct it.

That's easier said then done, though, given the house's penchant for throwing tantrums, and so Hulda moves in to the house as well to help. The secrets of the Whimbrel House are deep and it takes a lot of unravelling and Hulda and Merritt must work together regularly to make the investigation work. In working so closely together, Hulda and Merritt develop some (very casual, very polite) romantic interest in one another.  There's no time for romance, though, when there's a entire house trying to kill you!

It's no secret that I really enjoy a lot of Charlie N. Holmberg's work.  Right off the bat I noted how much I enjoyed the concept here and, frankly, I think concept creation is one of Holmberg's greatest strengths. This was, to me, a very original idea and presented in such a way as to really hook me into the story.

The characters (there are pretty much only three: Merritt, Hulda, and house) are rather generic. I didn't really find anything remarkable or interesting about Merritt and Hulda is only remarkable for her skills in understanding magic.  But even this doesn't really stand out.  The house, on the other hand, is quite interesting, and more so when a discovery is made about the haunting.

The blossoming romance here is, well, not particularly enjoyable to this reader.  And there's a lot of it. It's almost as though this is intended as a cozy romance but the fantasy got in the way and took over.

Looking for a good book? Keeper of Enchanted Rooms by Charlie N. Holmberg is a light fantasy and a quick read. The concept is fun though the characters are a bit unremarkable.

3-1/2 stars

* * * * * *

Keeper of Enchanted Rooms

author: Charlie N. Holmberg

series: Whimbrel House #1

publisher: 47North

ISBN: 978-1662500343

paperback, 347 pages

 

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