Review – Midnight Bayou by Nora Roberts

Description:
The phenomenal #1 New York Times-bestselling author presents a novel set deep in the bayou of Louisiana-where the only witness to a long-ago tragedy is a once-grand house.

Declan Fitzgerald had always been the family maverick, but even he couldn’t understand his impulse to buy a dilapidated mansion on the outskirts of New Orleans. All he knew was that ever since he first saw Manet Hall, he’d been enchanted-and obsessed-with it. So when the opportunity to buy the house comes up, Declan jumps at the chance to live out a dream.

Determined to restore Manet Hall to its former splendor, Declan begins the daunting renovation room by room, relying on his own labor and skills. But the days spent in total isolation in the empty house take a toll. He is seeing visions of days from a century past, and experiencing sensations of terror and nearly unbearable grief-sensations not his own, but those of a stranger. Local legend has it that the house is haunted, and with every passing day Declan’s belief in the ghostly presence grows.

Only the companionship of alluring Angelina Simone can distract him from the mysterious happenings in the house, but Angelina too has her own surprising connection to Manet Hall-a connection that will help Declan uncover a secret that’s been buried for a hundred years.

Midnight Bayou is a wonderful mixture of two stories that connect in a beautiful and at times spooky way. I have read this books many times since it came out originally. I usually take a while between readings, so it is like reading it for the first time every time and I have to say it kinda freaks me out a bit every time…lol.. BUT I am a self-admitted chicken.

Declan Fitzgerald has always felt a strong pull towards the old Manet Hall, and now he has finally changed his life by buying it and moving from Boston to New Orleans to renovate it himself. From his first night in the house he begins to see he isn’t alone in the Hall, and some of the ghosts aren’t too happy that he has moved in. He keeps having episodes where he sleepwalks to certain parts of the house including the old nursery on the third floor which he can’t bring himself to enter. On top of that he keeps having dreams of things that happened in the house which he figures out when he sees pictures of the original family.

Angelina “Lena” Simone grew up just down the bayou from Manet Hall, and she has a family connection to the dark past of the hall. From the moment Declan sees her in her French Quarter bar, he feels an instant connection in his heart to her. He just has to get past all her walls and past pain to win her love, and not only do they have those hurdles the ghosts of his house don’t want them together either.

This book is so much more than a good ghost story. The weaving of this tale is one that is both shocking and beautiful. Nora Roberts’s books always grab me, but this is one of those that hold a special place in my heart. I have recommended this book to more peeps over the years than I can count. Some peeps have watched the Lifetime movie, but I have to say I treat it as one of those movies that just so happens to have a similar story line because this book is sooo beyond what that movie was. When you get to the parts where the past and the present come together, and Declan and Lena “go through” all that happened in the past. I can’t even begin to say how shockingly wonderful that is. My only complaint and it isn’t even a big one is that when Nora did her research for this one she used mostly “real French” instead of getting someone to help her with the Cajun French. As a Cajun that is just a small pet peeve, but I look past that in this one. I can’t recommend this one to you guys enough!!! 🙂

4.75 Stars