Published December 4th 2012 by Wild Child Publishing
Source: review copy from the author
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Goodreads summary: When Anne and Neil leave on a one-week holiday hoping to reconcile after a two-year separation, little do they know that destiny has other plans for them. Their discovery of human bones and a bejeweled cross in the hollow of a tree open the door to the supernatural realm and the anguished life of Genevieve, a nun from medieval England.
Can Anne save her relationship and help Genevieve her eternal rest?
The twists and turns in this paranormal tale keep the reader guessing up to the end and weave themselves together into a quest to rekindle love.
I accepted this book for review based on its promising synopsis; a ghost story that spans five centuries is not something I wanted to pass on. It was nice, the way the past was connected to the present was interesting, tapping into reincarnation and curses. Intrigued?
Still, I had a major problem with the characters. Genevieve wasn't that bad since we get to see enough of her difficult childhood, but Anne and Neil (our contemporaries) I found very bland and uninteresting. The dialogues were stiff an unnatural. One thing I particularly disliked was Neil's reasoning behind cheating on Anne. The poor thing has absolutely no idea how it happened that he got in bed with Anne's (former) best friend. Poor poor guy. I wasn't convinced. Sure, people make mistakes, I could see why Anne was willing to forgive him. But that explanation was laughable.
Overall, with more blood and flesh to the characters I would have enjoyed it more, but I liked the mystery surrounding the remnants of the covenant and the resolution to a tragic love story from five hundred years ago. Shadows of the Past is an adult novel, but very innocent when it comes to romantic situations.
