#Review: Kindred Spirits at Harling Hall by Sharon Booth @BoldwoodBooks @rararesources #blogtour #publicationday #BoldwoodBloggers #romance #magic #ghosts #GhostsofRowanVale #RespectRomFic #KindredSpiritsatHarlingHall

It’s not very often I take to Facebook within minutes of finishing a book with the sole aim of telling an author that I couldn’t have loved it any more than I did, and that it might just be the best she’s ever written. So I’m particularly delighted today to be helping launch the blog tour for Kindred Spirits at Harling Hall by Sharon Booth, sharing my publication day review, and telling everyone what a perfect read I thought it was. Published today (28th March) by Boldwood Books, the first in a new series called Ghosts of Rowan Vale, it’s now available as an ebook (free via Kindle Unlimited), in paperback, and as an audiobook. Thank you, as always, to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for the invitation and support, and to the publishers for my advance reading copy (provided via netgalley).

Sharon really does write the loveliest romantic fiction – you might just be one of the many readers who thoroughly enjoyed her Tuppenny Bridge series, recently published by Storm Publishing ( I just couldn’t fit in the whole series, but you’ll my review here of the first, Summer in Tuppenny Bridge – and reviews of plenty of her other romances if you pop her name into my search bar). But I must admit that my absolute favourite series of hers was The Witches of Castle Clair (and yes – you’ll find I read, reviewed and entirely loved every single book) – many miles away from my usual reading, but I was totally blown away by her imagination, the wonderful characters, the world she created, and the sheer originality of every new book. I was so delighted when I heard she’d signed with Boldwood, and even more so when I read about her new series – a “fantasy twist” might not be something I often hope or look for, but the whole premise made me very excited indeed.

So, let’s take a closer look…

The first in a delightfully warm, cosy and romantic new series with a fantasy twist, for fans of the BBC series ‘Ghosts’.

 

Can Callie give some needy ghosts their happy-ever-afterlife, while making Rowan Vale her own forever home?

 

When cash-strapped single mum Callie visits the beautiful Cotswold village of Rowan Vale on a school trip with her daughter, she is enchanted. It’s run as a living museum, with a steam railway, vintage teashop, Elizabethan manor house and old water mill allowing tourists to see history in action.

 

But there’s more to Rowan Vale than meets the eye…

 

To Callie’s surprise, the owner of the village, elderly Sir Lawrence Davenport, requests a meeting with her. It appears Callie has been observed talking to several villagers she shouldn’t be able to see – as they’re ghosts.

 

Sir Lawrence then makes an astonishing offer: to sell Callie the whole estate for a tiny sum, if she agrees to protect the village’s present tenants and make sure the headstrong ghosts are represented too.

 

With a spectral lord of the manor and his imperious wife, a naughty 1940s schoolgirl and the man who once taught William Shakespeare among them, it seems Callie’s role as owner wouldn’t be easy.

 

And that’s without the added complication of Lawrie’s disinherited grandson, the gorgeous Brodie.

 

Rowan Vale and Callie may need each other. But is this a match made in heaven or hell?

 

Fans of the BBC’s Ghosts, or books by Lucy Jane Wood, Laurie Gilmore and Heidi Swain will love this heart-warming and magical novel.

Shall I start with the setting? If Rowan Vale, nestled in the beautiful Cotswolds, was a real place, I’d have immediately booked a short break to pay it a visit – it’s beautifully described, a living history museum, somewhere I know I’d love. Single mum Callie really wants to spend more time with her daughter Immi, and that’s how she finds herself there as one of the parents accompanying her class on a school outing. She assumes the pair of soldiers brawling on the station platform at Harling’s Halt are actors employed by the estate, but it doesn’t create the best first impression. And when exploring the estate, she’s surprised to see barefoot children behaving particularly badly – and decides to visit the Hall to make an official complaint.

But she’s just the person ailing and elderly Sir Lawrence Davenport has been waiting for – they’re not actors but ghosts, and he’s ready to hand over the management of the estate to someone who’s able to see and engage with them, and to make sure they’ll be looked after into the future. For a nominal payment, he’ll do a handover and move on – it’s the way things have always been done, and how he came to be managing the estate – although that doesn’t go down too well with his distinctly fanciable but very disgruntled grandson Brodie, who’s rather more reluctant to give up his home. But the deal is sealed, and Callie starts to find out – with some trepidation – what her job entails.

With the help of a rather lovely model village and a few friendly villagers, she finds there are a large number of ghosts to be looked after, and not all of them delighted with the change of ownership. Some live with them at the Hall – a pair of old retainers (one far more welcoming than the other) and one of those misbehaving children – but many others are scattered around the estate, including a Roman soldier, a former teacher of William Shakespeare, an irate clergyman, a Hollywood actress, and a former barman at the local pub. She feels the need to approach the task in her own way, while ruffling more than a few feathers – but slowly builds bridges with Brodie, indispensable for a whole range of tasks around the estate, and someone she becomes increasingly attracted to.

I’m slipping into telling the story, and I really mustn’t – but I must say that I found the whole book a total delight. Callie herself, often very much out of her depth, is so very likeable – and I really loved her daughter Immi, taking things far more in her stride than her mother could ever have imagined or hoped for. The whole story is something so very different, the product of a wonderful imagination – and all the characters, whether ghostly or not, superbly drawn, along with all their relationships and interactions. And Callie’s developing romance with Brodie was beautifully handled – gentle and slow-burn, but with an attraction you could really feel.

As a standalone, it’s a thoroughly lovely read – but also the most perfect first book in a new series, and I’m so looking forward to the next one. I should mention, I think, that I’ve never seen the TV series Ghosts – if it has a similar premise, maybe I should, but it’s certainly not essential. And I’m a touch ashamed to say that I’ve never read anything by Laurie Gilmore or Lucy Jane Wood either – but this was a book and storyline that I absolutely loved, tremendously engaging, and I honestly couldn’t recommend it more highly.

About the author

Sharon Booth writes feel-good stories set in quirky villages and market towns, including the Tuppenny Bridge series. Sharon writes cosy romances with a magical twist for Boldwood. She lives with her husband in East Yorkshire, England.

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