Vertigo by Gwenan Haines – a Review

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Description:
When attorney Blake Cartwright abandons a successful career to turn a dilapidated lighthouse into an inn, everybody thinks she’s gone a little bit crazy. After witnessing a body fall from the tower, Blake wonders if they might be right. According to local legend, the spirit of a former keeper’s wife lures women to their deaths in the icy water below. Has Blake witnessed a suicide, seen a ghost–or is she just seeing things?

Declan Hunter, the mysterious man she hires to help with renovations, doesn’t help matters. The man with the Navy SEAL physique claims to be nothing more than a local handyman, but Blake’s instincts warn her not to trust him. As the mystery deepens, she finds herself drawn into a dangerous labyrinth of secrets, lies, and murder. But the most serious danger of all may be falling for a man determined to leave her

Review:
Vertigo is a romance suspense written by Gwenan Haines.  We meet our heroine, Blake from the start, as she gives up her successful career as an attorney to move to Maine and open her own Inn.  Blake loves to cook, and her dream was to utilize her skills to have her own place.  She blindly purchases an old Lighthouse, and arrives as the dusk is falling.  Blake sees the decay, and knows she will have a lot of work to do to fix up the place.  While she walks around in the dark, as she has no power, she hears a noise and comes face to face with a stranger. 

Enter Declan, our hero, who just happens to be on the site looking around, since he is a renovator.  At first Blake doesn’t trust him, but in a short time she hires him to help her fix up her house.  She also learns from Blake, that the Lighthouse is haunted, and over the years many of female habitants died jumping off the top of the lighthouse.  The ghost supposedly was the original female, who jumped to her death, and haunts the place, since she was truly murdered.

What follows is a mystery that keeps you on your toes throughout the entire book. It was very suspenseful, as Blake and Declan together try to resolve what is happening in town, and with a recent death of another woman, the plot becomes deeper and more dangerous.  Blake being in the house has put her in the middle, and Declan, besides helping fix up the place, has another motive also.  There are many twists along the way, and surprises.  We know all about the ghost.  But who is the murderer?  Why are they trying to hurt Blake or get her to leave the Lighthouse?  Why was Declan in town, just to look at the Lighthouse?

In between the mystery, Blake finds herself taking care of the murdered woman’s baby, and falling in love with Declan and the baby.  This was also a very nice romance that builds over time, as we the reader knew they were made for each other. There was a nice supporting cast, and you suspected everyone.  I will not give out any spoilers, but it gets very exciting in the last half of the book and the guessing game is on.  All you know is you love Blake and Declan, and young Grace, and until the climatic ending, you have no idea who, and why dangerous things are happening.  Gwenan Haines does an excellent job writing this romance mystery.  For a fast read, a cute romance, and an excellent mystery, I recommend Vertigo.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Author