Rating: 4 Stars

Publisher: JMS Books

Genre:  Paranormal

Tags: Supernatural, Gothic

Length: 25 Pages 

Reviewer: Karen

Purchase At:  amazon, JMS Books

Synopsis:

A family curse. A lusty midnight visitor. A terror awakened.

Still grieving the death of his lover, Colm returns to the family estate on Christmas Eve to prepare to sell the house. An unexpected visit from Sebastian Lore, his brutish yet handsome neighbor, leads to fireside drinks.

As things heat up between them, Sebastian shares a long-buried secret that sheds a terrifying light on Colm’s father’s prophetic warning: You will never sell this house.

Review: 

Colm, an adjunct professor at a small New York university, is returning to his family’s summer house. It’s been in his family for years, his grandfather owned it before his father and now it’s Colm’s. It never felt inviting or comforting to him in all the years he visited. His parents died a decade ago and he hasn’t been interested in returning. Now older, and after the loss of his partner Stan, his return is with the intent of making some money off the sale of a property that holds no joy for him, much like his life in general these days, and particularly after Stan died two years ago.

There has always been a caretaker of the property, currently it’s Mrs Finch. The Finch family were left a stipend to maintain the property after Colm’s grandfather and father passed. She isn’t there when he arrives but he can’t help feel someone is watching him. It’s odd because no one lives especially close.

The creaking continued, but more slowly. It was a sad sound. His eyes were not adjusting to the blackness. Colm had a terrible sense that someone else was there, someone watching him.

On Christmas Eve, a particularly lonely one, one where Colm is having the dickens of a time keeping the fire lit and the house warm, he falls asleep but when he awakes the house is warm, and a burly, attractive man is there. Sebastian Lore claims to be the neighbour, one who knows his name and Mrs Finch, but is that right? Mrs Finch has left no notes about a neighbour. This man wears a thin, ragged shirt, and marks upon his chest draw Colm’s attention. Sebastian is interested in telling Colm a Christmas tale but does Colm wish to hear it?