Thursday, July 11, 2013

Summer Heat Blog Tour - Haunted Raine by R.E. Hargrave




Distracted by the everyday routine of raising children, being a wife, and keeping a home, Lorraine Morrissey let life pass her by. Her wakeup call comes when she realizes that with their children gone, her husband Richard is rarely home, and she’s filling her solitary days with trivial tasks. A crazy idea to save her marriage leads to a summer beach vacation unlike any she’s ever taken; one that involves unknowingly buying a haunted house.

The fast approaching ground disappeared, replaced by an old, worn, wooden floor.
I shook my head to try and clear it of the cobweb fuzziness I felt. Raising my
hands in front of me, I didn’t recognize them. They were dark brown, dry, and
the skin was cracked in places. They didn’t feel connected to my body either. My words got stuck in my throat when I tried to ask what was going on. Swallowing
to clear the blockage, I surveyed the room. Before me burned a dwindling fire
inside an old-fashioned stone hearth, and to my right, old shuttered windows
were thrown open, letting the cooling night air in.

“Girl!”

The hoarse male voice startled me. I spun around, becoming aware of heavy skirts
tangling in my legs.

“Yes, sir.” The voice, thick with a low country accent, wasn’t mine either, but
the sound had passed through my lips. What the . . .

“How many sacks of cotton did you pick today?”

A tremor settled into my arms as panic tightened my chest. Tall and wide, the
white man advanced on me. I skittered back toward the hearth at the look of
hatred on his face.

“None, sir. I’s sorry, but my momma –”

“There are no excuses, Jesse. Rain or shine, y’alls task is at least two sacks a
day while the cotton’s a blooming.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Did your momma get her two sacks picked?”

Beyond my control, my head shook side to side, and I curled in on myself more
while taking another subtle step back. Warning sirens were going off, but it was
obvious, I had no say over my faculties, nor did I have any idea what was going
on. “She’s got the sick, sir.”

In slow motion, his hand rose, and I took in every detail: thinning, greasy
brown hair slicked back from a shiny forehead, a narrow beak of a nose stretched
down the length of his long face to a thin pair of pale pursed lips. His green
eyes were bloodshot with the drink that wafted from his mouth. The yellowing
linen shirt he wore was opened down to his mid-chest, exposing pale, untoned
flesh. Proof that he relied on others to get the work done.

“‘She’s got the sick, sir,’” he sing-songed, mocking me. “Not my problem, girl.
What is my problem is that you owe me four sacks’ worth of cotton, and have
nothing to pay with.”

At his words, an uneasy feeling settled in my stomach. I didn’t like where this
was going and took another step back, bringing me a little closer to the fire
and the iron tools I could see in my peripheral vision.

“But I can think of another way that you can start paying up.”

When he came at me, I spun to grab the poker. Before I could reach the tool,
arms enveloped me from behind, yanking me back until I collided with a hard
chest.
I struggled a little with this story.  Don't get me wrong it's not badly written and it's overall a good story, it's just when I start reading things about ghosts I start to freak out.  I can handle mystery, kidnappings, murder, etc but I seriously draw the line at ghosts.  I was able to pull through and finish the story but needless to say I had trouble sleeping the night I finished this story.

Lorraine wakes up one day to realize her life has passed her by.  Her children have grown up and moved out and her husband is rarely home and the intimacy is gone from their marriage.  In a crazy attempt to save her marriage, Lorraine buys a house on the beach to fix up with her husband.  What they didn't expect was for the house to be in such bad shape. They set out to fix up the house together and slowly they begin to reconnect with one another after Lorraine and ultimately her husband start seeing things.  A house out back that is not there, people walking around and peeking in windows (yes that was not a good moment for me), and a fire that sets them way back with the house repair and forces them to stay in a hotel.  The locals want to help fix up the place and offer to help out, but when Lorraine starts having black outs and flash backs of a life that is not hers, she ultimately has to stay away from the house and watch the repairs take place from the distance.

Can she fix her now broken marriage?  What happens with the house and does it have a sinister house?  What's Lorraine's link to the image and people she has been seeing?  What ended up happening in the end was what saved this story for me.  Unfortunately I still can't get some of the images out of my head so I have to give this story a 3.5 only because it just wasn't for me.  Overall it was a good story and well written I just couldn't handle it.

R.E. Hargrave is a fledgling author who has always been a lover of books and now looks forward to the chance to give something back to the literary community. She lives on the outskirts of Dallas, TX with her husband and three children.

R.E. Hargrave’s Tour Schedule:
7/1-Guest Post: Kim
7/2-Promo/excerpt: Jennifer Garcia
7/2-Review: Philomena Callan
7/3-Review: Nat Wood
7/4-Guest Post: Lorenz Font
7/5-Promo/Excerpt: Jody Joy
7/6- Review: Ena and Fawn
7/7-Interview: Elena M. Reyes
7/7-Guest Post: Kathy Wheeler
7/9-Review: Mandy Anderson
7/10-Promo/excerpt: Jude Ouvrard
7/11-Review: Rose Caceres
7/12-Review: Tracy Riva
7-12-Guest Post: Ali
7/13-Promo/excerpt: Sapphire Kande
7/14-Promo/Excerpt: Brandy Dorsh




1 comment:

  1. Thank you for the honest review, Rose. I'm SO sorry I scared you! I knew going in that this wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea, and I applaud you for sticking it out till the end. Thanks for that, and for still writing a pretty awesome review!

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