The Ghost of Loon Lake: Cooperate or Destroy? (4 Stars)

I recently finished reading The Ghost of Loon Lake by Rachelle Paige Campbell. This book comes out on July 16th. It’s a book where you’re not quite sure at the end if there are supernatural elements at stake or not.

Introduce You to the Story

Ten years ago, Ashley took off when she felt like she wasn’t getting enough of a say in the family business, an inn. When she took off, her husband, Christopher, didn’t follow her. He instead, stayed behind to help her father run the inn. Ashley finds out her father has died, and she returns to claim the family business. There’s a catch, which has her competing against her husband for the inn.

Why I Had Issues With the Book

While it’s a cute story, I had a few issues with it. First, it is kind of hard to like any of the characters. Everyone seems immature and like they are holding a grudge. I hate that they all held onto of their anger for so long. Christopher stayed behind ten years ago because the family business was failing. He felt like the best way to secure Ashley’s future was to make sure the inn didn’t fail. Christopher promised her dad he wouldn’t tell Ashley about the inn’s financial problems. He’s able to turn the business around between the time that she leaves and the time that she returns. While Ashley does act childish, even ten years later, I don’t think they should have treated her like a kid, hiding the truth from her.

I also wasn’t a huge fan of the beginning part of the story while Ashley was hiding out in the lighthouse. At this time, she’s pretending to be a ghost. Part of the stipulations of inheriting the inn include spending a specific number of consecutive nights in it. Ashley’s plan is to convince Christopher that there’s a ghost. She hopes that a ghost in the nearby lighthouse will scare him away so she can step in and inherit the inn. It’s kind of ridiculous actually.

I would have preferred if the story had started a bit later. The scene where Ashley leaves the lighthouse would have worked better for me. As it was, Ashley was set up as a character who was hard to like. Without that early part of the story, I think I could have liked both her and Christopher more.

I would also like a better understanding of Christopher’s relationship with the other members of the community. Some of them don’t like him, and I’d like a better feel for what created those feelings. He appears to be a bit too controlling, which makes him not a very likable character. I really wanted to like him, though.

Clean Novel?

This is a clean novel. There’s no swearing, sexual content, or graphic violence. Overall, it was a fun read. If Christopher and Ashley had been more likable, this probably would have been a 5-star book.

Ghost or No Ghost?

This might ruin the story a bit, but in the end, the reader is left wondering if there really is a ghost haunting the lighthouse. Ashley’s convinced it’s her father. Since this is the beginning of a series, I wonder if readers will find out in the next book for sure. Having read other books by this author, though, we may see very little of Christopher or Ashley in the next book. In one of her other series, the stories take place in the same town, but the main characters in each novel are different.