The Secret Of Talmor Manor by Matthew Lang
Time Travel Romance
February 27, 2011
E-Book
MLR Press
Reviewed by Tori
After a mysterious package arrives on Jake’s doorstep, he starts having very strange dreams: when he falls asleep he finds himself in a dilapidated English Manor inhabited by a number of ghosts who believe he can free them from their eternal existence. But when the Lord of the Manor appears in Jake’s living room, Jake finds himself facing some very difficult questions. What should he do about the attraction between him and this turn of the century living ghost? Why is someone trying to kill them in their dreams? And what should he wear to the upcoming Halloween party? (Goodreads)
I found this a hard book to review. On one hand, the basic premise was very intriguing. A time traveling ghost story wrapped up in romance. We have three story lines that were interesting in their own right; the mystery, Katrina and Logan’s relationship, and Jake and Nate’s relationship. Yet, none of them fleshed out well for me and I felt that I was missing the essence that Mr. Lang was trying to impart. The main line story skips around and we only seem to linger on the fringes-barely scraping the surface of each sub story.
The beginning moves fast and smoothly as we learn how Jake is pulled back into the past and we, along with him share wonder and fear at the manor, its inhabitants, and trying to figure out what they want with ‘us’. When Nate makes his appearance in the future, the story slows down to almost a stopping point as we and Nate are subjected to endless lectures on this era, philosophy, religion, and gender dating. While some of it was interesting; I liked Jake’s non-judgmental views, I still felt that it overwhelmed the book and took away from the main story. I was amazed at the little amount of time Nate and Jake actually spend on figuring out why Nate is in the future and what caused Jake to go back in time in the first place. As I said earlier, everything is touched upon but not taken past the surface.
I found Logan and Jake’s friendship to be a highlight of the story. They were very natural together and their bantering back and forth is humorous. Jake is a bit of a lecturer so at times his need to discuss and dissect is tedious, but doesn’t put you off.
Nate was a quandary for me. While I enjoyed his naiveté in the story, towards the end when he and Jake start a relationship it seems to jump from Nate not being sure who or what he is to straight into bed. While I’m not much on the mind set of historical English men, I found it a bit dis believable that a virgin with no interest in men would suddenly decide he likes men, wants Jake, and initiates sex.
I wish we could have had more involvement of Katrina since she is a key figure in the story. As it was we only get bits and pieces of her.
Our villain is somewhat comical. I never got a clear picture to what he was till the end and yet I was still confused by his attitude. He didn’t “feel” evil. He felt tired and somewhat put upon.
Once we reach the last quarter of the book, the pace picks back up and there is more action and suspense as we race towards the ending. There are a few scenes that come out of nowhere and leave you flipping back through the book thinking you missed something. When the great reveal is shown I was still left feeling lost. Again, the surface is barely scratched. Especially the ending concerning Nate and Jake.
All in all the book shows great promise but I really felt Mr. Lang was trying to put to much in and it left me as a reader fighting to make heads and tails of it.
Rating: D
Recent Reviews:
Bitten by Paranormal Romance – 3/5
Goodreads
I think I’ll skip this one….