Andie Miller is not the type to see ghosts, let alone talk to them. But then she agrees to spend a month in her ex-husband North’s creepier-than-creepy ancestral home, taking care of his recently orphaned niece and nephew. North has offered to pay her $10,000 so she can pay off debts and start married life free and clear with her fiancé.
Seems like a win-win situation to practical, beautiful Andie, until she arrives in the southern Ohio mansion and meets her strange charges. Eight-year-old Alice screams at the slightest provocation, while her 12-year-old brother, Carter, prefers to bury his nose in comic books.
Andie quickly learns that Carter is ignoring not just her, but also a few extra souls in the centuries-old house. The kids’ Aunt May, who died in a suspicious fall months earlier, is still hanging around, and then there are Miss J and Peter, two ominous spirits who are unwilling to let the kids leave the house.
Now that you’re thoroughly freaked out, let me assure you: Jennifer Crusie has produced a story that is both chilling and wickedly funny. Andie is a no-nonsense free spirit, and the heat between her and North is palpable. As they join forces to break the kids free from their past, the long-divorced couple realize they have some unfinished business of their own.
There’s no maybe about it: Maybe This Time marks Crusie’s long-overdue return as one of the most deeply satisfying writers around.
