I absolutely love this series and I hate giving it 3 stars, but I was disappointed at the very beginning and the very end. The very beginning had some egregious editing mistakes in chapter 1. That’s easy to forgive because I love the characters. The mystery throughout most of the book is really good, however I don’t know what the author was thinking when she ended the book the way she did. Let’s just say it is a huge downer for a Christmas story.

The mystery is well developed and it’s a good one, but like so many other reviewers I just have to say WTF about Jack and Melanie. He keeps a whole bunch of secrets from her, but managed to find time to tell Jayne? And then he gets super mad at her? Like I really didn’t like Melanie in this book very much but how is it that Jack did all these (IMO) trust-breaking things and then gets mad at her for breaking his trust?

And the food policing is super annoying.

Melanie Trenholm is back at it again. It's Christmas time, and Mellie has been pressured into hosting part of a progressive dinner, but she is also in search of a missing French treasure, hoping to find if in order to put her and her husband back in solvency. Jack's nemesis, Marc Longo, is back, and so is his brother, who swears he wants to help Melanie in order to get back at an older brother who was never kind to him.

The mystery was interesting, but I figured out major parts of it long before the ending. The tortured relationship problems that Mellie has with Jack, Jayne, her mother, her cousin, her best friend, and most everyone else are a little redundant, and I hope they get worked out in the next book.

Karen White is such an amazing author. From her first book in the Tradd Street Series to this last one her writing and storytelling had improved so much overtime. She is an amazing storyteller with a knack for getting you hooked. I really enjoyed this read. I felt like I was immersed in the story the whole time. I felt like I cool empathize with the characters and what they were dealing with. I so enjoyed this book and I would definitely recommend it for anyone that likes history, ghost stories, and good books in general!

I get very frustrated with willfully head-in-the-sand characters. And Melanie's insistence on doing things herself wasn't that bad in the first few books when estranged from her parents and single. But now it's just painful.

So good! Cannot wait for the next book. I can’t be left hanging like this!

This was not good at all. I haven't read any of the other books in this series, but it seems everyone in Mellie's life was originally a "long-lost" someone or other. Not a single character was likable. In fact, most were completely revolting. The main character is THE MOST unlikable character in the book.

The family staged an intervention for her because she wasn't telling them about all the ghosts she saw. Her husband can't trust her because of this. And then he gets mad and leaves her because she said she found the treasure, when really they all did.

The mystery was boring, and I honestly didn't care. And one of the main points was that the husband's book idea was stolen. Omg. Plus, they keep talking about how they have no money, but yet they have a housekeeper and babysitter and throw an elaborate dinner for 24 couples.

Also, the same things get explained OVER AND OVER. So frustrating.

Plus, there are dozens upon dozens of characters and lots of things that have nothing to do with anything else. I suppose they'll be in the next book, but really, those were the things that actually were interesting.

Anyway, I read this because it was Christmas ghosts, so at least I'll never be tempted to read anything else by this author

I really enjoyed parts of this, but Mellie should be making some progress by now in her personal development. I liked that we saw more connection between her growing up as the child of an alcoholic and her “quirks” as an adult, but I was annoyed that she and Jack ended up in exactly the same place, relationship wise, as in past books. And Mellie still won’t name the mysterious, confusing feelings she has toward her sister (hint: it’s jealousy—pretty basic). I feel manipulated, as a reader, by the cliffhanger ending. Overall, annoyed by this reading experience.