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3/5 Stars

Interesting premise.

A wife secures a promise from her husband to never remarry in the event of her death. He agrees just to calm her fears and move away from the morbid subject.

Then she dies.

He remarries.

And Ghost-wife doesn’t like it one bit.

Theo Stanyer doesn’t believe in ghosts, but his new wife, Sheena, is insistent the spirit of his first wife, Tish, is terrorizing her.

Could it be true?

My first thought was how selfish of Tish to want her marriage to extend past till death do us part, instead of wanting her husband to be happy… even if it meant remarrying. But it’s hard to work up any sympathy for wife #2–the slovenly Sheena, when her crude, vindictive character and determination to keep her hooks in Theo are revealed.

Theo’s a decent man who lost the love of his life then dedicated a decade to raising his two children alone. Now they’re finding their own paths in life, he wants to move on from mourning and be happy again.

Not bloody likely when he’s caught between two mean wives, one alive… and the other not so much.

Unique characterizations of both wives–while they’re polar opposites, Tish and Sheena still have much in common, and I found myself only caring about Tish through the memories of Theo and their children, and I never cared about Sheena at all.

Twenty-year-old Saskia still lives at home, has nothing but contempt for her new stepmother, and shows it every chance she gets. Twenty-three-year-old Ross lives with his girlfriend and seldom comes around. Theo feels the loss of his once-close relationship with his children but he’s hopeful Sheena and his children with eventually get along. At first.

The story takes a wild arc as Saskia’s life and journey to love plays out. The back and forth between her story-line and what is happening inside the Stanyer home was a disconnect for me and much of the time it felt like two different stories that only gelled when Theo was in the scene. Even the seance (sans Theo) felt pointless because it only serves to bring the young people together and doesn’t tell us anything new about Tish.

There appears to be a resolution concerning Sheena and happiness in Theo’s future, but will Tish allow it?

As a supernatural read, Whisper to Me is spot on! I was caught up in the malevolent anger of Tish, and the fear, stubbornness and scheming of Sheena. My heart broke for Theo’s frustration and self-doubt. And the bedroom scene where he loses it? Go, Theo!

But weaving Saskia’s love story through the read watered down the main story-line, slowed the pace, stalled the suspense… and didn’t work for me. Her story is a good one, but her extremes from being totally in love to I hate Sheena were exhausting and added nothing to this story. There was a battle of wills in play and I would liked to have seen more of that battle–Tish vs.  Sheena–instead of Saskia and Richie trying to hook up their besties.

The ending is abrupt and resolves little, which means I have to wait for the next book to see if Tish is still behaving badly, and I’m just not sure if I’m invested enough to continue.

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A new wife and a vengeful ghost. Not a good mix.

Letitia – Tish – Stanyer makes husband Theo promise never to remarry if she dies and he complies just to pacify her. She isn’t going to die.

She does – and he does remarry. Tish isn’t happy. Her spirit cannot rest with another woman in her domain, sampling the delights of her husband. Theo belongs to her – Sheena will have to go.

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