Review: The House Guest by Rosa Sophia

I received a copy of this in return for an honest review. It's fantastic when you get more than one book by an author because they like your reviews. 

Originally this work was published under the title of Taking 1960 and featured the spiritual form of a small boy on the cover. It has since gotten a new cover and title (obviously).

An envelope addressed to Katherine Maslin stood out amongst the pile of bills. It is her notice from an attorney… the rights to her grandparents’ farmhouse and adjacent property.

She believes that a change will rid her of the strange dreams she’s been having, wherein an oddly familiar woman visits her, begging for her help. But when Kat realizes that the woman in her dream is her dead grandmother, she begins to have doubts about moving to the farm.

Rumors and nightmarish tales fill her mind, stories of the five men who lost their lives in the late 1950s to a heartless murderer. A man had been convicted, but was he the one the police had been looking for, or had he been framed?

Kat is thrown backwards through time on a journey to discover a terrible truth. The ghost of her grandmother is always one step ahead of her, leading the way. But will she find the killer before he finds her? - Goodreads.com

I wanted this book so much. I'm pretty sure my local library doesn't stock it, and the description was just so reminiscent of a combination of Murder, She Wrote and Mystery Woman from Hallmark Channel that I just had to read a copy. It was worth it. So very worth it.

I wasn't sure at first what woman she dreamed of meant, but to find out it was actually a vision of her grandmother was fantastic. Rosa perfected the way of explaining it that made me believe I was right there in the hallway or the kitchen with her. She was so frightened and I felt bad for her. The house was everything she'd ever wanted, and there were strings attached. 

When Phillip was first introduced, I knew there was something not right with him. I just couldn't place it. I knew he was up to something. I wish I didn't know what that something was now. It is simply unfathomable that a person could do what he did. (I also sort of wish I did not have so vivid an imagination. I know what it felt like to be Kat for a while.) 

I was a little put off by the fact Kat thought she could do everything herself, despite having no experience with law or forensics. How did she expect to convince everyone else that she knew what she was doing when she could hardly convince herself? Granted, it was kind of obvious that Jonathan had nothing to do with it because of the fact one of the deaths he was accused of...happened before he was even on the farmstead. Her determination brought back my love for the novel. She was sure she didn't stand a chance at finding it all out by herself, but that didn't stop her. She just plugged away at it, even risking her own life, until she found the last piece of the puzzle and put it all together.

I was shocked, embarrassed, terrified and I'll admit it, nauseated (who wouldn't be?) with parts of this book...but they brought it all together into one big satisfying end. Though I wish she would have expanded the ending a little more. All that work and *poof* cops find the stuff they haven't been able to for 45 years. Because that makes so much sense. A little more detail into the police procedure as they discovered these things would have wrapped it from a five-star review to a glowing why can't I have ten stars review.