Once Upon a Midnight Clear

I couldn’t get into this story as well as others I've read by this author. Cassie got on my nerves with her screaming everytime she saw a ghost, and I would have liked to know something about the angry ghost.

Only a duke will do for Lady Ivy Dallimore. If her unhappily married sisters have taught her anything, it’s that love is fleeting but a title lasts forever, which is all well and good in theory until she finds herself falling for the scandalous third son of a marquis who is bound and determined to make his fortune in trade! Lord Michael Beck courts scandal, living life to the fullest and dabbling in games of chance. However he’s now decided to make his fortune by buying a welsh copper mine so he needs capital, collecting a number of outstanding gambling debts at the Keyvnor wedding seems like the perfect place to start, at least until he stumbles across the lady of his dreams. Another well written endearing, riveting novella the verbal spats between Michael & Ivy are brilliant. The story is well paced, I read it in two sessions, only sleep keeping me from reading it in a single reading. The characters are very well developed for a novella. I originally read it in Kissed at Christmas

Do you believe in ghosts? Well Lady Cassandra Priske does because she has seen them most of her life! When her family is summoned to Keyvnor Castle for the reading of her great uncle's will, she knows the tales are true it being haunted when she sees an aberration in the window upon arrival. What she doesn't expect to find is Lord Jack St Giles, a notorious rake who she has spent a year avoiding. But Jack came expressly to see her and try to win her over because she is all he has been able to think about. When ghosts start appearing that only Cassy can see and her family are trying to keep it secret in case she is thought mad, Jack begins to wonder what is really going on. As Jack spends time with Cassy and her adorable poodle Oscar (yes he steals the show at times!) his feelings only strength. But what is really happening to Cassy? Are there really spirits only she can see? This is a delightful novella that kept my attention with the development between the main characters and all the wonderful secondary characters. I could not keep from smiling and wondering what was gong to happen! You will really enjoy this tale and will want to read more by Ava Stone.