Midnight Bayou - Review

Midnight Bayou

​​by Nora Roberts

​​Release date 8/29/2006

​​338 pages

​​4 out of 5 stars

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​​According to the publisher, “Declan Fitzgerald had always been the family maverick, but even he couldn't understand his impulse to buy a dilapidated mansion on the outskirts of New Orleans. All he knew was that ever since he first saw Manet Hall, he'd been enchanted-and obsessed-with it. So when the opportunity to buy the house comes up, Declan jumps at the chance to live out a dream.

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​​Determined to restore Manet Hall to its former splendor, Declan begins the daunting renovation room by room, relying on his own labor and skills. But the days spent in total isolation in the empty house take a toll. He is seeing visions of days from a century past, and experiencing sensations of terror and nearly unbearable grief-sensations not his own, but those of a stranger. Local legend has it that the house is haunted, and with every passing day Declan's belief in the ghostly presence grows.

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​​Only the companionship of alluring Angelina Simone can distract him from the mysterious happenings in the house, but Angelina too has her own surprising connection to Manet Hall-a connection that will help Declan uncover a secret that's been buried for a hundred years.”

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​​After my trip to New Orleans last month, I came back completely obsessed with the city, and of course, that would bleed over into my reading.  Basically, I just looked up NOLA in my library’s database, and after sorting through all the nonfiction/textbook style results, I had a few novels.  Since I’m somewhat familiar with Nora Roberts, she made the cut!

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​​Midnight Bayou is a paranormal romance with a bit of mystery thrown in the mix.  We follow Declan, a northerner who moves down to the Crescent City, on his journey to both remodel a historic home and get a local women to return his affections.  You do have to suspend your disbelief for the premise here:  Declan is karmically linked to the house, the city, and Angelina.  He was meant to be in that particular house with that particular woman to help heal the house’s past demons.  As I typed that sentence out, it seems even more strange to me than it did when I was reading.  

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​​I can definitely see how this type of book wouldn’t be for everyone, but I enjoyed it.  My main wish for this book was for the setting of New Orleans to play a large roll, and Roberts definitely delivered on this front.  I felt like she did a fantastic job of capturing the essence of the city.  If you haven’t been there, the descriptions in this book will give you a pretty good idea of what it’s like (and make you want to visit).  

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​​This book is pretty typical of Nora Roberts’ work:  you can go into it feeling confident that love will win and the protagonists will have a happy ending, but the author pulls you in and makes you keep reading regardless.

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​​I recommend this book for fans of romance and for anyone who may not be taking a summer vacation and needs a good “travel” read! 

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