House of Dreams - Hardcover

Brenda Joyce has 3 million copies of her books in print, including her hardcover debut, The Third Heiress.

An unquiet ghost stalks her living descendants, seeking vengeance for a long-ago betrayal.Cassandra de Warenne, who writes historical novels, had never heard of her ancestral relative Isabel de la Barca until the fateful night of her sister's swanky party for her rich and famous friends. Tracey de Warenne just wanted to give her pals first peek at a priceless antique ruby necklace which is to be auctioned off by Sotheby's, where she more or less works. (All these characters inhabit the moneyed dreamland where those mythical beings known as jet-setters and playboys still flourish.) But Tracey's latest flame, an "internationally-renowned" professor of medieval studies named Antonio de la Barca, points out that the necklace is identical to one adorning the snowy bosom of Isabel de la Barca in a portrait dated 1554. And Antonio adds that Isabel's maiden name, before she married into his illustrious family, was de Warenne. Cass is intrigued . . . and instantly smitten with the darkly handsome Antonio. Strange things begin to happen that very night, causing one and all to pack their bags to head for Antonio's spooky family castle in Spain. Yes, intones Joyce (The Third Heiress, 1999), the place is crumbling and sinister; and yes, the eyes in the portraits seem to follow everyone around. Ere long, Isabel's malevolent spirit raises all kinds of ghostly hell, and eventually possesses Tracey, who is so blond, chic, and thin that she represents an irresistible target. Cass must fight her very own sister practically to the death-but not before enjoying several emollient bouts of sex with the ever-smoldering Antonio. Guess who wins the good sister/bad sister shriekfest.Wide-eyed genre clichés alternate with steamy boudoir scenes, in a romance sure to delight readers who can't find paperbacks featuring white-clad damsels fleeing moonlit Gothic towers anywhere in their local supermarkets. -- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.