One bad divorce, one maxed-out credit card, and one notorious Victorian mansion later, Elara Vance has a plan: buy Blackwood Manor, flip it fast, and prove she can rebuild her life on her own terms.
The only problem? The house remembers.
Elara's "gift" (a secret she's spent years hiding) lets her feel the emotions and memories trapped in old wood, wallpaper, and dust. The moment her hand hits Blackwood's front door, the past hits back: a flash of 1924, a woman's scream, and a murder the town still whispers about like a curse.
Then the chandelier drops.
Someone wants Elara out. Permanently.
Enter Jack Thorne, the grumpy historic preservationist determined to stop "soulless flippers" from gutting the town's heritage. He slaps a stop-work order on her dream, calls her reckless, and somehow still shows up with tools when the mansion starts turning deadly. When a sharp-tongued ghost named Silas makes himself at home (and insists he didn't kill anyone), Elara realizes the only way to survive the renovation is to solve the crime buried inside the walls.
As demolition uncovers a hidden locket, smeared warnings, and sabotage that feels anything but supernatural, Elara and Jack are forced into an uneasy partnership that turns into late-night blueprints, stolen glances, and the kind of slow-burn tension that makes you forget to breathe. But the closer they get to the truth, the more the town's most powerful man tightens the noose. Mayor Thaddeus Moore III has his own legacy to protect, and Blackwood Manor is the last place he can afford to let history speak.
To finish the house, save her future, and free a ghost who's been trapped for a century, Elara will have to stop painting over the past and learn what's worth keeping... even when the whole place goes up in flames.
Restoration & Ruin is a cozy paranormal women's fiction mystery with a renovation twist, a grumpy-sunshine romance, and just enough heat to leave you smiling (fade to black).
Perfect for readers who love:
• Haunted houses with personality
• Midlife fresh starts and second chances
• Grumpy x sunshine slow burn
• One-bed proximity and late-night tension
• Small-town secrets, found family, and a satisfying whodunit
