There’s an interesting premise behind this fantasy / paranormal romance, but Barclay unfortunately just doesn’t have the writing chops to pull it off. Shallow characterizations, wooden dialogue, and an unfortunate number of homophone errors keep this novel from ever really satisfying.

When architect Garrett Richmond gives in to a long-held desire to buy and renovate a New Bedford home dating back to the early 1800s, he hardly expects a ghost to come along with it. Constance Canfield fell from her home’s rooftop widow’s walk in 1840, as she watched for the return of her whaling captain husband. But Constance, for some reason, has been trapped between life and death for 170 years, invisible to the successive owners of Seaside – until Garrett Richmond appears. Once Garrett accepts what seems to be impossible, he finds himself developing strong emotions for Constance, and – most frightening of all – each of them separately seems to be coming unmoored in time, flashing back to incidents in Constance’s history.

The why and how of the phenomenon doesn’t really get much attention until the last hundred pages. Only when Constance and Garrett are told of the frightening attempt they must make to resolve the situation, does the book develop any drive or suspense. It’s a nice last-ditch effort, but really can’t overcome the book's clunky beginnings ( )

I know that this novel is being compared to The Time Traveler's Wife and but I would have to say that this novel does not even hold a close candle to that thoughtful and heartbreaking novel. I really do love time travel romance reads like Remembrance and A Knight in Shining Armor since if the author is clever they can seamlessly add in the time travel aspects to the plot to make it feel real to readers. Ultimately, The Widow's Walk: A Novel was a bland read that did not make a lot of sense once the author tries to tie things up in the end. I think I said a few times out loud, "Nope, that makes no sense at all." FYI, this is not a good thing while reading a book.

The novels begins with Constance Canfield awaiting sightings of her husband Adam's whaling ship in the 1840s in Bedford, MA. Constance constantly paces the widow walk at her home called Seaside and dreams how happy she will be once Adam is back from his two year voyage at sea. We then spring forward into the present day with Garret Richmond purchasing Seaside. Garret is an architect and hopes to rebuild Seaside to its former glory. Garrett begins to feel as if someone is at Seaside with him and comes to meet Constance who has been trapped at Seaside for 150 years. Until now no one could see Constance but for some reason Garrett is able to see her.

I ultimately gave this novel three stars because I ultimately found the two main characters boring, the storyline nonsensical, and the ending laughable.

I ultimately never found Constance and Garrett's love to be real. Initially I was intrigued by Constance since she and Adam seemed to be one hundred percent in love with one another. However, once readers are transported into the present day with her and she starts to fall for Garrett she just became insipid to me. I ultimately could not understand why either one of them fell for each other.

The actual storyline just made no sense once you got further into the novel. It still does not make sense to me that somehow Constance is not a ghost and is able to eat, drink, move things, steal them, but until now only Garrett could see her. Also without being too spoilery the ability to transport things back and forth through time just drove me crazy. I hate novels that do this.

The ending to me was really not well thought out at all. I wish that the novel had went another way and if the author had I think changed up the ending from what it was then this could have been compared to "The Time Traveler's Wife." Instead I think he tried to wrap things up in a tidy bow.

Please note that I received this product via the Amazon Vine Program. ( )

1.5 stars. This book needed better writing, editing, and proof-reading. ( )

I'm categorizing this as SciFi/Fantasy because of the time travel. Architect Garrett has always been drawn to Seaside, and when it goes on the market, he snaps it up to renovate it back to it's pre-civil war glory. Only it has a sort of ghost that only he can see. Constance is caught between this life and the next, and apparently only Garrett, with the help of one of his university colleagues can release her...but it might mean that he gets caught in the nether world himself. ( )

Garrett Richmond had always wanted to live by the ocean. So when the opportunity to buy—and renovate—the old home known as Seaside arrived, he leapt at the chance. Never mind that his friends and family thought he was crazy, he knew he could return this lonely mansion, worn by time, wind, and neglect, to its former beauty. But Seaside was more than just a project; it was spot that had called to him his entire life. And then one night he saw her . . .
Her name is Constance Elizabeth Canfield and she tells him Seaside has been her home for over 150 years. But Constance is no ghost; rather, she claims that she has been somehow magically trapped between this life and the next. At first, Garrett can’t believe her crazy story—the woman had to be lying! And yet, there was something about Constance that was from another time . . .
Soon this mysterious woman and flesh and blood man share a closeness they cannot deny. But just as their love begins to bloom, Constance’s presence starts mysteriously fading away, soon to be gone forever. Is their love doomed—or is it strong enough to transcend time, and even death itself?

We start with the story in New Bedford, Mass in September of 1840 and of the story of Adam and Constance. From Constance view, we learn of her meeting and marriage to Adam. Her longing for Adam to come home to “Seaside” on his whaling ship and the special Pennant she made for him and her ultimate demise. Then we move on to the Story of Adam, his feelings, longings and love of Constance. Then we learn of his demise. And that my friend is just the prologue. Then we move ahead to present day, We meet Garrett who has bought “seaside” in a bank foreclosure and despite the house being in terrible shape, Garrett sees the potential. Garrett first meets Constance in a dream, where she is crying and asking him for help. The next time they meet, she run’s from the house scared.

I won’t give away anymore spoilers, but I will give my honest opinion. I found this book hard to read, I found it very busy in description and lacking in story. The main characters show emotion but it seemed to me as being very stiff. The idea of the main body of the story was great, but the ending was too far fetched for me to come to grips with. There are large part’s of this book that I really love and others that I hated and wanted to stop reading the book. To say I was disappointed with this book is a understatement.

It had so much promise but failed in the execution so it earned a disappointing 6 out of 10 from me. ( )