Twenty-three-year-old Lea Bond arrives at Seven Gates, an isolated gloomy old house by the sea (in California) that she inherited from her mother who died recently. She wants a change of scene. She just broke off her engagement with her boyfriend and she is still getting over her mother's death. Lea paints pictures for greeting cards. She thinks this new place will give her inspiration to do more serious painting, instead of just greeting cards. When she arrives she meets an assortment of strange/interesting people. She also has a strong sense of deja vu. Twenty-six years ago Lea's aunt Joanna died (at age 23) at Seven Gates. It is said Joanna's ghost is sometimes seen at Seven Gates, looking out to sea. Joanna was murdered and got her head split open with an ax. Lea also happens to bear a strong resemblance to her dead aunt Joanna. Everyone in the village is talking about it, even mistaking her for Joanna.

One day, after arriving home from shopping, Lea finds an ax buried in her kitchen table. One night she finds Joanna's portrait/painting at the top of the stairs. Joanna's room is locked---when she goes into it she gets a splitting headache. She keeps having strange thoughts that could be Joanna's. Is she becoming possessed by Joanna?

With the help of the local doctor, Phillip McCarney, she tries to find some answers.

I expected to like this book way more than I did. It had a good, interesting storyline, but the heroine was very unlikable. She was always snapping at people, bad tempered, unpleasant, cranky, rude. I found it hard to sympathize with her. When she was in perilous situations I didn't care if she lived or died, which isn't a good thing. And this book was told in the first-person POV (point of view) which didn't help because I was only in the head of the cranky heroine. The hero Phillip was likable enough, and I found the other cast of characters/suspects interesting, which was the only reason I carried on reading the book.

This book seemed more like an old Harlequin Gothic from the 1980's than the Harlequin Romantic Suspense it said it was. It would've been more enjoyable with a better heroine. ( )