I was unlucky enough to come across this book in the library and foolish enough to believe its attempts to sound like a sort-of-Gothic.

I should have known better because it was a 1983 Silhouette Intimate Moments. The title itself "Mistress of Cliff House" makes it sound like it has possible Gothic overtones. The teasers talk about "a stranger as mysterious at the mist" and "things that go bump in the night." Don't be fooled!

A young woman leaves Wall Street to take care of her ailing grandmother in an old house in Maine. There's a greedy uncle and a mysterious intruder. That's about all the mystery.

The book is really a romance between Cassie and a growly alpha-male professor who basically grabs at her the first two times they meet. Then the rest of the story is about the two of them and their "passionate" romance. The mystery is solved, but it only encompasses a few pages.

I give this an F. Yuck. It is professionally written, but still....yuck.

Add it to my list.