The Christmas Spirits on Tradd Street

Tradd Street, Book 6

By: Karen White

Narrated by: Aimée Bruneau

Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

The Christmas spirit is overtaking Tradd Street with a vengeance in this festive new novel in the New York Times best-selling series by Karen White.

Melanie Trenholm should be anticipating Christmas with nothing but joy - after all, it’s only the second Christmas she and her husband, Jack, will celebrate with their twin toddlers. But the ongoing excavation of the centuries-old cistern in the garden of her historic Tradd Street home has been a huge millstone, both financially and aesthetically. Local students are thrilled by the possibility of unearthing more Colonial-era artifacts at the cistern, but Melanie is concerned by the ghosts connected to it that have suddenly invaded her life and her house - and at least one of them is definitely not filled with holiday cheer....

And these relics aren’t the only precious artifacts for which people are searching. A past adversary is convinced there is a long-lost Revolutionary War treasure buried somewhere on the property Melanie inherited - untold riches rumored to have been brought over from France by the Marquis de Lafayette himself and intended to help the Colonial war effort. It’s a treasure literally fit for a king, and there have been whispers throughout history that many have already killed - and died - for it. And now someone will stop at nothing to possess it - even if it means destroying everything Melanie and Jack hold dear.

©2019 Karen White (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"What a treat to open up a new Tradd Street House book by Karen White and disappear into her witty, wonderful and haunted world.... No one does ghosts better than Karen White and this is one of Tradd Street's best." (M. J. Rose, New York Times best-selling author)

Whinny, whinging and ?

I liked the first few books of the series. I have no problem with the main character, Mel having OCD. I have a problem with her lack of growth over time. Her sister is her nanny and her father is her gardener. She has a housekeeper who cooks. Yet Mel is jealous, self centered and secretive. The narrator captures the whine. It's hard to like a book when the protagonist is unlikeable.

Don't know exactly how to put this

Has Mellie become sillier & sillier? I had understood her before, and she had seemed to grow with her previous mistakes, but seems to have regressed to adolescence in this book. It was a disappointment this time. Maybe next time she will grow better.

I tried. I really tried to like it.

I love the Tradd Street Series but this book annoyed the heck out of me. So many things...So here we go. I typically like the narrator but this book made her seem like she was really, really try to do an Antebellum Southern accent. I'm from Charleston and we don't talk like that. Come on. Melanie is pretty annoying. She's jealous, petty and childish and I don't get what's happening with her in this book. She and Jack have this ridiculous sexy banter which gets to be too much. We get it, you guys want each other. Then, the ending is so ridiculous. Ridiculous to the point that he runs away from his kids and wife for something stupid, and Melanie's mother basically tells her she needs to win Jack over by looking nice and wearing heels. Really? And no one lets her eat cookies? Why? Because southern women have to be thin and put together in order to be respected? Listen, I get the want to explain that the sweet grandeur and tradition of the south remains in Charleston, but I believe this attempt has turned Melanie into a sad cliche and her and Jack's relationship is some sad vampire YA novel relationship. I really hate to write this review because I love Karen White, and I have been on a low carb-diet so I'm kind of annoyed at everything right now - but I just seriously hope the next book is better.

DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME!!!!

The narrator was great as always; however, the characters get weaker with each book. When the series began, Mellie was successful, disciplined, and determined-yet quirky; Jack was cocky but with a good heart. Now, they don't even resemble the characters they started as- usually you see a positive progression from book to book, but by this book I almost didn't finish it I was so disgusted with the behavior of everyone, but the dogs and children. The characters gang up on Mellie and tell her what an untrusting, childish person she is and shame her for who she is (including her husband), rather than realizing that it takes a lot of time for someone to open up and trust others when that has been the very thing that has been missing her whole life. She's been through a lot (SPOILERS), her mother returning, her father deciding to get his act together, finding out she has a sister, she's had twins, dealing with a brand new marriage and having a teenager (albeit a helpful one mostly) in the house, going back to work, and the stress of her ability, all while fixing her constant money pit of a historic home (even though I love it). It's enough to send most people into a panic attack on a regular basis. Somehow, she manages to hold it all together anyway.

On top of all the ridiculous behavior, she's accused by everyone of being selfish and untrustworthy. Her mother abandoned her and did hardly anything, but continually insert herself into Mellie's adult life, to make up for years of neglect. Mellie's dad took most of her life to realize she was worth anything to him, but turns around and accepts her half sister into his life and affection immediately. Jack has turned into a weak, petulant, selfish child that kept several things from Mellie, including going to a bar when he's a recovering alcoholic and all of his discrepancies are waved away in a blink of an eye by the section where he says, "that's when I started feeling bad (in reference to the flu he catches) and can't remember if I told you." What a crock!

When Jack moves out at the end of the book, she should have asked if he needed help packing. I don't know if I'll suffer through the next book. The only thing the author could do at this point to save the characters is have Mellie stand up to everyone, tell them all where to shove it, and have Jack crawl back on his knees apologizing to her.

Really? Everything is Melanie's Fault? Always?

****SPOILER ALERT***

P.s.- I will listen to the next book in the series. The ghost story is, as always, interesting, fun, and well thought out with enough twists and turns to keep me listening... (you may want to stop reading now)...

...through the terrible marital and family relationships presented here.

I am furious with Ms. White, she reduced her MAIN female protagonist from a strong complicated, whiny person to a petulant child that requires her food intake to be monitored, her every decision to be run through a committee, and her very appearance to be checked and approved before leaving the house. WTF?

For example, if Jack doesn't want to talk about something, he will flirt and distract with kisses and will even often end the discussion with sex, Melanie may have done this once, but this is a trademark ploy Jack uses, again and again. If Jack doesn't share information, he gets a pass because he "forgot" when he was getting sick, or he was busy or whagever. If Jack is thinking about drinking it is because he is under stress. REALLY?

If Melanie doesn't share information she is hiding things, trying to be a hero and not trusting the family she should rely on... Because she should not rely on herself but trust the Mother who only recently deigned to appear again in her life, the half Sister - whom even the mother that birthed her didn't know existed, the Cousin who constantly stabs her in the back (and who Melanie has to be civil to because Mother says FAMILY is important,) the alcholic Father which helped Mother wreck her childhood AND the (again) alcoholic Husband, who originally tried to trick her, treats her like a child, thrusts a teenage daughter into the mix and then is pissed that during a serious illness his wife doesn't want him haring off in a snowstorm. AGAIN REALLY?

My biggest question isn't how dare she not listen to her family's advice, (carry your heels and put them on when you get there), it is why does she even associate with ANY OF THEM? And in the "spirit" of full disclosure, I really intensely dislike Melanie at the beginning of this series, I may even have listened in spite of her being in the books, until this book.

Several additional notes.
Melanie used to gently poke fun at Sophie, but most of the remarks about her hair, and clothes were presented as internal monolog, and now are said out loud. Melanie comes off as rude and mean. Why the change?

I also think it is strange that Sophie is suddenly mostly only referred to as Dr. Wallen-(whatever her married name is.) I understand the title when talking to the graduate students, but why everywhere else? Did I doze off when Sophie and Melanie had a serious argument?

And finally, is it even possible that NOT A SINGLE person thought that Mark's brother was a shill?

Run Melanie while you can, figure out how to take Jayne, (the least crappy of the bunch,) and get the heck out of Dodge, I mean Charleston.

Grow Up Melanie

I am a big Karen White fan and have enjoyed the Tradd Street series but this book is not one of my favorites. There are a lot of words in this book that completely unnecessary. I don't need to be reminded of background information more than once. I don't need to know about Melanie and Jack's lust for one another. It does not enhance the story line at all. Melanie's OCD grates on my last nerve. In the last few minutes of the book Melanie is making promises to change her behavior one minute and continuing her adolescent behaviors the next. As Nola said at the end of the book: "She is the only adult." Please, Ms. White, when you write Book 7 get Melanie the professional help that she needs so that she can grow up and put aside her childish ways. I think she might have a lot to offer if she does. Do I recommend this book? Only if you've read the other 5 in the series. Will I read book 7? Probably. I hope that the author will tie up some lose ends.

Another Great Tradd Street Story.

Okay Ms. White, You need to jump on it and write another one. Warning to other readers- this MIGHT be a spoiler. I did not see this ending coming. I like the fact that Mellie chilled out a little from the last story. There wasn't that much paranormal, but I wanted to punch March Longo in the throat.

This was a great continuation of the Tradd Street series The middle part of the story seemed to drag out just a little more than normal and most of the excitement happened toward the end. Tradd Street definitely CANNOT stop here. I am looking forward to more stories.

I am going to have to go back and reread the previous stories because I can't remember off the top of my head when Mellie's sister popped into the picture. I think is a lot more than can be done with these two sisters on the watch.

This is definitely a series to read if you like southern charm and paranormal fiction. I am going to start back from the very beginning and reread the whole series again. Well done. This series cannot stop here. Hurry up! I want more! :)

Another great story in this series.

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this book being read. The narrator does an awesome job with the characters. My only complaint, and the reason I’m giving it only three stars, is because I think Melanie‘s character should be strong enough to be able to say that she isn’t always at fault like everybody blames her for. Jack never told her the truth either, a point that’s omitted towards the end. Also, at least for me, I realized earlier on, that Anthony was not a trustworthy character. I guess it was a bit of foreshadowing but easy to pick up on and sort made the Melanie and Jane’s characters look a little less than intelligent. But over all, it’s another great book and left me wanting to hear more of the story!! So I hope there’s another book in the series coming out soon! :-)

A new narrator

I'm sorry and I don't want to be rude but the narrator was annoying. I didn't like the sing song cadence of her voice. The story was good though.

Loved the ending.

After reading some of the previous reviews. I was skeptical about this book. But I am so glad I decided to form my own opinion. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Made me proud to be able to solve the mystery using all the clues. Laughed, cried and smiled while reading it. Not a fairy tale ending but a wonderful way to begin the next book in this series. Can’t wait...please hurry⚜️⚜️