Cleaning Her House

Irene Vartanoff

Aug 2018 · IRene Vartanoff

About this ebook

Spending the summer in her small West Virginia hometown after 25 years away, Elinor takes on the task of helping her hospitalized mother by decluttering the hoarded family home. But everyone has an opinion about how she should do the cleanup. The hunky county inspector demands that Elinor dump the junk in a hurry, and he keeps coming around, pressuring her and at the same time tempting her. Meanwhile, her bossy elder sister insists there must be a slow and careful sort, yet Mom is furious that Elinor dares to touch her possessions at all.     

What should Elinor do, when family secrets, surprises on the doorstep, and a rocky romance complicate the daunting task of cleaning her house?

Cleaning Her House is a warm, stand-alone women's fiction novel featuring a rich variety of characters, a romance with a hint of steam, family secrets, and a ton of clutter. There's a happy ending, too. (Maybe not for the clutter.)  

Ratings and reviews

This family drama covers far more than the very basic need to clear out the clutter that their mother had built up over the years. It draws out the responses of adult children who've never had answers to their questions and their resulting dysfunctional behaviour. The psychology behind the need to hoard made me think twice about the fine line between the things that I store “just in case it comes in useful”, and hoarding for some deeper psychological reason. The first quarter of the book moved very slowly and the tension between the two sisters was very tangible. After the scene was set, the plot moved along at a more interesting pace, bringing in new characters and revealing truths that had never been aired. Just when I got excited about how things would eventually come together, the novel came to an abrupt ending, leaving the reader guessing. The story is however, well written and highlights the difficulties of family dynamics. Race and Elinor's romance doesn't take centre-stage, but does add an enjoyable dimension. I received a copy of this book as a gift and this is my honest and voluntary review.

About the author

Award-winning author Irene Vartanoff combined her love of romances and comic books by working for Harlequin, Bantam, Berkley, and My RomanceStory.com as well as Marvel Comics and DC Comics. Irene's women's fiction novels published to date are A Daughter's a Daughter and Summer in the City. Irene recently released Singers in Love,  a new series of sweet contemporary romances taking place in the world of opera. She is also the author of a contemporary Western romance series, Selkirk Family Ranch, and a superhero chick lit adventure series, Temporary Superheroine. A lifelong East Coast resident, Irene lives in a forest of tall oaks in the wilds of West Virginia. 

https://www.irenevartanoff.com