The Woods of North San Juan by T.E. Fromhold is a supernatural tale blended with romance and adventure. Set in the '90s, Richard Burke pulled up his L.A. roots and made North San Juan his new home. The death of his fiancee, who tragically died before their wedding day, prompted his decision to start anew, albeit in a forlorn way. Richard bought an old estate that once belonged to Stanley Moodry, a wealthy citizen back in the 19th century gold rush days. A week after moving to North San Juan, Richard encounters ghosts that haunt the Victorian ruin. Apprehensive and questioning his sanity, he turns to Esther, the real estate agent whom he befriended, and his long-time friends Scott and Carol, for help.

The chapters are a good length and the prose is clear. Fromhold excellently described each scene and they are easy to imagine. On the other hand, the story’s tempo is somewhat slow for me in the beginning chapters. That said, the pacing picks up after chapter three and the reading is swift till the end. With the exception of the Moodry family, the dialogue is thespian to a certain degree, especially Richard’s. I find it charming and I do wonder if the fact that he is a history professor has something to do with it. On the whole, the storyline is well thought out and The Woods of North San Juan is solid supernatural fiction for fans of the genre to savor. I’m interested to see what story Fromhold will come up with next.

After losing his fiancée to a senseless murder, 33-year-old history professor Richard Burke was desperate for a new start away from the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles beach life. Richard found just the right place--the Moodry estate with an abandoned Victorian mansion in the middle of a 20-acre forest in North San Juan. However, upon moving into a small house on the estate, the peace and tranquility he had hoped to find vanished when a visit to the Victorian ruin revealed some rather disturbing residents of the mansion. Thinking that he might be hallucinating or even totally losing his mind, he called his friends from LA to come verify his sanity. A man of logic, Richard was now anxious to find an explanation for what was happening in the mansion, and the more answers he found the more he connected with the beings from the great beyond and soon he started losing himself to the other side.

The Woods of North San Juan by T.E. Fromhold is a flawlessly-told, captivating tale of a collision between the physical and spiritual worlds, an encounter between the mortal and the immortal, brought on by one man's quest for answers. There is something really creepy about the spooky residents of the Moodry mansion and yet, at the same time, there is something really enchanting and almost soothing about their story. T.E. Fromhold struck the right balance between making these beings spine-chilling and making them relatable, making it easy for the reader to actually connect with them. And the way he developed and portrayed Richard's character enabled me to understand Richard's emotional dilemma. The Woods of North San Juan is a one-of-a-kind type of story, the kind that will make you sleep with the lights on for the next several nights. All you need is an open mind.