Reviewed by Chris
TITLE: Ghost Hunted 
AUTHOR: B.L. Maxwell
PUBLISHER: Self-Published
LENGTH: 205 pages
RELEASE DATE: August 1, 2018
BLURB:
Jason Thomas had always been obsessed with the ghost stories he’d watched on television from the time he was a kid. He’d always dreamed of visiting those haunted places, and playing amateur ghost hunters with his best friend Wade. As they grew older, Jason’s fascination with ghosts grew as well, and he’d drag Wade along to different haunted houses or hotels, always hoping to see an actual ghost.
Wade Rivers loved spending time with Jason, even if it meant he’d have to endure another creepy, supposedly haunted location. Friends since they were kids, and always inseparable, Wade’s feelings for Jason deepened from friendship into something more. Unfortunately, so did his fear of the places Jason wanted to explore.
The chance to spend a weekend alone in a famous haunted house was too much for Jason to resist, and almost too much for Wade to endure. He knew going to the deserted house was everything Jason had ever dreamed of, so Wade tried to put his fears aside. But when paranormal things start to happen, admitting to Jason how he feels suddenly isn’t the scariest thing Wade will encounter.
REVIEW:
Jason and Wade have spent much of their lives hunting ghosts. Or, trying to at least. Ok, they have mostly only found evidence of how best to get thrown out of supposed ghost haunting sites; and to be honest, Wade would much prefer to keep it that way. After all, ghosts are more Jason’s obsession. Wade just wants to hang out with his best friend…and unrequited love of his life. Which is how he gets talked into once again following Jason to yet another creepy haunted house. Except this one might be more than either of them can handle.
Gods but these kinds of books are the hardest to review. There is so much going for this book, but so many little things are holding it back.
Up to a certain point I really liked how the author had written the ghostly aspects of this story. The way things kept going wrong all over the house had a truly spooky vibe. And I think the author did a great job describing the various supernatural events in a vivid and compelling manner. Sadly the moment the ghosts could speak they lost all sense of menace. The old-timey speak was not very convincing and made them lose a lot of that vividness that had made me like them so much.
The chemistry between Jason and Wade also was a lot better in the beginning. But again, once given a “voice,” the feelings between them lost a lot of credibility. Had the author focused on creating a more believable transition from friends to lovers for Jason and Wade I think I would have liked the story a bit more. It seemed so abrupt and forced, when the turn happened. It was like the harder they tried to show how in love they were, the less I believed it.
There were also aspects to the writing in general that were incredibly frustrating. The constant repetition of the same backstory or facts we were given only a scene ago–which mostly had no impact on the story so didn’t need the constant callbacks–was one of the things that dragged down the pacing of this story.
We really didn’t need to be told in four separate scenes that they watched Ripley’s Believe It or Not when they were growing up. It was in no way necessary to the plot, except as a brief mention of where Jason and Wade got their start in this ghost business. If it had tied back into the plot in some way, I wouldn’t have minded, but other than backstory it was meaningless.
I also can’t help but feel the last two chapters of this book really shouldn’t have been there. The second to last chapter basically involved the character recapping the entire story…that we just read, and the Epilogue read pretty much like Chapter One of the next book in the series, which made it feel tacked on.
Honestly I came away from this book feeling that it was a good story dragged down by some rather poor editorial choices. They slowed the pace when it needed to be at its tightest, and overfed the readers on mundane facts instead of giving us more of what was important. The ghosts and the romance, the two key things I needed to be done well in this kind of story, both floundered around the middle and fell apart near the end. The ghost became pale imitations of their former selves, and the romance became a bland and paint-by-numbers rehash of so many romances before it. I can’t say I didn’t like this story, because it did have so much going for it…but I was left unsatisfied with the way it wrapped things up.
RATING: 
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