REVIEWED by Jay V.

TITLE: Spirited Situation

AUTHOR: Louisa Masters

SERIES: Ghostly Guardians #1

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH: 239 pages

RELEASE DATE: February 17, 2022

BLURB:

When you can talk to ghosts, things are bound to get spirited.

The ghosts have been there since before I can remember. When I was a kid, they doted on me, but as I got older, they got more demanding. I’ve spent my whole life seeing and talking to dead people and trying to pretend I’m not, because the living just don’t understand. Nobody wants to be around the freak who claims to see ghosts.

Until I go to Mannix Estate.

Once a private country home, then a posh hotel, it was closed after a suspicious incident but is now an immersive historic experience. It’s also haunted AF, and everyone knows it. Finally, I’ve found a place to work and live where I can be useful. Where I’m actually wanted.

There are only two problems: I spent a hot, sweaty, satisfying night with Ewan the blacksmith before I knew we’d have to work together. Everyone knows sex with colleagues is a bad idea, right? Even if he’s the world’s most ripped cinnamon roll.

Plus, the ghosts are keeping secrets. There’s something going on that’s not normal, even for a haunted estate. And I suspect that when the truth comes out, I’m the one who’ll have to deal with it… and it won’t be good.

REVIEW:

Josh has had a hard life.  Seeing ghosts isn’t as much fun as one thinks. He’s trying to get out of the city filled with ghosts and someplace more quiet. Responding to an ad for a caretaker seems might fit the bill.  Finding a hookup before the interview is icing on the cake until said hookup works at his new employment.

Finding out the hotel he’s to work in has ghosts and everyone seems to be cool about it is icing on the cake. He’s found a place where’s he comfortable and accepted. Except there’s something more afoot that isn’t ideal.

It’s always interesting how an author deals with a topic, and Masters’ version is a lot of fun. She writes of the impracticalities of seeing ghosts and it’s a more ‘realistic’ approach, even though we are talking about the supernatural. Josh’s dealings with ghosts past and present are a varied lot. There are a lot of side effects that one wouldn’t think – can’t drive since you don’t know if that person on the street is corporeal or not, ghosts demanding you help them all the time, seemingly talking to no one, and a myriad of other issues.

Told from alternating perspectives, we get a view of life with and without direct contact with ghosts from our Josh & Ewan, though the ones in the hotel have “extra juice,” so they can manifest to those who don’t normally see ghosts. And the ghosts are a wild bunch of characters – from various time periods with some very strong opinions. How they interact with the dead and the live can be quite curious, but with Josh seeing everything all the time, there’s some different perspectives that all need to adjust. Layering in on all of this, there’s a mystery to be had, and the ghosts aren’t sharing that information. Josh has to get to the bottom of the issues and there’s some nice growth for him and his abilities.

I’m excited to see where Masters will take this series as Josh settles in to being accepted for his ghost seeing abilities (he doesn’t think of himself as a medium even though he really is one). As always, there is some fun, some seriousness, and some sexiness, which is a fine balance for this first book in the series.  Almost makes me want to see ghosts, or may be not.

RATING:  

BUY LINK: 

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