Must Love Ghosts by Ani Gonzalez

Blog Tour:

Must Love Ghosts

by

Ani Gonzalez

Sept 7th - Sept 14th

Seducing the Rational Skeptic...

Abby Reed believes in folk songs, faery tales, and ghosts, but she doesn't believe in love. Things change, however, when her pen-pal-slash-best-friend, Mike Stone arrives in Banshee Creek after his last tour of duty in Afghanistan. When their Halloween Party encounter turns out-of-this-world steamy Abby starts having doubts about friendship, ghosts...and love.

Chapter 1

“Well, I want you in my zombie apocalypse survival team.”

Mike Stone turned towards the throaty female voice. A tall girl with long magenta hair glanced at his military fatigues appreciatively. Her eyes were yellow, with slit pupils, like a cat’s.

He was standing on a cobblestone street surrounded by colonial buildings with brick façades and old-fashioned moldings. Baskets with chrysanthemum blooms hung from wrought iron lampposts and vintage signs adorned the quaint, if slightly run-down, shops. Banshee Creek, Virginia was the kind of town where the shop signs announced “Ye Olde Bake-Shoppe,” and “Merrie Colonial Pubbe.”

The magenta-haired girl in the black catsuit and sky-high heels looked decidedly incongruous. She blinked as the afternoon sun hit her on the face, and realization dawned. Contacts. She must be wearing contacts.

“That’s a very realistic costume,” she purred, her smile displaying plastic fangs. “Warm, too. I didn’t realize it got so cold here in October. Next year, I’ll put on a nice thick fur and come as a Siberian were-cat.”

“Um, thanks,” he replied. He didn’t know how to tell her that it wasn’t a costume. That he wasn’t an aspiring zombie survivalist, just an ordinary soldier on leave.

“Here.” She handed him an orange flyer. “You’re officially invited to the Banshee Creek Costume Party.”

He grabbed the flyer. It screeched “Party Tonight!” in an exaggerated Gothic font.

“The Guinness Book of World Records people will be there,” the cat girl explained, her feline eyes sparkling with excitement. “We’re trying to make it the biggest Halloween costume party in history so make sure you register.”

She winked at him, and turned to a spindly young man on stilts. He was wearing large grey wings and red-tinged goggles.

“Hey, Mothman,” she shouted. “Great costume. We’re really excited about the latest sighting.” She waved an orange flyer. “Do you know where to register for the party?”

They walked off, leaving Mike behind. He looked at the throngs of people lining Main Street. He counted three Elves, eleven princesses, and a platoon of naughty nurses.

He’d forgotten it was Halloween.

More to the point, he’d forgotten it was Halloween in Banshee Creek, Virginia. The Fall Equinox was no laughing matter in the Most Haunted Town in the U.S.A.

Well, that accolade wasn’t official yet. But his Army buddy, Cole Hunt, had been certain that his hometown would win the coveted title. Cole and his friends had been diligently documenting the local hauntings so as to convince the powers-that-be that their town could be the premier paranormal destination in the United States.

And Mike had heard all about their plans. Cole had stayed in touch with his Banshee Creek buddies all through their two-year deployment to Afghanistan. He’d supervised the investigations from afar and edited the documentaries in his free time. As a result, Mike had sat through endless hours of night-vision footage and had spent many days listening to static trying to discern what Cole described as “electronic voice phenomena.”

Oh, yes. His friend had a plan. Cole intended to come back to Banshee Creek, marry his fiancée and turn the town into the ghost capital of the United States.

ALPHA BOOK CLUB REVIEW

Title: Must Love Ghosts 

Series Name:  Banshee Creek, Book 1

Author: Ani Gonzalez

Genre: Romance

Overall Stars:  4 STARS

Military 

Ghosts

Is it truly better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all? 

Abby Reed believes in folk songs, faery tales, and ghosts, but she doesn't believe in love. She 

lost her soulmate when her fiancé died while deployed in Afghanistan, but she still has her 

music, her crazy spectre-filled town, and her pen-pal-slash-best-friend, Mike Stone. It's a good 

life and she's happy, but when Mike arrives in Banshee Creek after his last tour of duty in 

Afghanistan, Abby starts to have doubts, about music, ghosts and, most importantly...love. 

(Amazon Blurb)

Considering that I don't usually read novels on this genre often at least lately, mostly because I 

call them cutesy books and they have taken a slight back burner, I enjoyed the pace of this one. 

The story itself was eye opening and quite the tear jerker for readers who have lost someone 

dear to them, who are over sensitive or even anyone who simply enjoy a good book. It was 

enjoyable, a second chance for two people who thought they couldn't or shouldn't be allowed 

when they lost one person in common - a fiancée for one, and a best friend for another - and a 

discovery that there still is love after a great loss. This being the first time that I read a novel 

written by Ani Gonzalez, I was still pleasantly surprised at the beautiful story, the pace and the 

fact that the characters are strong from their own accord and don't need to depend on others 

(before they met each other).

**Received a copy in exchange for an honest review.  Read and reviewed by Kathleen for Alpha 

Book Club**