Quote-Tastic and Review: Ghostly Liaison by Stacy McKitrick

Publisher: Lyrical Press
Series: Ghostly Encounters #1
Format Read: eGalley
Source: publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: January 19, 2015
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | ARe*/OmniLit | Barnes & Noble |
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Blurb from goodreads:

Avoiding love is hard. Catching a killer can be fatal…

When Rob’s sister passed away, she left him her dog and her house. He can handle the dog part, but he doesn’t need another home. Especially a fixer-upper the neighbor swears is haunted.

Then he meets Bridget, who’s working on getting her life back together after a car accident left her scarred in more ways than one. She can’t pass up Rob’s offer of free lodging, regardless of the shape it’s in. Or the roommate that’s part of the package. She’s never believed in ghosts, but now she’s living with one who wants Bridget’s help in catching a killer. There’s only one problem: the killer has unfinished business.

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This scene happens early in the story. Rob is doing some repairs in the house that Bridget is renting and she walks in on him. They're attracted to each other but resisting for different reasons.

He hummed a tune she didn't recognize, but his jeans caught her attention. Or at least the ass that filled those jeans. Oh crap! She shouldn't be looking at his ass. He and his ass were off-limits. But damn. His ass looked finer than fine. Her heart palpitated and her body clenched in need for something she hadn't experienced in a very long time.

I hadn't realized how many times that paragraph had the word 'ass' in it until I started typing it. :D

Bea's Thoughts:

A murder mystery, ghosts, romance - all called to me and said 'Read me!' So I did. :D This is the first in a series and as such the world building, specifically the ghosts, was a little weak, but it was intriguing. Bridget can see ghosts but not when other people are around, only when she and the ghost are alone. Even if someone is a distance away but looking in their, she can't see the ghost. Why do some ghosts stay and some move on? Where do they go? Why can ghosts solidify sometimes but not others? It seemed to be at the author's convenience, what she needed to happen in the story, but maybe she'll expand on it in the next book.

Rob was a sweet guy with a heck of a lot of patience. Bridget is emotionally and physically scarred from a car accident and though she's physically healed, emotionally she's not. She pushes him repeatedly interspersed with times when she can't resist him. He never gave up on her but kept coming. He backed off whenever she wanted him to but he didn't walk away. At times, I wondered why not? But his attraction to her was strong. He was a sweet guy - he cried when his dog was sick, got emotional thinking about his dead parents and sister, was sentimental, and took good care of Bridget even she squawked. And she squawked A LOT. She did not like people caring for her. Partly it was because her mother had been hovering, fussing, and worrying ever since the accident and partly it was just Bridget's personality. She was prickly, sensitive, and easy to tease.

That latter appealed to Charlie, the ghost of Rob's sister. Charlie, whether dead or alive, loved to harass and tease people for no other reason than she could. She was frequently rude and thoughtless. But she also loved her brother Rob, wanted justice for her death, and worked to help Bridget get over her fear and let herself love Rob. All of the characters were interesting, though a few seemed to be there more as devices to make things happen than as real, essential characters. The interactions were believable and McKitrick has a sense of humor that appealed to me. The story hooked me early on and kept me reading, I read it in two sittings. The mystery of Charlie's death was not who did it but why and how to prove it. The proving was a bit coincidental and easy as was Charlie's intervention near the end of the story. But I was enjoying myself and was caught up enough that though I noticed the unlikeliness of the events, they didn't affect my enjoyment.

"Ghostly Liaison" is a romance first, then a paranormal, then a mystery. The different elements work together well and the story flows along, taking you along for the ride to the end. I will probably pick up the next book.