An amazing story! Definitely a keeper.
A must read. A good page turner.
A enjoyable read. An average book.
A book that has flaws and is hard to finish.
Terrible and couldn't finish it.
GUEST REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY: GHOST SHADOW BY HEATHER GRAHAM
First of all I want to thank Danielle for asking me to be a part of the Halloween Spooktacular Event here at Romance Book Junkies! I'm really excited to be able to share with you!
Over at my blog Debbie's Book Bag readers will find an eclectic mix of reviews from just about every genre, including romance and of it's wonderful sub-genres. One my favorite subsets is romantic suspense with a touch of the paranormal. When I think of Halloween, I tend to think vampires and witches and things that go bump in the night and one of my favorite authors of this kind of book is Heather Graham.
The book I've chosen to reveiw for you today is Ghost Shadow which was originally published in June of 2010, but I think it's very fitting considering the entire Bone Island Trilogy is about a Halloween favorite, ghosts...
Ghost Shadow (Bone Island Trilogy - Book 1) by Heather Graham
Publication Date: June 2010
Publisher: Mira
Genre: Romantic Suspense / Paranormal elements
Pages: Paperback, 361pp
ISBN-13: 9780778327912
ISBN: 0778327914(Reviewed from my personal collection)
Excerpt from Ghost Shadow
Synopsis:
There are those who walk among us who are no longer alive, but not yet crossed over. They seek retribution…vengeance…to warn. Among the living, few intuit their presence.
Katie O'Hara is one who can.
As she’s drawn deeper and deeper into a gruesome years-old murder, whispered warnings from a spectral friend become more and more insistent. But Katie must uncover the truth: could David Beckett really be guilty of his fiancée’s murder?
Worse – the body count’s rising on the Island of Bones, and the dead seem to be reenacting some macabre tableaux from history. The danger is increasing by the moment – especially as Katie finds herself irresistibly drawn to David, who may be responsible for more than just one killing….
Thoughts:
Heather Graham's book, Ghost Shadow is the first book in the Bone Island Trilogy which follows the exploits of Kate O'Hara who intuitively senses the presence of spirits that have not crossed over into the beyond for one reason or another. The entire series is romantic suspense at it's best! When you add in the paranormal element of ghostly apparitions it's the perfect book for the spookiest of seasons. Graham's writing is smooth and flawless when it comes to bringing out the romance in any situation and giving just enough steam to draw in readers from may different genres There is a little bit of something for almost every kind of reader in Ghost Shadow.
Ghost Shadow has a strong heroine in Kate and readers will find her tenacious, resourceful and very sensual. Though the book has a romantic suspense bent the romance itself takes center stage in this one. Kate falls for the mysterious David Beckett who was accused of killing his fiance 10 years ago. David's character has a dark kind of aura about him, it lends itself to the possibility that he could be capable of something like this, but the reader is kept off balance by him until the end. Graham does a fantastic job of drawing Kate and David together in the midst of the turmoil surrounding them. The heat between them is almost palpable in certain scenes of the book and readers will staying up all night and jumping at every noise just to see what happens next.
The paranormal aspect of Heather Graham's books has always fascinated me. In Ghost Shadow, the ghost in question, Bartholomew has several reasons for being included in the book. His wit and humor add a lot of comic relief to an otherwise darker novel. Bart, a pirate from way back is determined to protect Kate and is her constant companion. Bart also provides a re-occurring character for the series that readers will enjoy reading about. Heather Graham also does an inordinate amount of research for her books and readers will really appreciate her attention to detail and the history that surrounds her ghosts, her settings and just about every aspect of her writing. When I want to read a really good ghostly read, she is my go-to author and the paranormal aspects of her writing never overwhelms the romance.
This is a great novel for the Halloween season and certain puts new meaning into things that go bump in the night. The paranormal part of the book is extremely well written and researched. Graham's suspense is second to few authors in the romantic suspense sub-genre and the heat of coming off the romantic parts of the book is sizzling. I recommend it to romance readers, paranormal enthusiasts and mystery and suspense fans.
Ghost Shadow is available NOW from your favorite bookseller.
I'm giving this novel 5 out of 5 apples from my book bag!
GIVEAWAY DETAILS:
~ This will be an international Giveaway (if the book depository can send to you, you can win!) sponsored by Debbie's Book Bag!
~ You don't have to be a follower of Debbie's Book Bag or Romance Book Junkies to participate, but each follow will be appreciated.
~ The deadline to enter the giveaway is Midnight EST October 31st.
~ The winner will receive one paperback copy of Ghost Shadow by Heather Graham.
~ The winner will be chosen via random.org.
1. Please leave a comment on this post that includes your name or alias and an e-mail address.
2. Tell us one of your scariest Halloween moments and you could win, Ghost Shadow!
16 comments:
It's a new discovery for me. To be honest just with the name i wouldn't have tried it but after your review i'm feeling rassured it's not too dark so yes i would like to try.
Thanks you for doigng this giveaway international
So, i've had a real terrific moment on Halloween at least thinking about it now. Because it isn't celebrated much in my country when i was a child there was only some topic about on television like a special evening and such. Normally i was forbidden to watch it but my brother is a lot older than me se he could and sometimes i was sitting on the stairs in silence and secret.
It was a show about disapparence and such i thought nothing of it...until i woke up during the night, the house so quiet. I got up and there was noboday at home...i started crying thing they disappared and hide myself under a bed trembling...
Fortunately the dog came next to me and when my parents came back he went to them to show where i was ( still terrified)...for me it was like several hours later in fact it was 10minutes and there were just in front of the house because my father was a secourist and there was a car crash so they went to help. Nothing bad no disapparence but for the small child i was it was the end of the world for that short moment. ( as you can guess, i followed my advice parent after that and didn't watch anymore show for grow up)
Gfc name ( follower) isabelle frisch
isabelle(dot)frisch(at)gmail(dot)com
thanks you again for the giveaway and for taking part in this event.
Oo that book looks like a great read!
We don't particularly celebrate halloween in Australia but there has been some freaky moments recently involving our door buzzer going off at 3:30am then stopping then 5 minutes later going off again then just stopping. My gandmother has passed and she always said that she would let us know she was watching over us by ringing our door buzzer. It really freaks me out haha
GFC- Jet
bookdevoteereviews(at)hotmail(dot)com
Thanks for the giveaway. I really dont have any scary moments. Please enter me in contest. I would love to read this book. Tore923@aol.com
I am a HUGE Heather Graham fan, so I would really like to win this giveaway! I haven't read a book of hers yet that I didn't love:)
My scariest moment is any time I have tried to go through a haunted house! I know it's fake, but I still end up scared out of my gourd! I now avoid them at all costs so as not to totally embarrass myself :)
jwitt33 at live dot com
My most scary halloween moment was when I was 16. I went trick or treating as Elvira that year. My costume was awesome. My boyfriend and I went trick or treating with a group of friends. Towards the end of the night though, the group decided they wanted to go to the town graveyard. Several of them had ideas of hiding among the gravestones to make out or something. We followed behind them (which was a mistake) and a group of older boys jump out from behind the tombstones to scare us. That freaked me out, but it scared me more when they made comments about my costume and my boyfriend pretty much left me to defend myself. I left that graveyard as fast as I could to go home.
phaedracamille@gmail.com
Thankfully I never had any scary moments...one time, the creepiest thing that happened was a black cat crossed my path and kept staring at me. It stared at me after I crossed it and it didn't turn away even when I walked into my building.
angeldream3[AT]gmail[DOT]com
Don't enter me into the giveaway. I have incredibly tame tales. But thanks for the post!
Vivien
deadtossedwaves at gmail dot com
I have a scary story though I'm not sure if it's ghost-related or not. Once I was making noodles on the stove. When I was holding the pot, I felt a weight slam down on my shoulders. It felts like two hands pressing down on my shoulders. I know it was real because I dropped the pot. I looked around thinking a family member had done it...but there was no one around. It was creepy.
Thanks for the giveaway.
Cambonified (at) yahoo (dot) com
We don't celebrate Halloween in South Africa and thankfully I don't have any scary moments to report :)
Jet, that door buzzer would freak me out!!!
Thank you for making the giveaway international :)
baychriz at gmail dot com
Thank you for the great post I don't really do to much for halloween I do like to watch scary movies!
Thank you for the great giveaway!
tishajean@ charter.net
scariest halloween moment was when i was alone in the living room wtching some random horror movie and i really felt uneasy because im scared, not just because of the movie but because ive been hearing some scary noises around plus the dogs just wont shut up.
Jel
punkme15 at gmail dot com
I think the scariest Halloween moment was when I was trick or treating as a kid and just walking to the next house and out of no where came my friend in a Jason mask with a knife. OMG I thought I died. He was screaming so loud and I freaked out big time. I was scared crapless of Jason.
Mary
mary_reiss @ hotmail.com
I don't actually have any scary Halloween stories to tell, my life is usually pretty tame for the most part. =) I'd really like a chance to read the book though. =)
Valerie Long (Scorpio1974 on GFC)
just.val.1974@gmail.com
Jewelry Creations by V.S. Long - https://www.facebook.com/vsl1974
I don't have a lot of scary Halloween moments. The only thing remotely scary I can think of is my mom swearing that a ghost moved the furniture around in my brother and I's room when we were sleeping when I was about 5. I do remember waking up with my bed on the other side of the room!
mmafsmith at gmail dot com
Scary Halloween moment is when me and my friends were actually in a haunted maze and i swear the walls were moving in on us and we got so scared i was tearing up and saying i love you to them.
khyla_808ATyahooDOTcom
I don't have a lot of scary tales but once I saw something in the darkness that didn't look quite real. I saw it was a person, but there was no one there.
rachybee101@live.com.au
Post a Comment
Each of my followers mean the world to me and I would love to hear from each and every one of you.
:)