Scan barcode
A review by bookandcoffeeaddict
Give Up the Ghost by Kelly Moran
5.0
Give Up The Ghost is a friends to lovers ghost hunting romance set in a haunted ghost town while trying to outmaneuver an omen of death. It’s the second book in the Phantoms series but can easily be read alone.
In the previous book of the series, Ghost of a Promise, the team of the hit tv show Phantoms lost lead investigator Jackson after he fell in love and decided to settle down with the owner of the haunted bed & breakfast they were investigating. In Give Up The Ghost the rest of the cast goes on their first ghost hunt without him.
Kerry and Paul have been attached at the hip since they first met as cast members six years ago. For Paul, it was love at first sight. For Kerry, it was the beginning of a beautiful (platonic) friendship.
Moran does such a wonderful job with adding depth to her characters, but I was particular impressed with Kerry. Kerry is beautiful and she knows it, and she’s annoyed by how it causes people to treat her. She was the weird kid growing up, playing with invisible spirits that nobody else could see, but then she hit puberty and suddenly everybody wanted in her pants.
One of the reasons Kelly liked Paul so much was because he always saw past her pretty face and treated her like a real person with a brain. It’s also one of the reasons she’s so betrayed when she first finds out he’s been hiding an attraction to her. For all that she’s supposed to be an empath, Kerry has a Paul-shaped hole in her gift, having no idea of his feelings until he literally spells them out for her and it causes her to second guess his motives.
When Kerry starts being haunted by her doppelganger – a dead-eyed, blank faced ghostly lookalike bringing a silent premonition of danger and death – it jumpstarts both their hearts and libidos with the fear of how quickly they could lose each other.
As the ghostly warning follows Kerry and the rest of the Phantoms crew to an investigation of a ghost town in the middle of the Arizona desert that proves to be much more dangerous then expected, the heightened emotions act like a magnet. The two can’t stay away from each other, even though they know all the reasons why they should – like ruining their friendship or getting fired due to the no romance clause in their contracts.
For two people trying to keep their secret relationship under wraps, Kerry and Paul have a lot of steamy moments in the hotel suite they share with the rest of their castmates, with only a wall and a door to separate them. But they’re in love and scared they’re going to be separated any moment by either death or network executives, so allowances can be made for reckless decision making.
In the previous book, I was equally as invested in the ghost investigation as the unfolding romance, but in Give Up The Ghost I was much more engrossed in what was happening with Kerry and Paul.
It’s not that the investigation wasn’t interesting, it’s just that as Kerry was going through the 5 stages of grief over her own perceived soon-to-be death, I was going through my own emotional rollercoaster as obstacles kept the leads going back and forth on their relationship – at one point I may have even have called their producer Elise a bitch out loud (sorry Elise).
Overall, I very much enjoyed every minute (even the frustrating ones) of watching Kerry and Paul navigate a premonition of death, a ghost hunt in an isolated ghost town where one thing after another goes wrong, and disapproving producers to get the happy ending they deserved. The next book in the Phantoms series stars Sammy, the headstrong spitfire of the crew, and Cain, the new investigator that rubs her the wrong way – can’t wait to see the sparks fly!
In the previous book of the series, Ghost of a Promise, the team of the hit tv show Phantoms lost lead investigator Jackson after he fell in love and decided to settle down with the owner of the haunted bed & breakfast they were investigating. In Give Up The Ghost the rest of the cast goes on their first ghost hunt without him.
Kerry and Paul have been attached at the hip since they first met as cast members six years ago. For Paul, it was love at first sight. For Kerry, it was the beginning of a beautiful (platonic) friendship.
Moran does such a wonderful job with adding depth to her characters, but I was particular impressed with Kerry. Kerry is beautiful and she knows it, and she’s annoyed by how it causes people to treat her. She was the weird kid growing up, playing with invisible spirits that nobody else could see, but then she hit puberty and suddenly everybody wanted in her pants.
One of the reasons Kelly liked Paul so much was because he always saw past her pretty face and treated her like a real person with a brain. It’s also one of the reasons she’s so betrayed when she first finds out he’s been hiding an attraction to her. For all that she’s supposed to be an empath, Kerry has a Paul-shaped hole in her gift, having no idea of his feelings until he literally spells them out for her and it causes her to second guess his motives.
When Kerry starts being haunted by her doppelganger – a dead-eyed, blank faced ghostly lookalike bringing a silent premonition of danger and death – it jumpstarts both their hearts and libidos with the fear of how quickly they could lose each other.
As the ghostly warning follows Kerry and the rest of the Phantoms crew to an investigation of a ghost town in the middle of the Arizona desert that proves to be much more dangerous then expected, the heightened emotions act like a magnet. The two can’t stay away from each other, even though they know all the reasons why they should – like ruining their friendship or getting fired due to the no romance clause in their contracts.
For two people trying to keep their secret relationship under wraps, Kerry and Paul have a lot of steamy moments in the hotel suite they share with the rest of their castmates, with only a wall and a door to separate them. But they’re in love and scared they’re going to be separated any moment by either death or network executives, so allowances can be made for reckless decision making.
In the previous book, I was equally as invested in the ghost investigation as the unfolding romance, but in Give Up The Ghost I was much more engrossed in what was happening with Kerry and Paul.
It’s not that the investigation wasn’t interesting, it’s just that as Kerry was going through the 5 stages of grief over her own perceived soon-to-be death, I was going through my own emotional rollercoaster as obstacles kept the leads going back and forth on their relationship – at one point I may have even have called their producer Elise a bitch out loud (sorry Elise).
Overall, I very much enjoyed every minute (even the frustrating ones) of watching Kerry and Paul navigate a premonition of death, a ghost hunt in an isolated ghost town where one thing after another goes wrong, and disapproving producers to get the happy ending they deserved. The next book in the Phantoms series stars Sammy, the headstrong spitfire of the crew, and Cain, the new investigator that rubs her the wrong way – can’t wait to see the sparks fly!