I had the great pleasure of receiving an ARC from Victoria Laurie to read and review the latest installment of her Ghost Hunter Mysteries series–No Ghouls Allowed. I can’t even tell you how much I love this series, and it keeps getting better with each book. I didn’t think it was possible to top her last installment, The Ghoul Next Door, but she certainly did so with the latest addition. I can’t express how highly I recommend this series for those who love paranormal stories with a dash of romance, and plenty of humor mixed into the mystery. No Ghouls Allowed hits shelves January 6, 2015.
(clicking on cover takes you to the author’s website)
M.J. has had a distant relationship with her father since her mother died more than two decades ago. But when M.J., her boyfriend, Heath, and BFF, Gilley, take a break from their show, Ghoul Getters, and visit her family home in Valdosta, Georgia, they find Montgomery Holliday a changed man. The source of his happiness seems to be his new fiancée, the charming Christine Bigelow.
But despite the blush of new love, Montgomery and Christine are dealing with a big problem in the form of the antebellum mansion she is having renovated. After a series of strange accidents, the work crew is convinced the place is cursed, and the contractor has walked off the job. At Christine’s request, M.J. and her pals agree to find out if they’re really dealing with some spirited saboteurs and a possessed plantation home.
My Review:
This wonderful new addition to the Ghost Hunter Mysteries starts with a trip home for M.J. Holliday, as she, Heath, and Gilley return to Valdosta, Georgia for her father’s wedding. And the action does not stop or let go of the reader from the moment she lays surprised eyes on her father.
The reunion is interrupted by a construction worker whose been working on the renovations at a home M.J.’s soon-to-be stepmother, Christine, purchased. He relays that there’s been an accident caused by something not living. Then, he promptly pulls his crew, which is the third crew to quit on poor Christine. After Heath volunteers them to check in on the home, which Christine and Monty (M.J.’s father) plan to move into, all M.J. is expecting to find is a crotchety old ghost who just doesn’t want to let go of the home.
But that’s not what they get.
What she, Heath, and Gilley encounter is heavy planters being thrown at them before they even step foot in the house, and something far darker than an ordinary ghost when they finally get inside. The three ghost hunters are dragged into a mystery that grows darker and darker the more they dig into the history of the people who once owned the house and the dark spirit that just won’t leave M.J. alone. A mystery that includes people that she loves the most, including her mother.
No Ghouls Allowed is an amazing addition to the series. The emotional journey M.J. takes in this book, as well as the paranormal one, pulls you in from the very beginning and doesn’t let go. The reader will find themselves thinking about the events of the book long after they’ve finished the story.
*Received an ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review
Haunted October 