New Review from Passion For Pages

Passion For Pages: Ghostwriter by Lissa Bryan

Ghostwriter by Lissa Bryan

Titile: Ghostwriter
Author: Lissa Bryan
Publication Date: October 11, 2012
Source: ARC from Publisher
Summary (from Goodreads):

Newly single, unemployed, and with her savings dwindling to an all-time low, Sara thinks things are finally looking up when she lands a job ghostwriting a popular politician’s biography, and rents the affordable island home of her favorite author, Seth Fortner, who mysteriously disappeared in 1925. Strange things begin to happen as objects break, go missing, and terrifying visions appear, making Sara wonder if Seth ever left, or if she is slowly losing her mind. She gets no answers from his family who closely guards the secret of his disappearance. Through an old trunk of letters Sara discovers in the attic of her seaside cottage, Sara unravels the mystery and becomes caught up in a tale of greed, lost love, and the horrors of WWI. Will she be the one to break the “Fortner Curse” by helping Seth conquer his demons, and heal both of their hearts in the process?

                                 Review

Move over vampires and werewolves, I’m in love with a ghost.

I said in my latest post that I’ve been in a reading funk. It doesn’t matter how good the books have been I just haven’t been able to get into them. Almost two weeks ago I received the ARC ofGhostwriter but haven’t had the heart to read it. Today I finally decided to take a peek at it. Now I only have one question. 

Why did I wait this long?

I read this book cover to cover in just a couple of hours. I couldn’t put it down, and when I had to put it down (blasted children and pets!) I needed to pick it right back up again so I wasn’t left wondering what happened next.

Ms. Bryan weaves a wonderfully creative tale of a lonely woman and a ghost haunted by his past.

I fell in love with Seth from the second he stopped trying to scare Sara off—actually I might have started falling for him a little before that. His story is so romantically sad that my heart hurt while reading his story through his old letters. I hated the way he was taken advantage of while he was living, how everyone in his life expected so much from him but didn’t want anything to do with him. It pained me to read how in love with Marcella he was and have it destroyed by the terrible things he witnessed in the war.

Sara, while a somewhat plain character, was enjoyable to read. There wasn’t anything about her that you could dislike. I liked how she grew a backbone and faced off with her ex and put her mother in her place. 

The love story that develops between her and Seth is both beautiful and heartbreaking. You fear what will happen when it all comes to an end. How can a relationship work between a human and ghost? How will she ever be able to leave him? How will he feel once he’s once again left with only his nightmares as he wanders the island that he loves so much? All those questions flew through my mind as I devoured this book. Not to worry though, you do get your answers.

It was the character of Ginny that surprised me the most. Ms. Bryan did an excellent job of throwing in that little twist.

If this debut novel is any indication of what’s to come from Lissa Bryan, I think we’re the lucky ones to have found another great author.