Ghost Gifts (A Ghost Gifts Novel Book 1)

I always look forward to the Kindle First picks of the month because I enjoy branching out of my normal preferred genres of contemporary romance, historical fiction, and New Adult fiction. I was drawn to this book because it appeared to be a combination of several genres (mystery/suspense, romance, and paranormal) and I was intrigued by the story line. Ghost Gifts is the first book I've read by Laura Spinella and I have to say, for the most part, I enjoyed it! This book intrigued me enough to keep reading and offered enough twists and turns and heart-pounding anticipation that I couldn't put it down. This book also switches back and forth between present day and 20 years prior, to the time when Aubrey Ellis, the protagonist, is a 13-year-old girl, and where it all started.33-year-old Aubrey Ellis is a home portrait features editor at the Surrey City Press in Surrey, Massachusetts. Basically she works with real estate agents to write pieces on homes to try to help sell them. When a new discovery uncovers a murder committed twenty years ago, she is assigned to help Levi St John, the city desk editor of the Hartford Standard Speaker, with the story because she has a lot of contacts in the community and knows the town well. The other talent she possesses is one only her grandmother, Charley, knows about. Aubrey is, in essence, a medium, and can talk with the deceased as well as receive signs from them. Aubrey keeps a box of "ghost gifts," mementos from ghosts she has spoken with in the past and they often help her recall memories. This box comes in handy throughout the book. She has tried to lead a normal life by working as a reporter but it seems as though her talents are going to be utilized in the latest development in the decades-old murder of Missy Flannigan. Aubrey and Levi spend a lot of time together and the whole time, Aubrey has to decide what to do about her disintegrating marriage to her husband Owen.I really enjoyed the unique combination of romance, encounters with the paranormal, and solving the murder mystery. I typically avoid reading murder mysteries but this one really wasn't gory and gruesome so I was able to enjoy it. There is nothing particularly scary about it; it's more just suspenseful in the fact that the chapters end with a new piece of news that kept me turning pages. I often noticed parts of the book dragged on with so many details, only to end on a brand new piece of information that flared my excitement again. Obviously it was enough to keep me going and the book really got going at the end. I never would have imagined the ending to turn out the way it did and I like how all of the puzzle pieces came together.I definitely recommend reading this book if you are like me and feel like reading a book that doesn't fit into one specific genre, but rather multiple genres that create a very unique and intriguing story. Just know that the story can drag on but keep reading because it continues to get better!

Good read with misdirections galore, so it took me a while to unearth the real murderer. More about this in spoiler to follow. You are warned about the spoiler to come.The romance was more realistic, because it was not the usual (unbelievable) love at first sight. The romance evolved organically with the two protagonists first untangling from their established and messy relationships.I preferred the Kindle edition of “Ghost Gifts” because the Audible narrator failed to give the characters distinct voices; This was especially true for female characters who all sounded breathy and occasionally breathless.Although the Kindle version was superior, this book could have benefited from a good editor to correct writing problems and to cut some fat from the book. Other reviewers have addressed these issues far better than I could.SPOILER: the opening flashback story (page 14) is set in Massachusetts in fall, and the protagonist finds a bouquet of small, delicate purple flowers—no name or scent mentioned. These flowers are critical to the solution of the mystery, but that the flowers are wild violets is not revealed until page 351. It’s an odd clue, because wild violets are annuals that grow in spring to early summer in New England. However, this book IS a paranormal mystery, so ghosts could probably manifest wild violets no matter the time of year.

Having recently decided to take advantage of the Amazon Prime membership privilege of one free Kindle book per month, this month's choice was "Ghost Gifts" by Laura Spinella. I note that it already has a healthy crop of reviews, most of them strongly positive, so I don't really suppose there is a great deal to add. I found the story plausible, and the treatment of Aubrey's "gift" of receiving messages from the spirits of those who had passed on intelligently described. Her specific "application" of this gift in terms of visiting and profiling houses in a small-town newspaper, thereby making herself available to transmit valuable messages to the survivors of previous owners is quite fascinating.The story weaves past and present events together in an intricate plot that develops effectively as the narrative moves to an unexpected and dramatic culmination. Although this IS a "romance" and therefore includes the obligatory sexual encounter, it occurs late in the book, and does not in any way drive the plot. Characterization is well developed, and the descriptiveness is vivid. The psychological conflict surrounding Aubrey because of her gift is realistic and well-presented. This book definitely kept me interested and sympathetic.

This is the first book of Laura's that I've read. From the start she captured me. It's a romance, thriller, supernatural book all rolled into one. Aubrey sees and speaks to the dead. She's about to get divorced from Owen but he turns up saying he wants to make a fresh start.Aubrey still loves him. She's working as a reporter in a small town doing reports on the local houses up for sale, solving any ghost dilemmas that occur when she gets a new partner, Levi who together they begin to investigate a murder from 20 years ago. Missy had gone missing but no body ever turned up until it rolled out of a basement wall and so starts the mystery. The story alternates between present day and Missy's story 20 years ago. Who did it?? ... you have to read the book to find out but will say its not who you think.

This is a wonderful ghosts story. Aubrey has a gift which enables her to communicate with ghosts. As a reporter on the local press, she is assigned to work with Levi on the case of the mystery of the newly discovered remains of Missy Flannigan who was killed 20 years previously. The one spirit who doesn't seem to come and talk to Aubrey is Missy. I loved the characters of Aubrey and Levi and this story is great.

Brilliant story about Aubrey who is trying to have a normal, quiet life. Not an easy feat when you can speak to the dead, work at the local newspaper and a 20 year old murder case gets reopened after the body falls out of a wall. When a reporter from another paper is brought in to help her work the case everything gets even more complicated.I really liked the build-up of Aubrey and Levi and the sub-stories about their lives in the background. There was a nice mix of personal and murder-mystery throughout and by the end I couldn't stop - I needed to find out what happened! Great work, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

This is the first book I've read by this author and I did enjoy it, although it's not usually a genre I read. However, after reading Ghost Gifts I am searching out more of her books.This was an interesting story, well constructed and easy to read. I found myself becoming increasingly interested and also concerned about what happened to the main character, and if I actually care about a character then for me the story works.I would recommend this to anyone who likes a good ghost story, but also purely for the fact that it is a book that I actually found myself looking forward to picking when my reading time came around each day.

Usually I read a novel by chapters so that I know where I am up to and finish at a small conclusion, with this story I just didn't want to put it down and realised I was having to leave it when I could pull myself out of the fascination storyline. Laura Spinella has made some engaging characters who you just what to know more about. She deals with a very difficult subject but manages to keep on the prophecies so that it doesn't take over the main focus of what the reader wants to know. I enjoyed the way she writes and because this is the first novel I have tried and was introduced via a Kindle offer I'm off to explore more of her work.