Rating: 4🌈
Ghost Dater has the feel of an addendum short story to the wonderful Soul Eater. It reads like a cute afterthought to that tale. Turns out I’m not far off.
The author’s publisher put out a call for Halloween shorts and Ofelia Gränd thought her readers would like to see what the couple was up to.
Having problems, apparently.
At Halloween, the anniversary of Sandy’s untimely death.
A reader needs to have read Soul Eater before this to understand the characters, their history, and what they are going through to have their relationship. Sandy’s feelings at his new status are understandable but the lack of communication about those thoughts between the partners is not.
As the ghostly aspects of his new life are still in a learning phase, the frustrations Sandy is experiencing are emotions that the reader can relate to. The author is so very good at expressing these emotions and thoughts through scenes and dialogue.
The story is very short, only 38 pages long. I felt that the balance of voices between Sandy and his sorcerer mate, Thad , was a bit off, with Sandy the dominant POV. Perhaps that’s on purpose so when we get into the story and see Thad’s part of the plot, it’s a bit of a surprise.
For me, I missed the surrounding characters and more of these characters’ current lives as they just didn’t seem to fit as well into a short story format given their complexity in terms of relationship and developing mate bond. It ends with them called off to a new case. I’d love to see that happen.
Here’s to another case and another novel. This is a wonderful bridge between the two. Happy Halloween 🎃.
Buy Link:
Blurb:
Thaddeus Esax has a grumpy werewolf problem. For a year, he’s been mated to Sandulf Hunter, a ghost werewolf he brought back from the dead without meaning to. It’s been great. Thad’s been happy, and he believed Sandy was too. But Sandy has been sulking for more than a week, and Thad fears their relationship isn’t going as well as he believed.
The problem with being mated to a ghost is that said ghost never can leave your side, and therefore it’s extremely hard to keep secrets. Thaddeus wants to surprise Sandy, to cheer him up, but to do that, he has to trick him into believing they’re doing something they’re not.
Telling Sandy they’re having a Halloween party doesn’t go over well, but how do you trick a ghost? By making him believe he’ll be dressed up as a pirate for an evening, of course.
• Publisher: JMS Books LLC (October 13, 2021)
• Publication date: October 13, 2021
• Print length: 38 pages
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 