Restless Spirits by Kathy Bryson

Restless Spirits by Kathy Bryson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Restless Spirits is a mix of contemporary family drama and fantasy. The book opens with Marliee Harper just about to lose her job after she burnt down her client’s house, a powerful opening scenario. We learn that Marliee is feisty and caring, she’s putting all her money into paying medical bills for her Mum.

Her relationship with her Mother is fun and the constant bickering between them works well. Mary Harper is one step ahead of Marliee and organises a job interview for her. John Smith is setting up a B&B at the old Jennings Place, a house once used as a hospital and rumoured to be haunted. He needs someone to oversee the renovations and to then run it as a manager. Mary and Marliee move in and I enjoyed all ghostly happenings especially with the box of balls. I looked forward to finding answers behind the lights and baseball throws.

The storyline went off in a different twist than the one I was expecting, stepping boldly over into the fantasy side of the tale with a mix of Shakespeare. Marliee once a strict non-believer in ghosts was plunged into a world of fairies, a Leprechaun and other-worldly beings.

There was a large cast of characters in the tale with some unusual and strong names, I remembered them because of their names rather than the mental images I had for them. A bit more reference to characteristics connected to their names may have helped, perhaps Elvis could have hummed songs from his namesake, and Thumbs regularly got his thumbs stuck.

Marliee’s character kept the fun in the tale. This is a stand alone book, there is a previous book where many of the characters and the fantasy world began which I have not read, possibly reading this would have helped me understand the way the storyline twisted from my own interpretation of contemporary to fantasy.

Find a copy here on Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

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