Ghost Of A Chance

by Jayne Ann Krentz

Anne Silver turns to her ex-CIA agent ex-boyfriend when her brother is very nearly murdered while trying to expose a clever gang of fake psychics. But working side by side with Julian Aries puts more than her life on the line -- her heart may just be the first thing to go.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Fiction, Mystery, Romantic Suspense, Audiobook

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 1984

About the author

The author of over 50 consecutive New York Times bestsellers, JAYNE ANN KRENTZ writes romantic-suspense in three different worlds: Contemporary (as Jayne Ann Krentz), historical (as Amanda Quick) and futuristic (as Jayne Castle). There are over 30 million copies of her books in print.

She earned a B.A. in History from the University of California at Santa Cruz and went on to obtain a Masters degree in Library Science from San Jose State University in California. Before she began writing full time she worked as a librarian in both academic and corporate libraries.

Reviews

[*CJ* · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Ghost of a Chance" is the story of Sara and Julien.

A story filled with many hauntings, this book has our h and H reuniting after a tempestuous separation. The H is an ex cop, who takes the h's brother on a mission where the latter gets injured. The H unleashes her sisterly fury on the H, and the H leaves her alone for 6 months.
Now, she needs his help to expose a fake ghost hunting troop that has been robbing their clients, but finds the H in an isolated cabin in throes of fever.. well both from infection and passion. She helps heal him both medically and sexually, but denies the second the very next day.
Soon he convinces her to take the lead on the investigation, and both pose as the engaged relatives to a very rich lady who owns a million dollar mansion. But as the deceitful ghost hunters try communicating with the spirits, our h starts seeing visions of a real one..Is the castle really haunted? Why are the hunters trying to seduce the seemingly engaged couple? Does the H really love her?
Find out in this read!

This was both engaging and boring in parts. The story dragged midway, and only picked up in the last half of the book. There were many ghosts in this book- the real ones, and the ones which haunted dreams, but all got their atonement in the end. Their is drama, action, hot sex, scary nice spirits and a obsessive H with a resistant h.

The book got a bit spooky in parts, and had to turn on the lights LOL.

Safe
2.5/5

[Cheryl Kitson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did not age well. Hero is kind of a dick. Very late 80's

[Jadzia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to label it as a better one from short novels by Krentz. The heroine was not unnervingly naive and the hero was more than a bit uncertain, which was refreshing and rather pleasant, for a change. They deal together with hero's illness and the fraud ghost hunters in a typical manner. Tylical for Krentz, that is.

[Alyssa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think the most important thing to point out starting out is the fact this book is from the 80s. There are themes and opinions involved that definitely show the perspective of the times. The date in my book says it was published in 1984. If you don’t like to see consent disrespected, or how men would think or act in the 80s, you might not like this book. If you do like that, then you might also like Serpent in Paradise by the same author.

The story itself is okay. I don’t have any issues with that. Anne and Julian plan to trap some ghost hunters who use their profession to rob houses. That’s all well and good. The plot even wraps up nicely, though I’m not surprised about the plot twist at the end. I actually had my suspicions early on.

The biggest issue in the whole book is Julian. I have pages of notes about how horrible Julian is. I cannot stress enough how frequently he disrespects consent. There is technically no rape, however a significant amount of consent is in a very gray area, or in the badgering category, which does not really count as true consent.

Julian tries to find sexual meanings or responses in practically everything. He does not understand simple human compassion, and he is delusional enough to mentally justify all of his actions, even if his justification completely goes against something he was told. There are no redeeming qualities about him. He is a toxic person, and Anne should not like him at all. Any sweetness at the tail end of the book does not make up for the entirety of the book before it, nor does it change anything about him. Julian basically ruins the whole book.

Aside from all the Julian garbage, there are only two more things I think are worth mentioning. Anne doesn’t stand up to Julian nearly enough. She lets him manipulate her too much. The last thing isn’t related to the story, but there seem to be a significant amount of typos.

[Elena · Rating 3 out of 5]

This had the potential of being a good mystery/romance. However, I unfortunately couldn't find an unabridged audio version , so the overall impression was somewhat less than stellar! I will get the full-lenght book from the library to hopefully give the story justice...

[Marybelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok story, nothing to write home about.

[Monique Takens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dit boekje is in het Nederlands vertaald verschenen met de titel : Met tegenwoordigheid van geest - Love Affair 1 , een uitgave van Harlequin Holland .
Een hedendaagse roman ( ahum .. de tijd heeft dit boekje flink ingehaald hoor ! geen pc of mobieltje enz. te bekennen -maar het is dan ook geschreven in 1984 ) is niet mijn gebruikelijke leesvoer maar ik ben een fan van Amanda Quick -een andere pen naam van J.A. Krentz - en ik had het boekje liggen dus ik dacht ach waarom niet .
Het verhaal was eigenlijk best wel leuk met de karakteristieke sterk in hun schoenen staande Held en Heldin ( waarom heet ze in de Nederlandse versie eigenlijk Joan ? ) die hun onzekerheden verbergen onder een dikke laag eigenwijsheid . En ja .. er kwam een echte geest in voor !! vandaar de titel dus .
Een leuk boekje voor wie het interessant vind om de verschillen/overeenkomsten te zoeken in schrijfstijl van deze auteur door de jaren heen .

[Janet Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jayne Ann Krentz cannot write a less than good book. This, one of her early romantic suspense novels, is pretty good, just not complex enough by her later standards.
Anne Silver dashes off into the snowy Colorado mountains for help it discover who tried to kill her brother. The helper in question is an ex-CIA operative who has his own problems.
Once he discovers that Anne is going after the culprit or culprits even if she has to go alone, Julian tags along to keep her out of danger.
Bogus ghost hunters are up to something, and Anne and Julian are determined to uncover the truth or die trying. Perhaps they will have help from an unexpected source.

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This isn't really my favorite genre anyway, but this book was quite lackluster -- IMHO. Also, there were a bunch of grammatical errors and typos -- that bothers me in a published book. Neither the romance or the ghost story was particularly compelling, but I didn't abandon it. Could be an easy summer read if you're a romance fan.

[Monika Zemánková · Rating 1 out of 5]

takové utrpení jako při čtení tohohle jsem ještě nezažila, a to jsem četla gothikanu... nevim jestli byl horší ten plot nebo ten muž, ale nejhorší je určitě to, že ke konci jsme to začínala eat upovat

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Romance mixed with fake ghost hunters and a real ghost what's not to enjoy?!

[Marion Lipetz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not up to her usual writing.

[Robyn Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audible

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story was good. Not a fan of the narration.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a big Jayne Ann Krentz fan. You can definitely tell that this was one of her early works.
Is fun to see the growth in her writing from then to now. Was an easy Romance weekend read.

[Brenda Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

was a good book

[LDE 🌸 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Far from her best work. The romance/relationship was not healthy and not appealing.

[Peggy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story, unusual reactions to ghosts and the usual two end up together 🙂

[Doris · Rating 1 out of 5]

Blah. Not even really worth rating. First, although the book's blurb says her ex-boyfriend is CIA, that is never stated in the story. Second, I picked this up as I had recently read another Krantz story, which had a frisson of danger, a touch of excitement, and ghost activity, only to find that this one was a boilerplate “romance” with a hint of a ghost.

I don’t even consider this romance, because, even though the ‘standard’ in 1984 was that the modern, capable, successful woman wanted to be forced by a strong male, I never liked those, seeing them as rape stories. I would suggest passing this one by.

(Note - I think this wound up in my library selection as mistaken identity - I wanted another book by the same title that is on my to-reads list by a different author.)

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anne Silver's brother has been put in the hospital by a gang of thieves, posing as ghost hunters. Anne and her sister in law make a plan to catch them, but she realizes she may need the help of her ex boyfriend, an ex Cia agent Julian Aries. She tracks him down as he is recovering from his last assignment in the jungle. What she finds turns out to be more than she can handle in more ways, than one. The mystery is very good as they try to unravel who all the players are. Ms. Krentz always writes a good book filled with danger, and romance. I loved the surprise ending, at least for me and Anne. Julian had it worked out way in advance, but things still took a twist even he was unprepared for. I loved the ghost in this story as well, and her secret. Good read!

[Sandra Munger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anne and Julian had a mutual attraction but she got mad when he took her brother on a dangerous mission and refused to have anything to do with him. But now she needs his help. They solve the problem and resolve their issues. One of her early romances

[Kitty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short, enjoyable romance, with a bit of a ghost story. Anne decides to take on the dangerous assignment of catching the would-be thieves that tried to kill her brother. However, it looks like she's going to need the help of a old flame she never quite got over. In the end, the ghost does her part to help, too.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first exposure to Krentz' work, which was recommended by a friend, and I must confess I was somewhat disappointed. While her descriptions are vivid, they are somewhat verbose, and the storyline seems to take too long to develop. There were some interesting turns in the end, but the story is more about the characters than the story.

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having migraines has made reading very hard for me, so please don't take the time it takes me to read a book as an indicator of the book, it just depends on when the migrations come.

I really enjoy Jayne Anna Krentz books. And I was happy to find one I had not read yet. Keeps you interested with the occasional twist.

[Maria · Rating 2 out of 5]

For some reason this book just doesn't gel for me. The plot is weak, the characters not quite her usual quality, although she does a great job with Julian Aries, at least, and it lacks her trademark humor. I still re-read it, however, because in my opinion, any JAK is better than none.

[Brenda Audiobooks Only]

Narrated by Aasne Vigesaa -

I've listened to Audible's abridged version of this book - narrated by Lynn Flusch. It wasn't a bad listen, actually a pretty good abridgement ... but I'm looking forward to the unabridged version and a narrator I've enjoyed before.

[Christine US · Rating 1 out of 5]

Maybe I just need to accept that books that were re-released or re-published are not always done so for the quality of the book. This was must've been done to sucker in people like me -- thinking it's a new title by an enjoyed author. Just felt stuffy and outdated, and terribly unoriginal.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Anne turns to Julian to help her with her brother's attempted murder by some ghost hunters. Started good, then cray. The major thought that I left with is-- if you grow up truly believing your mother to be capable of murder, that's the cray you should be processing.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars
I enjoy reading Jayne Ann Krentz but this book didn't hold my interest and thankfully it was short and I listened to the audiobook. I found the story boring. However, the sex scenes were plenty for a book published in 1984.

[Pamela · Rating 2 out of 5]

I listened to the audio version and the narrator was AWFUL! She over pronounced the words, and some of her "voices" were annoying. The story line was simple and repetitive. How many times the author need to use "laconic" and "sardonically" ??? Find a thesaurus, please. Not a fan of this one.