Double Dating with the Dead

Haunted #1

by Karen Kelley

Hands Off My Astral Plane!

Psychic Selena James is having the kind of week that makes her happy to talk to the dead. First, famously skeptical (and sinfully sexy) writer, Trent Sanders, called her delusional on TV. Next, her outraged mother publicly challenged him to spend two weeks with Selena at the haunted Garvey Hotel. Now, if Selena can't prove ghosts exist, she'll answer to Trent's private one night in his bed. . .

Trent Sanders doesn't believe in anything he can't see, taste, or touch, and what he sees right now he would definitely enjoy tasting and touching. Selena James might be a bit kooky, but she's also blessed with a wicked sense of humor, like when she pinched his butt and insisted it wasn't her, but one of the hotel's resident "ghosts." Riiiiiight. But as things move from "haunted" to extremely hot, Trent's starting to believe some things in life just can't be explained. . .

"An over-the-top, spunky romance. . . Fans will not be disappointed with the witty humor, wacky characters and sexual tension, and new readers will be hooked." -- Romantic Times

"Her books are funny and romantic with the perfect blend of spice!" --Gena Showalter

Genres: Romance, Paranormal Romance, Ghosts, Paranormal, Humor, Paranormal Urban Fantasy, Contemporary

314 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 1, 2007

About the author

Karen Kelley always had a secret desire to live the life of a Gypsy. So she and her husband quit their jobs, sold their house, decluttered their lives and moved into their 5th wheel RV. Now they're traveling the United States. She works full time on her writing and spends her downtime walking on the beach or hiking in the mountains. Her motto has always been 'Who says you can't have it all.'

Reviews

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was fun and kind of silly but overall enjoyable.

Although the story was totally clichéd and I didn't feel as though I formed any sort of love or attachment to any of the characters the book was still pretty fluffy and amusing enough in parts that it managed to keep me reading.

There were some slight things that started to get on my nerves such as I felt as though some of the phrases used started to get repetitive. I also wasn't sure if it's just because I'm English or if the writing got "confused" sometimes... I'll just use this as an example because I just read it and it's one of the parts I remember thinking this. Selena says that she wants toast and jelly for breakfast, I remember thinking that was odd because near the start she said she wouldn't eat anything that 'wiggled around in her mouth'. Then a few lines down it turns into toast and jam... to me, jelly and jam are two completely different things... But, as I said before, it might just be because I'm English. Another thing was that at certain points I felt like the writer was trying a little too hard. Especially when Selena got excited over the fact that Trent remembered 'the exact kind of doughnuts that she liked' when she had literally just been in the kitchen, telling him off for eating her last doughnut because she needed chocolate in the morning. One final thing... *cough* although the fantasies were hot, I didn't think the sex was all that.... there was good build up but then it was sort of disappointing. *cough*

However I did thoroughly enjoy the ghost element, as clichéd as it was. I liked the couple of chapters that were given from Dixie and Wesley's point of view, they were so cheeky! And Matilda was especially lovely. I must have spent a good amount of my time while reading the book yelling at Trent for not paying attention to the fact that she was wearing the same outfit every time he saw her. Jeesh, men. I was sort of sad that the transition between the ending and the epilogue was so abrupt but the part with all the ghosts watching Selena and Trent at the end was so funny and I wish we could see Selena and Trent's reactions when the ghosts finally re-appear!

I did like this book, it's not something I would read if I really wanted to get my teeth into something but I would recommend it to anyone who wanted to do a bit of light reading and have a couple of laughs to fill their time up with, it definitely fills that purpose.

[Aarann · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was just not my bag. In fact, I think this author in general just isn't my bag, as this was my second try with her and by the end it felt more like a "Well, I'm this far into it, I might as well finish it" chore to finish than a "Aw, how cute, I can't wait to see how these two crazy kids work it out" pleasure. This should have been a cute read, involving a woman who sees ghosts forced to spend two weeks in a haunted house with a professional skeptic, but it just didn't... charm me. It felt like the two leads were so busy thinking about sex, or dreaming about having sex, or actually having sex that I just couldn't figure out why they'd ever fall for each other, except that the Book Said So. (I'm going to tag the next bit because it discusses the end, although, really, I'm not talking about anything you shouldn't see coming since it's, ya know, a romance novel.) Even the Epilogue, where the two are married seemed very forced to me, and I think I was actually surprised by the fact that they had gotten married.

The writing wasn't bad, per se, in that I didn't find a lot of spelling and grammatical errors, and the sentence structure was solid, but I also felt like there should have been more there. These characters and the things that happened to them could have been funny and cute and charming and just sort of... fell flat for me. Happily, both of my attempts with this author's books were from the library, so I'm thankful I didn't spend any money on them, and I don't think I'll try again. I don't think she's really for me.

[Blodeuedd Finland]

Meh, gave up

[Mihaela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny and easy read. I loved it!!

[Daniell Marsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute read. Loved the ghosts and how they interacted with the main characters. Would read this book again for the laughs. Enjoyed how the author shared how the main characters got to point they are in their life. The doughnuts, morning coffee and relatives all added to the story.

[Cherie Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book. I loved the living and the ghosts. 🔥🌟🔥🌟🔥🌟🔥🌟🔥🌟🔥🌟🔥🌟🔥🌟🔥🌟🔥🌟🔥🌟🔥🔥🌟🔥

[Rebecka Van Der Hoek · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, a quick read from my Libby app.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Setting: 1800’s haunted hotel;

Theme: cons/suspicion/believe/trust; falling in love

Characters:
Selena James: psychic; can see and speak with ghosts; has weekly column; when author declares she is a fraud on TV, her mother issues a challenge to spend 2 weeks with Selena and ghosts, and Selena agrees as she wants to protect her job;

Trent Sanders: author specializing in debunking psychic phenomena, seeing them as cons out to defraud people; when in college, his father died, and he returned home to take care of mother and brother; and almost lost all their savings to a con artist – making him very wary; says derogatory things about Selena on a talk show; accepts Selena’s mother’s challenge to spend 2 weeks with Selena in a haunted hotel;

Wesley & Dixie: ghosts from 1800’s – he a cowboy, her a saloon girl – both had been flirting with others to make the other jealous, and it ended up with them both shot dead; they are horny ghosts, living vicariously through the rare ‘guests’; during course of book, they are honest with their feelings and with their past and come to an understanding of tender feelings; get to enjoy a vicarious dance up in the attic, inhabiting Selena and Trent’s bodies; they play invisible pranks on Trent (pinching his butt, opening the bathroom door when he steps out of shower, and Selena walking past, braking the porch swing when he is sitting on it and is annoying), not wanting them to go too soon, but have regular dialogues with Selena;

Matilda & Hiram: Matilda freely talks with Trent, with homilies about her Hiram, and his thoughts on life, and warnings about Wesley and Dixie and then disappearing around the back of the house in a blink of the eye; at first Trent believes Selena was paying her to give him the stories – and ultimately, when she tells him she is a ghost, is when he completely believes;

Mother & brother Sanders: come to help clean up, to bring them food, to check up on them; mother gets along with Selena and her family – especially connecting with her mother – in the end hiring her to work in her antiques store:

Mother & sister James: mother a psychic wanna be, but doesn’t have the talent; sister is a witch; both come to help clean up, bring food, check up on them;

Summary:
As the week progresses they bond over his coffee, and her chocolate donuts, and hot kisses; he comes up for reasonable explanations for anything suspicious, but fairly quickly comes to believe she is crazy, but not a conman; the ghosts sprinkle glittery dust when sleeping, and they y share highly erotic dreams;t

As he is ready to throw in the towel because he cannot hurt her, she reads his notebook with his first thoughts about her… she gets pissed, stages first a voodoo spell with him the victim, and then a séance with her sister’s help – though Dixie genuinely shows up; she drops into an abandoned well and Matilda gets trent to rescue her – Matilda convinces him of the truth of ghosts – and a year later, he has a successful psychic book, they are married, they are honeymooning at the hotel – that they are opening as a haunted bed and breakfast.

[Jessi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this would be more of a chick-lit book but it has a ridiculous amount of sex in addition to the ghosts and psychic powers. Selena James is a psychic and newspaper writer who leveled a challenge to professional cynic Trent Sanders. They'll live in a purportedly haunted hotel for two weeks and if she can prove that ghosts exist, he'll print that news but if she can't, he'll ruin her name in his next book.
Well, the ghosts do exist and two of them, Dixie (saloon girl) and Wes (her main squeeze) see Selena and Trent as a chance to play some games.
Can't tell if it was really an interesting book or my low expectations made it seem that way but it was a nice diversion.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

One spicy hot tamale of a book! Part of the storyline very much reminded me of Jude Deveraux's Someone to Love and the theme of sexually frustrated ghosts. All in all a fast read - although a bit transparent. I saw the ending and what lead up to it a mile away.

I've also read Kelley's Temperature's Rising and found it to be enjoyable as well.

Just don't expect deep thoughts -- I would say fluff - sexy fluff!

[SweetSue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finished this a couple of days ago. It's a cute, fun, somewhat steamy read. Selena speaks to ghosts (not sure how you actually make a living doing that) and Trent is a reporter who believes she is a fraud and is writing an expose about her. They end up in a haunted house where she see and talks to one set of ghosts that he can't see, and he (unwittingly) sees and talks to another. The entire unbelievable plot was funny, the dialogue snappy, and the tension sizzled between our leads. Nothing serious at all going on here, but it was a great fun read.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny book, not a vampire book despite the sound of the title - ghosts!

Psychic Selena James is having the kind of week that makes her happy to talk to the dead. First, famously skeptical (and sinfully sexy) writer, Trent Sanders, called her delusional. On TV. Now she's spending two weeks at the haunted Garvey Hotel. With Trent. And the ghosts. Who won't show themselves to Trent because they don't like him... [amended from Amazon:]

[Jonquil · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book really needed an experienced editor. It dragged as its potential muddied by the same few things happened repeatedly; erotic dreams, ghost tricks, accusation/rebuff, s/he-looks-hot-but-I'm-not-gonna-look. If a good editor had eliminated that tedious repetition within a promising premise, I might not have grown less interested with each chapter.

[Anneliese · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written on a 6th grade level but so much hot sex! Unfortunately, like all good porn, don't expect too much from the plot or style. A dirty one day read, just make sure you are not going to bed alone that night.

[Noor · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book was very romantic and funny... however i know it is not suppose to be scary but for some reason any kind of interaction with ghost scares me =( however even with me scared it was a good read

[Fedora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Selena Blake's a psychic; her mother publically challenged Trent Sanders, a professional debunker and author, to spend two weeks with Selena at the haunted Garvey Hotel.

Cute story, but on the fluffy side.

[Veeta · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 stars...

dah lama juga bacanya barengan buku Kelley yang lain jadi agak2 lupa ama ceritanya....tapi seinget gw bagusan yang My Favorite Phantom...ada kocaknya juga...terutama pas emak mereka berdua dateng...hehehehe

[Kryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I tried really hard to get into this book because I think the premise is neat and it has loads of potential....but I just couldn't do it. I felt like the author just kept repeating the same lines over and over, just in different ways.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

A real psychic or not? Apparently yes, as she sees the ghosts that are haunting the hotel and making her and her nemesis even hotter for each other. Funny if a bit predictable.

[Cathey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute. Predictable but cute.

[Lari Werner · Rating 4 out of 5]

light hearted and funny

[Mina Khan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny, cute, entertaining. :)

[Julie Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this book in spite of the rather silly premise. Perhaps I was just in the mood for silliness? It was light hearted & fun. Don't take it too seriously.

[Karen Desmond · Rating 4 out of 5]

4

[KimStitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Totally corny and adorable, this book puts an excellent spin on ghosts and hauntings.

[Rexanna Ipock-Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book for a hot summer read. It was sexy, funny and entertaining. I'll watch for more of her books.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet, funny and sexy.... just what I needed today. ;)

[L Bongiorno · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This was a nice light romantic ghost story. Though it was totally predictable, it was still well told:)

[FayAnn · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of a 3.5 for me, but otherwise a great read! It even convinced me that maybe I could give romantic ghost stories more of a chance than I have been.

[Melania Ramona · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
Fluffy, funny and even silly sometimes, this is a quick read. There were some cliches and sugary phrases, but the characters are likable and the love scenes spicy and sweet.