Author: Jill Bisker

Published: June 2014 by Melange Books

Category: Paranormal, Contemporary

 

Finding the Way Back is the story of Laney, a recently divorced woman who agrees to help her mother fix up her dead grandfather’s house. From the first night when she hears ghostly music to later physical attacks that seem targeted only at her, she soon discovers that a spirit in the house may have plans of its own. For her own well-being, she needs to find answers as the danger escalates and she learns to trust herself and others. With the help of her cousin Connie, an attractive ghosthunter named Emmett, and several other eccentric characters, Laney uncovers the dark secret of the house and a new path for her future.

 

Laney MacKenzie is ‘finding her way back’ from years spent with her cheating and controlling, now ex, husband, Simon. Her self-worth is almost non existent after being subjected to Simon’s undermining attitude and cavalier treatment. Laney’s mother has given her the option, with a little push, of refurbishing her late grandfather’s house, affording her a place to live and something to restore her confidence and self-respect. Her cousin and erstwhile best friend, Connie, moves in to lend a hand and she and Laney rekindle their old and close friendship.

 

The house is crammed full of boxes and the accumulations of a lifetime and Laney feels daunted by the task, especially so when strange and unexplainable incidents begin to occur. As she and Connie start to gradually uncover the secrets of the house and their family, Laney gets much more than she could ever imagine. As the ghostly occurrences escalate and become extremely threatening, Connie has an idea.

 

I stopped, petrified, a sudden memory coming back to me. I hadn’t thought of it in years, but suddenly it seemed like yesterday. Connie and I had been in the basement poking around the junk while our parents argued with our grandfather upstairs. I had been teasing Connie and hiding behind things when I felt a hand come down on my shoulder. Thinking I’d been caught terrorising my cousin by an adult, I’d jumped up and turned round. Only there was no-one there. I never told anyone because I knew they would never believe me.

 

I like the inclusion of the ghost hunters, they add an extra layer of interest to the story although I would have liked to learn more about Emmet’s backstory.

 

This is a very enjoyable, humorous and well crafted story of re-learning the values of trust and love and letting go of the past. There are likeable, realistic and some eccentric characters, several scary scenes and a satisfactory conclusion, despite me not quite understanding why the two ghosts would elect to stay in the house rather than move on together.

 

About the author

Jill Bisker lives in Stillwater, MN with her husband and a calico cat named Senora. She believes in empowering women to be strong enough to protect themselves, while still soft enough to be loving and compassionate. Her work includes paranormal mystery and traditional high fantasy, as well as contemporary and humorous fantasy and an everyday living blog. Her novella Within Reach is her first publication with Melange. Once a dedicated stay at home Mom, Jill now writes full-time. 

Visit her at www.jillbisker.com 

and http://unaccompaniedjaunt.blogspot.com/

**Originally posted on Bookish Wanderlove.**

3 stars

Opening Lines

“You need to lose weight. Pronto. I mean, look at how massive your hips have gotten, Callie. Freshman fifteen my ass…I’d say freshman thirty is more like it.”

Finding Her Way Back was an interesting and eye opening read. I really enjoyed Callie's character, I found her to be realistic and someone readers could actually relate to. My heart broke for her and all the things she had to go through. And then we have Anna, I never like using the word hate but I really REALLY disliked her. Even though we find out later on why she acts the way she does I couldn't find myself 100% sympathetic. And Callie and Anna's parents...they didn't seem realistic to me. I really didn't like the way they treated Callie.

At times I found Finding Her Way Back to be a little bit repetitive but I still managed to enjoy the story. As much as I really liked Callie and Kylan's characters I found it hard to connect with them. There was so much going on that I felt it took away from really focusing on Callie and Ky's relationship. I found myself constantly trying to keep up with all the different events happening that kept interfering with their relationship. Overall, Finding Her Way Back was an interesting read! I'm really curious to see if we'll get more Callie and Kylan in the future.

I love baseball. It's as close to a spiritual experience as I go. I don't just think it's a beautiful game, I think it's "the" beautiful game. So I'm interested in a talented player like Josh Hamilton, but this book was a disappointment. This book went into great detail about his struggles with alcohol and drugs. Honestly, what should have been a chapter was half the book. He talked about his fall from grace, his conversion to Christianity and his return to major league baseball. OK, I can deal.His real sin in my opinion is that he has set himself up as a role model, and then stepped out on his wife. What that says about the way a woman can be treated is unforgivable. If he kept his private life private, just concentrated on his baseball, I might look at a photo of his smoking hot wife, shake my head and wonder why anyone would step out when she was waiting at home...but I could let it go and say it's none of my business.As it is, he made himself a role model and he needs to be held to a very high standard. I liked him until I read this book.

Let me first start off by saying that you don't have to like baseball or even know anything about who this amazing ballplayer is to appreciate this memoir. It's not a sports book. You don't open it up just to read about a man telling about his life of playing ball. Instead you get a truly awe-inspiring, engaging and motivational tale about his life (in the short years he's already lived so far) battling some really bad demons and how he's had to struggle through them. It's not just another "celebrity druggie" story, either, because he wasn't even quite famous yet when his battle began. The thing is, I'm not too much of a religious person. Definitely not Christian, although that's the type of household and family I was brought up in through my own life. But my own personal beliefs? No. It's not me. I went into this book with a bit of trepidation, honestly, because I know that now Josh is "reborn" and I was cautious that the book would come off as preachy. It didn't in anyway. I highly respect everyone's beliefs, as I expect my own beliefs to be respected as well. So his faith being brought up throughout some passages didn't bother me a bit. I know that's what helped pull him through many of his struggles and I commend him for finding that strength.There's something else people can learn about me. I'm a huge baseball fanatic. I played when I was a kid. Shortstop, outfield, and pitcher. Then I played softball through junior high. The Texas Rangers have been my favorite team for years along with the Yankees (I know, weird combo right? But that's a part of growing up with my father and loving the two teams he loved also :P). Josh Hamilton has been my favorite ballplayer since the first moment I saw him play for the Rangers. I've been to many Rangers' games... and sat just slightly behind the dugout just so I could watch him better. lol. Sounds creepy, but no, it's because I admire him. Reading this book made me admire him so much more, too. It's an easy read, but I like that because it's in HIS voice. One of the best memoirs I've read. 5 stars.