I loved J.L Bryan's ghosts and Ellie Jordan's character! Some ghosts are bad but others are only trying to help, like Mercy. The ghosts in this story are trapped in a house called The Marsh House. It is a creepy dark mansion that was sold to a family with dreams of turning it into a bed and breakfast or possibly a hotel. However, they quickly find out it is haunted when strange things begin to happen.

The father is a drunken slob who refuses to believe there is a ghost in their house and his daughter Lexie is traumatized by having seen one.

It is the ghost of Mercy Cutledge, which we know, is only trying to warn them by telling them to leave because there is a dangerous evil inside the walls.

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Her mother Anna Treadwell is the only sensible one who reaches out to Ellie Jordan for help.

 

Ellie Jordan has to get rid of the ghost of Mercy Cutledge, so they perform a couple things, like stage a funeral, but it doesn't work, so now, Ellie is forced to evict her. Before that happens, she gathers more facts about the owners of that particular house. I found the research fascinating. Ellie and her partner Stacey also break into the same loonie bin asylum her ghost lived in but was long since shut down and abandoned. That part gave me the creeps. They didn't have a machete but wore boots and waded in tangled vines, smashed glass and tall weeds in a thorny jungle.  I can picture them both running like a bat out of hell out of that decrepit place. Good times.  

 

After doing some research, she finds out the owner used to be Augustus March born 1848 and had amassed a lot of money. He marries Eugenia who was a good church-going woman, but she develops a strange sudden illness and died in 1901. It was suspicious.

Augustus has a bad reputation and a few years later his house is turned into a high-class brothel or some shit like that. I can't remember if he did it himself or if it was his niece Louisa Marsh (?). Augustus left his house to her, which by the end of his life was about all he had left.

He was stabbed to death in 1954 by Mercy Cutledge and everyone assumes she was crazy. She accuses Mr. Marsh of being an "occult wizard who is in league with demons" She was sent to an asylum aka mental hospital but later was murdered in Mr. Marsh's house.

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Long story.

 

Anyway, the writing is good. I was afraid when Ellie began discussing how some ghosts can actually hurt us, that I would start hearing and seeing ghosts and didn't want them to hurt me ~ Lol I felt like crawling under my blanket with the classic case of the shivers. Like Scooby-Doo!

I am looking forward to reading more in the series. I am already attached to the characters. So fun.

When Ellie tells us that ghosts can sometimes hurt you, i.e: burn you telekinetically, I admit to being scared *shivers um I need to sleep tonight?

 

Most of us these days are aware of the flood of self-pubbed books and how difficult it can be to find a gem in the sea of mediocrity.  We often see reviews of the sub-par and/or reports of unethical marketing schemes or unprofessional behavior on the part of some authors.

But some of us who have stuck a toe or two into those waters have come across a few gems.  I thought it'd be good to share a few self-pubbed & small press books I really enjoyed and that I feel stand well among their trade-pubbed counterparts. 

So here are a few I've discovered that I am proud to recommend.

First off (and really my only criticism of this book): Why’s it gotta have a girl in a sexy pose on the cover? I actually overlooked this book several times because of that ridiculously cliche cover. Please don’t be fooled by it. The story inside is actually much better than that sad excuse for a typical eye-candy piece would lead you to believe.

I read this book immediately after reading Matheson’s Hell House. Its interesting, because in a lot of ways the two books were opposite sides of the same Haunted House coin. Hell House was full of gruesome images, lots of shock factor writing, and one of the darkest pieces of action packed writing you can read in this particular subgenre of thriller and/or horror. Ellie Jordan had very few disturbing images, relied more on atmosphere than shock factor, and was one of the more clean pieces. I wouldn’t quite call it “Teen” or “Young Adult”, but I’d have no problems recommending it to either of those age groups. The only thing that might be off-putting is there is vivid descriptions of a ghost that was a druggie before he died, so it talks about him being stuck with heroin needles and such. Whereas Hell House I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone under the age of 18.

To be honest, I actually liked this book more than I liked Hell House. Not because of the cleanness of it, but because Hell House sort of fizzled on the ending, whereas Ellie Jordan: Ghost Trapper gave me a strong (if typical) ending that left me feeling satisfied with the story as a whole.

Overall, a strong, fun read that kept me turning the pages relentlessly until the very end. I loved the characters, the pacing, the setting, and the tension building. Great start and perfect follow-through. Highly recommended. Might even look further into the series!

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I really enjoyed this book. I love books about ghosts they are my favorite form of the paranormal genre. This book was filled with ghosts. Can't wait t read the rest of the series.

Ellie Jordan is a ghost trapper. When she was 15 hr parents were killed in a house fire that Ellie barely escaped but not before seeing the ghost who not only burned down her house but the 6 that set on the land before hers. She decided to make it her life's work to rid the world of bad ghosts.

As she grew up she enlisted he help of the detective from her house fire who retired from the police force and start his own ghost trapping investigations company. Ellie worked with him until she was old enough and able to take on the investigations herself. She still works for him.

Her latest case is a old abandoned mansion that is being restored to turn into a B&B. Ellie and her partner Stacy go in thinking there is just one ghost since that is all the family has seen. It turns out there are many many ghosts and most of them are not nice one trying to warn the family off.

No it's up to her to solve the mystery of why this house is so haunted and to clear it out.