Oct 7, 2011

{Author Guest Post + Giveaway} A Ghost of a Chance at Love by Terry Spears

Have Amulet Will Travel 
By: Terry Spear
Ever since I was young, I LOVED ghost stories. I think the dumbest one I ever read was about a coughing ghost and when the young girl threw cough drops at it, the ghost was appeased and went away. Total cop out. It had such a BAD ending, I still remember it to this day!

I’m still fascinated with ghosts. Not that I ever believed I’d see one or experience anything paranormal. I just, *shrug*, love them.

As an adult, I’d read a romance where the hunk of a hero is a ghost. Now, that’s hard to pull off, I think. To have a heroine fall in love with someone who no one else can see and pulls it off well.

Sometime after my love of ghosts materialized, I found a time travel romance. And then devoured every one of them I could find. From traveling back from the future to the present, or from the present to the past, or from the past to the present.

Have you ever seen the movie SOMEWHERE IN TIME? I have the haunting music to that. I also enjoyed BACK TO THE FUTURE, THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT (A SOUND OF THUNDER), THE TIME MACHINE, TIME BANDITS, MY SCIENCE PROJECT, DÉJÀ VU, THE PRINCE OF PERSIA, TIMELINE, and many others.

What is the fascination with going back in time? If it’s just for a short period of time, making different choices? What about the way distant past? Fascination with a particular period of time and how it would be to live back then?

In A GHOST OF A CHANCE AT LOVE, my fascination was with Salado, Texas close to where I live. Every time I visited, I wondered what it would have been like living in the quaint old Texas town in the early days. Now it’s full of gift shops, antique shops, art galleries and hosts an annual Highland games.

But back in the 19th Century, what would it have been like? Wolves really roamed the area. Bandits, outlaws, some tribal killings farther north, cattle were run through the creek, the town’s drinking water. The Stagecoach Inn was known as the Shady Villa Inn, and was the stagecoach stop. The saloon had been shut down by the women who fought against their husbands’ drinking habits. It was also a post office.

Some of the buildings are haunted. Caves exist where different tribes took refuge during bad storms, and at other times, soldiers of the Civil War and bandits. Some caves were used to keep meat colder, natural refrigeration of sorts.

Stolen gold is purported to have been hidden somewhere in the area, but no one has located it.
So really, a treasure trove of what ifs. What if a woman is drawn to Salado for a particular reason that she hasn’t a whole lot of control over?

What if she meets the man of her dreams, but a ghost interferes, wanting to live again? Or those who murdered the woman believe Lisa is the woman they had murdered, and she knows they tried to kill her?

But what if when she returns to the present world, she is as just as much at risk? That she can’t quit thinking of Jack from the past? That the ghostly woman from the past won’t let her go?

That’s when we have A GHOST OF A CHANCE AT LOVE!

Here’s an excerpt from the story:

Lisa grabbed her hair and yanked a navy-blue scrunchy over it to hold the long ponytail in place. As soon as she found a beauty shop, she was having her hair cut. Smoothing out her skirt, she was relieved the wrinkle-free fabric stood up to the manufacturer’s guarantee, especially since she hadn’t had enough sense to remove her clothes for most of the night.


She studied her blouse for a minute in the smoky mirror and touched the cotton fabric. Her fine lace bra was exposed to the world to see. She groaned, not believing she’d forgotten the camisole she always wore. No matter how much she wanted to shove Tom out of her brain, his actions in divorce court had rattled her.


She yanked on her boots, hurried out of the room, and shut the solid oak door with a clunk. Turning, she ran straight into an unyielding hunk of a man—the same cowboy who had been naked in her bed last night.


The impact threw her against the wall, and she gasped. He grabbed her arm, his expression horrified.

Sturdily built, tall, dark brown hair a little on the longish side, and a hard square jaw making him look ruggedly sexy, he was hot. But his dark brown eyes turned black and his lips parted in apparent surprise. Josephine,” he said, under his breath. Glancing at his fingers wound around her arm, he released her and stepped back.


My god, first Charlotte, now he thought she was a woman named Josephine? What was he? A regular ladies’ man? No way was she interested in another guy like that.

His searching gaze was so intense, she felt horribly self-conscious, her hands instantly clammy, her heart racing. “Sorry for, uhm, running into you.” Her cheeks felt sunburned and before he could say a word, she hurried down the narrow hall, not wanting any discussion about what had happened in bed between them.

***
So that’s really the intrigue with time travel. Meeting that man who makes all the difference in the world! If you had A GHOST OF A CHANCE AT LOVE, would you leave all your conveniences behind to take it???

Thanks to Kristen for having me on her blog today, and for one lucky commenter, you’ll have a chance at winning a ebook copy of A GHOST OF A CHANCE AT LOVE.
Just think, you can still have the man, but all your conveniences too!
Terry Spear
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male.”
www.terryspear.com


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6 comments:

  1. I love Terry Spear, great Author!
    I love Ghost stories cause for me I believe there are Ghosts with us (friendly ones good spirits) always like to read or hear about ghost stories and to think they may be real, gets my blood pumping!

    Amy
    amy.beth27@yahoo.com

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  2. Thanks so much, Amy!!! When I was in Scotland, I had such a neat experience. No ghosts in the castles where ghosts were supposed to be, but while moving toward a fence where Highland cattle with their heavy fur coats were grazing so I could take a picture, I heard the most beautiful Celtic music off in the distance. But then it faded and disappeared just as I reached the fence. I kept listening, waiting for it to return, thinking it was like being in a movie set where the Celtic music serenaded the viewer in the magical land. But it didn't return.

    I asked the other two ladies with me if they heard it. They had to have. No, neither had.

    There were no homes anywhere out there, just mountains and a river, and 4 grazing cattle...and the whisper of Highland Scots music playing in the ancient past, transcending time to the present.

    That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. :)

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  3. I love ghost stories because I am a big believer that they are around us. I love the possiblities and ghost stories always fascinate me

    june111(at)att(dot)net

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  4. I so agree, Jolene! Who knows where you might meet one. :)

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  5. oh great cover, i love ghost stories because i want to believe they real
    darksiry(at)gmail(dot)com

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  6. Hmmm, I don't know that I'd be able to leave behind modern conveniences if I fell for a ghost, but I do like a little time traveling in my novels. The culture clash always makes for interesting conflict.

    -Alexis
    alexabexis at gmail dot com

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