Review: Ghost Hunter vs. Ghost Whisperer
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 10 19, 2010
Ghost Hunter's leading lady Ashley is a psychic who sees ghosts, and has suffered for it throughout her life.  When Ashley inherits a pub in England just as she's trying to make a new start after ending an unfortunate engagement, she forgets her rule of avoiding historical buildings and moves across the ocean - only to find that her new home is a moldering old relic complete with a whole cast of housemates no longer among the living.  And if that isn't enough of a nightmare for Ashley, she can't seem to rid herself of a gorgeous, but irritating and somewhat stalker-y living stranger, Cristin, who first tries to get Ashley out of her new home and when that doesn't work, manages to insinuate himself in it.Cristin is a ghost hunting warrior on a dangerous mission, one that involves Ashley and her haunted house. Ashley is supposed to be Cristin's fated partner and Cristin needs her talents to succeed with his deadly task. But when Cristin meets Ashley, he quickly decides that she is just too trusting and nave to be of use to him and he is convinced that he has to get her to pack up and head back to the States - for her own good.  But even as he tries to push Ashley away, Cristin finds himself unable to keep from acting on his forbidden attraction to her and as annoying as Ashley finds Cristin, Ashley just can't keep from melting whenever she finds herself in his arms, even when his agenda puts them at odds.I had a hard time warming up to both of the leads.  And to be honest, the romance between Cristin and Ashley's was not my favorite part of the book. For the much of the story the pair have a mostly adversarial relationship punctuated by brief bouts of lustous interruptus and Cristin, even with his Scottish brogue and cool secret, never won me over. It didn't help that Ashley's interractions with Cristin (and with a child ghost who resides in her home) don't bring out the best in Ashley. However, later in the story Ashley develops relationships with several interesting supporting characters were a lot more fun and definitely upped Ashley's appeal.I loved Ashley's interactions with the upbeat and energetic witch Camile, Ashley's first friend ever, who not only accepts Ashley's `weirdness' but sees it as common ground. Together they get into a fair amount of trouble with the mysterious Devon, who both benefits and suffers from the fallout of a misfired spell by Ashley and Camile, as Ashley tries to get to the truth about Cristin, her missing father, vanishing ghosts and something dreadful that's living in the basement. It is Devon out of all of the characters in the book who was my favorite and I was definitely `team Devon' - he and Camile earned the book an extra half star - and I wished for a different ending for Devon.Ghost Hunter has a little bit of everything paranormal: psychics, angels, ghosts, witches, vampires, werewolves, leprechauns, and the haunted pub of doom.  After finishing the story I was not sure if it was a standalone. Brighton does plan on revisiting this world, but if you are looking for more of Brighton's writing in the mean time, I noticed that she has also written several historical romances.(This review is for the smashwords ebook of Ghost Hunter which I received for free.)