Going to the dark side and coming back --- by Jane Kelley

I love a challenge.

Maybe a little too much? Sometimes I wish I could just write a straightforward book, in which likable characters pursue recognizable goals. Wouldn't it be fun to get a puppy? Or a date to the school dance?

But for whatever the reason, my mind doesn't work that way. Even if I start to write a simple ghost story about a family who moves into a creepy house, something twists in my mind. And before you know it, I get obsessed with the idea of how much fun it would be to tell the story from the POV of the ghost.

Cover by Jaime Zollars

Talk about a dark side!

When a character is already dead, she's got nothing to lose.

When a character has been murdered, she has a lot of anger.

When a character was a younger sister, she seethes with resentment.

And when a character has been abandoned by her family just because, well, she is dead, and her only companions are bats and spiders and mice, then she won't be a very pleasant person.

Yet somehow that character befriends a girl named Hannah--perhaps because Hannah has her own sorrows?  Or maybe because they both love books?

There are limits to how close such a friendship could be unless........

If the ghost really wants Hannah to be her BEST FRIEND FOREVER, then something pretty terrible must happen.

If I had completely gone over to the dark side, it would have. But I couldn't kill Hannah.

As much as we enjoy journeying to those frightening places, it's even nicer to come out of the dark to a happy ending.