Ani Gonzalalez's "Must Love Ghosts: A Haunting Paranormal Romance" has many, many pluses, but some big cons, as well. This reader adores the paranormal romance genre above all, so truly looked forward to reading this book. The premise sounded interesting via descriptive blurb, albeit a retelling of an old plot... this reader knew as soon as romantic lead, military man Mike Stone arrived in Banshee Creek on a 'delivery mission', that he would be turning over his dead-best-buddy's engagement ring, purchased while deployed elsewhere, to his former fiance. Mike had been in love with his friend's fiance for years, but stoically kept it to himself out of respect for his friend. Gonzalez created likeable characters and filled Banshee Creek with them, most having cutesy-funny quirks that made them feel real - that's a big plus. There were a few spelling and grammar errors throughout the book, some dropped or missing words that would toss a sentence off-kilter briefly, but a readers brain could typically fill in the missing word quite easily. Gonzalez name-dropped many zany characters for humor, and this reader chuckled at the Halloween costume party when all of the 'Buffy' clones followed Mike in his fatigues and claimed he was 'Riley' from the Buffy-verse. However, it seemed Gonzalez leaned heavily on name-dropping-for-humor when every other paragraph mentioned Emma Peel - Avengers television series; the Black Widow - Marvel's Avengers; the Mothman - West Virginia's own American haunting creature; the ballad music of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Paul Simon - their ballads are recreations of very old stories brought to life via music; and too many others to count. It actually got tiring to repeatedly hear about these references, especially when an odd character would launch into a textbook-like lecture to educate Mike Stone about the historical foundation for things he considered fruity. Characters were created nicely, they didn't seem one-dimensional yet were not completely three-dimensional, either... they were satisfactory, allowing room for growth and change. The setting descriptions were nicely done, allowing this reader to visualize the area and feel as if she was there. However, the entire book felt like many cute scenes, some quite disjointed, that didn't really push or move the plot. They felt like scenes offered to give a chuckle, but really weren't necessary - fluff. This reader really wanted to love this book, especially after observing so many high-praised reviews, yet was left dissatisfied at book ending, filled with a definite feeling of "Why did I bother reading this?" Should the sex scenes be scaled down, this reader would call this a terrific read for the young adult/new teen readers.... With all that said, this reader will not say this is an awful book - but it is definitely not a favored read, either, and this reader may chance a second book by the author in the hopes she drops the name-dropping and simply tells her story, since she does show a creative flair. ** Review originally posted to Amazon reviews on July 2, 2016. **
