Book Review: Spirited: 13 Haunting Tales

Spirited: 13 Haunting Tales by Kat O'Shea

• Paperback: 332 pages
• Publisher: Leap Books (February 13, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1616030208
• ISBN-13: 978-1616030209

Cover: I love the cover. There’s the feel of something eerie in it. Plus it was lovely in a way that it really speaks of what’s inside the anthology.
Praise for Kat O’Shea, the editor. The lay-outing was superb. I love the fonts, the designs. The whole book was well-thought of.

Spirited is a haunting collection of thirteen ghostly tales from Leap Books. The stories were divided into Past, Present and Future. Honestly, the stories were not really that scary, well some are, but mostly they were interesting, giving a new light to imagination and some were even funny. But all in all, it was entertaining.

Note: Actually, these are not spoliers but the short descriptions of each story

To give you a heads up, here’s the synopsis of each of the story:

PAST:
"Strangeways vs. the Wraith by Judith Graves(view spoiler)
"The Senet Box" by Jill Williamson(view spoiler)
"Stained" by Mark Finnemore(view spoiler)
"Thread of the Past" by Dawn Dalton(view spoiler)


PRESENT:
The Cold One" by Candace Havens(view spoiler)
Death Becomes Her" by Kitty Keswick(view spoiler)
The Oast House" by Cameron Tudor(view spoiler)
New Girl" by Maria V. Snyder(view spoiler)
Aftermath" by Halli Dee Lilburn(view spoiler)
"Phantom of the Prom" by Linda Joy Singleton(view spoiler)

FUTURE:
"Night Queen" by John W. Otte(view spoiler)
"To Hel and Back" by Shannon Delany(view spoiler)
"The Story of Late" by Heather Kenealy(view spoiler)


My favorites are the first and the last stories. I could definitely picture them being turned into full novels. “The Story of Late” was like a fairytale to me..lol..even though it should have been scary but the premise was really interesting and fairytale-like and the writing style was easy to understand. “Strangeways vs. the Wraith” was set I think in 18-19th century New York so it was a bit historical, and this short story spark a deep interest in me of a novel with action and ghosts, and of course romance. Actually, Judith Graves’ “Strangeways” is now available as a novel entitled “Strangeways vs. The Blood Brothers”.

The other stories were also interesting and there are different plots that could be a potential base for future novels. And as every anthology goes, there are also those stories which I had difficulty getting myself into. Maybe that genre was not just for me. Plus, there’s a 3-D augmented reality on “To Hel and Back”, though I must admit I don’t get some of the pictures..;)

A fun and easy read, Spirited was packed with historical fiction, sci-fi, cyberspace, young adult, paranormal, gothic, and even myths. All genres were packed into one amazing book. Highly recommended to everyone, teens and adults alike!

Proceeds from Spirited: 13 Haunting Tales go to children's literacy organization 826 National.



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