Seventeen-year-old Ryan has a problem, but he doesn’t want to share it with anyone. After all, who would believe him anyway? As fate would have it, he literally stumbles right into the path of Johnny and Chris. Johnny, Chris, and the rest of the gang are the perfect ones to help Ryan, as they specialize in things such as ghosts. Spook Central will have its hands full with this ghost, however, as it will take all of the gang including Ryan and his sister, Breia, if they are to help Ryan.
FATAL FAMILY SECRETS is the 3rd book in the Fatal series. I highly suggest reading all three books to fully appreciate Maggie Shayne’s delightfully well-developed characters, but at a minimum at least read the prior book, FATAL, BUT FESTIVE so the relationship issues between Johnny and Maya will have the full emotional impact. Maggie Shaye fills the reader in on sufficient backstory, but the troubles between Johnny and Maya are far more poignant if you’ve seen them working together before the events in FATAL FAMILY SECRETS.
FATAL FAMILY SECRETS is the darkest book in the series, but also one that offers a light a hope as well. No spoilers, but Maya, Johnny, Kiley, Chris, and Jack have their hands full with this case. The ghost they encounter will test every bit of knowledge that they have at Spook Central, while gaining new lessons in the process!
Wow! Maggie Shayne has a gift for crafting spooky paranormal romances that keep readers up late at night. In fact, Maggie Shayne is one of my OG favorite authors as she’s one of the first authors who helped me slide from reading strictly horror to reading paranormal romance. FATAL FAMILY SECRETS is yet another prime example of her stunning talent at combining the eerie aspects of the paranormal with romantic sparks flying at the same time. And oh my, the cliffhanger conclusion has me anxiously awaiting to see what is next in store for our characters as Maggie Shayne throws a huge twist at them all!
Johnny’s would-be girlfriend has called it quits, his newfound grandfather has pulled a vanishing act, and his odd connection to the dying has mutated into something else altogether, something he doesn’t understand. Suffice to say, he was already having a lousy week when a kid came tearing out of the woods like the devil was chasing him and right into the path of his truck.
Teenage Ryan isn’t too badly hurt, but it turns out the seventeen-year-old has a serious ghost problem. He was convinced no one would believe him or be able to help him even if they did. But that was before he met Johnny and the gang at Spook Central.
Johnny takes Ryan and his gorgeous older sister Breia to Kiley and Jack’s no-longer-haunted Victorian money pit, which is also the gang’s ghost-busting headquarters. But Kiley’s not so sure the house is phantom-free. She says she’s heard a female's smoke-and-whiskey voiced laughter a couple of times, which is weird as she's a total muggle.
Maya, their resident Wiccan, sets wards around the place to keep ghosts away while Johnny sets wards around his heart to stay in the friend-zone where she's put him. Her reasons are both practical and ridiculous since she’s as drawn to him as he is to her. Also, he’s pretty sure their fates are entwined.
Soon, however, they’re both too busy trying to protect a young boy and stay alive while doing it. Spirits the likes of which they've never encounter, unleash hellish fury on them all, and survival takes precedence over their own star-crossed journey to love.
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