I liked the concept of the story but not the execution. The summary grabbed my attention, so I was excited to be able to get an arc of this. Thank you netgalley. I really enjoyed the plot at the beginning, but toward the middle to end it started losing me. The writing could have definitely been better, because it was a little off in my opinion. I liked the stylized choice of adding the bits of recording before each chapter since it adds in more commentary. The whole story could have been stronger, if it was more thoroughly thought out. It was too predictable and was very obvious who the traitor was, just by how the friend was acting the whole time throughout the book. Also, you would think ghost hunters knew the first rule of horror, but I guess being the main characters excludes them from being attacked while getting together haha. It's a pretty quick read, if you want a fun lgbt ghost story.

Thank you Netgalley & Bold Strokes Books for an eARC ♥️

In the haunting town of Masonville, two rival paranormal investigators, Blair and Leif, are lured into a trap of unspeakable horror. Their relentless pursuit of evidence and clicks becomes a fatal attraction, drawing them deeper into the abyss. As the eerie atmosphere thickens, their competitive drive turns into a desperate struggle to stay alive. The ghosts of Masonville seem to come alive, taunting them with macabre whispers and gruesome visions. Every step they take leads them further down the spiral of madness, blurring the lines between reality and nightmare. Will they uncover the dark secrets that have haunted Masonville for centuries, or will they become the next victims of its merciless curse? This spine-chilling tale masterfully crafts an atmosphere of dread, ensnaring you in a web of terror from which there may be no escape. As I read this book, I couldn't shake the feeling that R.E. Ward has somehow managed to tap into my deepest fears, making the experience all the more unsettling and unforgettable. Prepare to confront the darkness within😳

This was a really good story. Creepy and on the scary side in places. With a mysterious feel. It had me gripped and turning the pages from the beginning . However, I feel it could have been written better in places with a bit more detail but overall this book is worth a read. Note - it does contain some gore, which I actually didn’t mind. 3.5 stars.
Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this ebook in exchange for this review

I love romance.
I love ghost stories.
This book has a bit of both.

The two main characters are rival ghost hunters who dislike each other based on perceived slights. They, along with other ghost hunting teams, are invited to an abandoned town not open to the public. Things quickly start to go downhill.

My favorite part of a ghost story or mystery is not being able to guess "who dunnit" or if what is happening is real; this book was able to string me along almost to the end with one major plot point I didn't see coming.

Easy read that I enjoyed

Ghost Town is a great adventure with a twist. I loved the different characters and thought it was a cute story overall.

Thank You, NetGalley, Bold Strokes Books and Author R E Ward.

Ghost Town by R.E. Ward follows rivals Blair Wyndon and Leif Henderson, a paranormal investigator and ghost hunter, who are invited by Tanicorp to the famed ghost town of Masonville. They arrive to find each other, as well as a group of other investigators who have also received this invitation. When no one from Tanicorp is there to greet them, the entire excursion starts to look a bit suspicious. Their hunch soon proves correct when the invitees begin dying. Blair, Leif, and their fellow investigators must figure out what is behind the calamity at Masonville before they too fall victim.
One of my favorite parts about this book is the mixed media. Each chapter starts with the transcript of a video or voice recording and some of the chapters feature website posts and comments. I think this is such a simple way to add visuals to a novel without actually having to draw anything. It works especially well for a novel like this because they double as foreshadowing and create suspense as the mystery continues to build.
The rivalry between Blair and Leif was fun, but at times it felt very over the top. A lot of their descriptions of each other read as "she's so hot but so annoying," and it got very repetitive after a while. I want those feelings written into dialogue and seen in actions, not just blatantly stated while we read their thought processes. The resolution of this feud was also very boring. I know bigger things were going on, but I didn't feel like it was a 'death puts into perspective what's important' situation. It just felt like one page they still annoyed each other and the next they were friends. A build-up of them really having to work together and learn about each other, rather than just "I guess you care about more than just likes on your videos so I don't hate you" would make me more connected to them and their relationship.
I also felt that throughout the book the concept of telling and not showing was an issue. It wasn't bad enough to take me out of the book, but a lot of sentences read as "Blair felt sad", "Leif was annoying", "Blair was happy", or "Leif felt at peace."
Overall, I thought the mystery was interesting, even if the end of the book got very weird. There were a bunch of small issues, but nothing was bad enough to take me out of the story or make me want to put the book down. Sapphic romance is always a plus too, so it's gorgeous to have that and plenty of other representation throughout the book.

Now this was definitely not for me. Even though regarding to the synopsis it should've /could've been. The premises sounded so promising. Man was I disappointed. I hate writing negative reviews but this is gonna be one.
While reading this I struggled so hard to concentrate on the story. Every other page I audibly went "Oh god no what the heck" (in a bad way)
My boyfriend kept telling me to just stop reading if I'm not enjoying myself, but I pulled through my dudes.

The amount of characters in this book was simply overwhelming, yet none of their personalities are fleshed out or consistent. They all felt like the same person. Besides maybe the old lady who didn't get enough lines in my honest opinion.
Abe. Just. What the heck. A 40 something year old guy hanging out with people 20 years younger. I mean fine whatever. But he was CONSTANTLY asking them if they need hugs. He gave off strong weird uncle vibes. The one uncle that keeps touching you inappropriately at family parties. I don't think that was the authors intention with him. Like he was supposed to seem like the protector of the group or something idk. He was giving me the ick.

Conversations are extremely unnatural and the decisions made just made me shake my head in disbelief.
The writing overall felt juvenile at some parts but then...suddenly there's smut. Detailed smut. I was shocked.. People are dying man...and you're just randomly doing the woobiedoo!??

The twist was very obvious (which would'nt bother me THAT much if I weren't so annyoed with this whole book)
It just seemed like the author tried to do too much. Sadly they were not successful.

I feel bad about being so negative but I'm also glad I finally finished the book and got my thoughts about it out of my system.

1 star for effort and the occasional slightly spooky moment.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me an advanced digital copy. I loved the discripton of the story which is why I requested it immediately upon seeing it. However, it's unfortunately not as good as it sounds. The characters are pretty flat and I never cared about any of them. The plot was predictable and didn't surprise me once.
But I did like the queer representation!

This book was pretty good. Realistically probably 3.5 stars.

We start out meeting two different people who are ghost hunters and technically rivals in the ghost hunting community. Unbeknownst to the characters they are all invited to a creep abandoned town to be the first people to investigate the property and excited the jumped at the opportunity. When they arrive they are confused to see the other there and within the first days things get weird to say the least. Once people start dying the group decides its time to leave, but they find they are stuck and the vehicles have been sabotaged. Who or what is killing the others and who will be next?

I enjoyed the storyline and was really interested in the ghost hunting scenes. I really would have liked more of this and kind was hoping we would go in a different direction with the story. While I liked the relationship between the two FMCs I do feel like it was a little forced and juvenile to the point where I kept checking to see if this book was classified as YA.

Overall it was a pretty good little creepy read and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys YA thrillers.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. This book had me feeling a lot of different ways, and I had to sit with this book for several days after reading it to determine how I felt about it.

This novel did several things that I really enjoyed, and the biggest one was the atmosphere. I loved the feeling of being beside the main characters through every step of the journey, good or bad. I also enjoyed the relationship between the two main characters and the realization that they’re only enemies because of a misunderstanding and after clearing that up, they realize they work really well together and have a lot in common. This allows for their relationship to bloom quite fast after that. I also loved how there was enough clues for the reader to predict things that were going to happen, without being too obvious or being a boring book. An example of this is the big betrayal at the end, I think most readers could predict that from very early on in the story. I’m also a huge fan of queer stories, especially when romance isn’t the forefront of the book, and “Ghost Town” had a great premise and had the potential to be a great book.

However, several things within this book felt weak or under-developed. The first thing that comes to mind is the transcripts at the beginning of each chapter. Some of these gave more context to the chapter, while others just seemed to be there simply to fit the aesthetic. Another point that was really weak for me was the ending, the entirety of the ending brought in a whole secondary plot line that really didn’t make sense to me. I felt like this cheapened the book, because it came so out of left-field it didn’t make sense.

I really don’t think I’d revisit it, or recommend it unless someone is looking for a book about sapphic ghost hunters (and this is simply because I don’t know of another sapphic ghost hunting book).

Overall rating: 2.75/5 stars

I'll be honest, I was 100% sure that this was a YA book up until the 70% mark where the main character suddenly mentions that she is 24 and three pages later there is an explicit sex scene. Both Blair and Leif are just written so juvenile that it hit me out of nowhere that they were supposed to be older than freshman in college. Learning how old they were supposed to be completely changed my opinion of the characters because they don't in anyway act their age and it really threw me off.

The ghost hunting aspect was cool and the queer rep was good, but the overall plot left a lot to be desired. I felt like there was a lot missing when it came to the final conclusion. We never learned why Jessica and Ivan sucked dry while everyone else was just killed and the whole power of belief thing was really corny. That paired with the rivals to lovers trope, but the rivals become lovers like 25% in just kind of made the book overall cringe. Blair and Leif just sort of felt like insta love and them just randomly hooking up in a tent when their friends were getting kidnapped and killed was wild.

It was generally a no from me.

A spooky mystery with sapphic representation, big plus for me. I do love the horror/mystery genre and it’s nice when a writer can do something a little different than the normal story lines. The bones were definitely there for this one but unfortunately fell a little flat for me. I felt the ‘timing’ of situations and behaviors in this book were a little wonky which made it a little difficult for me to get in to.

All in all it’s a quicker read with an interesting plot, I do recommend it for something quick and easy to get through or just to add to your sapphic collection.


Review appears on Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6212641128

I have read many books that involve haunted places. This one went in a different direction altogether. I liked the fact that there were many types of unique individuals. Each person had a contribution to make even though they were unaware of this fact. When different people went into the forest, the reader could envision each person’s experience. The description of there being no sounds in the forest was truly terrifying. When Leif and Blair discovered the unusual place in the forest, I do not think anyone was prepared for what was about to ensue. This book would make the reader think twice about ghost hunting.

A dark and chilling adventure with a twist!

Blair investigates the paranormal and Leif is a ghost hunter but they don’t quite agree with one another’s methods. Upon receiving what they each think is an exclusive invite to investigate a famous ghost town, there is instant tension when they both turn up with their teams, and find other likeminded people there too. Innocent investigating takes a deadly turn when they realise they might not be alone there, and if they don’t try to work out what, they might never find a way to escape.

At first I really thought this was going to be a fun ghost hunting story with a few spine-chilling experiences that in the end would have an explanation, or turn out to be some sort of prank, but it quickly took a turn and had me on the edge of my seat. Doing exactly as the title would suggest, a story unfolded that had even Blair and Leif finding common ground and agreeing that whatever was there with them was definitely something dark and sinister that resulted in nasty consequences. Everything in this story shocked me, expect for Blair and Leif realising that they actually made a good team and had an amazing connection.

As they worked together to try and uncover the truth about what was happening to their friends and the other’s there with them, they uncovered some uncomfortable things that had me glad they had put their differences aside so they had each other for emotional support. I loved the tingling feeling I got from their perceptions of strange findings and goings on, and my heart broke for them all when the fact they were in real danger dawned and no help was coming.

It was such an experience to join them on this adventure, and now I hope for more stories where they really get to investigate the paranormal and ghosts, rather than fear for their lives.

A gripping tale of friendship, love, adventure, mystery, and betrayal wrapped up in a big terrifying paranormal bow

This book was nothing like I expected it to be which was amazing. I really liked the premise of it and I haven’t read very many mystery or horror type books in a while and so I jumped straight into this, also its sapphic so of course I had to! I was expecting a light-hearted mystery with a sapphic subplot, what I got was way more intense and scarier and I couldn’t put this book down. The characters were extremely well written, and we got to know each of them and root for them which isn’t always the case when there’s a larger cast of characters. The atmosphere was beautifully written and made me feel as though I was there with them, which, in a ghost hunt is important, I want to be scared!

I really appreciated the representation in this, especially for a horror. There is a deaf character so we have sign language being used which is so refreshing, there are lots of queer characters including the mcs and some poc and older characters too. This very mixed group creates such a unique balance and lots of variety.

This is a fast paced, monumental mystery thriller that you won’t be able to put down and I would be surprised if you could guess the ending! Highly recommend this one!

To put it bluntly... this was bad.

The title and concept drew me in. Upon starting the book, however, I realized this was not going to be my kind of book. The biggest issue I had with this book was the writing and the author's choice to make this an adult book. Yet, the tone and dialogue felt very YA, almost bordering on middle grade. I don't know many 25 year olds who talk or act like the characters in this book. Speaking of which, I did not connect with any of the characters. The angst between the two main characters was incredibly heavy-handed and petty and took any enjoyment out of the book because every other sentence the reader is reminder that these two characters don't like each other. The end result, just by reading the sympnosis, is increadibly obvious.

While there is often a suspension of disbelief that comes with reading thrillers/horrors, I could not suspend my disbelief that these characters were actually grown adults. Based on reviews, it appears that people are connecting with this one, which is great. Unfortunately, I could not stop rolling my eyes during the duration of this book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providng this digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

I'm always eager to read a new ghost story when they are released. This book is enjoyable since it's a whole town that is haunted and not just one house. Blair and her friend Abe are invited to investigate Masonville. It becomes more than an investigation when Blair's unfavorite person Leif has also been invited. I, for one, am not someone who likes relationships in horror books but it works in this book. I think this is a fun read for anyone interested in the paranormal. Just don't expect your normal run of the mill horror book!

In R.E. Ward's captivating paranormal romance, Blair Wyndon and Leif Henderson, two rival paranormal experts, embark on an unforgettable investigation into the haunting of Masonville, an abandoned ghost town. As they delve deeper, they uncover layers of mystery and danger, forcing them to rely on each other for survival.

What truly resonates in this novel is its remarkable LGBTQIA representation, adding depth and authenticity to the characters' relationships. The evolution from adversaries to lovers is expertly portrayed, fulfilling the allure of the enemies-to-lovers trope, though hindered at times by a lack of communication. Ward masterfully weaves in the paranormal elements, immersing readers in a thrilling, cinematic experience reminiscent of a suspenseful horror film.

While the book delivers on many fronts, there are moments where certain aspects could have been further developed instead of rushed through. Despite this, the overall experience remains engaging and satisfying.

In conclusion, Ward's work is a delightful read, offering a compelling blend of romance, intrigue, and supernatural mystery. I extend my gratitude to NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for granting me the opportunity to read and review this novel.

This book was pretty good, I would definitely recommend

~This was given by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

There’s a lot to say about ghost town, when I read the synopsis I was intrigued. Who could say no to a story about a group of ghost hunters being invited to an abandoned town, one which strange and unusual things have occurred. Not me the book nerd that loves the weird and unusual. The story start off with Blair and her group of friends doing their thing with ghost hunting. It tells about the website they she and her friends belong to and how they share their finding and research. So basically backstory but then things get weird they are invited to a famous abandoned town but the corporation that owns it. If that’s not shady I don’t know what is. I kinda got Silent hill or resident evil vibes. . All is good until they and the other ghost hunters from the forum get there and weird stuff starts happening. What’s going on, is this really paranormal activity or is there some sinister person behind it all. Well I can’t give it all away you will just have to read it and find out!