by Kathryn Knight
I’ve always wanted to see a ghost. If there’s a Haunted Walking Tour, I’m there. But still no luck. I love all those paranormal reality shows on TV. I’ve even considered paying to spend the night in a haunted colonial jail a few towns over. If they had indoor plumbing, I would do it!
But the other night, I thought I heard someone climbing the stairs over and over, up and down, accompanied by the sound of change jingling from a pocket. Now, my husband runs a few mornings a week, and sometimes he does the stairs a few times to warm up, but I lay there in the dark thinking, why does he have a pocketful of change when he’s going running? Then I rolled over and saw that he was still in bed next to me, and both our sons were at sleepovers.
The noise stopped, but I still had to get up and investigate. I didn’t find anything, but in the darkness of 1:30 a.m., I decided maybe it wouldn’t be so cool to see a ghost. At least not in my own home!
But I admit I had a lot of fun writing the scenes in Silver Lake when our heroine Rain Anderson actually sees the ghost. As much as she wants to help her old friend’s spirit find peace, encountering her ghost is terrifying. Luckily Jason is at the lake house too—but even he, a Fourth degree black belt in Karate, can’t do much about a ghost determined to get her message through!
How about you? Has anyone seen a ghost? I’d love to hear your haunting stories!
Rain Anderson can't decide which is more unsettling—encountering the ghost of her missing friend, or reuniting with the man whose love she foolishly rejected. But one thing is certain: the past has come back to haunt her, quite literally.
Five years ago, Rain's tight-knit group of high school friends unraveled when one vanished during their senior year. Now, a parent's deathbed request has reunited the friends at Silver Lake, including Jason Lansing, the man Rain discarded. Rain and Jason discover the powerful attraction between them has survived, but though Jason is willing to forgive, he can't let himself forget. The possibility of falling for Rain again is too risky.
Slamming doors, crashing objects, flaring fires—clearly the ghost has a message to share. As Rain and Jason struggle to unravel the truth, they must face a desperate spirit in need of help…and a burning passion that refuses to die.
Excerpt:
“I saw...a figure. A figure with dark hair, and I think it was Brandy.” She shuddered and put her forehead back on his chest.
Reluctantly, he moved their bodies apart a bit and scanned her face. He held on to her shoulders and asked calmly, “You saw Brandy? Brandy is here?”
She shook her head. “No, I saw… like… an image of Brandy. I woke up, because it was cold, and I saw something moving. It was Brandy, I’m sure of it, although I didn’t see her face clearly. And then she, um, disappeared.”
“An image of Brandy? Are you saying you saw a ghost, Rain?” He was pretty sure she’d had another nightmare, but the way she had flown out of her room gave him the impression it had been an extremely vivid one.
“I know, it sounds ridiculous. But that’s what I saw. And she sort of, well, went through the wall. I’m sure you don’t believe me,” she added miserably, lifting her stormy eyes to his.
He pulled her back into a hug before he could stop himself. “I absolutely believe you. Whether you were awake or asleep, you saw Brandy and that’s scary. I don’t think we can deny that weird things are happening here.”
Jason smoothed her hair and waited patiently for her trembling to subside. If a ghost really was lurking in her bedroom, there wasn’t a whole heck of a lot he could do about that. A rare sense of powerlessness caused his jaw to clench in frustration.
He stopped watching the door and instead focused on the gorgeous woman in his arms. She clung to him, and his body responded to hers with a familiar ache. He knew he was losing the battle to keep his feelings platonic.
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Author Bio:
As a child, Kathryn Knight kept her parents on a constant quest to find enough reading material to last her through each week. An early fondness for books about horses later gave way to a lasting preference for both love stories and ghost stories; as a writer, the paranormal romance genre is a perfect fit. Silver Lake is Kathryn's first novel; her second novel, Gull Harbor, has also received a contract from The Wild Rose Press and will be released in 2013. She lives in New England with her husband, her sons, and a number of rescued animals. Please visit her at www.kathrynknightbooks.com or on Facebook at Kathryn Knight books.
17 comments:
My favorite ghost encounter was on a ghost tour in St. Augustine. My two children and I had digital cameras as we looked at the haunted lighthouse. My son actually took a picture of a man with one of those old-fashioned trim haircuts slicked leaning out of one of the top floor windows of the adjoining house. He was pointing to the lighthouse as if to get someone to look that way. The thing about that is the top floor hasn't had a real floor to stand in in a couple of generations now. It's just all one big ceiling in there apparently. It was a pretty clear photo, too.
Ohhhh that gave me the chills! Thanks so much for sharing, Katrina. I'm still hoping to see one someday :)
I want to thank Anna Kathryn for having me here today - it's great to be here!
Great post and this book looks very good! I've never seen a ghost but I have had some freaky things happen and I have to agree that your attitude changes when it becomes real. It's so scary you don't want it to happen anymore.
Hi, Kathryn. Thanks for being my guest today. I haven't seen a ghost, but in a house we lived in when my girls would little, I'd hear someone saying "mom, mom," in an almost whisper. The girls were either sound asleep or upstairs. It was odd. Katrina, I was going to do the ghost tour of St. Augustine a few years back, but we got dropped off at the wrong spot to start the tour (told wrong by the hotel) and missed it. My friend and I were disappointed, but we went back to our hotel and sat in the hot tub instead!
Oh that is creepy Anna Kathryn! And I agree Lisa, in the middle of the night, it's a whole different viewpoint!
Fascinating post ladies, and the excerpt sounds great too. Very kewl about the photo of the man on the now nonexistent floor. I've popped into this blog several times today but keep getting interrupted before I manage to leave a comment. The Shenandoah Valley (where I live) and surrounding mountains are a hot spot of paranormal activity, which is both interesting and bit creepy, all depending. I wrote up the account of the poltergeist in our old farm house on my blog, though that's rather long to leave in a comment, and there have been other experiences, or stories I've heard from family and friends. Author Pam Kinney has several nonfiction books with haunted Virginia themes.
Oh, I love this post. And your book just went on my TBR pile. I have to admit I too have a secret fascination for this type of thing. I've had quite a few experiences that all began when we bought our house ten years ago. Most of them are too long to leave here, but most memorable are the ones where I've been touched. But I've experienced everything from hearing noises to seeing things out the corner of my eye to having someone whisper in my ear. I put up a post once, on my blog. Very cool stuff. I'm fascinated by it.
I remember that post,Joanne. Amazing.
Thanks, Beth. :)
Oh, both those posts gave me the chills! Joanne I do have a moment when my heroine Rain feels a hand on her shoulder...then realizes her friends are not standing behind her! I hope you enjoy Silver Lake, I tried to add lots of spooky moments :) Beth, a poltergiest, wow - I will have to search your blog b/c I want to read about that!
I'm very interesting in reading your book, Kathryn. Here's the link for the poltergeist story: http://bethtrissel.wordpress.com/2009/10/08/the-poltergeist-in-our-old-farmhouse-2/
Thanks Beth! When I went to find that blog I found about 4 different ones - I appreciate the link and the Silver Lake purchase - hope you enjoy :)
Beth, that prayer is similar to one I came up with from reading the Bible and from my sister's experiences. We had a happy spirit, and a somewhat frightening one in our home. The bad one didn't DO anything, but followed me sometimes and lurked. The lurking prescence made me nervous. I wanted to banish that one, but the prayer rid us of the good one, too. Better none, though, than both good and bad.
Hi Kathryn,
'Silver Lake' sounds like a great book, congratulations on its release.
I was born and lived most of my life in Wales, which is a hotspot for ghosts and strange goings on. The stables where I kept my horses belonged to an old mansion which had three ghosts. I didn't see any, but did hear strange noises there late at night. Another mansion where I attended a writing conference was haunted by a lady who used to own it. I took a photo of my friend in the gardens, and when it was printed out, there was a shadowy figure of a lady in a long, old fashioned dress, in the bushes!
Even though my maternal German grandmother and my mother saw ghosts, I've never seen or even sensed any in all my 85 years. Which doesn't stop me from writing or reading about them. Jane
Agree Caroline, even a good spirit would be a little unsettling. Thanks Hywela! Oh I love that story, goosebumps on my arms! I would love to visit Wales. Sounds like you may have gotten plenty of material from your mother and grandmother, Jane - I will look up your books! Thanks so much ladies for coming by!
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