8/2/24 2:14am
next liveblog book is Looking for Love in All the Haunted Places by Claire Kann!
A captivatingly spooky romantic comedy, perfect for fans of Erin Sterling and Lana Harper! Love brings down the haunted house in this captivating romance from the acclaimed author of The Romantic Agenda.
Lucky Hart has always had an affinity for the supernatural even if almost no one takes parapsychology seriously, and she's finally getting her big break! Hearing that there's a new show where every actor mysteriously quits after spending three nights inside Hennessee House, an old Victorian house with a notorious reputation, Lucky knows that this could be her moment.
Having schemed her way onto the show to investigate, Lucky meets Maverick Phillips and chemistry instantly crackles between them. He challenges, supports, and sees her in ways no one ever has and their connection is so palpable, everyone notices it . . . including Hennesee House.
It may be early days, but their new romance soon has a challenger: the lonely, sentient house, desperate for Lucky's undivided attention. And when all of Lucky's plans start to backfire, she realizes that if she wants to have it all, she'll have to risk everything. After all, everyone deserves a happily ever after, even lonesome old houses with haunted hearts.
tag is bats reads lolahp
8/4/24 3:43am
after taking part in the time-honored tradition of making a post declaring the next book then not even touching it for several days i'm actually gonna start the book for real now lol
8/4/24 3:58am
ooo, lucky's a little psychic, that's pretty neat. was just expecting a regular ghost hunter
8/6/24 7:48am
"The only thing that makes life worth living is the fact that I'm not dead. It's like I'm being forced to survive."
girl same
8/6/24 8:04am
the book's alright so far, just feels kinda slow. i'm as impatient as the mc to finally get to the haunting stuff. and i have little patience for precocious child shenanigans in adult books lol
8/6/24 8:56am
the interactions between the mc and the love interest are... weird? idk how to explain it. they're just kinda too friendly, i guess? for people who've never met before. like she's got a bit of the parasocial thing going on, which can kinda explain her end? but that doesn't explain him. like even from the first professional phonecall they're a little too familiar. she overshares and he completely rolls with it. stuff i'd get weird looks for saying to a friendly acquaintance just breezes right through him no problem. and they're co-workers who've barely known each other for a few days
8/6/24 12:14pm
yeah he's waaay too chill. i just feel like from what i've heard from people with platforms who've dealt with parasocial stuff finding out your new co-worker lied in the interview about the reason they wanted the job and then revealed that they were very familiar with your podcast and remembered the post you made announcing that you got a tv show would send up a lot of red flags
8/6/24 12:17pm
i was gonna add a comment about how it should also throw some skepticism at maverick (love interest) that lucky knows more about him than she initially let on, possibly calling her psychic reading abilities into question but let's be honest. ghost hunters don't always think that kind of thing through. so i'll give it a pass lol
8/6/24 12:26pm
also, you know what? i don't get this ghost hunting set-up at all. like, so far no one's said anything about what specific ghosts they think are there. like, no word about so-and-so who died back in 189X or whatever. when lucky mentions her hypothesis that the house is sentient, it's like. wait that wasn't a given? then what the hell did they think was going on? like seriously what are y'all doing?
it'd be one thing if they were specifically not telling her about any specific ghosts so as to not bias her experiences, but there's never a scene where they're like "oh we can't tell you that" so i have no way of knowing.
this whole book is weird, man.
8/6/24 12:37pm
awww she's gonna name the cat gengar
i admit it. i am not immune to pokemon propaganda
8/6/24 12:46pm
more parasocial red flags 🚩
8/6/24 1:06pm
wait. that's it? that's all? they built up the whole "this house is sooo scary it wants to scare people sooo bad what it did to the previous occupants was sooo scary" but like. that's it? okay. maybe i'm just built different
8/6/24 1:50pm
now that i'm free from bug jail we can get back to bookposting 👍
8/6/24 3:26pm
we're taking a haunted theme park detour for some reason. but hey, spooky theme park 🎉
8/6/24 3:42pm
also like wait a minute. okay.
so, context, maverick wrote up a script for a miniseries that xander (their network guy) just bought. so the premise is that rebel (maverick's 10-y-o daughter) and lucky will star in it as unnamed (i think also unseen) protagonists exploring & talking about this haunted theme park found-tootage style. and it'll be kinda like an arg, where the audience figures out The Lore, and it's like an easter egg that the nanny character is the same person as the person on the show lucky is currently filming and like. what???? you're seriously gonna blend your legit ghost show with whatever this new thing is????
this book is Weird, man
8/6/24 4:22pm
backrooms mention (for some reason)
8/6/24 4:31pm
...so they're purposefully going to a theme park that isn't haunted 😑
8/6/24 4:41pm
girl just answer your damn phone, or at least google the number
8/6/24 4:55pm
yay, the theme park actually is spooky!
8/6/24 5:05pm
everything else aside lucky is a really cool and resonant character. i just kinda wish she was in a slightly better book lol
8/8/24 3:55
look i like the characters and all... but god. this book feels so long. i want it to be over. but i've still got like 70 pages left 😭
8/8/24 8:58
it's done i'm freeeeee
so okay. overall thoughts. there are a lot of individual elements here that i normally like. i just don't vibe with the execution. there are a lot of odd quirks here and there, and the book feels like a slog to get through.
i really like lucky as a character; i wish she were in a better book lol
