A HOLT Medallion finalist.A past life, a past war, and a past love. Peter St John can’t foresee a future until he confronts his past sins.When photojournalist Peter St John returns home after a two-year absence, the life he’s been running from catches up. For years his mother’s presence, coupled with Pete’s own psychic gift, has triggered visits to 1917. There, he relives battles of the Great … relives battles of the Great War, captures the heyday of Coney Island on canvas, and falls in love with an enchanting and enigmatic songstress named Esme. Present-day Pete still pines for Esme, and his love endures…but so does his vivid memory of killing her.
When he discovers family heirlooms that serve as proof of his crimes, Pete will have to finally confront his former life. He also meets a young woman—who is more than what she seems—with a curious connection to his family. As century-old secrets unravel, can Pete reconcile a murder from his past before it destroys his future?
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Echo Moon is the last book in the Ghost Gifts series. I’ve read the first two and couldn’t wait to read this one. Echo Moon finished off the series perfectly. The attention to detail when describing Esme and her life, surrounds, and friends was so amazing that I could picture her hotel room, her friends, and even the costumes she wore when she was performing. Pete’s life was also told in detail. I could hear the pain in his voice when he came home to see his parents, the fear in what would happen when he closed his eyes, and the worry that he truly may have been Esme’s killer in his past life.
Many times when there are two timelines in the same story they don’t come together easily. Laura Spinella is wonderful in her writing. She takes the dual timelines, intertwines them together, yet never leaves the reader guessing as to when they are reading about. I loved when Pete would show up at a place the Esme was known to have been at.
This trilogy is one of my all time favorites. I’d definitely recommend reading all three books in order. Start with Ghost Gifts, head right into Foretold, and finish it all out with Echo Moon.
OMG! I absolutely love this series! I’ve read all three of the books in the Ghost Gifts series and I’ve loved them all. Echo Moon is the perfect ending to this unique, captivating trilogy. This third book deals with Pete, the namesake of his grandfather who, as we learned in the first book, received ‘ghost gifts’. Pete’s mother Aubrey has a slightly different manifestation of the ‘gift’ and Pete’s ‘gift’ is different still.
Echo Moon is an exciting and fast-paced story that I quickly devoured. Pete’s quest to find out more about the woman he was in love with in 1917 and why he killed her took me on a ride full of twists and turns. Events and ghosts from the past rock Pete’s world as the events and people in the present help ground him.
I totally understand that this is the end of the trilogy, but I’m sad that I have to say goodbye to these wonderful characters and their unusual gifts. I wish them all well and I would really love to visit them again. This is a unique and amazing set of stories and I highly recommend them!
This ain’t your mama’s family drama! Binge-worthy Ghost Gifts trilogy (Ghost Gifts, Foretold, Echo Moon) is more than a romance, historical, and paranormal fiction all in one. The twists and turns will raise the hair on the back of your neck, yet Laura Spinella’s well thought out storyline and unforgettable characters keep you wanting more.
Echo Moon is the third installment to Laura Spinella’s Ghost Gifts trilogy. Ghost Gifts and Foretold should be read before reading Echo Moon. If you love psychic phenomenon and the paranormal, then this historical fiction novel, which also includes murder, mystery, family relationships, war and romance, is for you. I have always found psychic mediumship fascinating, and Spinella delivers a fantastic story from the first book to the last. In Echo Moon, Spinella masterfully takes you on Peter St John’s compelling journey as a photojournalist who lived in 1917 alternating the past to his present life. Her characters keep you enthralled, and the reader learns about the gifts of psychics, how they live, and how they enrich and help others.
The quote in this novel, “If Paris is France, then Coney Island, between June and September, is the World” touched me. I absolutely love it! I didn’t understand what it meant at first, but after I read Echo Moon, it’s meaning was revealed. Best of all, as we all learn, what’s right in front of you matters the most. Sometimes we don’t see it, but it’s right there. Make time to read this trilogy, and you’ll understand what I’m talking about. I highly recommend these novels, and I look forward to more of Laura Spinella’s work.
I would like to thank Laura Spinella for her story of life, war and past loves as well as her ability to weave a story that not only captivates but mesmerises. It is written beautifully as it flows effortlessly with a mystifying realm of twists and turns that left me wanting more with each and every flip of the page. The suspense, depth of characters, sprinkles of humor and substance of story will dazzle. A read in which every emotion is touched on as you follow the highs and lows of a world that enchants but terrifies. It will have you cheering, crying and holding out hope for its treasured cast of characters. A wonderful and satisfying conclusion to this 3-book series. This is an intriguing story you will not want to miss.
Thank you to NetGalley for this book.
It pulled me right in and had me until the very last page. Although I have not yet read the first books in this series I didn’t feel lost at all. I look forward to them now. It’s a very intriguing story and will keep you captivated until the very end. A must read.
I absolutely loved it.
Favorite Quotes:
He longed for Esme the way you might want air in a sealed tomb.
I just saved you from a gang of boys with ideas that’d make nuns faint!
Listen to me when I tell you it won’t stop, Pete. The dead haven’t anything better to do.
His eyes were set so close Esmerelda thought he could be his own one-eyed act.
Caroline thinks she meditates. Translation, three hours of binge watching Dexter.
My Review:
All three books in this series have been astoundingly well-crafted, ingeniously plotted, cleverly written, and tantalizingly unpredictable. While I rapturously enjoyed all three books, Echo Moon was the most intriguing, complicated, and riveting of the bunch. I had to read it slowly to ensure that I retained all the twisty and cryptic clues, but more so that I could savor every well-chosen word. The storyline cleverly brought together all the unique characters and their talents, foibles, and leftover mysteries from the previous installments, and incorporated them with new and complex issues that had been tormenting the main character of Pete since childhood.
I rarely read paranormal or otherworldly genres but I was stunned by the realization of how much I was enjoying the creative and unusual concepts that are so agilely put forth in this series in such a believable and plausible manner. I am in awe of Ms. Spinella’s wordcraft. She has mad skills and I greedily covet her cunning wordplay. I found all her characters to be well drawn, endearingly quirky, and enticingly detailed, with my favorite being her “redheaded actress who ate like a lumberjack.” I read all three books in succession and have basically been living this family for close to a week. I am already mourning the loss of their company.
ECHO MOON is the third and final book of Laura Spinella’s Ghost Gifts Trilogy. Having read the first two books, GHOST GIFTS and FORETOLD, I could not wait to read ECHO MOON and it is undoubtedly the best of them all. ECHO MOON tells an intriguing story filled with romance, mystery and suspense. I could not turn the pages fast enough to reach the dramatic and unexpected conclusion. The characters are so expertly portrayed that I feel like I know them personally. Peter St. John and Esme’s story, with past and present woven seamlessly together, is exquisitely told, with every detail playing a role in the complex plot. I will not soon forget this beautifully-written and captivating tale and I highly recommend it.