The hallways are empty, the school day long over, the din of lockers and youthful laughter have dissolved into silence. It’s as if the very walls are waiting. And then through the intercom a song starts to crackle, the soundtrack of a forgotten life. And the band begins to sing — “Lovely Maggie falls for Johnny, a boy no one else can see. Heartthrob Johnny, 50s bad boy, trapped for eternity. … Lonely boy and lonely girl, unsolved mystery. Maggie and Johnny, only high school sweethearts, because Johnny can’t ever leave. Do wop, Do wop…”
In 1958, a rumble goes down outside the brand new highschool in Honeyville, Texas. Chaos ensues, a life is lost, and Johnny Kinross disappears. But in 2010, someone finds him. Orphaned at the age of ten, 17-year-old Maggie O’Bannon finally finds a permanent home with her elderly aunt in a small Texas town. Working part-time as a school janitor, she becomes enmeshed in a fifty-year-old tragedy where nothing is as it seems and the boy of her dreams might vanish when the bell rings.
This volatile and mismatched romance is doomed from its start, as Maggie struggles to hold on to yet another person she is destined to lose. Secret love and hushed affection are threatened by outside forces, resulting in a desperate race to keep a secret no one would understand. Deeply romantic, funny and tender, Slow Dance in Purgatory captures the heartache of a love story where a happy ending might be decades too late.
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I really enjoyed the authors latest book The Bird and the Sword and thought I would try this one. I wish I could give it 2 and a half stars because I liked it but I don’t plan on reading the sequel and it left on a pretty big cliffhanger. This is a very teen book. The girl gets so wrapped up in the boy it’s unhealthy. The idea of the story was …
Loved this story, and the sequel, even though the time travel aspect was a bit unrealistic. Still, this is a great love story.
A haunting read!
Who is the boy no one else can see?
And what do you do when you fall in love with a ghost?
A beautiful, poetic and haunting love story. So much anguish and heartache but throughout the story you will have hope – hope for a different outcome and hope for a happy or even a good ending.
The author truly knows how to capture your …
I was pleasantly surprised by this novel. I am an avid reader, as is my 13 year old niece. However, we all know that what are listed as teen novels can be more risqué than kids should be reading. So, I often will read teen novels before recommendations them to her to read. This is definitely one I would recommend for teens and adults alike. Clean, …
Slow Dance in Purgatory was one of author Amy Harmon’s very first novels and is the first installment in her Purgatory series. This ghost story felt like a mixture of paranormal and young adult romance with a touch of historical fiction. It is a likeable story about Johnny, a boy who was killed in the 1950’s but fought the process of death and now …