A Question of Ghosts

Becca Healy always believed she understood the shameful circumstances of her mother's deathuntil the night her mother's spirit whispers a simple message out of the static of a radio: Not true. Becca turns to the terse Dr. Joanne Call, an expert in Electronic Voice Phenomenonghost voicesto unravel the mystery of this decades-old tragedy. Joanne can coax messages out of the silence of the grave, but coping with this feisty, emotional Healy person might be completely beyond her. Together, Becca and Jo must tackle childhood grief, a serial killer, Xena withdrawal, and a growing attraction between the two most mismatched women in Seattle.

Suri Daniels, a beautiful and troubled woman, is the descendant of a family of supernaturally gifted women, known as the Blessed, and literally holds keys to gateways between the earthly plane and seven powerful gods. A series of tragic losses and a stipulation in her grandmother’s will has her returning to the family’s home in New Orleans, unaware that she will need to step into the role of Orisha priestess and escape the attention of a powerful demon. To top it all off, she must accept the help of a Cambion—Lyla Jefferies, a dark supernatural being she has spent her life avoiding. What’s worse? She can’t help being drawn to Layla in ways she doesn’t understand.

Being the child of a top-tier demon and a human isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. For the past two hundred years, Layla Jefferies has lived a life of quietude. When an unknown force draws her out of seclusion, the pull is too strong to ignore. Layla is tasked to assist with protecting the gateways and saving Suri from becoming a vengeful demon’s avatar. Falling in love with her is definitely not part of the plan.

Layla and Suri are brought together by fate to defeat the darkness threatening to tear their world apart. What they don’t expect to discover is a love that might set them free.

Content advisory: Opening chapter includes a depiction of sexual violence and rape.

Dear Reader,

I wrote The Blessed to honor the resilience, strength, and faith of my community’s ancestors. To tell a story, in my own way, of their survival in a world that treated them as less than the lowest of creatures. A world that continues to methodically strip away our sense of selves as humans and our culture as a people. Layla is the embodiment of all People of Color, particularly Women of Color, in this country and the suffering they have endured, which was violent, painful, and has lasted for generations. I choose to honor all those women like Layla, her mother, and grandmother who survived and rather than turn to violence themselves, chose to stand tall and lift their community up.

The Blessed begins with an act of physical violence to represent how some People of Color were brought into the world. Just as we survived our violent past, so does Layla. Just as we did not allow what was wrought upon us to break us, to take away our capacity to love and cherish others the way we were not, Layla also does not let her circumstances break her. She turns that violence into the resolve to help her community. In the process, she finds a love that strengthens her even more.

You may feel discomfort when reading Layla’s beginnings as it mirrors the pain of the past. Atrocity and its generational impacts should not feel comfortable or easy. But her story is ultimately an uplifting one of family, faith, culture, and love that I believe you will enjoy. I hope you see The Blessed as honoring the struggles of my ancestors and accepting the blessing of life, faith, and love that they have bestowed upon me as a result of their survival.

Forever thankful, always grateful, abundantly blessed,

Anne Shade

Elena Murphy tried to escape the ghosts by moving as far away from Owen Station as she could get. It didn’t work. So when her dad asks her to manage the front-of-the-house at Murphy’s Mortuary Funeral Services, which her cold-as-ice brothers are burying, she packs up her art studio and comes home. This time, though, she’s not the town weirdo but an up-and-coming photographer who has embraced her sixth sense—and learned how to use it.

Allison Jones is the charismatic new assistant fire chief—and maybe the only person not happy Elena’s back. Not only is Al the first woman to hold this post in Owen Station, but she is up to her eyeballs in swirling conspiracy theories that are thwarting efforts to prevent wildfires during a record-breaking Southwest summer. The last thing she needs is somebody with Elena’s profile telling ghost stories.

Elena’s not too wild about the chief, either. No one can be that upbeat all the time and not be hiding something, right? But when Elena needs Al’s help to solve a 70-year-old mystery and finally give her tortured family peace, sparks fly. Will it be enough to melt the ice between them and let love ignite?

Advance praise from Publishers Weekly: "Kelly and Tana Fireside tantalize in their third Owen Station queer romance....[W]hen [Al and Elena] band together to solve a decades-old mystery, sparks fly. Readers will warm to Al, Elena, and the solid supporting cast, especially Elena’s feisty grandmother, who seems to know more about the mystery than she should. This quirky and tolerant small town remains a joy to visit."

Seventeen-year-old Astra's life hasn't been easy. She has no friends, an absent father, and a mom everyone thinks is crazy. Plus, one huge secret: she can talk to ghosts.

Astra inherited her mom’s gift, but sometimes it feels more like a curse. Especially when she meets Isla, who's sweet, cheerful, and absolutely gorgeous. She’s just the right kind of girl to bring Astra out of her shell—and maybe more. The only problem? She’s dead.

When Isla enlists Astra’s help with her so-called bucket list, Astra intends to do just enough to help her move on to the afterlife. She doesn’t plan on getting close to her, and she definitely doesn’t plan on falling in love. By the time the list is finished, Astra realizes that her gift might not be such a bad thing after all.

But Isla has secrets of her own. And when the truth behind her death is discovered, even Astra’s love might not be enough to convince her to stay.