Haunting Joy (Haunting Joy #1)

Joy’s new dress has a secret – one with a little supernatural history, one that’s a little more than she expected.

It all starts one ordinary afternoon, as seventeen-year-old Joy tries on some thrift-store clothes her grandmother gave her. The little white dress fits perfectly. Trouble is, now it won’t leave her alone. Soon Joy is swept up in an extraordinary journey to help a ghost complete some unfinished business.

If only that didn’t involve Joy driving through dangerous intersections...

Or calling up her high-school crush, Nick...

Or getting stuck at a cemetery after dark.

Will Joy accept this ghostly challenge to be "more"? And just how far will she go to uncover the truth?

Teen/YA/Young Adult, Light Paranormal, Short Novel

"I never believed in ghosts.
Until it happened to me."

Excerpt...

I know I heard a sound, an almost human-sounding sigh, and it came from the corner of my room. Inside my room. I’m sure of it. As I slide my gaze back that way, a chill slithers over me. All the tiny hairs on my arms stand at attention. You know, like that moment in the dark when you suddenly think someone—or something—might be in the room with you.

Only, my room’s not dark at all. It’s clear and bright outside. Sunlight is pouring through my skylight. Even so, my room feels creepy and strange now. I peer into the corner, searching for any sign of movement, for anything different, like a mouse or squirrel or something. But the dog would have been all over that, I think, wouldn’t he? The only thing I see is my chair.

Except...the white dress is no longer heaped in a haphazard pile. It’s laid out all nice and neat, with the straps up over the back cushion and the skirt spread out over the seat. The two matching flip-flops are sitting side by side in front of the chair, toes pointed toward me. Like there’s an empty girl sitting there, in an empty dress, with her empty flip-flops, looking right at me.

I sit up quick and swing my legs over the side of the bed. The room tilts around me, and the floor’s flying up to meet my face, so I grab the edge of my mattress and take a deep, calming breath. Or try to.

“Mom,” I yell toward the door.

No answer.

“Mom!”

I hear her muffled reply.

“Did you lay out my new dress?” I call to her.

“What dress, sweetie?”

As if she knows nothing about it.

My heart squeezes into a knot.