Guest Blogger – Mary Alice Pritchard

I have the pleasure of welcoming Mary Alice Pritchard to my blog today…

Price: $6.00
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Length: 232 pages

Ghostly Mistakes
Mary Alice Pritchard

Lizzy planned to make this mission short and sweet, but thanks to her client, Carl Taylor’s inability to provide details, it looks as if she was in for an extended adventure. A dangerous farmer with buried secrets, and the zealous accusations of a lady’s church group keep her on her toes. If all this isn’t enough to complicate her task, her growing attraction to the highway patrolman who caught her speeding, adds spice to the brew. If she doesn’t solve the puzzle left in her hands, she could find herself stuck with Carl for life. Oh, did I mention he isn’t a paying customer? Well, being a ghost does limit your financial abilities.

Tell us a little about your story.
Ghostly Mistakes is a paranormal romantic suspense with elements of comedy. Yes, it has it all. Lizzy is a channel for spirits. Once one of them attaches to her, she can’t get rid of them until she helps them resolve their unfinished business. Jacob is a highway patrolman who stops her from speeding and then can’t get her out of his head. They are thrown together to solve more than a pesky ghost problem. There is something going on in the small town of Belzoni that doesn’t include Lizzy’s ghostly hitchhiker.

What is it you relate to most with your heroine or hero? What do you like about them most?
Lizzy is all the things I would like to be in a woman, spunky, witty, and willing to take chances. I tend to ask a dozen questions before I leap.

Jacob is the tall dark handsome stranger I’d love to meet other than in my dreams. I’m sure we all have a few of them lurking in our subconscious minds.

How did you get started in writing?
I’ve written short stories off and on all my life. I used them as an escape from the world around me. I officially began writing about four years ago. I went to a Romantic Times Book Lovers Convention and fell in love with writing by talking with so many of the talented authors there.

What’s your schedule like, and what do you enjoy doing in your time off?
I work full time so I write whenever I can. Mostly it is on the weekends as it is about the only free time I have. As for my “off” time. I write, read and watch my feline muses who entertain me. Next to writing, reading is my one true love.

Where can readers find out more about your stories?
They can go to either www.thewildrosepress.com or to www.thedarkcastlelords.com for my short stories. My website is www.maryalicepritchard.com Don’t forget to check out my blog where the felines like to hang out.

Sneak peek into Ghostly Mistakes:
Lizzy Gordon risked another look behind her as she ran the last few yards to her car.

“Nothing…there…nothing there!” She repeated the words, not to convince herself, but to keep her mind occupied until she was safe behind glass and

steel. There was something there, all right. If she didn’t get into her car now, that something would have her for a quick snack. She pressed her remote as she neared the car; blinking headlights reassured her the doors were unlocked. She slammed the car door closed just seconds ahead of the presence bearing down on her and slid towards the center of the car, jerking as a malevolent ghost crashed into the door.

“That was much too close!” Realizing they were squeezed shut, she opened her eyes and made an attempt to slow her breathing before she hyperventilated. The presence outside the car was furious and pushing hard against the metal of the door.

“Sliding home on your ass again, I see.” The amused southern drawl drew a startled yelp from Lizzy before she could stop it.

“Damnation, Carl! Don’t do that to me again!”

Scooting back into the driver’s seat and jamming the key into the ignition, she peeled out of the cemetery, leaving a dust cloud boiling behind her. “And why are you here? I told you to keep out of my way!”

“Aw, Lizzy baby, is that any way to treat your back-up?” His smooth southern drawl raised her hackles instead of calming her down as he probably intended.

“Carl, I’m not your baby and you are most definitely not my back-up! I’m only in this mess because you can’t keep your promises!” Growling in frustration, she risked a look in the rear view mirror at her passenger. Oh, man, he was just as hard to look at as the last time she’d seen him.

Driving faster than was safe on a gravel road, Lizzy willed her pounding heart to settle down.

Gravel turned to concrete a mile from the cemetery as she sped back to the highway, only slowing down enough to make the turn without rolling the car. She headed towards Indianola, Mississippi, the closest decent sized city near Belzoni on her map. She’d reserved a room at a Day’s Inn once she arrived in Belzoni, before going to the first cemetery. It was only a thirty-minute drive between the two towns and she preferred larger rather than smaller, rationalizing she stood a better chance at locating a decent place to eat. Lizzy finally slowed down to just over the speed limit once she was in sight of the Producers Feed Mill lights that signaled the even smaller community of Isola. Taking a deep breath, Lizzy glared at her passenger using the rear view mirror.

Two weeks ago, she was living a fairly normal life in Jackson, Mississippi, managing a small emergency medical clinic. Yes, she had the odd deadbeat to deal with, but nothing dramatic or dangerous. She liked it that way—boring. Instead, here she was sneaking around in the middle of the night in backwoods Belzoni, Mississippi, an angry spirit on her tail and the meddlesome ghost who started the whole fiasco in her back seat. Lizzy felt like she was jinxed when it came to men and considering her track record, most people would probably agree. Gripping the steering wheel, she fumed over the situation. It never failed—when she found herself metaphysically bound to a ghost it turned out to be a whopper of an adventure. Oh, for a simple haunting or displaced body.

Staring into the rear view mirror at her latest male attachment, Lizzie planned to look for a new career as soon as she managed to rid herself of Carl.

Something where there would be less chance of hitchhiking ghosts. She could manage a dry cleaners or maybe a bookstore. She loved to read. Anything that paid the bills would do, if it would keep her chances of hooking up with dead dudes to the bare minimum.