Halloween Hearts is an anthology of true love & spooky romance; twelve tales of cursed love, monstrous meet-cutes, dark and stormy witchcraft, and happily ever hauntings. You can get your copy just in time for Halloween (and get your name included as a supporter) by backing the project on Kickstarter.
Usually when we say someone has skeletons in their closet, we’re talking about secrets. In Darcy Hamilton’s case, the skeleton(s) are a little more literal, but the secrets are just as important. She comes from a long line of well-minded but … um … spirited spirit-folk, after all, and runs with a bit of a strange crowd. Being only “normal” herself, though, and congenitally without a special other as the spooky season approaches, she also gets pity invited to the legendary, best Haunted House of the Halloween season. No problem about the guy, though, Granny has a friend with a were-rabbit nephew who would like to meet her.
Then the bat catcher comes along and…well…
To put it mildly, Annie Reed’s delightful story “Skeletons in the Closet, Bats in the Belfry” is full of light-hearted hijinks that will keep you smiling all the way through, and given that it’s an Annie Reed story (we do so love Annie Reed stories!), is guaranteed to satisfy. As a short story, it reads to me like what you’d get if Hallmark or Lifetime made a Halloween sitcom. Brigid and I both loved this from the moment we read it, and the only question was where we would stage it in the book itself. The answer turned out to be right after “Roll Credits,” which is a bit of a darker story, and right before “Permeable,” which is a stronger fantasy.
I think you’ll agree that was a good choice.