What do you do when your carefully laid out plan for your career fizzles? With her finances and reputation in shambles, Washington DC Press Officer Walker Wilder moved to Marietta, Montana to keep a low profile while planning her next career move. Meanwhile, she hired herself out as the Public Relations Coordinator of the historic Graff Hotel.

Enter Calum Quest, a successful entertainment producer and entrepreneur. He was also at the crossroads in his career. Currently on top of his game, he is thinking of retirement while also looking for his next project.

Call it a serendipitous meeting. An email sent on the spur of the moment. An invitation to visit an old friend received and accepted. Nothing was planned. Yet, there they were. Two unexpected lovers.

Still, there were so much baggage in their past that they could not trust one another. Oh, there was the sex talk and the "ex" talk. But, those were not important. What were important were the families that shaped them.

Trust is hard to come by. And for Walker and Calum, they need a leap of faith to reach their happily ever after. But, are they willing to do that?

Poignant and sweet, "Halloween at the Graff" is an enjoyable read. Walker and Calum are funny and lovable. With the story told via their POVs, you root for them to make the right decisions. And if they do, you do a little victory dance!

"Halloween at the Graff" is Rated T for Teens due to some adult situations. There are sex scenes, but they are implied and not graphic.

3.5 Finding Your One to Trust Stars
* * * 1/2
Marietta Montana has this reputation for intertwined families, long lost relatives and love that hits hard right away. Halloween at the Graff by Sinclair Jayne has all of those conditions plus some Ghostly worldliness, too. With a title like that... how could it not?

Walker Wilder is in recovery and re-invention mode. Never in a million years would she ever believe she would be in this predicament....

Having her "Perfect for Each Other" Fiancé get caught with Walker's own Assistant on her knees... ah-hm servicing him...
Having same Ex-Fiancé throw her under the political bus causing her demise as the Senator's long time PR/Spin Handler...
Having survived the career, financial, almost legal and personal ruin and end up as the new Event Coordinator of The Graff Hotel

And if that wasn't enough for her to choke down... now she's practically praying a Cable Show dealing with Ghost-Busting would be filmed here at the Graff...

Oh, How Mighty have fallen...

Actually Walker was thankful for the pity job she got from a long ago intern. She sucked it up and decided to use her mother's maiden name, Kent, so as to not draw attention to herself. Also she was chicken... yes, chicken because she had long lost cousins that lived in the area and she wasn't ready to tackle that yet.

So here she was getting ready to meet with one Calum Quest... star and creator of Ghost Quests. She hoped his huge following and ratings would help put The Graff on the map...and since she was planning to do some type of Halloween event with the town, having the Ghost Quests finale filmed at the hotel would be perfect.

As Walker walks to the bar to meet this Ghost Chaser, she checks quickly on YouTube to see what the big deal is about the show...She sees bits and pieces, notices the guy is kind of interesting looking... and then pulls herself together as she approaches him.

Calum Quest is tired... tired of doing what use to be fun... he use to love traveling from place to place, digging out tales of haunted locations and finding out answers that asked more questions...Lately, though, he wants to be done. He was headed out to Marietta Montana due to an old friend and co worker who now lived here with new family. He was invited to stay at the ranch and when Walker's email telling him The Graff was the perfect location for his finale... he couldn't pass up the meeting...even if he was mentally done.

Calum hears the click clack of Walker's heels on the marble and when he looks in her direction, he is hit with a vision...A Strong Beautiful Woman who walks like she owns the world...swaying with every move towards him.

From the moment these two are in front of each other...sparks start to fly...It is not intended at all...it just seems to have a mind of its own... and both parties are helpless to stop it. Calum has no intention of filming here but he also does not want to stop the flow of whatever this is with Walker...

After some intensely sexy flirting, Walker pulls herself together and suggests showing Calum the attic where all of this Ghost stuff happened...In the dark, due to Calum's insistence, they both stand very close yet not touching...he makes her wait...and Walker is talking to herself...not understanding this draw to Calum...she flicks on the light as a defense and it is there Calum sees something which makes him become hard and distant...

How could she know...
Where did she find it...
Walker is confused...Why is he reacting that way...

It seems both of these people have dark secrets...things they have held back from everyone...And it is this Hotel and its own secrets that will bring them together.

This was a solid read about people who have pain from the past and have to get over them. The fear of being left behind...The fear of trusting... and the fear of being hurt...All of those issues are at play.

We are gifted with all of Marietta Montana in this tale. We get the Walker family, the community of Marietta and a sweet love story. This is the first of a Holiday Series... more stories of Marietta citizens all during the upcoming Holidays.

~~~~~ Before Reading ~~~~~~
Aw... How I love the Marietta Montana Tall Tales...
Perfect Timing...And what do we have...

A Television Ghost Hunter...
Who is tired of the Same Old Same Old...

A Political Spin Wonder...
A Woman who is in need of a Career Make Over...

The Reason they Collide Together...
Why the Ghostly Matchmaking of The Graff, Of Course...

A gifted copy was provided by author/publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.

Walker Wilder has retreated to Marietta, Montana, home of the cousins she's never met, to lick her wounds. Her boyfriend was schtupping an intern and her high-powered job fell apart so she felt lucky to get a job trying to boost the visitation to the historic Montana Graff Hotel. And, when she's spooked by a moving chair in the hotel's attic, she thinks she has the perfect hook.

Calum Quest is visiting his old friend Logan Wilder in Montana when he gets the message that there might be a haunted hotel in the area. He's not super stoked about it because he really would rather not be a ghost chaser any more. But Walker's hot and she has an interesting story. So, what the heck, he'll at least check it out.

The timing of this story was very odd. I couldn't figure out if the search for decorations, the chair, and Calum's arrival were all on one day? Her first day at work?

I also wish that we had gotten to see a little more of the characters' development. Their changes of heart were incredibly sudden. Calum's deep and understanding but then he gets pissed that Walker, who he's known for less than a week?, doesn't share one of her deepest secrets, but then he's okay.

It's a nice story but I wish there had been more.



Three stars

This book comes out September 25

Always happy when there’s a new release set in the charming small town of Marietta Montana. Ghosts at the historic Graff had my interest right away since the Graff is mentioned in many books set in Marietta. Overall it was a good read but some things put me off. It was a bit repetitive with how the characters thought each other looked. There wasn’t anything really ghostly in this book. A few unexplained happenings (chair, blanket). A few unanswered questions or things not fully explained (again the chair and blanket, what happened to her in DC and why Walker was hesitant to meet her cousins). In true Marietta fashion, the town came to support Walker’s Halloween festival. I liked the fun banter between the two main characters and I thought they were perfect for each other. They both needed to reboot their lives and there was an instant attraction. A fun read.

Excellent start to what should be a fun series of Marietta holiday stories featuring the historic Graff Hotel. This one is a Halloween themed story obviously and it's a good one. Walker Wilder is the new event planner for the Graff and it's her job to try and get business up during the off season. First challenge is Halloween. Bringing in a ghost hunter team seems like just the idea she needs to get interest up and bookings flowing. Calum Quest has built his career around ghost chasing but he's beginning to tire of the whole thing so taking on the Graff job isn't appealing. That is until he gets a look at Walker.

Fun read that I definitely recommend.

After her political career in Washington DC comes to a crashing halt, Walker Wilder is starting her life over again in Marietta, Montana as the new events director at the Graff Hotel. Her first job is getting the hotel ready for Halloween where she encounters a mysterious chair in the attic. It was creeping her out and she could have sworn it moved. Walker starts thinking the idea of a ghost in the hotel would be a great way to bring in more business. She needs the help of a ghost hunter fast.

Calum Quest, of the television show Ghost Quests, is headed to Marietta to visit one of his friends when he gets the call from Walker about the possibility of a ghost in the hotel. He didn’t plan on doing any scouting during his trip, but he does have a Halloween show he needs to think about. Maybe the Graff Hotel would be a good fit for the show.

As Walker and Calum spend time together, they find they are drawn to each other. But a secret that Walker keeps could threaten their new relationship.

I was intrigued by the idea of a ghost hunter as the hero in a in a romance book. So, the fresh idea had me hooked. It was a well written and interesting book. But I was left with a couple unanswered questions. Maybe they will be picked up in future books as this is the start of a new series.

Walker is coming to Marietta to hide in a sense from a past she need to get over and look for a place to belong. She feels completely let down and abandon from so many people can she move on and maybe get some answers to questions she didn't even know she had till now? Calum can't believe his eyes as she walks in but he needs to stand to his guns he there for one purpose and one purpose only to find out if he's ready to move on. But it seems the Ghost of The Graff or someone for that matter might have other plans for him. Can they get the answers they seek with out getting hurt again?

At the beginning of the book I found it was slow and dragged a little. I felt as it carried on it did pick up but there seemed to be a few slow points in the book. I really enjoyed each one of the main characters no one seems weak or came off weak, they came off strong and very independent. The book was fun and I loved catching up with the fun characters from previous books from Marietta. Over all this book was a fun read and it seems to be a quick read. I can't wait to read more from Marietta Montana. You really can't go wrong with this fun bunch.

What a fabulous beginning to Montana Born’s new Holiday At The Graff series! Halloween at the Graff is Sinclair Jayne’s latest novel and it’s a ripper! This is one author who seems to improve her craft with every story she writes, and this one shows every sign that she really enjoyed the story she was creating.
I loved the small town setting in rural Montana. Marietta is a town I have grown to love over the past four years and the Graff Hotel, where much of the story takes place, is one of those elegant old world hotels that I’d just love to stay in.
Halloween At The Graff is perfectly paced and kept me turning the pages as fast as I could. Added to that was the delicate dripping in of Walker’s backstory, which was a real driver for me. I wanted to know what it was that had gone so horribly wrong for her in Washington DC yet I was only fed a little bit here and a little bit there, making me more desperate to read on and get the whole story.
As for the characters. Well they were real people to me. Walker is an intriguing mix of buttoned-up Washington political correctness and sensitive, self-doubting lonely woman. Calum presents a cool outer personality, confident in his skin and intuitive, yet he bears the scars of losing people close to him in his past.
This whole story was practically perfect to me. Sweet yet with a hint of sexy. Intriguing yet also filled with the joy of everyday fun. I felt good reading it and sad when it had ended and that, to me, is the mark of a story well told.

Another fun story from Marietta, Montana. This story has Walker Wilder working as a PR for the Graff Hotel, and she hires Calum, a reality ghost hunter to come and film a Halloween show. A lot of issues they are both running from, and hints of a ghost or two makes for a fun book. Dragged a bit in the midde, but overall I highly recommend this book and series.

Halloween at the Graff by Sinclair Jayne
Holiday at the Graff #1

Ghosts – do you feel them, see them or believe in them? Walker Kent (aka Wilder) does not believe BUT she does want publicity for the hotel she has promised she will bring more business to. So, she sends an email to Calum Quest, ghost hunter extraordinaire. Calum, on his way to Marietta, Montana anyway to see a friend, texts back and a meeting is set up…and…what a meeting it is…had my toes curling and was perhaps my favorite meet-cute ever! With both Calum and Walker in a bit of a quandary about where their lives are heading next and feeling the chemistry and with a few secrets and a ghost or two (perhaps) lurking in the hotel…well…the story is un-put-down-able.

I have to say that when I saw this book up for request on NetGalley I hoped I would receive it because I have never been let down by this author. It wasn’t the blurb or the cover that grabbed me it was the author’s name. I knew that no matter what she had written – I would enjoy it – and you know what? I truly did!

Thank you to NetGalley and Tule Publishing for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars

2 1/2 stars

The first few pages of Halloween at the Graff intrigued me. Walker was a strong woman whose career imploded and now she was a fish out of water in Montana. And then there were some strange vibes with a chair in the attic, which made me think we might get a real Halloween story here.

Unfortunately not much happened, except for a lot of "telling." Walker and Calum kept having the same conversation. They just kept looking at each other and thinking of how attractive the other was. I found this to be highly repetitive.

Walker's character seemed to bounce around between being sharp and dim.

Needless to say, I lost interest.

Walker Wilder has had to start her life over again at the age of thirty two and it hasn’t been easy nor has the move to the small town of Marietta, MT. Now however Walker is trying to get settled into her new job as the new events director for the historic Montana Graff Hotel. With Halloween coming up soon Walker was looking for something to tie in the holiday and bring in new guests for the hotel when she decides to hire a ghost hunting TV crew to come do a story on the Graff.

Calum Quest has made a name for himself and created an entertainment empire by chasing all those things that go bump in the night and hunting what others would run from. Calum’s life has been defined by ghosts and he’s not in a hurry to go chasing more of them but when he gets the call to meet with Walker he finds himself intrigued by her and as much as Walker tells herself she is done with men the sexy ghost hunter certainly has her interest too.

Halloween at the Graff by Sinclair Jayne is the first book in a new holiday series that takes place in the lovely little town of Marietta, MT. Anyone that has followed my reviews probably has noticed I’m quite obsessed with this charming little town that is the setting for quite a few contemporary romance reads over several different series. As soon as I saw a book featuring the Graff hotel in this lovely little town I just knew I would enjoy it and that I needed to read it immediately.

As with all of the other books I’ve read set in Marietta this one also contained lovely characters that come together amidst the small town charm that never fails to have some interesting things going on. Ghosts at the Graff had my interest right away as I love Halloween and anything happening in Marietta so it’s no surprise this one gets a good rating from this reader. This story was a little more towards the sexy side than some of the others taking place here but the story, setting and characters won me over regardless. I’ll be impatiently waiting for the next in this series for sure as I know I just can’t go wrong with any relationship coming out of this lovely little town.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.