This is one of my favorite series. This is a short novella that is set during Christmas. I loved getting the backstory of how Verity came to own Lucy. This was also a nice look into more of Ellis' family. All in all a great little Christmas novella.

Verity and Frankie are back with a new ghostly adventure, but this time there is a lot more riding on her figuring out how to help the ghosts than she could have imagined. Her very happiness is riding on this one. With a drop of Dickens and the author’s own charming Southern Ghost Hunter world, I was dazzled as usual.

The Ghost of Christmas Past is a novella and is #8.5 in the series. It is standalone, but has more meaning and makes more sense when gotten in order.

Virginia Wydell, her boyfriend’s mother has gone her length. Verity always knew that Virginia detested her, but this latest snobby stun right on the eve of Christmas has Verity deciding enough is enough. Ellis does not disagree that his mother is out of line and has verbally challenged her before, but he is also stuck in a hard place between love and loyalty that is complicated because family is involved.

Verity’s anger is mixed with her vulnerability of feeling not good enough and lonely for her own scattered family so she pushes Ellis to go to his family party and she mopes alone feeding her bitterness and anger.

Fortunately, this is when gangster Frankie’s antics and the sweet love of her pet skunk keep her from going full on depression. A ghost of one of her past friends comes along with a request for Verity’s help and Verity can’t resist a plea for her help so she drags a reluctant Frankie with her out to a spooky cider mill and the ghosts take her on three fateful visionary journeys so she can do her part to save a family.

I knew in the last book that things were coming to a head when Verity’s feckless way of charging into danger would get to Ellis who is a natural protector and a trained responder to danger since he’s former military and a sheriff’s deputy, but he’s helpless against the ghostly danger. Verity knows they need to have that conversation and now, Ellis’ mother does a spiteful act that Verity just can’t smile away and won’t. I was startled by her vehemence at first and then it made sense as the story unfolded. The age old trouble with the cliched mother in law is a cliche for a reason. I do love how Verity, and Ellis, eventually handled Virginia.

The personal storyline and the romance running through the series along with the colorful and sparkling characters on their ghostly adventures make this an outstanding series that I can heartily recommend.

I was lucky enough to have received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for a review, which I am happy to provide.
This was as usual such a fun read by Angie Fox, and even though it was a novella it was jam packed with action and suspense. I love the characters and storyline, and I can't wait for the next book in the series. I would recommend that you read the books in order to really appreciate how far Variety has come and all the hurdles she has mastered. A great Series and very entertaining.

I did not expect to like this. I don't want to sound like Scrooge, but I have had some bad experiences with Christmas stories. I saw the description of this and I thought I would give it a try. I am so glad that I did! It was such a fun read. I found Verity very likable and now I want a pet skunk so bad I can't stand it! I did not realize this was a series before jumping in but I am definitely going to pick up the other books. At first, the initial conflict made me nervous. I thought it could have been handled in a different way. I thought Verity could have refused to pay for the pears, but now I know it would have thrown off the rest of the story. I am so glad I gave this a chance.

This was a really cute Christmas interlude with Verity and co. I didn’t think I’d like it being centred on the Wydell’s, but it really worked and it was nice to see as a family they aren’t all Virginia’s. Slight spoiler alert but I also really enjoyed seeing Verity tell Virginia off. It was long overdue.

I also saw parallels to A Christmas Carol with ghosts showing Verity the past, present and future. But it was done in such a way that it didn’t mimic the Christmas tale.

I enjoyed every minute of reading this story and hope the relationship development with the Wydell’s continues beyond this story.

Oh my what a good book. I was so happy Verity got to take care of some old business. I feel it was time it was done. The whole story was like Scrooge in a way. She was visited by 3 ghost and she saw what needed to be done to help the Wydell family. They seem to all be grumpy after so many years of negativity. I hope that going forward more of the Wydell family will come around to Verity and see that Virginia was wrong. I am also glad the last ghost showed Verity where she would be if she kept up the attitude toward Virginia. I think this was a great holiday book and look forward to more.

The Ghost of Christmas past is a fun, charming and heartwarming cosy mystery novella. It is a light novella, but it still shows the importance of family and has a nod to A Christmas Carol. An added bonus was animal rescue and the various animals.

I am so happy I found this book! I am officially a fan. It had everything I was looking for in a story and I have already been on the look out for more from this author.

Funny, heartwarming, and excellent storyline. Love Verity, Ellis, Frank and all the characters. Reminds one of how important family is.

(I thank Netgalley and Moose Island Books for sending me the ARC in exchange for my honest review)

I thought I was ready for a nice and sweet Christmas story - but clearly I wasn't. Or I just became more grumpy on my old age and aren't able anymore to appreciate sweetness anymore!

I appreciate the characterisation of the unusual pet, an adorable skunk, and the way the author exposed how a wild animal shouldn't be kept as a pet in general. That was a good point. The rest of the characters and the situation - except for the magic-fantastic part - was extremely bland, with strong expression of déjà vu mille fois.

The magic-fantastic part was much to light to be interesting, no real atmosphere at all, but it could be because the series started a long time ago, this book being number 8.5

But in the end what made me stop reading was a strong sense of reading a book for quite small children, with adult characters, very weird. I love naivety in books, but in this genre, it was much to weird, not convincing at all...

This was a very enjoyable short read. I have read some of Ms. Fox's books and have always thought them to be well-written with great characters and, of course, the skunk. I received an e-book from NetGalley in return for an unbiased review.

Verity is at it again, and with the help of her sidekick ghost Frankie she rushes to help some animals that need rescuing, and meets some ghosts that also need help. Seeing visions of the past, present and future, an echo of Charles Dicken's The Christmas Carol is shown, and quite well done as well. I have eagerly awaited each new book in this series, and this one is no exception. Verity and Frankie are fun, and of course handsome Ellis and her skunk make for a lively story. Highly recommend this book and series. A quick read, but a good start to getting into the holiday spirit, in more ways than one. Enjoy

This novella is such a timely addition to this series because as I’m writing it’s November so all the Christmas feels are more than welcome. Verity is a southern girl with charm and courage aplenty and together with her curmudgeonly and definitely non PC resident ghost Frankie she’s frequently helping both humans and spirits to find answers and hopefully peace. Her relationship with her boyfriend Ellis has recently come under strain as not only does he have an interfering, controlling mother but Veritys work frequently puts her in danger. Still it’s Christmas Eve and Verity is off to a family party so what could possibly go wrong ? Well her future mother in law has a surprise in store and then there’s an old friend who turns up but as it’s Christmas could Verity be in line for even more ghostly visitors ?
I know the title gives more than a nod to a rather famous story by a certain Mr Dickens but I honestly didn’t connect this until Verity met her final ghost. I thought at its heart this was about families and how it’s all too easy to become disconnected and it was a very timely message that although not pushed on the reader did make me pause. My only issue is Ellis as I just feel Verity deserves more. To me Ellis feels weak and I always just want him to take more of a stand. That being said I really enjoy this somewhat cookie series and particularly enjoy Frankie because he’s just so irreverent which is always fun .
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair

The ghost of Christmas past is book 8.5 in Angie Fox's' Southern Ghost Hunter Series. This particular book could possible be read as a standalone because it does do a little recap so you know some of whats been going on in the past books. However this series is GREAT and I highly recommend starting from the beginning. As soon as I see a book from this series being released I buy/ preorder it right then and there..

maybe a little spoilery for the series but I think you would get most of this from they synopsis from the first book..

So the series follows Verity Long who lives in Sugarland. While at home she finds herself with a ghost.
His name is Frankie and he is a gangster from the 1920's. So the series is Verity an Frankie helping friends/ family/ just people she knows with their ghost problems..

The Ghost of Christmas Past sort of goes the route of A Christmas Carol but with the Southern Ghost Hunter Twists that are in all of the books, Its sort of hard to talk about how good this book is without giving spoilers for the whole series. This book has ghosts, a pet skunk, a pyramid of pears,lots of humor, love, and a pretty cute happy ending.. It's definitely a cute christmas read and I look forward to more books in this series..

Verity and Ellis had seemed a little...err, slightly out of sync, maybe, after their last ghostly stakeout. Or whatever you want to call it. Ellis wasn't thrilled with the bodily danger Verity tends to end up in while ghost hunting and Verity is sort of unaware of said dangerous situations when she's in the heat of the ghost hunting moment.

Plus there's the situation with Mama Wydell, which, frankly, just succccckkkkks. Verity puts up with a lot from her, but putting Ellis in the middle of their (for lack of a better word) feud was sort of tough to watch.

On the other hand, Mama Wydell is not earning any points for her actions and Verity had had enough.

Yeah, it's a sticky situation that ends up dropping Verity into some ghostly shenanigans the likes of which she hadn't quite experienced before. She has a lesson to learn and only a short time to learn it before things spiral out of control for those close to her.

I'm still digging Verity and her crazy ghostly shenanigans, no matter what form they take.

A wonderful heartwarming short story about Christmas and family ghosts and saving bears :) When Verity finally tells Vigrinia Wydell off and refuses to come to the Wydells Christmas party little does she know that it creates a future that destroys the family and her relationship with Ellis. Will she be able to alter the future, bring the Wydells together and save a family of bears with the help of some very formidable ghosts?

Verity Long sees ghosts. She even has a resident ghost....a gangster named Frankie. She is often called upon to use her ghostly skills to help her boyfriend Ellis solve mysteries or other problems. Things are great with Ellis, but his mother is a piece of work. She does everything she can to undermine their relationship and put Verity down. So when Ellis's mother insults her right before his family's Christmas party, Verity throws a fit and refuses to go. After Ellis & Virginia leave, one of Verity's closest ghost friends shows up needing her help. What she thought would just be a quick animal rescue mission, turns out to be a visit with the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present & Future. Verity needs to decide if she is willing to do everything in her power to change things with Virginia before the future becomes a reality.
This was a fun take on "A Christmas Carol". Verity has a lot of spunk and tells it like it is. Frankie is a hoot. These books are a fun quick read, and I think you will enjoy them as much as I did.

I absolutely love Verity Long, she is one of my favorite top five female protagonists. The Ghost of Christmas Past is a play on the three ghosts that appear to Scrooge.
I loved this story, I was rooting for Verity the whole time and this book will leave the reader with a warm all over feeling. Perfect for the upcoming holidays!
You should definitely add this to your holiday TBR pile.

Verity finally stands up to Virginia Wydell on Christmas Eve before the annual party. She stays home instead and gets a visit from an old friend who sends her on a ghostly errand. Needless to say the errand is a lot more dangerous than Verity and Franky thought it would be. With the help of a ghost verity sees the future and finds how her actions have caused major consequences for not only her future but the Wydell family as well.

Verity learns an important lesson this Christmas season. No matter how much you don't get along with your family, they are still your family. You might be the one holding it together or the one that is keeping someone from giving up.

While short, I feel this is a very important book because the events affect her relationship with Ellis. I really enjoyed this one and can't wait to see what happens next to Verity and Franky.

*ARC provided by Netgalley for an honest review.*

pets, ghosts, gangsters, family-dynamics

Of course it's a very good story, but my favorite is Lucy the delightful. Yes, the pet skunk! Second best is Frankie's abashed love for the three silly bear cubs. People? Ghosts? Well of course they are part of the story, but really!
LOVED IT!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Moose Island Books via NetGalley. Thank you!