“If You've Got It, Haunt It” by Rose Pressey – Ghostly Annoyances

The idea of being haunted in literature is something which, for the most part, has taken a one-sense direction (and in movies too, for that matter).

A haunting always implies some ghosts or malevolent spirits assailing living people's psychological sturdiness, often trying to frighten them above anything else.

In If You've Got It, Haunt It, Rose Pressey has decided to take a slightly different approach to this whole haunting business, one that is lighter, quirkier, and frankly, a very welcome change of pace.

To give a basic idea of what it's all about, we start off by following the regular life of a regular woman, Cookie Chanel. She owns a unique clothing boutique, and one day, while attending an estate sale, her eyes are captured by the vintage clothes once worn by a wealthy businesswoman.

That woman, however, was only murdered two weeks prior. Perhaps making the biggest mistake of her life (so far), Cookie buys the clothes, and not long after receives a surprising visit: the dead woman's ghost.

However, instead of instilling fear into her very soul, the dead woman becomes more of an annoyance than anything else, consistently yapping about and following Cookie wherever she goes... threatening to stay forever, unless of course Cookie manages to find her killer.

And so as you can tell from the premise, even though the story is centered on a tragedy and a brutal happening (a murder), the overall tone and mood of it are still rather light.

The relationship and interactions between Cookie and the ghost are what makes up the meat of the book, in my opinion at least, and even though sometimes they do veer towards the serious, they will make you smile and laugh more often than not.

Pressey manages to express a number of her own ideas about the afterlife and what it would be like to be haunted while never sacrificing the book's humorous edge, making us forget the implied heftiness of certain themes.

Also, speaking of characters, it ought to be said that even though a few of them felt sadly underdeveloped, their sheer variety and uniqueness more than helped to make up for it, and those include the traditionally-handsome detective who knows something is afoot, and a magical Persian cat who adopts Cookie (yes, you read it correctly).

As far as the development of the mystery goes, it kind of shows that Pressey isn't primarily a detective novel writer, though to be fair, anyone picking up this book and expecting an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery should review their reading comprehension capabilities; this is a book about ghosts being annoying, and the murder mystery is a fun device that keeps the thing going.

The resolution may feel a bit tired once it finally comes about, but it doesn't really detract from the book as a whole, and you will find yourself intrigued enough to keep on going, hoping for a fitting ending.

All in all, If You've Got It, Haunt It is a rather great book on many levels, and is perhaps the perfect lighthearted read to indulge yourself in if you are looking for something fun, engaging, mysterious and not too complex.

I definitely recommend this novel, especially if you are seeking a new and less tired take on the idea of ghost hauntings.

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Rose Pressey Rose Pressey is a writer born in the United States who made her breakthrough in the world of writing not too long ago, publishing now-renowned Kindle books such as How to Date a Werewolf as well as Me and My Ghoul Friends. Her style of writing leans towards the more lighthearted, fun and quirky, while often adding a touch of paranormal to it all.