Once Upon a Twilight!: Book Review: A Haunted Love Story by Mark Spencer + Giveaway

A Haunted Love Story
The Ghosts of the Allen House
Author: Mark Spencer
Reading Level: YA/Adult
Genre: Non-fiction/Paranormal
Released: January 8th 2012
Review Source: Llewellyn Publications
Available: Amazon

Summary: (from goodreads) When Mark Spencer and his family moved into the beautiful old Allen House in Monticello, Arkansas, they were aware of its notorious reputation for being haunted. According to local lore, the troubled spirit of society belle Ladell Allen, who had mysteriously committed suicide in the master bedroom in 1948, still roamed the grand historic mansion. Yet, Mark remained skeptical--until he and his family began encountering faceless phantoms, a doppelganger spirit, and other paranormal phenomena. Ensuing ghost investigations offered convincing evidence that six spirits, including Ladell, inhabited their home. But the most shocking event occurred the day Mark followed a strange urge to explore the attic and found, crammed under a floorboard, secret love letters that touchingly depict Ladell Allen's forbidden, heart-searing romance--and shed light on her tragic end. This haunting true ghost story includes several photographs of the Allen House.

I want to let everyone know, that I am NOT a big fan of scary movies or books. I get scared really easy and that is why it took me so long to read this book. I was only able to read it during the day because my wonderful and vivid imagination was getting the best of me. I have a fear with ghosts that really creep me out. With that said, I really enjoyed reading, . I enjoyed the history aspect of the story and the love story behind it. The cover is really creepy too and I was a little apprehensive when I first saw it, but I am really glad I put on my big girl pants and read it. Because in all reality, it really wasn’t that scary.

The story is about Mark Spencer and his family and how they moved to Monticello, Arkansas, and fell in love with The Allen House. His wife was in love with the house and pretty much went up to the owner and asked if she would sell it. After many months, since that first visit, they were finally able to do the closing and were officially the new owners of The Allen House. Apparently, in this town, everyone knew of this house and it wasn’t because of its unique architecture, it was famous because it was rumored to be hunted by its first owner, Ladell Allen, who committed suicide back in 1948. Mark Spencer talks about many of the ghost sightings and strange paranormal things that would happen. For example, things would get moved from one place to the other for no apparent reason. The smell of cigar would be in one of the rooms downstairs. The part that really broke my heart was the love affair that ended in tragedy. Mark found letters in his attic from Ladell and her lover which were written months before she decided to take her own life. These letters will later reveal the real reason why she did it.

After reading A Haunted Love Story: The Ghosts of the Allen House, I decided to go online and look up more information on this house. There were endless amounts of information. It was pretty cool reading about other people's take on that house and whether or not it was really hunted. The one thing I wish the book had were the actual photos they took that had the ghosts on them. Mark spoke about some paranormal investigators that came to the house and took some pictures and found questionable images on them. I would have loved to have seen them. Other than that, I truly enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend it to anyone that likes to read about ghosts and love stories.