He didn’t die. He was cursed: Shattered by T.P. Hogan

Description:

"Here she was, the girl who didn't believe in ghosts, standing in the middle of a set of stone steps waiting at a mirror for a ghost to appear."

Sebastian Ashcombe has been trapped behind the mirrors of Ashcombe Manor almost 150 years. He can view the manor using the mirrors as windows to the solid world but he can’t communicate with anyone and no one can see him.

Until Now.

Mattie Holmes visits Ashcombe Manor in Dunmore England after her mother marries Alex Ashcombe. The last thing she expects is a man in the mirror. Bastian is not a ghost. He didn’t die. He was cursed behind the mirror on his wedding day in 1869. As they start to unravel the mystery they realise they are running out of time. If they don’t break the curse before February 29th Bastian will simply disappear.

Breaking a centuries old curse is hard enough, but Mattie is starting to fall for Bastian. Not only is his very existence in jeopardy but to love a man in the mirror may only lead to a shattered heart.

GUEST POST

Is a Happily Ever After Mandatory? 

by T.P. Hogan 

“…and they lived Happily Ever After.” 

Sigh. 

When the final pages of the book are closed and your hand is resting on the back cover, there is such satisfaction at a Happily Ever After ending. But does Happily Ever After mean what it used to mean? 

In short…I love it. 

I read romances because for the most part I am guaranteed a HEA. Kind of like fairy tales as a kid. They go through all these adventures and struggles and they get to live HEA. If I don’t get my HEA from a romance novel, I feel cheated and let down. I picked up a Romance novel for a reason. If I wanted an Unhappily Ever After, I would have picked up a different genre. 

In long… 

If you think of some of the classic romance novels, they certainly didn’t get their HEA. Heathcliff and Catherine, Rhett and Scarlett, Romeo and Juliet, Tristian and Isolde. Some of them had Hero’s I despised, Heroine’s I hated and a great deal of bawling my eyes out at the close of the back cover. I think that at the time these stories were written, books served a different purpose. 

Romance novels explained human character, taught a lesson and explored many facets of how life was lived. Books don’t serve that purpose today. Romance novels are pure fantasy, unadulterated escapism and an excuse to shut out the harsh cold reality of life for a few hours. Of course we want a HEA…because so often in ‘real life’ we don’t get it. We get day to day drudgery, the daily grind, screaming children, work (be that house or paid), traffic, illness, taxes and a husband who may well have come from another planet. But a HEA doesn’t have to be the ‘traditional’ expectation. HEA doesn’t necessarily mean that they got married, raised a dozen perfect children and rode off into the sunset. (Who thought riding into the sunset was a good thing anyway? You can’t see with those late afternoon rays glaring directly into your eyes.) However a HEA means that at the end of the story, there is satisfaction that the hero and heroine have acknowledged their insecurities, opened their baggage, faced their fears and grown as characters. There is hope they will make it together, and an assurance that their love is going to last. They may still have issues to face, questions to answer, demons to fight and obstacles to conquer, but they are going to do it together. Whatever it takes. 

And that is a HEA ending in my book. 

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About the author:

G’Day, I’m TP Hogan.

I’m an Aussie born and bred and I’ve lived both in the bush and in a Capital City; with a couple of stops along the way. Right now I live on the coast in Far North Queensland, which is an interesting experience; since swimming in surf, battling jellyfish and removing sand from all sorts of places are not favourite pastimes.

Writing on the other hand, is a favourite pastime. I write down the voices in my head & call them Characters. When they interact I call them Stories. Once published I call them Books.

When not writing, I have a full time day job, a full time husband, practice the violin, make jellies & am an occasional Radio DJ.

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