by joeyjax
Touching, well written with enough mystery to keep the reader engaged until the end.
This story is wonderful. So was your first one! Please keep on giving us the benefits of your insight and talent. Thank you!
The story is well thought out and very moving. Actually so many are left in limbo by life with all the what ifs. Only problem I had, but I am a stickler about author's writing, is that a few times you mixed up the names of the parties and I had to stop reading to readjust things in my mind. Otherwise, a great read.
It isn't very nice to make girls cry with so hauntingly beautiful stories!
I don't usually leave comments but your story is one of the best I have read.
Thank you
Can't type with tears in my eyes. I had a sixth sense that spirits meant something more. You got it right.
What a wonderful ending, I'm typing with tears in my eyes, easily worthy of O'Henry at his best! 5 stars, I wish it could be 50, you deserve them for this lovely story
You telegraphed the punch from early on and I was ready for it when confirmed, hell, 'Spirit' is in the title. It held my interest straight through, but the ending grabbed me by the feels and refused to let go. Outstanding piece of art you created there. Thanks for sharing it.
I really did try to read this but gave up after about 500 words. Did not grab my attention.
Great story, Real plot, character development, interesting premise and ending. And long enough to tell a great story without being too long. A couple of Eddie and Nick mixups but not enough to detract from the story.
Thanks for all the feedback! It's very much appreciated. I apologize for the character name mixups. I've already corrected them but the edit has been pending publishing for over three days now. The corrections should hopefully be published soon.
Also, I forgot to mention this story was entered into the Halloween 2019 contest, so if you haven't also voted (by leaving a Star rating), I'd appreciate it if you did. And there are quite a few other nice stories in the contest, so check them out as well!
It's a Halloween story! And a really lovely one to boot!
Now look at what you've made me do! I've got to check out your other story series now.
I'm rambling I know, but you've really gotten off to a great start here on the site.
I'll certainly be looking forward to whatever you come up with next.
You are a terrible writer. Reading your story almost got me late for office. Although I got the clues and was expecting the ending, I still could not put down the story. I wish sometimes that I had the kind of talent you have, and could give this kind of pleasure , that you have given, to readers.
Thank you.
I agree with anonymous before me. You are a terrible writer. You made me cry and laugh. So confusing. Please keep practicing your writing on here and other places. Many people need to read your stories to see, what a terrible writer you are.
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I loved it terribly.
Yes, I know @domroger and I feel bad about that.:-) I actually had two separate sex scenes in the story. One was prior to Halloween night scene and the other felt more like an epilogue after what is now the closing scene. In both cases, it just felt like it didn’t fit right with the story. My apologies and I’ll definitely try to make amends with my next story. :-) Though, I might still do a future edit to bring the pre-Halloween sex scene back in.
I see some pretty impressive comments from your peers here, JJ. Well deserved comments. This story tops the list for both Romance and Halloween themes. I have to admit, I'm unfamiliar with your writing until now... I'll be keeping an eye out for more from you in the future. Excellent tale and superbly executed writing. Congrats on writing a story deserving of the praise it has received.
Really sweet surprising story. I'm normally pretty perceptive about where a story is leading but didn't see this one coming. Really enjoyed it.
I just now read this story, so I don't know if my rating will make a difference in the voting. It's not in the genre I would normally read, but came to me through some correspondence.
Since I'm late to the party, and having read the comments, I know that I missed the earlier, sexless version. I have to say, I doubt that would have made a difference to me, or many readers. A well written story like this can survive and thrive on the implication of sex going on.
I had a comment on a chapter of a story once that told me the sex scene in that story was gratuitous, and they would have enjoyed it more without it. I think it was a few chapters later before any penis got into a vagina, and people still gave rave reviews and scores of the sans sex installments.
I look forward to reading more of your work, and watching as your writing matures. (This is not to say your stories are immature, but as with anything, the more one practices, the better they get.) Keep up the good work.
It took me a minute but I had a suspicion that the “spirits” mentioned were not of the liqueur variety. However, that did not stop me from balling my damn eyes out in full force by the end of this beautiful story. Nice work. I’m a blubbering mess lol. Thank you for sharing.
Just read through for a second time, and, again, I came to the conclusion: one oft the best. Enjoyed it like a good wine, only in small sips, to prolong the warm, wonderful feeling it stirred.
Well, the second read recalled those 'Sixth Sense'-moments when you find more and more hints about the end, cleverly hidden among the course of the story. Thank you very much for this beautiful work, it's been here, when I needed it. Guess, I'll return later to enjoy it again
I was enthralled with the characters, the setting and the emotions which this story caused in me.
Well done!!
Again, brilliant! One commenter compared the writing to O'Henry. I agree. Please keep writing and publishing stories here. If you have never thought of becoming a professional story teller, you need to start thinking about it now!
Thank You!
Really like the story, Very well written, and makes one think about those that leave this realm, but watch from another.
Now the $64,000.00 question where the heck did Lily hide that puzzle piece.
I agree with most of the positive comments but wanted to make a different kind.
Not the story but the bar reminded me of Spider Robison's Calahan Bar ( a very good thing).
You have to get a new word processor I could hardly read the last chapter it was so blurry!
What a great story. I'm reading and reading and couldn't figure where the story was going, turns out it flew out of the ball park!
I very much like the story and the underlying premise is great. You also do a good job slowly unfolding the premise without beating the reader over the head with it. I am still trying, however, to figure out the rules of this bar and how to make it clearer to the reader how it all works without doing an “explainer”. Some of the dead are regulars, like the Whitelys, while some are the living, like Nick. Who is it that each group sees, since they don’t seem to see everyone in the bar? And how do the living come to find this bar and know to keep returning? Also, why is decorating for the holidays prohibited? I’m guessing it goes toward the conceit of folks being frozen and unable to move on, but that’s a little slim since we do know everyone is aware of the passage of time. These are the little things that would tighten up the story and bring it that last mile if you dealt with them.
Well then....
I found myself throughly entertained. Really a great effort. I prefer the story centered around dialog and found this story exceptional. The conversations were real and the story intriguing. Thank you for sharing you talents.
DP
Well that was certainly different but in a good way. Thoroughly enjoyed it especially the ending. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Dificult read. Brilliantly written. I do not do the 'after life' but here it formed part of a really good story. Well done.
Really good story, full of emotion towards the end and I confess I shed a tear at her calling Doc “Dad”, although for some reason I could only visualise Doc as the crusty old GP from “Doc Hollywood”, maybe that’s testament to both good storytelling and good character acting.
Full marks for this, if I have a comment re the writing it’s only that the sex seemed unnecessary to the overall plot and was added purely because it’s on Lit. Many thanks for writing and posting, cheers, Ppfzz. 5⭐️
Wow- it is not often that I get surprised by a story, but I never saw that one coming. Nice job!
Thanks for sharing...
I see you wrote this back in 2019, & it’s taken me 5 years to find it, I’m Grateful that I did. 5*
Read this a couple of times. Loved it every time. Great story, the characters capture your attention and “grow” on you as they become like friends, love the twists, the pace is great though I did seem to loose track of the time passing, the ending was superb. If there were mistakes the quality of the story telling way overshadowed them. Thanks for sharing. John.