It took me a little time to get into this but once I did I finished.It's a great thriller and I enjoyed discovering how the characters' lives intertwined. I'd definitely recommend this! I love this author. It takes you back and forth between time lines some may find it hard to keep up. All and all it was a great read

I LOVED this book! This is book 3 in the Ghost Gifts Series. This is a great series where a mother/son are psychics. Peter's gift make him travel in time, specifically 1917. He lives in the world of 1917, where he falls in love, relives battles of the Great War, and visits Coney Island in its hey day. Unfortunately he remembers killing the woman he loves, and in the present day, he finds proof of the killing. Will he face his past, or will it destroy him?

This was a wonderful conclusion to the trilogy! I loved everything about it including the well drawn characters, the suspense, the e and the heart felt story. Laura is one of my favorite authors and i will grab any book of hers once it is out! Love her books!!

I love this book. Its a wonderful series. I felt like I got very attached to the characters right from the start. Just keeps you reading straight through. One of my favorite authority by far.

Fabulous Story! Third in a trilogy which stands alone, but after reading I went and got the first two! Mystery, suspense romance, past lives...A captivating jigsaw puzzle with an outstanding conclusion. I loved it!!

Thank you to NetGalley for this book.

It pulled me right in and had me until the very last page. Although I have not yet read the first books in this series I didn’t feel lost at all. I look forward to them now. It’s a very intriguing story and will keep you captivated until the very end. A must read.

I absolutely loved it.

Echo Moon is a haunting story about the way that the past can quite literally haunt the present. Or at least Peter St. John’s present. And fair warning, I’m going to use the word “haunting” a lot in this review, because it’s the only one that really fits.

Pete has a gift, or a curse depending on one’s perspective, of being able to speak to the dead. He receives messages, and his receipt is beyond his control. As this story opens, Pete himself is running out the edges of his control.

While his mother Aubrey receives what they call “ghost gifts” from the past, Pete remembers his entire previous life – or at least his previous life up to the point where he murdered the woman he loved.

He can’t escape his visions of that past, and he can’t manage to escape his love for the beautiful, talented and ultimately doomed Esme Moon. Esme was a singer and medium in World War I era New York City, and Pete vividly remembers both loving her and killing her.

When his mother inherits a New Jersey beach shack from his grandmother, who worked the traveling carnivals in her own youth, Pete’s past and his present collide. In the uncertainty of whether he’s losing control or losing his mind, Pete finally lets himself explore the history that he has refused to acknowledge, no matter where it leads.

They say the truth will set you free. Pete needs the truth to make him whole – in one century or another.

Escape Rating B+: Although this is not strictly a time-travel story, the atmosphere in Echo Moon reminds me an awful lot of that classic, lyrical work of time travel, Time and Again by Jack Finney. It’s not the time period, but both stories have that strong bittersweet sense of the past haunting and looming over the present. Richard Matheson’s equally classic Bid Time Return (filmed as Somewhere in Time) also has that same bittersweet romantic feel.

But more than the time travel, Echo Moon reminds me of Robin D. Owens’ Ghost Seer series, which begins (naturally enough) with Ghost Seer. Clare Cermak’s gifts are very similar to Pete St. John’s, without the overwhelming sense of guilt that haunts Pete. After all, while Clare can lay the ghosts of her assigned era to rest, she isn’t responsible for turning them into ghosts in the first place.

Echo Moon is the third book in the Ghost Gifts series, although those first two books (Ghost Gifts and Foretold) feature Pete’s mother Aubrey and not Pete himself. Not having read those first two books, it took me a while to get into this one. It’s not that the action doesn’t pick up easily, or that what happens to Pete is truly reliant on what happened to his mother – or at least not exactly and certainly not at the beginning.

But not having already been immersed in the family’s history, the events here didn’t have quite the resonance they otherwise might have. We know that Pete is running from himself, but the reasons why aren’t as deep as they eventually become once the reader becomes invested in Pete’s story and especially Pete’s trauma.

Having PTSD because of events one experienced in a previous life is not the way that textbook definitions of PTSD usually go – and that makes it all the more difficult to treat or resolve.

In the end, the story does suck even the newbie reader into its web of romance, intrigue and mysticism. Once that happens, the story moves fast, as neither Pete nor the reader are ever quite sure whether the past is merely influencing the present or actively impinging on it or whether Pete has just finally lost it altogether.

When he finds it, and himself, it makes for a lovely ending.

I have to say after loving the first two books in this series I wasn't sure how much I was looking forward to this one as I knew the two main characters were taking a bit if a back seat but how wrong was I, I got completely hooked and loved the story line and main characters!!
As usual the book was written very well, Laura Spinella certainly knows how to keep you engrossed with the twists, turns and shocks!
Sad that this was the last book as this trilogy has been my favourite by far.

Such a great story. Pete and Em were characters I was sad to let go of. Speaking if sad, the ending was bittersweet and I totally cried. That doesn’t happen very often. I’m very much intrigued by how the story began. I’ll definitely go back and read the first two books. I loved the characters so much.

The first two books in Laura Spinella’s Ghost Gifts trilogy of paranormal mysteries introduces readers to Aubrey Ellis, a woman who has been able to communicate with the dead since she was a child. These novels centre around Aubrey and her husband, a hard-nosed investigative reporter, but in Echo Moon, the final book in the set, the focus shifts to Aubrey and Levi’s son, Pete, a talented photojournalist who spends his life reporting from some of the world’s most dangerous places. It’s an intriguing story that, after a slow start, becomes a compelling one, as the author skilfully weaves together two interconnected stories – one, the story of a young singer in the early part of the twentieth century, and the other concerning Pete’s search for the truth about a shattering event that took place shortly after the end of the First World War.

Aubrey Ellis’ psychic gifts – or her curse – have been passed to her son, who has, for as long as he can remember, been aware that he has lived a past life. He has memories and/or visions of events from the early part of the last century and remembers fighting, and then documenting events as a war photographer, in World War One. Pete also lives with a massive burden of guilt, knowing that he killed the woman he loved – whom he knows only as Esme – in that past life, and that weight is so heavy that it often threatens to consume him utterly. The images of war that haunt him day after day and night after night are so disturbing that he can’t bear the idea of spending more time with his memories and trying to find out the truth about Esme; and the violent outbursts that inevitably follow his visions make him even more determined to leave his past in the past. Being around his mother seems to intensify his ‘gift’ and increase the number and vividness of his recollections; and when Echo Moon opens, Pete has just returned home after two years spent embedded with troops in the Middle-East and other war-torn places. He spends his life searching for numbness by way of twenty-first century wars, running from his past life by throwing himself into untold dangers in this one.

Aubrey is naturally concerned for her son, and can see the toll his way of life is taking on him. She knows he is haunted by the belief he was a murderer in his past life, and wants him to seek help in the form of regression therapy, but Pete is dead set against it. But when, for the first time ever, he feels Esme’s spirit reaching for him in his present life, he starts to realise that something is changing, as his past and present lives have never intersected before. When he offers to go to Long Island to check out a property that Aubrey has recently inherited from her grandmother, Pete is staggered to discover yet more connections between his family and his past life.

With the help of Ailish Montague – a young actress who is the niece of Zeke Dublin (an important character in the previous book, Foretold) – Pete begins to make connections between seemingly random objects he finds in the house, his previous life and Esme – but it’s not until he is brought to the stark reality that he stands to lose those most dear to him if he continues to avoid facing up to the past that he finally decides it’s time to stop running and start putting the pieces together. Only once he’s done that will he be free to live his own life, free from his horrific memories and the burden of guilt.

Laura Spinella pulls her disparate storylines together very cleverly and together, they make for a captivating read. Sections set in 1917 follow Esme as she falls in love with Phin Seaborn, a young artist and photographer, while those set in the present follow Pete’s discoveries as his past life is gradually revealed and its connections to his present one prove to be stronger than he could ever have imagined. The author does a great job in depicting the difficult family dynamics in the Ellis/St. John household; both Aubrey and Levi are desperately worried about Pete and don’t quite know how to help him, while Pete is distancing himself from the parents he loves, knowing he’s hurting them but with no idea what to do for the best.

My one criticism – which may well be more to do with me than with the book – is that I found it a little difficult to get into at first, and wondered if not having read the previous novels had placed me at something of a disadvantage. Fortunately, Ms. Spinella’s writing is confident and engaging; she brings the past vividly to life and creates satisfying emotional connections between her principal characters, so it didn’t take long for me to become invested, and I’m happy to say that Echo Moon works fairly well as a standalone, so potential readers needn’t worry about picking it up on its own. In fact, I enjoyed its terrific blend of mystery, suspense and paranormal (with a bit of historical fiction and romance thrown in for good measure), so much that I intend to go back to read the other books in the series.

Grade: B+ / 4.5 stars

Echo Moon is the last book in the Ghost Gifts series. I’ve read the first two and couldn’t wait to read this one. Echo Moon finished off the series perfectly. The attention to detail when describing Esme and her life, surrounds, and friends was so amazing that I could picture her hotel room, her friends, and even the costumes she wore when she was performing. Pete’s life was also told in detail. I could hear the pain in his voice when he came home to see his parents, the fear in what would happen when he closed his eyes, and the worry that he truly may have been Esme’s killer in his past life.

Many times when there are two timelines in the same story they don’t come together easily. Laura Spinella is wonderful in her writing. She takes the dual timelines, intertwines them together, yet never leaves the reader guessing as to when they are reading about. I loved when Pete would show up at a place the Esme was known to have been at.

This trilogy is one of my all time favorites. I’d definitely recommend reading all three books in order. Start with Ghost Gifts, head right into Foretold, and finish it all out with Echo Moon.

Another amazing book by Laura
I was given the chance to read early in exchange for an honest review.
This is the 3rd book in the series and didn’t fail to deliver.
I have thoroughly enjoyed spending the last few weeks reading all 3 books back to back

I was totally captivated by this book! I hadn't read the first two in this series but I don't feel like I was lost in where Echo Moon begins. Laura Spinella wove the first two books into this one masterfully so that I was never trying to figure out what was going on. This is a story that's like a jigsaw puzzle. Pieces of it scattered around in two different times. Pete has been carrying a burden most of his life of a past he keeps returning to. A past that took place before he was born. As the story moves along, pieces of the puzzle start to fall into place. Pete struggles to make sense of his connection to the past, of Esme and what happened to her. His vivid visions of actions he/Phil executed in her life. The heavy burden he carries to find out why. His part in her story. I like the way the puzzle was completed in the parallel story lines. As one event happens in the current time, the next chapter would take me back to the past. The places and events would connect a bit. This is a love story that tore at my heart. I was totally immersed in the lives of the characters by the skillful writing of Laura Spinella. I am so grateful I got the opportunity to read this book and I thank Netgalley and Laura Spinella for that honor. This is my honest review and I highly recommend this book.

Pete has been living with Esmes Ghost since he was 12 years old ,What he may have done to her in a past life , he try's to out run these visions by going to war torn countries , finally one day he realizes he needs to face the past and let his future set him free ,With the help of the ghosts from a past life and Em , he may be able to finally face thee truth and lay it to rest . I love the historical aspect of the book , Esme and all the characters bring this book to life !

OMG! I absolutely love this series! I've read all three of the books in the Ghost Gifts series and I've loved them all. Echo Moon is the perfect ending to this unique, captivating trilogy. This third book deals with Pete, the namesake of his grandfather who, as we learned in the first book, received 'ghost gifts'. Pete's mother Aubrey has a slightly different manifestation of the 'gift' and Pete's 'gift' is different still.

Echo Moon is an exciting and fast-paced story that I quickly devoured. Pete's quest to find out more about the woman he was in love with in 1917 and why he killed her took me on a ride full of twists and turns. Events and ghosts from the past rock Pete's world as the events and people in the present help ground him.

I totally understand that this is the end of the trilogy, but I'm sad that I have to say goodbye to these wonderful characters and their unusual gifts. I wish them all well and I would really love to visit them again. This is a unique and amazing set of stories and I highly recommend them!

Echo Moon is the third and final book of Laura Spinella’s Ghost Gifts Trilogy. I enjoyed the first 2 books “Ghost Gifts” and “Foretold” but this is the best one yet. It has the past and present entwined. The twists and turns kept me turning the pages quicker than I wanted. Foretold left me hanging but Echo Moon put the puzzle together. The conclusion is something I would have never guessed. This book can be read as a standalone but I think you would enjoy it so much more if you read the other 2 books in this series. Well done Laura Spinella.

This is a really good story! It’s the first book I’ve read by author Laura Spinelli and yes I read the 3rd book in the Ghost Gifts trilogy first, but that was only because I received it from NetGalley as an ARC. I had no problem understanding the storyline, so obviously it can be read as a stand-alone. I’m not sure how to classify the genre as it can be considered as several. It’s romantic, mysterious and often times suspenseful. It’s also paranormal with all the spirits that are involved. It bounces between 2 time periods so you get the complete storyline. The author was fantastic in depicting her scenes because I felt like I could picture everything perfectly in my head. Towards the end, I was holding my breath because I thought the story was going to go in another direction but the author surprised me and had it turn out exactly how I had anticipated it would. I enjoyed reading this so much that I have now purchased both Ghost Gifts and Foretold, the first 2 books in the trilogy. I’d like to thank both NetGalley and author Laura Spinelli for giving me the opportunity to read and enjoy such a captivating story.

My wish for a sequel to the amazing Ghost Gifts and Foretold is fulfilled with this hauntingly breathtaking love story of Peter St John, who is pulled once again into his past and his dreams of Esme, wanting desperately to know the connections of spirits and what they mean for his future. Pete realizes that his mother Aubrey holds powerful ghost gifts that force her make a decision that affects both of them deeply and he is torn with this knowing and the mystery of his own ghost gifts. Pete's horrific past of being in the war and terrifying memories cause him even more grief along with his PTSD as he seeks to escape them by taking on tours of duty as a photo journalist far away from home. The details of the war provide a very authentic sense of the history of those days. I loved each character, the rich descriptive details and poetic prose that the author folds into her story making each new discovery one that is spell binding. Chance encounters, ghost gifts reveals, or fate, this psychic love story is filled with suspense, emotions that tear at your heart, as the twists and turns keep coming and had me completely immersed and savoring each page not wanting this book to end.

Laura Spinella once again deftly weaves a spellbinding tale of the past mixing with the present in the final book in this series. I loved reading all the books, but I was particularly looking forward to this one. I wasn’t disappointed.

I LOVED THIS BOOK!

Oh, it was so good that I could have read it faster, but did not want it to end. This is the third in the Ghost Gifts trilogy and it does NOT disappoint! The past and present are neatly intertwined while throwing in twists, turns and history! This book can be read alone, but I recommending reading them all!

While past characters from Ghost Gifts and Foretold are present, the main story is about Peter St. John's constant struggle with his present and reliving the past in his dreams... Some very violent dreams. Pete and his Mom struggle with the spirits that live through them and from one particularly scary event, Pete's Mom, Aubrey, has to make the difficult choice to force Pete out of their lives for everyone's safety. This leads Pete to truly discover the truths of the past so he could come to terms with his present. You can relate to the characters, their happiness, their struggles, all their emotions. I read chapter after chapter anticipating what would come next.

Wonderful story and a great end to the trilogy.