I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook. Perfect for Halloween Month 🎃. The book started out promising but it kind of went down hill after that. The story didn't really go anywhere. Someone else might like the story plot

I have been a fan of Ambrose Bierce's work since I was a kid, especially his ghost stories, so I was really excited to receive a copy of this book. I found the premise intriguing and the overall story interesting, however, I didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped.

I appreciate the author's commitment to writing Bierce as authentically as possible. The problem with writing a real person in a fictional setting is that if the portrayal doesn't feel completely genuine it can really affect the reader's ability to remain immersed in the story. Unfortunately, this was the case for me. Whilst I commend the author's use of actual quotes and paraphrasing of Bierce's works and letters, I think the author struggled to turn Bierce's written eccentricities and quirk into his character's speech. People often have a different way of communicating in writing than they do in speech and it made the dialogue in the story feel awkward and stilted.

I also found several of the characters to be lacking in substance and needing to be fleshed out more.

Overall, it was an interesting read but I feel my personal interest in Bierce was the only thing that kept me reading at multiple points in the story.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me a free digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I quite enjoyed reading A New Haunt for Mr. Bierce. It was provoking and kept me interested until the very end. In addition, the cover was eye-catching and one of the first things that attracted me to the book.

Thank you for the opportunity to be able to read this book! Looking forward to reading more by this author in the future.

Even if there's plenty of potential the story didn't keep my attention. Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

The ghost of Ambrose Bierce has been displaced from the home he had been haunting. Just as in his previous life, he has the assistance of an agent to find a new home. As he is touring the home, he watches 2 men hid stolen money and take the owner of the home away. He enlists the help of an old friend name Sid as his agent Kiki brings in other spirts.
I do not know what I was expecting when I started reading. I found myself getting lost in the spirt world and wondering where and how I would end up at the next destination. Much of the dialog between Ambrose and Sid was long and drawn out. I was intrigued with the story of the other ghosts, Kiki’s world tour and what the men were doing why waiting to come back for the money but found myself skimming over Ambrose and Sid’s conversations. I wish that a forward would have been included in the book about Ambrose Bierce. I had never heard of him but after reading I looked him up. I wondered then if I had missed some of the humor and satirical definitions that made Ambrose famous. Thank you NetGalley, Drew Bridges and BQB Publishing for the ARC.

The basis of this story is this: Ambrose Bierce, in ghost form, is looking for a new place to haunt. Through this process he meets a younger ghost named Kiki who is new to the whole ghost thing and so Mr. Bierce takes her under his wing, introducing her to some of his ghost friends and teaching her a thing or two about life incorporeal. One of these friends, Sid, spends much of the book being Bierce's sparring partner when it comes to hashing out the purpose of the afterlife. Also mixed into this is a sub-plot in which the truth about a murder comes to light and we spend a very small amount of the book following the man's killers to see what happens to them.

If that sounds like a strange and somewhat iffy book plot, you may be right.

Will most readers today know the name Ambrose Bierce? I'm not sure. I grew up on classic horror and so I know who he is. If you don't - he was a journalist and author who wrote of his experiences in the Civil War and then later in life delved into short speculative fiction. Pick up just about any anthology of classic ghost or horror stories and you're likely to find his name attached to at least one of the tales.

I was excited about the concept of a story featuring Bierce as a ghost. But this book is not so much a story as an ongoing conversation between Bierce and his pal Sid - that's Sid the 2500 year old ghost of a Buddhist monk, *wink wink* (if you don't get that one, I'll not give it away). There is a tedious amount of dialogue and it's almost entirely a philosophical and theological debate over the meaning and purpose of the afterlife. The story would bog down in all this dialogue and then a breath of fresh air would waft in when Kiki was around or when we left the ghosts behind to see what the two murderers were up to.

So... I didn't love this book but I didn't hate it. It reads like there could be a sequel or possibly multiple sequels. I think with some editing to give us more action and less conversation in order to keep the story going at a steady pace, this could be an interesting storyline to see progress.

*I received this book for free through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

For some reason, I thought this book would be funny. But it turned out to be a little mystery. The ghosts aren't very enlightened and aren't fleshed out. I liked the appendix and almost wish the book started with that concept. If this gave more info on supernatural stuff and took out Dave's part of the story I would have liked it a lot more.

I think I ruined this with expectation. The title struck me as so silly I was anticipating a funnier story.

Instead the characters were all strangely detached and confused.

None understand the afterlife, why they’re lingering on earth or how to move on.

They witness great awful on earth, explore history and the world as they make their peace.