Literary accolades.

International Book Awards (2020)

Finalist for “Best Horror Literature”

Editorial Reviews.

“They say that time heals all wounds, but Ghosts of Blood and Bone shows that this isn’t always true, and no matter how much you want to bury your past, sometimes it comes back to haunt you… literally.   A gripping read with complex characters and a building tension that will have you hooked to the very end!”

— Manhattan Book Review

Bailey Nguyen has been dead for nine years, and yet he still lingers. Chase Sheppard was Bailey's best friend, but something had always lurked beneath Bailey's surface — something dark and sadistic that made him more than the average middle school bully and caused Chase to fear his friend and all that he was capable of.

Between Chase and Bailey was Aaron Christopher — insecure, unpopular, friendless, and effeminate, an obvious target for any teen’s ire. But for a fourteen-year-old Chase Sheppard, everything about Aaron captivated and drew him in, and in Bailey it created a poisonous fixation that would lead to a horrific accident involving himself, Aaron, and a bathroom that only Aaron would walk out of alive.

For nearly a decade, Aaron has tried to move on from that horrific day and everything that came before it. Now a senior at Fairhaven University in Bellingham, Washington and a budding artist, Aaron has done his best to carve out a normal life for himself: making friends, hanging with his roommates, getting by despite the ways he's learned to cope with the dead boy, who it seems will never let him go.

As if orchestrated by some greater diabolical force, Aaron and Chase are brought back together suddenly, and the feelings that hovered over them back when they were kids have not lessened in their effects, nor has the pull between them relaxed its grip. A taunting voice over the phone that sounds like Bailey, and a mysterious shape that begins to stalk Aaron wherever he goes, emerge from the shadows of a blood-soaked past that refuses to stay dead and buried.

Ghosts of Blood and Bone is a lyrical exploration of trauma and the loss of innocence, wrapped up in a blood-stained bow of human horror. This thrilling, ominous tale will keep you on the edge of your seat and linger long after the book is closed.

“James blends psychological thriller elements, mystery, and queer romance into a deeply unnerving tale. …James creates a genuinely unsettling atmosphere while ratcheting up the tension but still allowing readers moments of relief in the sweet romance between Chase and Aaron.  This frightening tale will appeal to fans of I Know What You Did Last Summer.”

— Publishers Weekly