Minded — R.L. Merrill

***Previously part of the Santa's Naughty List: 25 Tales of Paranormal Bad Boys Anthology. This version contains a new ending, an additional chapter, and sneak peeks at three related stories soon to be released.When landing in Purgatory, no matter the cause of death, a soul must experience an awakening, establish awareness, and ultimately, achieve acceptance of inevitable circumstances. For Maggie Stone, none of these options were ideal. She was a woman in control of her own destiny, not a pawn in some afterlife game! But in order to move on, she'll have to accept help from an unlikely source dressed in black denim and pissed off at the world. Will she be able to complete her task, work her magic, and mind her kin still struggling with her death?Louis Sheffield has spent an eternity in Purgatory for reasons beyond his control. When he's given an opportunity to earn his ticket out of his holding cell, he's irritated to learn he'll have to hold the hand of a pretentious, know-it-all, party girl whose every action grates on his last nerve. But Maggie is not all she seems, and once he's exposed to her world, suddenly he's tempted to finally accept his destiny and embrace hope. These two lost souls must work together against the clock to complete their seemingly impossible task. When their charges refuse to cooperate, Maggie and Louis must resort to unorthodox methods to create harmony from bitter chaos. In the end, it all comes down to choices and consequences they never imagined possible. Revisit the crew from Haunted and find out if, once again, love can cure the haunted.***This story can be read as a standalone, but readers may want to read Haunted and Fated first as the events in Minded take place after those two books. Minded is a paranormal spin-off that is the first in a series of related novellas.