The Fate of Mercy Alban by Wendy Webb

 

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre:  Gothic, Mystery, Ghost story,
Content: A fade to black sex scene

 

Grace Alban has spent twenty years away from her childhood home, the stately Alban House, for reasons she would rather forget. But when her mother's unexpected death brings Grace and her teen-age daughter home, she finds more haunting the halls and passageways of Alban House than her own personal demons.

Long-buried family secrets, a packet of old love letters and a lost manuscript plunge Grace into a decades-old mystery about a scandalous party at Alban House, when a world-famous author took his own life and Grace's aunt disappeared without a trace. The night has been shrouded in secrecy by the powerful Alban family for all of these years, and Grace realizes her family secrets tangle and twist as darkly as the secret passages of Alban House. Her mother was intending to tell the truth about that night to a reporter on the very day she died - could it have been murder? Or was she a victim of the supposed Alban curse? With the help of the disarmingly kind--and attractive—Reverend Matthew Parker, Grace must uncover the truth about her home and its curse before she and her daughter become the next victims.

 

I've liked other books I've read by this author but I found this one to be frustrating. It was the slow pace of the story, and the way it took its time to reveal all the secrets, some of which were obvious. There would be something about to be revealed and then the author would have to insert descriptions of what they were eating and the scenery to drag it out needlessly. It was dragged out so much that I almost felt like throwing the book across the room a couple of times. 

I also got frustrated with how dumb some of the characters were. All those secrets they just couldn't bring themselves to tell so that they could protect this wealthy family. It was just unreal. And I'm not buying that a family this wealthy with a mansion like that wouldn't have 24 hour hired security there, plus a state of the art security system. 

On top of all that the minister of the church is sleeping with his parishioner whom he barely knows, and whom isn't really a church goer herself. It just didn't seem very believable that a minister would do that. 

Then there was the epilogue. I absolutely hated it.

 

 

 

 

 

The Ghost Line by Andrew Neil-Gray and J.S. Herbison

  

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre:  Sci-fi, Horror, Paranormal, Ghosts, Suspense
Content: Mild Language

 

The luxury cruise ship the Martian Queen was decommissioned years ago, set to drift back and forth between Earth and Mars on the off-chance that reclaiming it ever became profitable for the owners. For Saga and her husband Michel the cruise ship represents a massive payday. Hacking and stealing the ship could earn them enough to settle down, have children, and pay for the treatments to save Saga’s mother’s life.

But the Martian Queen is much more than their employer has told them. In the twenty years since it was abandoned, something strange and dangerous has come to reside in the decadent vessel. Saga feels herself being drawn into a spider’s web, and must navigate the traps and lures of an awakening intelligence if she wants to go home again.

 

This was a slightly creepy, atmospheric read on an abandoned luxury space liner. It was like a haunted house, only it's a space ship. I enjoyed exploring the ship and uncovering the secrets hidden there, but the creepy moments could have been dialed up a lot more than they were, and there could have been a lot more of them. Some things about this reminded me a little of the movie Passengers. It's sort of what I was expecting Passengers to be when I watched it. Anyway, this was good but not great. I enjoyed it for what it was, even though it could have been creepier. It still made for a nice, slightly creepy read before Halloween.

Arrowood by Laura McHugh

  

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre:  Mystery, Suspense, Gothic
Content: Nothing I can remember

 

Arrowood is the most ornate and grand of the historical houses that line the Mississippi River in southern Iowa. But the house has a mystery it has never revealed: It's where Arden Arrowood's younger twin sisters vanished on her watch twenty years ago--never to be seen again. After the twins' disappearance, Arden's parents divorced and the Arrowoods left the big house that had been in their family for generations. And Arden's own life has fallen apart: She can't finish her master's thesis, and a misguided love affair has ended badly. She has held on to the hope that her sisters are still alive, and it seems she can't move forward until she finds them. When her father dies and she inherits Arrowood, Arden returns to her childhood home determined to discover what really happened to her sisters that traumatic summer.

Arden's return to the town of Keokuk--and the now infamous house that bears her name--is greeted with curiosity. But she is welcomed back by her old neighbor and first love, Ben Ferris, whose family, she slowly learns, knows more about the Arrowoods' secrets and their small, closed community than she ever realized. With the help of a young amateur investigator, Arden tracks down the man who was the prime suspect in the kidnapping. But the house and the surrounding town hold their secrets close--and the truth, when Arden finds it, is more devastating than she ever could have imagined.

Arrowood is a powerful and resonant novel that examines the ways in which our lives are shaped by memory. As with her award-winning debut novel, The Weight of Blood, Laura McHugh has written a thrilling novel in which nothing is as it seems, and in which our longing for the past can take hold of the present in insidious and haunting ways.

 

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was atmospheric and I really felt like I could picture the location. There were no big surprises for me, as I found it fairly easy to figure out where the twins were, but I still found this to be an enjoyable story. More than anything it got me interested in looking up the location of the house in the book. There was an address for the house in the book and I ended up looking it up to see if the house really existed. There was no house at the exact address. The town is real, the street along the Mississippi river is real and there are lots of historic homes on that street. I did find the house in the book that was referred to as the Green house, and said to have a stone arch in the front that resembles teeth. I was surprised to find that was a real place, and it was built by Hugh W. Green in 1912. It's an odd looking house for sure.

There's one small issue I had with the book that I have to mention. There's a part in the book where the main character talks about her mother longing to live in a more modern house (this would have been in the late 70s or early 80s when her mother lived in the old Victorian home) and she longed for wood paneled walls and popcorn ceilings. I'm sorry, but NO ONE longs for popcorn ceilings, absolutely no one. I can believe the wood paneled walls and even shag carpeting, but not pop corn ceilings! All jesting aside though, I did really like this book and I may even read something else by this author in the future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Lost Ones by Anita Frank

 

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Gothic, Ghost Story
Content: A past rape is mentioned

 

England, 1917

Reeling from the death of her fiancé, Stella Marcham welcomes the opportunity to stay with her pregnant sister, Madeleine, at her imposing country mansion, Greyswick – but she arrives to discover a house of unease and her sister gripped by fear and suspicion.

Before long, strange incidents begin to trouble Stella – sobbing in the night, little footsteps on the stairs – and as events escalate, she finds herself drawn to the tragic history of the house.

Aided by a wounded war veteran, Stella sets about uncovering Greyswick’s dark and terrible secrets – secrets the dead whisper from the other side…

In the classic tradition of The Woman in Black, Anita Frank weaves a spellbinding debut of family tragedy, loss and redemption.

 

I went into this hoping it would be a good creepy ghost story. I read other reviews that said it was chilling, and haunting, and they even called it horror. Um, I have to disagree with those assessments. This was a good gothic ghost story, but it wasn't really creepy at all, and definitely not horror. I'm convinced that it could have been though. 

If you enjoy Wendy Webb's ghost stories then you might enjoy this one. It has about the same amount of ghostly content. Here's the thing, and nothing against this author or Wendy Webb, I'm not criticizing them as authors, I've enjoyed reading their books, but some authors are better at creating a creepy atmosphere than others. Maybe that wasn't the goal here or with Webb's books, but I feel like it probably was, and they just missed the mark on creepiness with me. I feel like in the hands a different author their books could be chilling and haunting, and downright creepy. As they are though, they are still fine gothic ghost stories. So if that's what you like then I definitely recommend their books. This one had a good protagonist who has just been through a huge loss and had lost the will to live. I enjoyed her journey to recovery through this book and all the other characters I met along the way. 

There were a couple of elements to this story that reminded me of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. The approach up to the house in the car in this book felt a lot like the approach to Manderley when the main character drives up with Max and sees it for the first time. Then there is the housekeeper, who feels very similar to Mrs. Danvers. I wondered if this author wasn't a little inspired by that book. Anyway, I enjoyed reading this even though it wasn't exactly what I was hoping for. The story was compelling enough to keep me reading, and although I predicted how it would go, I still liked and sympathized with Stella and a couple of the other characters, and their backstories, some of which was very heart wrenching. I would definitely read something else by this author. 

The Vanishing by Wendy Webb

  

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery, Ghosts, Gothic
Content: Off page sex

 

Recently widowed and rendered penniless by her Ponzi-scheming husband, Julia Bishop is eager to start anew. So when a stranger appears on her doorstep with a job offer, she finds herself accepting the mysterious yet unique position: caretaker to his mother, Amaris Sinclair, the famous and rather eccentric horror novelist whom Julia has always admired…and who the world believes is dead.

When she arrives at the Sinclairs' enormous estate on Lake Superior, Julia begins to suspect that there may be sinister undercurrents to her "too-good-to-be-true" position. As Julia delves into the reasons of why Amaris chose to abandon her successful writing career and withdraw from the public eye, her search leads to unsettling connections to her own family tree, making her wonder why she really was invited to Havenwood in the first place, and what monstrous secrets are still held prisoner within its walls.

 

Typically this time of year I'm looking for creepy ghost stories to read, but I've read a book by this author before, so I knew going in that this one probably wasn't going to be a very creepy read. Though a part of me did hope I would be wrong about it. Well, I wasn't wrong. This is a ghost story that could have been creepy, all the elements are there, but it isn't written in a creepy way. It was a decent ghost story without the creepiness though. 

I thought there were some highly implausible things in this book concerning the main character's behavior, but with a book like this, I was able to suspend my disbelief and just go with it. There were a couple of twists that were easy to see coming, but overall I still liked this book. The end left me wondering a little, which I kind of liked. If you like ghost stories that aren't scary, if you like gothic stories set in big old houses, and if you like stories that incorporate some romance, then you might like this one.

The House on Tradd Street by Karen   White

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery, Paranormal
Content: Strong language, A couple spend the night together off page.

Practical Melanie Middleton hates to admit she can see ghosts. But she's going to have to accept it. An old man she recently met has died, leaving her his historic Tradd Street home, complete with housekeeper, dog, and a family of ghosts anxious to tell her their secrets.

Enter Jack Trenholm, a gorgeous writer obsessed with unsolved mysteries. He has reason to believe that diamonds from the Confederate Treasury are hidden in the house. So he turns the charm on with Melanie, only to discover he's the smitten one...

It turns out Jack's search has caught the attention of a malevolent ghost. Now, Jack and Melanie must unravel a mystery of passion, heartbreak, and even murder.

I've thought about reading this book for years, and looking for a new mystery series to read, I decided I was finally interested enough to give it a try. Right from the start I disliked the main character Melanie. Why was this woman selling real estate, and old real estate at that, to begin with? She had no appreciation for it. Also how does a woman get to be 40 years old and still be so clueless about men? Melanie overall was kind of an idiot.

Then there was Jack who I couldn't stand in the beginning. He came off as rude, overbearing, and controlling at first, with the way he grabbed her arm and wouldn't let her leave when she got upset with him. Then he insisted on ordering what he wanted her to eat at the restaurant. Plus he kept calling her Mellie; a name that she asked him not to call her. This stuff happened right after he met her for the first time which made it worse. Fortunately, Jack improved a lot over the course of the book. I ended up hoping he and Melanie would eventually get together. Unfortunately Melanie didn't improve. Sure, her attitude changed about the old houses, and we got some insight into why she felt that way, but many other annoying things stayed the same.

As far as the mystery went, it felt kind of paint by numbers. Most of it was predictable, and most of the time it felt like the characters were led from clue to clue, instead of actually using their brains. What made me interested in this book in the first place, was the paranormal aspect of it. I like stories with creepy ghosts. Unfortunately these ghosts weren't as creepy as I had hoped they would be, but they were still the best part of the book, and interesting enough to keep me reading. I also liked the Charleston setting and could easily picture it since I've been there.

This book is kind of a weird paranormal cozy mystery mashup that reads like chick-lit. It wasn't all bad, but it wasn't great either. I still liked it enough to give it 3 stars, and will give book two a try.

The Medium by C.J. Archer

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Ghost Story
Content: Clean


Seventeen year-old spirit medium Emily Chambers has a problem. Actually, she has several. As if seeing dead people isn't a big enough social disadvantage, she also has to contend with an escaped demon and a handsome ghost with a secret past. And then there's the question of her parentage. Being born an entire year after her father's death (yes, a year) and without the pale skin of other respectable English ladies, Emily is as much a mystery as the dead boy assigned to her.

Jacob Beaufort's spirit has been unable to crossover since his death. It might have something to do with the fact he was murdered. Or it might not. All he knows is, he has been assigned by the Otherworld's administrators to a girl named Emily. A girl who can see and touch him. A girl who released a shape-shifting demon into the mortal realm. Together they must send the demon back before it wreaks havoc on London. It should be a simple assignment, but they soon learn there's nothing simple when a live girl and a dead boy fall in love.

This is the first book in a YA paranormal trilogy. I'm a sucker for stories about ghosts, so this was right up my alley. Overall I really liked this. I thought Emily was very likable, and Jacob as well, even though he got grumpy a few times.

I was a little disappointed that Emily and Jacob didn't take a more active role in chasing the demon down and finding it's victims. I was expecting more demon hunting than we got. Instead they end up investigating who summoned the demon instead of hunting it down. I guess that was a logical way to eventually find it, but it lacked the demon hunting action I was looking for.

The romance in the story was pretty good. I liked the forbidden love aspect of a living girl and a ghost falling for each other, and the fact that Emily is able to actually touch Jacob as well, worked nicely in the story, otherwise the romance would have been very limited. That being said this was a clean romance with nothing more than kissing. It is YA, so I wasn't expecting more than that.

Terminal by J.L. Bryan

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery, Ghost Story, Paranormal
Content: Clean


 
Ellie Jordan and her apprentice Stacey investigate a house in an elaborate planned community that was only half-built before it went bankrupt, leaving an instant ghost town with only a few residents. Unfortunately for Ellie, this is no simple haunting, but just one symptom of the cursed land on which the suburban community was built.

After liking the last book so much and thinking it was an improvement over the first two, I had high hopes for this one. Unfortunately this one was a disappointment. The story fell flat and was just plain boring at times. The idea of the ghost train with all the ghost passengers was kind of cool, but there was no real tension, and none of the ghosts were creepy to me. The whole point of reading a ghost story is for it to scare you at least a little bit. So yeah, this one fell flat.

Then there was the lack of any chemistry in the relationship between Ellie and Michael that was beginning to build in the last book. I was really happy that Ellie was dating someone and had a personal life other than just solving cases. There was huge potential there, but this time around she is ignoring Michael's calls because apparently she is scared of getting into a relationship. It felt like needless drama to me. Eventually she ends up talking to Michael after Stacey forces her to, and makes a date with him. A really weird cheesy date in which they double with Stacey and Jacob. There was some of the fun banter between the two of them that I liked in the last book, but that was about it. Then he ends up joining her on her ghost hunt. At times it felt like it did when reading Nancy Drew when Ned tagged along on one of her cases. Needless to say, I was disappointed that there wasn't more spark between them.

After being this disappointed I'm having to reevaluate this series. Since it is so hit or miss I'm not sure if I want to continue.

The Crawling Darkness by J.L. Bryan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Ghost Story, Paranormal, Mystery
Content: Clean

 
Ghost removal specialist Ellie Jordan must face a dangerous, shape-shifting entity that she and Calvin have encountered once before, with tragic results. The spirit has the power to reach into the minds of living and feed on their fears, taking the shape of their worst nightmares, and it has awoken in search of new victims.

Now Ellie must try to succeed where she and her mentor failed before, and try to defeat the twisted and powerful old ghost before it can claim another soul for its collection.

Ok so I went from reading something light and humorous to something dark and creepy. I do this a lot actually, even with TV. I'll go from Hallmark channel to Discovery ID all the time! For this dark and creepy read I decided to go with Ellie Jordan because the reviews promised that this addition of the series was an improvement over the first two books, not that those two books were bad, but I felt like they were lacking some depth and character development.

I'm happy to report that this book was indeed an improvement. There was a bit of character development here, although not loads of it. There was also the addition of a love interest for Ellie, and I liked that a lot. Ellie needs a personal life. I want to know what she does when she isn't hunting ghosts.

As for the ghost in this story, it was a real creepy one. There were certain parts of this that creeped me out while I was reading in bed at night, and I didn't see the twist coming which was great. I would say this is the creepiest book of the series so far. I liked this one enough to keep reading the series. Hopefully we keep getting more character development.

Cold Shadows by J.L. Bryan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Ghost Story, Paranormal, Mystery
Content: Clean


Footsteps in the attic. Toys that play by themselves. A dark presence in an upstairs room.

It's been almost two years since I read the first book in this series. I liked it a lot, but for some reason I didn't find myself wanting to return to Ellie's world right away. I did finally decide to pick this one up though, and it was enjoyable. I love ghost stories and this one had its creepy moments, but there is just something lacking in this series for me. I think the main thing is that there is next to no story besides the job they are on. I would very much like to see more character development and more story away from the job. Who are these characters besides ghost hunters? We have been told some background on Ellie, but I need to see more. I've read a few reviews for the third book in the series and it seems like that may be coming. I'm enjoying this series, and even though I don't think it's spectacular, it has potential so I'm willing to give it at least one more try.

The Fade by Demitria Lunetta

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal, Mystery, Ghost Story
Content: Strong Language



We don't want to disappear.
We want to be found.

Something terrible happened in her basement. Haley can feel it.

Four girls went missing several years ago, and the police never solved the case. But Haley knows the missing girls were murdered. How else can she explain the hostile presence in her house?

Since it's October I've been wanting to read something creepy. The Fade is a stand-alone ghost story that I thought would be perfect for reading around Halloween. Unfortunately it wasn't as creepy as I would have liked. The story is a slow burn, and I would have liked more happening earlier on in the book. When the twist came I did find myself surprised by it to an extent, but not completely, because of the book description. I don't want to spoil anything so I'm not going to say anything else about the plot. If you want to be completely surprised about this book then I would avoid reading the full description as it compares this book to a couple of other stories that would be a dead giveaway -no pun intended there. I will say that after the twist I found myself going back and rereading part of the book with that new perspective in mind. This is a short book, so it didn't really take that long to read even with the back tracking. I can't say I completely liked the way things turned out in this book, especially the last revelation about a certain someone, but it was good enough to give 3 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for providing me with an ARC of this book.

The Poisoned House: A Ghost Story by Michael  Ford

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Young Adult
Genre:  Mystery, Paranormal, Ghost Story
Content: Clean

The Poisoned House is set in Victorian London where 15 year old scullery maid Abigail Tamper has lost her mother to cholera. She works in the home of the aging widower Lord Greave who is becoming more and more distant and seems to be losing his sanity. His sister-in-law, Mrs. Cotton is the head house keeper and has pretty much taken over the household, acting as if it belongs to her, while being incredibly mean and nasty to Abigail. Lord Greave's son Samuel is off fighting in the Crimean War at the beginning of the story, but returns home injured. Strange things begin happening in the house that eventually convince Abi that there is a ghost. I won't go into any more detail than that, because I don't want to spoil anything.

If you are looking for something to really scare you then this book is not for you. While there were a couple of rather creepy scenes, mostly this book is very mild. I will admit I was a bit disappointed that this book wasn't creepier, but at the same time I really liked the writing and the characters. The mystery of who the ghost is, why the ghost is haunting the house, and who did what isn't very hard to figure out either, but the book just kept me reading anyway.



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Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper by J.L. Bryan

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Paranormal, Ghost Story, Mystery
Content: Clean


Ellie Jordan's job is to identify and remove unwanted ghosts. Part detective, part paranormal exterminator, Ellie operates out of Savannah, Georgia, the most haunted city in the United States.

This is the first book in the Ellie Jordan series and I enjoyed reading this. It was a quick read that was rather creepy; lots of ghosts, and while the ghosts were creepy, the book didn't creep me out as much as I was expecting. I would say this was like Ghost Hunters with maybe a little Ghostbusters thrown in, minus the comedy.

I liked all the characters, but at this point we have only really scratched the surface of who they are. We get a lot more backstory on the main character Ellie, the others, next to nothing. Hopefully that will change in subsequent books. This could be the start of a promising series if the author digs deeper into who the characters are and writes a more intricate overarching story for them. It could also just remain like one of those case of the week things that never really focuses too much on character development. Personally I think that would be disappointing. I do plan on continuing this series because I love ghost stories.


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The Graveyard Queen Series

I discovered the Graveyard Queen series back in 2013 and the combination of ghost story and urban fantasy really won me over. I also became really interested in what real graveyard restorers do. The author has done a lot of research herself on the subject and she has a whole section of her website dedicated to photos of cemeteries and gravestone meanings and symbols which I think is totally cool. If you're interested you should check it out here.

Here are my reviews for the series:



 The Restorer by Amanda Stevens

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Ghost Story
Content: Strong Language and cheesy sex scene


Amelia Gray is an archaeologist who works as a graveyard restorer and she can see ghosts. It started when she was 9 years old. Her father also sees them and he gave Amelia a few rules to live by, because the ghosts can latch onto you forever if you acknowledge them, and that can be dangerous. Now 27, Amelia has always followed these rules, until she meets John Devlin, a cop who asks her to assist him on a murder investigation, and whom Amelia is very drawn to.

I really liked The Restorer. It was a little bit creepy with a likable protagonist, and Charleston South Carolina made a wonderful setting for the story. I really enjoyed the cultural aspects of the book that made me really feel like I was there. There are many aspects of Charleston, the low country and the Gullah people that remind me a lot of New Orleans and the Creole people in my native Louisiana.

While the killer was pretty easy to spot, the mystery surrounding Devlin and his ghosts was the part of the story that really kept me reading. After finishing this there are still things that remain a mystery that I'm sure will eventually be revealed in other books in the series.

I think the only negatives would be that weird scene at Devlin's house. You'll know the one I'm talking about if you read the book. The whole scene wasn't weird, but parts of it were. Like Devlin not asking her why she was in his house and just saying he knew she would come. They didn't behave like people would really behave. Also we never find out why he was visiting the psychic or who the woman was that Amelia heard with Devlin when she was talking to him on the phone, two minor things, but I just really wanted to know.




The Kingdom by Amanda Stevens

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Ghost Story
Content: Strong Language and a sex scene

Deep in the shadowy foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains lies a dying town...

The Kingdom starts not long after The Restorer ended with Amelia Gray off to restore another grave yard. She takes this particular job not only because she needs the money, but also because she thinks getting away from Charleston for a while will help her to get past the things that happened there, and help her get over John Devlin. She's in for a surprise, because this creepy little town has a lot of ghosts and one unmarked grave that she is inexplicably drawn to.

If The Restorer was a little bit creepy, The Kingdom amps up the creepiness as the supernatural element of the series rears its ugly head. Pretty much all the mystery surrounding Amelia's past and her parents is solved in this book. At first I wasn't crazy about leaving Charleston behind, but as I continued to read I felt it was necessary to the series so that Amelia could dig up her roots.

We are introduced to a host of new characters, most of them just for this book and I liked some of them. Tilly, Thane, and Sidra were all nice additions and I wouldn't mind meeting them again in later bo0ks. I also love the addition of Angus the dog to the series. I did feel like the parts with Amelia and Thane were just kind of meh, definitely a rebound relationship. We got a romantic scene that was almost just like the one in the last book, and it ended almost the exact same way too. This author seems to love writing weird, supernatural, incomplete love scenes, but I could do without them. I would say that is probably the only downside of the book to me.

So far this series has been very compelling to read, so much so that I'm starting the third book right away.




The Prophet by Amanda Stevens

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Ghost Story
Content: Strong language and a sex scene


In The Prophet, Amelia is back in Charleston and supposedly trying to avoid Devlin. But it isn't long before she accidentally runs into him, sort of. Then she decides she wants to see him late one night, but chickens out and ends up hiding in the bushes at the last minute spying and eavesdropping on him, acting very much like a stalker. Why couldn't she simply call him up and ask him to come over? She ends up hiding and spying on quite a few people in this book. Despite this childish behavior I still liked the book. The creepy ghost aspect of it was once again very good.

All of the mystery surrounding John Devlin and his ghosts were solved in this book. I did think the romance aspect of the story was just ok. It wasn't the strongest part of the book, simply because I thought Amelia just didn't know Devlin enough to be so crazy in love with him.

In the end we are left wondering what the consequences could be for some of Amelia's actions concerning the afterlife. Did she bring something back with her? Will this somehow change her? This could have ended as a trilogy, but the author is writing a fourth book, which I don't think is a bad thing. This series has been a fun escape, so I will definitely read it.




The Visitor by Amanda Stevens

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Ghost Story
Content: Strong Language and a sex scene


I've wanted to read this book for a while and the month of October was the perfect time to get back to the Graveyard Queen series. Lots and lots of ghosts and creepiness make for great Halloween reading. And I must say, this edition to the series is the creepiest yet[ The thing in the wall behind her bed, yikes!  (hide spoiler)]. I felt like the first three books in this series were a bit shaky at times, but this one was definitely an improvement and the best book in the series so far. The author has come into her own here with the story telling. With this book being so good, this series is fast becoming one of my favorite paranormal/urban fantasy series. I like the uniqueness of this series as an urban fantasy that does not include the typical creatures that normally inhabit those. No werewolves or vampires or shape shifters or witches or wizards or fairies here, just ghosts and demons.

The Visitor starts off not long after The Prophet ends. Amelia is plagued by a ghost while both awake and in her dreams. She also starts seeing another being that doesn't seem to be either ghost or human. After her upstairs neighbor starts cleaning out the creepy cellar in the house they are renting, more odd things begin to happen, one being the discovery of a stereograph card in the cellar that includes an image of the woman whose ghost has been haunting Amelia.

I continue to like Amelia. There was some growth for her character in this book as she discovered yet more about herself and her ancestry. I'm looking forward to seeing how this is all going to play out in subsequent books. She most certainly has a quest now that is going to take several books to complete. Also, Amelia and John Devlin are now in a relationship, sort of. Just when I thought I knew all of Devlin's secrets, there seem to be even more. My feelings about Devlin have been very hot and cold throughout the books. They were mostly cold this time around[ And it seems with good reason. His behavior was really annoying. The way he went back and forth with acting all crazy about her, to putting up his wall and not talking to her was a real jerk thing to do. Why not just talk to her about what was going on? Then when he leaves at the end he offers no real explanation. His over-protectiveness got on my nerves a bit as well. I think I'm over Devlin as the love interest. I'm not going to deny that their attraction for each other is hot, but there needs to be more. They also must have been pretty frustrated by the end of the book, because this author really likes to write romantic scenes where something supernatural interrupts the romance. In this book alone it happened twice, or was it three times?  (hide spoiler)].

One disappointment for me was that the dog, Angus that Amelia adopted was barely in the book, as he is now staying at her parent's house for an indefinite period of time. I hope that doesn't mean he's being written out of the series. I liked his addition in the two previous books and hope at some point the author brings him back. I also missed her mother and aunt as they were absent from this book. Those are really the only two small complaints I have.

I enjoyed this one so much I'm going straight into the next book.




The Sinner by Amanda Stevens

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Ghost Story
Content: Strong Language


I am a living ghost, a wanderer in search of my purpose and place…

The Sinner takes place a whole year after the previous book in the series. At first I thought the time jump would bother me, but I actually didn't mind it at all. It gave Amelia enough time to possibly move on from John Devlin. Whether she does or not, I won't spoil here (as usual, any spoilers will be under spoiler tags), but I will say that I was very much in favor of a new relationship, and I thought Lucian Kendrick was a good prospect. There were some twists in this one that were pretty good. I can't say I was completely surprised, because I always thought it was a possibility that it could go that way, and there were a couple of clues that it would. [ But I really didn't want it to so I kept trying to ignore those clues. Maybe I shouldn't have, but I totally bought into the new love interest in this book. I wanted it really bad!  (hide spoiler)]

Overall this book wasn't as creepy as the last one. It relied more on humans with abilities than ghosts for suspense. John Devlin makes a couple of very brief appearances in this book, but we are left wondering what he's up to throughout most of it. Some of it isn't that hard to figure out and we do get some answers. We are however, still left to ponder some of his motivations.[ Regardless of that I still want Amelia to move on from the roller coaster that is John Devlin.  (hide spoiler)]

Oh, and Angus is back. That made me really happy. This book left me wanting to read the next book in the series right away. Unfortunately I have to wait until it's released at the end of March.




The Awakening by Amanda Stevens

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Ghost Story
Content: Strong Language, sex scene


My name is Amelia Gray, a cemetery restorer who lives with the dead.

The Awakening is the last book in the Graveyard Queen series. Two books ago after I finished The Visitor I thought for sure this would be a series that would need several more books to wrap everything up, and I was fine with that, but the author managed to do it in just two books which kind of surprised me. I was expecting the whole plot with the Conge and Amelia's powers to be a longer and more drawn out thing. However, I do think this is a fitting ending to the series, even if I do feel like some things were too quickly and neatly wrapped up.

Shush…lest she awaken…

In this book Amelia is hired by an anonymous donor to restore Woodbine Cemetery. Woodbine has a history of being the place where rich and powerful people bury loved ones they would rather be forgotten. Amelia comes across the grave of a child with the disturbing inscription "Shush…lest she awaken…" on it, and soon the ghost of a child is haunting her, but this child is older than the one in the grave. Amelia eventually sets out to figure out how the two children are linked and in the process uncovers more than one secret.

John Devlin is back in this book and his secrets are finally uncovered as well. This is one part of the story that I felt was wrapped up a bit too neatly, especially considering what Amelia went through in the two previous books. I wasn't a fan of John for a while, but somehow by the end of this I liked him again. I do wish that the author wouldn't have romanticized him so much with the way he is written. He never felt quite real enough to me because of it. I had conflicting emotions about his character throughout the series more so than I think I've ever had about a love interest in any other book, but this wasn't always necessarily a bad thing as it did keep me guessing about him.

I love a good creepy book and this book was incredibly creepy at times. The scene in the middle of the night at Amelia's house with the thing trying to get in was probably the best one, and I made the mistake of reading that part while I was alone in the dark! I will miss this series and I'm sad to see it end. I'm hoping this author writes another creepy book series for me to read.



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