Jennifer's Books

*currently available for kindle for free*

 

I was browsing the free kindle books at amazon, and stumbled across this one. I thought the premise of this sounded intriguing as it mixes several genres I enjoy: Historical, Paranormal, and Romance. Kindles freebies, in my experience, are more often miss that hit, but every once in awhile you find a gem.

 

This is one of those.

 

Emme, our heroine, has a gift: She can see spirits. She is asked to come to a house party by the Dowager Duchess of Briarleigh to ascertain if her son, The Duke, is guilty of murdering his late wife, a death which officially was declared a suicide. Rhys, our Duke, is, of course, suspicious of Emme and her gift, and for her part, Emme wants no part of her gift. Or at least not to capitalize/profit from it.

 

That's not much of a synopsis, but any more than that, and we get into spoiler territory.

 

I really enjoyed this book. It's by turns creepy, and sexy, and funny, and heartbreaking. It has this really cool gothic feel to it that really just amps up the atmosphere.

 

I thought the two leads, Emme and Rhys, were very well written, well-balanced characters. The attraction between the two is instantaneous, but yet there's this marvelous slow burn between them that makes the eventual consummation of their relationship all the more satisfying. (No pun intended.) The two end up having to get married due to getting caught in a compromising situation, and if you've followed me for any length of time, you'll know this is a trope I enjoy, though I have no idea why.

 

Anyway...I really loved the fact that there was no Big Misunderstanding that separated our couple. I loathe those. So. Much. They were already both well on their way to falling in love with each other before they were married, and to watch their relationship progress was delightful. When they got together, they stayed together. And the author avoided some H/h character tropes I despise. He, while wanting to protect Emme from the threats she was facing, never veered off into high handed He-Man Alpha Male territory, and Emme never, ever veered into TSTL territory, and there was a moment in the book where she very well could have. I was so relived when the author chose not to go that route.

 

In addition to the love story, there was also the mystery of what really happened to Rhys' first wife as well as his sister, who was killed many years before.

 

The secondary characters were great (especially Michael, who is the lead of book two), and the villains were very, very creepy.

 

Ugh, and this review is not doing the book justice at all, for which I apologize.