Showing posts with label author: amanda stevens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label author: amanda stevens. Show all posts

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Book Review: The Prophet

Author Amanda Stevens
Title: The Prophet
Publisher: Mira
Publish Date: April 24, 2012
Buy: Amazon
Review Copy Provided By: Net Galley
Book Blurb: My name is Amelia Gray.
I am the Graveyard Queen, a cemetery restorer who sees ghosts. My father passed down four rules to keep me safe and I've broken every last one. A door has opened and evil wants me back.

In order to protect myself, I've vowed to return to those rules. But the ghost of a murdered cop needs my help to find his killer. The clues lead me to the dark side of Charleston—where witchcraft, root doctors and black magic still flourish—and back to John Devlin, a haunted police detective I should only love from afar.

Now I'm faced with a terrible choice: follow the rules or follow my heart.

Review: I absolutely loved book 1 and 2 from this series. I devoured them. This book however dragged for me, from the very first page, it just didn't hold my interest.  I found myself putting it down quite frequently, which is not what I did with the other books.

I think the problem was, there was no restoration in this story. The focus was on Devlin and his relationship with Amelia, even though their romance was barely there in this book. After a few chapters I was starting to dislike both of them, Amelia the most because she seemed to have lost her spine since the last book.

The story was too much mystery and not enough spooky. And as things begin to wrap up with Amelia learning what she needs to know about the death of Robert Fremont and Mariama and Shani, I groaned in disbelief. I did like the elements of voodoo that made there way into this story. It added a new creepy element to the book, which was definitely needed.

This was not how I wanted this part of the story to wrap up, though. It came off a bit flat and tied up the loose ends a bit too easily. I'm actually quite happy that Amanda is going to be writing at least 3 more books in this series. The only thing that I'm wondering, is whether things are going to focus on the graves or if Amelia's going to turn into a more crime oriented Ghost whisperer, because that's what I felt she had become in this book.

Every author is entitled to a sub-par book. This one is definitely sub-par for Amanda. I hope things pick up when the next book comes out.

Rating: 3 flowers


Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Book Review: The Kingdom

Author: Amanda Stevens
Title The Kingdom
Publisher: Mira
Publish Date: March 27, 2012
Review Copy Provided By: Net Galley
Buy: Amazon
Book Blurb: Deep in the shadowy foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains lies a dying town…
My name is Amelia Gray. They call me The Graveyard Queen. I've been commissioned to restore an old cemetery in Asher Falls, South Carolina, but I'm coming to think I have another purpose here.

Why is there a cemetery at the bottom of Bell Lake? Why am I drawn time and again to a hidden grave I've discovered in the woods? Something is eating away at the soul of this town—this withering kingdom—and it will only be restored if I can uncover the truth.
   The Kingdom (Graveyard Queen #2)
 
Review: If you thought Amanda's last book The Restorer was good, you must read The Kingdom. This is book 2 in The Graveyard Queen series and if anything, it is better than the first book.

Amelia Grey has come to Asher Falls, a ghost town, to restore the cemetery, but when she gets there, strange things start happening. Very strange things.

The Amelia Grey books are all kinds of things that go bump in the night. There are ghosts everywhere and a few witches as well, not to mention all kinds of evil.

I never would have guessed the direction this book was going to take after having read The Restorer.  I thought Devlin would have figured into the book more than he did, though at the end, the reader knows that he's going to be a part of the next book in a big way.

What we do learn in this book, is a lot about Amelia. The secret around Amelia's parentage was a little too easy to guess, but it didn't hurt the story in the slightest. I had to keep turning the pages, because I wanted to know more.

Amanda has a knack of creating characters that you want to get to know. I loved the Asher's for all their evil and strangeness, and those connected with them like The Witches of Asher Falls. But the character that I really came to love in this book is Angus the bait dog that Amelia took in. I'm always a sucker for animals in stories and Angus was such a wonderful part of this story.

I  highly recommend this book to just about anyone, but definitely to those who like a spookier read. Actually just go out and buy this book, you won't regret it.

Rating: 5 flowers

Monday, June 27, 2011

Rex Robot Reviews Book Review: The Restorer

The Restorer (The Graveyard Queen)
Author: Amanda Stevens
Title: The Restorer (The Graveyard Queen)
Publisher: Mira
Publish Date: April 19, 2011
Buy: Amazon
Review Copy Provided By: Rex Robot Reviews and the publisher
Book Blurb: My name is Amelia Gray. I'm a cemetery restorer who sees ghosts. In order to protect myself from the parasitic nature of the dead, I've always held fast to the rules passed down from my father. But now a haunted police detective has entered my world and everything is changing, including the rules that have always kept me safe.
It started with the discovery of a young woman's brutalized body in an old Charleston graveyard I've been hired to restore. The clues to the killer—and to his other victims—lie in the headstone symbolism that only I can interpret. Devlin needs my help, but his ghosts shadow his every move, feeding off his warmth, sustaining their presence with his energy. To warn him would be to invite them into my life. I've vowed to keep my distance, but the pull of his magnetism grows ever stronger even as the symbols lead me closer to the killer and to the gossamer veil that separates this world from the next.

Review: Read my review here

Rating: 5 flowers

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Book Review: Matters of Seduction


Author: Amanda Stevens
Title: Matters Of Seduction
Publisher: Harlequin Intrigue
Publish Date: May 2005
Rating: 4 Stars
Book Blurb: Special Agent Prudence Dunlop was anxious to leave her desk job and get out in the field, but her all-too-handsome boss, John Cahill, denied each request she made. So when the opportunity to catch a cunning serial killer arose, Pru would do anything to prove herself. She'd even strip off her plain Jane persona and pose as a seductive temptress in the hopes of luring out the murderer. Instead, she unleashed an even more dangerous scenario between her and her boss. Though taking on the elusive killer threatened her life, would falling in love with John be the greatest risk of all?

MATCHMAKERS UNDERGROUND
Coincidences... Chance encounters...
It's what one Houston, Texas, firm specializes in. Who knows what lies around the next corner?

Review: This book was hands down the best intrigue I've read in a very long time. I don't usually read from this line because all the plots are the same. PI or cop is trying to save girl (and usually baby) from some evil guy trying to kill her or kidnap her child. They never used to be that way, but lately the stories have been bland. This one from 2005 was anything but.

The romance was really toned down so there was more to the actual mystery, which involved someone the FBI thought was a "surrogate" serial killer. John and Pru work for a special ops type of group that deals with serial killers.

The thing that bugged me the most was how inaccurate the book blurb was. Yes, Pru posed as a the exact type of woman the killer was looking for, but it wasn't until the last 20 pages and there was so much more to this story than that. It really read like a good episode of Criminal Minds or NCIS only with a newbie on the team that has a crush on the boss.

I only wish the relationship aspect wasn't in this one. Not because I didn't want Pru and John to be together, but because it felt so secondary to the story that it was almost a distraction.

The best thing about this book? You won't guess who did it which is really amazing considering it is a Harlequin Intrigue.
 
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