Tag Archives: ghosts

Book Review of The Wages of Sin, by Alex Beecroft

I picked up a copy of Alex Beecroft‘s The Wages of Sin from Amazon, when it was free. I have house guests, at the moment. So, I’ve only got a brief review for a short book today.

Description from Goodreads:
Charles Latham, wastrel younger son of the Earl of Clitheroe, returns home drunk from the theatre to find his father gruesomely dead. He suspects murder. But when the Latham ghosts turn nasty, and Charles finds himself falling in love with the priest brought in to calm them, he has to unearth the skeleton in the family closet before it ends up killing them all.

Review:

This was a good gothic-like ghost story, but the writing killed it for me. I liked the story, I really did. Unfortunately, the writing is purple, heavy, overly wordy and artificially intense. It distracts from the mystery and characters; ditto for the sex scenes. They are too long, too built up and given too much importance. There were times I wasn’t even sure what was happening. It was too obscured in the language used. Don’t get me wrong, it’s pretty, but that doesn’t excuse it.

Book Review of Ghost Seer, by Robin D. Owens

I borrowed a copy of Robin D. Owens‘ novel Ghost Seer from my local library.

Description from Goodreads:
When her eccentric aunt passes away, no-nonsense accountant Clare Cermac inherits more than just a small fortune. She receives the gift of communicating with ghosts. While Clare may not believe in spirits, it’s hard to overlook the shadowy talking dog appearing on her bed or spectral cowboys tipping their hats to her in the streets of Denver. And when she locks eyes with sexy—and living—Zach Slade, there’s certainly no ignoring him either.

A former deputy sheriff, Zach is leaving a painful past behind in Montana for a new life in Denver as a private investigator, a job that has him crossing paths with beautiful Clare. Not that she minds. After the restless ghost of a Wild West gunman demands her assistance, Clare finds herself needing Zach more and more—and not just for help.

Review:
Entertaining enough to have been worth a read, but nothing to write home about. While the whole idea of a ghost seer is an interesting one and Claire and Zach could have been interesting characters, the truth is that I was bored for most of this book. Never enough to put the book down, but enough to just kind of plod along.

It takes at least half of the book for Claire to come to terms with her powers and I got very ver tired of the redundancies of her denials. Ditto for Zach; he just basically had the same thoughts of denial about his situation over and over and over again.

I disliked Claire, on top of everything else. I found her a fairly weak heroine. In fact, she’s basically helpless without Zach there to save her. She even managed to fall down and twist an ankle while running for her life on a flat surface. She’s THAT sort of heroine.

Further, I thought the kidnapping felt like a forced ploy to add tension and still failed to do that. He was defeated easily and contributed nothing needed to the plot.

All in all, it wasn’t all bad, but I have the next two in the series, as I picked them all up at the library. But I don’t think I’ll be bothering to read them.

Book Review of Stumptown Spirits, by E.J. Russell

I received a copy of Stumptown Spirits, b E. J. Russell, from Netgalley.

Description from Goodreads:
What price would you pay to rescue a friend from hell?

For Logan Conner, the answer is almost anything. Guilt-ridden over trapping his college roommate in a ghost war rooted in Portland’s pioneer past, Logan has spent years searching for a solution. Then his new boyfriend, folklorist Riley Morrel, inadvertently gives him the key. Determined to pay his debt—and keep Riley safe—Logan abandons Riley and returns to Portland, prepared to give up his freedom and his future to make things right.

Crushed by Logan’s betrayal, Riley drops out of school and takes a job on a lackluster paranormal investigation show. When the crew arrives in Portland to film an episode about a local legend of feuding ghosts, he stumbles across Logan working at a local bar, and learns the truth about Logan’s plan.

Their destinies once more intertwined, the two men attempt to reforge their relationship while dodging a narcissistic TV personality, a craven ex-ghost, and a curmudgeonly bar owner with a hidden agenda. But Logan’s date with destiny is looming, and his life might not be the only one at stake.

Review:
I have to admit that, while I didn’t dislike this, it wasn’t a big winner for me either. As much as I liked Riley and Logan (and I did), as interesting as I found the mystery (and it was), as amusing as I found the side characters (and they were), as often as I laughed (and I did ) I thought this was inelegantly written and at times just too over the top.

I completely understood that the characters were meant to be conflicted, wanting one thing but trying to do another, but the constant back and forwards annoyed me and it felt clunkily done. Logan’s internal dialogue was not enough to pull it off for me. What’s more, it all came down to an unwillingness to communicate that I found frustrating.

There was also one last twist toward the end that I thought way too coincidental and unbelievable. I don’t even think it contributed to the plot. The last event it prompted to action could have still happened without it.

All-in-all, I had complaints that kept me from loving it, but I did enjoy it. There is plenty of room between a book being a favorite and not liking a book at all. Riley was especially likable.