By D’Ann Burrow
Reese Everett’s aunt picked a bad time to die. Just weeks after a car accident left Reese’s mother unable to travel, her aunt’s house needs to be emptied and sold, leaving Reese as the only member of the family who can do the job. She typically wouldn’t balk at the opportunity to sift through her aunt’s collection of antiques, but when she arrives in Devil’s Vale, Georgia, she discovers the family house in a state of disrepair she won’t be able to handle alone.
Colton Waters is back in Devil’s Vale – whether he likes it or not. After he loses his acceptance to medical school with no explanation, he’s left with a single job offer…one that will return him to the hometown he’d hoped to escape.
When an errand to help his sister ends in a meeting with Reese neither will easily forget, Colton takes a job as her temporary handyman.
The longer Reese stays in town, the more she realizes the condition of her aunt’s house isn’t the only thing she hadn’t expected when she made the trip to Devil’s Vale. Reese isn’t the only gifted member of the family – her aunt Kate has been practicing the family business…the business Reese has been sworn never to discuss.
After a ghostly visitor arrives one night, Reese and Colton learn Kate wasn’t the only one practicing the darker arts. They begin to uncover secrets that refuse to stay buried.
Here They Lie won the Young Adult Romance Writer’s 2014 award for New Adult fiction.
So before I started this I went to Goodreads to remind myself what it was about, there is a smaller version of the blurb there and so it was a surprise that this book was about ghost. I've been reading a lot of ghost stories of late, 'tis the season right?
Anyways, I enjoyed the little bits of ghost activity but after one big one I had to put the book down and walk away. I didn't want to but this lady likes to spend time with her hubby on his days off. I started this like the day before he got a four day weekend so it totally threw me off. Because of this little break I think it changed the way I looked at the book.
The book began to slow down for me, the story is very mellow and as one reviewer said "it's very tame". I absolutely agree. After what happened with Reese being attacked by a ghost, I was expecting some things to go down and the action was going to pick up, but instead it didn't. And with the changing of point of views (which I like) but in this book it took like 2 or 3 sentences in a chapter to figure out who I was reading about. Most of the time there was a pattern (Reese then Colton and then Reese). The first time we changed point of view it definitely made things confusing and hard to really fall into the world.
Honestly, at one point, I thought "why do we even need to see Colton's view?" Nothing much happens to him and I rather read the whole story behind Reese's view because things were actually happening. Hopefully in the next book Colton's view will be more useful and things will actually happen in them.
Overall, this definitely reads as a first book in the series. It was an okay starter, you definitely end up with more questions then answers as there were barely any explanation to what was going on. Honestly, at the end, there was one part that confused me and it might have been an editing issue as this was an ARC. Or maybe there wasn't and because you honestly don't know what the hell is going on in the town, you end up feeling just as confused as the main character which is probably the reason for my confusion. Who knows, anyways, though it may seem like I didn't enjoy it, I did! I really enjoyed Reese's point of view with her struggle in seeing spirits, that was an interesting twist when she found out why. I definitely want to read the next one because I NEED to know what's going on! Hopefully this was just a build up and things will pick up more in the sequel.
*Was given a copy from the author in exchange for my honest review*
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
D’Ann Burrow once told her preschool teacher she wanted to be a witch when she grew up. That simple comment signaled the start of a life-long fondness of things that go bump in the night. As she grew older, she could most often be found with her nose buried in a book, and she was especially fond of the Nancy Drew series as well as anything by Christopher Pike or Stephen King. Occasionally she’d take a trip to the world of the classics where The Scarlet Pimpernel and A Little Princess reigned among her favorites. She’s lost count of the times she’s read Little Women.
Today, D’Ann enjoys the world of Supernatural, stories about guys with fangs, and she’s seldom met a disaster film she hasn’t liked. When she grows up, she’d like to work at the Haunted Mansion. Until then, watching Ghost Hunters will have to count as research.
D’Ann writes about secrets people keep. Even the bravest heroine or a guy with a heart of gold has a few skeletons in the closet they’d rather not share with the world. When those secrets get out, things get interesting.
A Texas native, she knows making great guacamole is an art form. As a theater mom, she’ll happily chat about Broadway musicals by the hour. Molly and Lizzie, the family furry ones, are frequent stars of her Instagram account.
~Giveaway~
Thanks for stopping by!
Thanks for hosting today, Ashley! Great review! :)
ReplyDeleteIt was my pleasure and thank you! :)
DeleteSounds interesting! It definitely is the season for ghost stories! :)
ReplyDeleteI love a good ghost story.
ReplyDelete