The Restorer (Graveyard Queen, #1) in Vampires, Weres and Fae!

Oct 04, 2018 Cee rated it really liked it

Shelves: romance, horror, fantasy, mystery-crime

I picked this one up in October hoping to bring a little spookiness to my reading, but not so much that I had trouble sleeping. This one fit the bill much better than I anticipated.

The atmosphere of this book is so chilling. I felt like I was held in suspense the entire time I was reading it and it just gives off that kind of gothic spookiness. It also helps that the wind has been crazy, so the sound of loud wind while reading this book just put me in the right state of creepiness.

The story is ...more

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Oct 20, 2015 Snarktastic Sonja rated it really liked it

Didn't really love this one. Gave it 4 stars because, as it lands in the horror type of genre for me that I hate, it held my interest and never got so creepy as to make me toss it aside.

It is really a ghost story. It really is. I don't like ghost stories.

I didn't feel as though I was left high and dry - the mystery was resolved. It does leave much to be uncovered in future novels - which is not to be unexpected in the first of a series. In that, it does well for a "first" book. ...more

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Jun 15, 2020 Paulette rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy

Way creepier than I usually enjoy, but the characters are fascinating and though it will probably give me nightmares, I plan to continue the series.
BTW I'm a wimp, so just because it will give me nightmares doesn't mean that it's actually all that scary for regular people. ...more

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Apr 21, 2012 Vannessa rated it really liked it

Shelves: murder-thrillers, kindle-books

Amelia Gray, also known as the Graveyard Queen, is a cemetery restorer with a difference - she can see the ghosts that have not yet passed on to wherever it is that ghosts may go. Her father can also see them and at the age of nine, when she encountered her first ghost, he lay down a very strict set of rules she is to follow where the ghosts are concerned. She has followed these rules to the letter until the day she meets John Devlin, a detective who needs her helps in a murder investigation.

Dev Amelia Gray, also known as the Graveyard Queen, is a cemetery restorer with a difference - she can see the ghosts that have not yet passed on to wherever it is that ghosts may go. Her father can also see them and at the age of nine, when she encountered her first ghost, he lay down a very strict set of rules she is to follow where the ghosts are concerned. She has followed these rules to the letter until the day she meets John Devlin, a detective who needs her helps in a murder investigation.

Devlin is haunted by the ghosts of his dead wife and daughter and until he chooses to let go he will always have them by his side. Amelia knows she shouldn't get involved with him - it's one of her dad's strict rules about the haunted - but she feels drawn to him anyway.

The day after Amelia starts photographing the cemetery in Charleston she is currently restoring a dead body is found in a shallow grave, washed up partly by the horrendous rain. Because of her expertise in graveyards she is brought into the case as a consultant to try and solve the murder. However when a second body is found, things start to get a little more difficult and scary for our Amelia.

I really enjoyed this book, but had a big sense of deja vu all the way through it, but I know I haven't read it before - very weird! I liked the characters - John Devlin was an intriguing sort, with lots of secrets to be discovered. I do hope he appears in the next one and we find out more about him.

The only things that really bothered me about the book were the ending - it was over far too quickly for my liking and I would have like Amelia to have fought back a bit more. And the other things was there was no explanation for why Amelia and her father could both see ghosts, especially as she was adopted and therefore it couldn't have been a blood related thing! Maybe this will be addressed more in the next book.

Although I was expecting more of an urban fantasy/horror ghost story, I got more of a murder mystery thriller, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it and can't wait to read the next one in the series. ...more

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Oct 28, 2014 Swalsk rated it really liked it

Shelves: ghosts

really cool concept. I can see a lot of ideas played down to pave the way for the next book. I think the ending was a little anticlimactic. I was expecting a bigger bang of sorts. There was definitely good build in tension. Excited to start the next one.

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