The Restorer (Graveyard Queen, #1) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Jan 13, 2012 Lisa Kay rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: genre-mystery, xyzcover-graveyard, character-ghosts, 2012-in-2012-group-challenge, authors-a, m-audible-dot-com, setting-usa-south-carolina, all-time-favorites, authors-s, genre-paranormal

Pictures of Oak Grove Cemetary, from Amanda Stevens’s website: www.thegraveyardqueen.com

Book Quote:

An old live oak guarded the darkest corner of the garden, and a swing hung like a childhood memory from one of the gnarled branches.

★★★★½ (This is a review of the audiobook.) Oh, this one is excellent! The first thrilling mystery in the Graveyard Queen series is narrated by the wonderful Khristine Hvam , who is perfect for this first person POV telling of a Southern gothic. She doesn’t miss ...more

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Jan 28, 2013 Lisa Kay rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-in-2012-group-challenge, authors-a, authors-s, xyzcover-graveyard, character-ghosts, setting-usa-south-carolina, 2013-rlftci-group-challenge, challenge-nbrc-tower, series-g

★★★★½ Still good as a "buddy read" on re-read, but I must admit I liked it better on audio. That review here. ...more

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Aug 08, 2011 Brandi ;) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ghosties-and-immortals, chillers-thrillers-serial-killers, fbi-cops-pi-slueths, mystical-in-a-way-thriller, 2011, paranormal, mediums-psychics-those-who-see-dead, kindle-kindle-love-my-kindle

This book was FANTASTIC!!! To use the word creepy is being kind, this book was down right spooky as hell and if it was a movie I would NOT be able to watch it. I might be a ghost-book-whore, but I am NOT a ghost-movie-whore. I prefer to use my own imagination to scare the shit out of myself, not some directors that is probably quite a bit more twisted than mine. Crazy then that Halloween is my favorite holiday.

Anyway, Amanda Stevens ROCKS! I am crazy over her writing style, she sucked me in imm This book was FANTASTIC!!! To use the word creepy is being kind, this book was down right spooky as hell and if it was a movie I would NOT be able to watch it. I might be a ghost-book-whore, but I am NOT a ghost-movie-whore. I prefer to use my own imagination to scare the shit out of myself, not some directors that is probably quite a bit more twisted than mine. Crazy then that Halloween is my favorite holiday.

Anyway, Amanda Stevens ROCKS! I am crazy over her writing style, she sucked me in immediately and never let me go, not once. Her take on ghosts being energy/warmth suckers as opposed to being simple lost souls looking for the light had the perfect touch of spooky. Then she mixed in a bit of romance/lust, a great mystery and some very intriguing likable characters. I was in ghost-book-whore HEAVEN! (you have to sing that last word or the effect just isn't right, try it)

The main chick, Amelia, has been able to see ghost since she was a little girl around 9 yrs old. Her father can also see them and he warns her to never look at them or ever acknowledge that she can see them or else they will latch on to her for the rest of her life and slowly drain the life/energy out of her till she is a lost empty shell. She has to follow the rules to a T, so instead of communicating with them she has to learn to ignore their touches and firey eyes. Amelia gets pretty damn good at ignoring them and I admired her strength. I would have been a blubbering mess if ghost where constantly running their hands through my hair and putting their lips on my neck or blowing their icy breath on my skin. *shudders* So of course she grows up to be a cemetary restorer, what else. Everything is peachy and she lives by the rules with strict attention, until a handsome haunted detective cruises into her life. Then all hell breaks loose, literally, her life changes, rules get broken and twisted and ignored. I loved watching her fall for the detective Devlin despite how hard she fought against it. And she fought and rationalized to herself constantly, yet she was unexplainably drawn to him and he to her. He is haunted and therefore forbidden according to the rules.

I want more. I have soooo many questions and want to know sooo many things! When it ended I seriously stared at it wishing more pages could magically appear, I was sad to finish it. I didn't want it to end, especially the way it did. I can't spoil, I want to blather about it, but I can't cause seriously YOU HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK! One more note, if you do love the book, go to Amazon and check out the prequel, The Abandoned. It is even free for Kindle!! Guess what I'll be reading next! :) Enjoy ... ...more

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Jul 28, 2014 ☘KathyD☘ rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: genre-romance-series, genre-fantasy, genre-mystery, genre-romance, zz-2014, genre-paranormal, genre-horror, book-kindle, audio-audible, pages-300-399

this was an awesome book and i can’t wait to continue the story!!

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Dec 22, 2013 Sandra rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: own, pnr-uf

Very creepy and atmospheric. Ghosts are not the benign misty floating entities we often imagine. They are vampires leaching our life essence away.

Very few can see them and if you do, don't acknowledge them in any way otherwise you'll never get rid of them.

This story was also about a serial killer, a haunted detective and the secrets of Amelia's father, and who is The Prophet.

Will be reading the rest of the series, but I need a break first. I'm not one for too much creepiness :) ...more

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