THE RESTORER: The Graveyard Queen Book One - Amanda Stevens

From the back of the book: Never acknowledge the dead. Never stray far from hallowed ground. Never get close to the haunted. Never, EVER tempt fate.

My father's rules. I've never broken them ........until now.

My name is Amelia Gray. I'm a cemetary 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.

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Understand that I am way behind on my book reviews. I still have a couple from September to do yet. Time has gotten away from me with visits from fam, shift work, life schtuff in general.

That said, I had to share my thoughts on this outstanding latest book I've read from one of my favorite authors, Amanda Stevens. I've read THE WHISPERING ROOM ( http://iyamvixenbooks.blogspot.com/2009/05/whispering-room-amanda-stevens.html), THE DOLLMAKER
(http://iyamvixenbooks.blogspot.com/2009/05/whispering-room-amanda-stevens.html)

and THE DEVIL'S FOOTSTEPS
(http://iyamvixenbooks.blogspot.com/2008/03/devils-footsteps-amanda-stevens.html)

All of these scared the bejeezus out of me, but THE RESTORER had me making it my purse book instead of my bedside book after the wake-up-looking-under-the-bed dream I had one night. *shudder*

This is not a gore-fest kind of scary, it's a tremendously Southern Gothic dark atmospheric style book. Amanda Stevens writes fab atmosphere. I could feel the heat and humidity as Amelia worked her way through Oak Grove Cemetery and could almost smell the magnolia.

The ghost lore is unique. Amelia has a set of rules she lives by as given her by her father. These are not friendly ghosts who only want to share space on this earthly plane.

Nope, these spirits are like psychic vampires, draining the energy of whoever they attach themselves to. So Amelia makes sure she doesn't acknowledge them in any way or she'd have a host of them around her at all times.

There are secrets still to be revealed. There's the police detective Amelia is helping and is strongly attracted to. Devlin is the perfect Southern Gothic male protagonist. Brooding, haunted, gruff, appealing....

Amelia and her family have their secrets they keep, too.

I am very glad that this is a trilogy or a series. And I hear tell that a television network is highly intrigued with the series......

Visit Amanda http://www.amandastevens.com/ and on http://www.facebook.com/#!/amandastevensbooks Read her books. The covers alone are excellent, let alone the story she weaves.

A big bowl of leave-the-light-on-when-you-read-this diamonds......