THE ABANDONED: Graveyard Queen prequel - Amanda Stevens

Overview: There are rules for dealing with ghosts. Too bad Ree Hutchins doesn't know them.
When her favorite patient at a private mental hospital passes away, psychology student Ree Hutchins mourns the elderly woman's death. But more unsettling is her growing suspicion that something unnatural is shadowing her.
Amateur ghost hunter Hayden Priest believes Ree is being haunted. Even Amelia Gray, known in Charleston as The Graveyard Queen, senses a gathering darkness. Driven by a force she doesn't understand, Ree is compelled to uncover an old secret and put abandoned souls to rest—before she is locked away forever....
An ebook exclusive prequel to The Graveyard Queen series.

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Oh how glad I am that I have a Nook! THE ABANDONED is only available (at least that's what I gather) as an ebook. And it was free, like a gimme so the reader can taste the world of Amelia Gray in this novella. I've read THE RESTORER (http://iyamvixenbooks.blogspot.com/2011/10/restorer-graveyard-queen-book-one.html) the first book in the series. I cannot wait to read the rest of the series as it comes out.

Amelia isn't in the book very much, but the setting from the first book is there. So dark and dank and scary. And gooooooood.

I hope the characters get revisited in future books.

Four sparkly scary diamonds......

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......

THE WHISPERING ROOM - Amanda Stevens

I can't get over how fast I read this book! When I hear the term 'page-turner' I tend to scoff for the most part. Not many books do that for me, but this one fits the term to a honkin' big T! If I could have just stayed in one place and only read, I'd have finished it in a few hours. It was my bedside book, so I had to sleep or get up and function for the day and had to set it aside for the three nights/mornings it took.

I almost didn't let it stay my bedside book as the beginning is hyper-spooky, but I put on my brave big girl panties and stuck with it and glad I did since I get more reading time in my bedside books.

Evangeline Theroux is a detective with New Orleans Police Department. She is a widow after the death of her husband in the line of duty, a single mother to the baby who won't know his daddy. Evie is very good at her job and uses the high profile murder case she catches as a lifeline to haul herself out of the abyss.

Just as she starts to get an angle on the case, she yanked from it by the FBI, told that the line she is following will lead to disaster if she continues. She gets assistance from a reclusive writer with her own take on the murders. She says it's the work of a lunatic with her own agenda and Evangeline finds herself drawn in even after being removed from the case. It's become personal.

The characters are written so well that I could see them in my mind's eye and some of them scared the bejeezus out of me.

This is Amanda Steven's best of the three books I've read by her and I really was superbly enthralled with THE DOLLMAKER and THE DEVIL'S FOOTSTEPS.

Five spooky thriller New Orleans good beans.....

THE DEVIL'S FOOTSTEPS - Amanda Stevens

Just this very second finished THE DEVIL'S FOOTSTEPS. I read this one like THE DOLLMAKER, practically in one sitting. I had one whole shift of not much going on and I took extreme advantage of the situation and read 98% of this dark thriller. I even tried to stay up and read it when I got home, but this book and just before sleep was not a good mix for me. Very mental image inducing, so I put it back in my purse for after sleep reading time. That time was just now.
FOOTSTEPS takes place in the South like DOLLMAKER did. A good setting for thrillers, I think. Certain areas in the South, especially Louisiana, lend a deep, dark, murky aura to suspense and thrillers. Magic, gators, cypress, swamps....it's all conjured when you read a book set in this area.

Sarah has had a time of it, trying to find her way in the world since her sister was murdered 14 years ago. Sarah has always loved being an artist and seeing the world for what it is and portraying it as such. Much to some folks discomfort. She became a tattoo artist and this expertise is what her ex, Sean, a cop, calls upon to help in a murder investigation. This event triggers memories long supressed in Sarah's subconcious. Can she go home again and continue this search for her past? Especially when Ashe Cain is still around. And what about the bells? And the Devil's footsteps?

THE DOLLMAKER -Amanda Stevens

If you are looking for a rather fast paced well written thriller, well cats and kittens, THE DOLLMAKER is the one for you! It was recommended on BookBitch a while back, I bought the book and it sat on Mt Git'r'Read for a while. The cover just freaks me the hell out! It's the quarter face of a porcelain doll and I really can't stand those things. Too much Twilight Zone as a child maybe, but there it is.
So, I put it on my TBR Challenge list and that would make me have to read it. It fit perfectly in this time frame, I tucked it in my purse this morning (Saturday) and I finished it this evening (still Saturday) while waiting for the system I work with to cooperate and work. It didn't, so I read. I started this morning while Lady K was in swim lessons, then on the bike for 46 minutes, then finished it in less than four hours at work. Sunday night I am bringing two books, just in case. Which will, of course, ensure that the system will work properly and I won't have as much time to read.
THE DOLLMAKER has a lot going on, storyline wise. But it isn't convoluted, rather you just go, "OOOOOOO, that's intriguing! Must see what happens next!".
Highly recommend and I do hope that Amanda Stevens has other books out there and/or up her sleeve.

Shipment of Books - Just Like Christmas!!

I had a shipment of books from my B&N order last week and it was free shipping:
The Tunnels - Michelle Gagnon (recommended by BookBitch)
Death's Acre - Jon Jefferson and Bill M Bass
Rumor of Bones - Beverly Connor
Shoofly Pie: A Bugman Novel - Tim Downs
The Dollmaker - Amanda Stevens (recommended by Liz on RBL)

Deep in the Woods: The Beginning - Larry J Hillhouse (arrives today according to the UPS site) This one was recommended by the author in an email reply as a good starting point to his work.