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suzsmith's review against another edition
2.0
Great idea, just way too slow. Too much whining. Had to force myself through it.
j_j_catcrazydragon's review against another edition
2.0
Weak story, weak characters. Very slow & average.
hgranger's review against another edition
1.0
What an incredibly poorly written book. The female protagonist is about as exciting as watching paint dry and she is unbelievably whiny all. The. Time. She finds herself with a gift to see ghosts — a gift that mysteriously only appears when her aunt dies, with undefined, poorly described powers and equally undefined, poorly described consequences of she chooses to ignore her gift. (All we know is they will be terribly, horribly bad, but not how or why.) She refuses to accept her gift for a large part of the book, even though it’s impossible to ignore. She meets a guy and fantasizes about how he’ll fit into the house she wants to buy less than two days after meeting him! She quits her job and then whines about not having one. The male protagonist is almost as bad; he’s been seeing crows his entire life and refuses to acknowledge his ability. He is ridiculously possessive of a woman he has just met. (It’s not actually attractive to show up to a lunch your new girlfriend is having with another guy and make innuendos about how you’re having sex with her.
Aside from the characters, the details of this book were just stupid. Who lets a guy they’ve JUST met, drive their car when going somewhere with him? Why in the world wouldn’t she just drive her own car?? And that was just one of many chauvinistic incidents. The story was boring and the other characters bland. The romantic aspects were hilariously lame and there was no actual chemistry between them. What an utter waste of time.
Aside from the characters, the details of this book were just stupid. Who lets a guy they’ve JUST met, drive their car when going somewhere with him? Why in the world wouldn’t she just drive her own car?? And that was just one of many chauvinistic incidents. The story was boring and the other characters bland. The romantic aspects were hilariously lame and there was no actual chemistry between them. What an utter waste of time.
lynseyisreading's review against another edition
4.0
An Urban Fantasy with heart and humour, Ghost Seer is one to add to your To Buy Lists!
Urban Fantasies can vary wildly in tone, while still remaining part of the same genre. You've got your action-packed ones featuring badass, leather-clad, Katana-swinging heroes and heroines, and then there is another selection focused on slightly older characters and more mystery based. They're quite different, but I enjoy both depending on my mood. I often think of the latter type as a more grown up version of its bratty counterpart, but each has its place on my shelves. Ghost Seer belongs to this latter, slightly more refined category, and of that, it's among the most enjoyable I've read.
Told in alternating POVs between reluctant ghost-seeing heroine Clare, and recently ex-police officer Zach, it follows Clare's acceptance of her new paranormal "gift" passed down from her aunt, and Zach's acceptance of his new life as a disabled person, after being shot through the shin in the line of duty. Both journeys are similar, in a way, in that they examine the various stages a person might go through when their whole worlds are turned on their heads; shock, denial, anger, stubborn refusal to accept what is. And because both are going through such turmoil, it's probably the worst time ever to begin a new romantic relationship, but the heart, and the libido, wants what it wants. And, personally, I love a nice bit of complication in my romances!
Aside from this excellent and compelling characterisation, the story also focuses on Clare's first "case" as a ghost seer. That being to assist ghostly cowboy Jackson Slade to right his worst wrong before he can be at peace. To help Clare along the way, she has a talking ghost dog, Enzo - who is more than he seems, I'm sure! - to steer her in something close to the right direction. I loved Enzo! Every good UF needs a quirky sidekick character, and he was a pretty fantastic one!
Overall, Ghost Seer was a winner for me, and story I look forward to continuing. -4 Stars! ★★★★
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Urban Fantasies can vary wildly in tone, while still remaining part of the same genre. You've got your action-packed ones featuring badass, leather-clad, Katana-swinging heroes and heroines, and then there is another selection focused on slightly older characters and more mystery based. They're quite different, but I enjoy both depending on my mood. I often think of the latter type as a more grown up version of its bratty counterpart, but each has its place on my shelves. Ghost Seer belongs to this latter, slightly more refined category, and of that, it's among the most enjoyable I've read.
Told in alternating POVs between reluctant ghost-seeing heroine Clare, and recently ex-police officer Zach, it follows Clare's acceptance of her new paranormal "gift" passed down from her aunt, and Zach's acceptance of his new life as a disabled person, after being shot through the shin in the line of duty. Both journeys are similar, in a way, in that they examine the various stages a person might go through when their whole worlds are turned on their heads; shock, denial, anger, stubborn refusal to accept what is. And because both are going through such turmoil, it's probably the worst time ever to begin a new romantic relationship, but the heart, and the libido, wants what it wants. And, personally, I love a nice bit of complication in my romances!
Aside from this excellent and compelling characterisation, the story also focuses on Clare's first "case" as a ghost seer. That being to assist ghostly cowboy Jackson Slade to right his worst wrong before he can be at peace. To help Clare along the way, she has a talking ghost dog, Enzo - who is more than he seems, I'm sure! - to steer her in something close to the right direction. I loved Enzo! Every good UF needs a quirky sidekick character, and he was a pretty fantastic one!
Overall, Ghost Seer was a winner for me, and story I look forward to continuing. -4 Stars! ★★★★
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
berls's review
4.0
This review was originally posted on Fantasy is More Fun
I really enjoyed this new series from Robin D. Owens. Ghost Seer provided a fresh new fantasy world and fun characters that I look forward to exploring in the future.
Coleen Marlo was a solid narrator. She delivered solid voices for each of the characters and the real treat, for me at least, was the voice she gave to Enzo. Enzo is a ghost dog who becomes Claire's guide and Coleen Marlo nailed his voice. I SAW a dog everytime he spoke because it was just so spot on. I'm definitely adding her to my list of approved narrators.
Ghost Seer is told from two perspectives - Claire Cermac and Zach Slade. I loved the parts from Claire's perspective, but Zach could be annoying. I wonder if I wouldn't have enjoyed Ghost Seer more if it had been told entirely from Claire's point of view.
Claire's aunt has just died, leaving her a massive inheritance. But it came with strings - Claire has the family gift, she can see ghosts and help them "move on." Up until this point, Claire was a successful accountant, but she felt it would be wrong to keep a good job someone else might really need - so she quit. That little detail spoke volumes about her character, which was reinforced for me as the story went on. Claire is a good, decent person who really thinks about the consequences of what she does for others. I loved the little details that Owens included about Claire paying percentages for tips and the way she organized and detailed things - it felt like the sort of details you'd expect an accountant to care about and it really made Claire real. And then there was the way she handled seeing ghosts - she went through a real struggle to accept what she was seeing, even hiring a top-of-the line psychiatrist to help her.
Zach is also going through a big life change - though I can't hardly see how it compares to what Claire is going through. When the book opens, he's a cop who's been shot and can no longer work in the field because of a drop ankle. He moves to Denver CO (which is where Claire already lives) and gets started at a PI firm. I do feel bad for him that he can't be a cop anymore - it's obvious that he loved what he did and it's where he feels best. But the man just wouldn't stop complaining about having to go private. Ex-cops and Ex-military make that move all the time - yet somehow he had a harder time dealing with what was happening to him than Claire did with her life changes. I guess further proof that women are tougher then men ;) But I did still like Zach - he's a good person, has good intentions, and I liked the way he dealt with his elderly client. Very respectful and caring. So I hope he just stops complaining, accepts the changes around him and then I'll love him too.
My absolute FAVORITE character was Enzo. I love animal companions in books - especially ones like Enzo that are a BIG part of the book. He talks to Claire, guides her and runs around acting like a dog. He has some other - somewhat malevolent seeming (to me) - spirit attached to him though and that totally creeped me out. Sometimes that voice would take over and give Claire instructions and I hope we'll get a better idea of what/who that spirit is in future books.
The world build in The Ghost Seer was great too. We're basically in our world and there are some people - like Claire and, to some extent, Zach - who have an extra sense for the "other worldly things." Zach has this rhyme he learned as a kid about crows and apparently if you see x number of crows it means something different than xy number of crows. It was really neat - though Zach tried really hard to not accept his ability, so that was frustrating, much like his whining about his situation.
The really really cool part, though, was Claire's gift. I might better call it a curse, though, because it comes with some serious baggage. There are so many rules about her ability - the biggest one being that if she doesn't accept her gift, she will go crazy and die. And Claire's struggle to deal with her gift starts taking a serious toll - she's always freezing, she can't eat, sleep -- she was literally dying slowly as the book progressed. Yikes! See what I mean about her having it worse than Zach? Another cool aspect was that she can see ghosts - but not all ghosts. She has the ability to see a specific time period - roughly 1850 - 1900 if I remember correctly. This worried me because her ghosts are kind of western and that's not really my thing. But it never went too far down that path and really just through in a bit of fun history to a very modern plot and world.
Ghost Seer is a really inventive twist on your standard clairvoyant story and, with characters that I love, I plan to read the next one when it comes out.
My Initial Reaction...
I really enjoyed this new series from Robin D. Owens. Ghost Seer provided a fresh new fantasy world and fun characters that I look forward to exploring in the future.
The Narration...
Coleen Marlo was a solid narrator. She delivered solid voices for each of the characters and the real treat, for me at least, was the voice she gave to Enzo. Enzo is a ghost dog who becomes Claire's guide and Coleen Marlo nailed his voice. I SAW a dog everytime he spoke because it was just so spot on. I'm definitely adding her to my list of approved narrators.
The Characters...
Ghost Seer is told from two perspectives - Claire Cermac and Zach Slade. I loved the parts from Claire's perspective, but Zach could be annoying. I wonder if I wouldn't have enjoyed Ghost Seer more if it had been told entirely from Claire's point of view.
Claire's aunt has just died, leaving her a massive inheritance. But it came with strings - Claire has the family gift, she can see ghosts and help them "move on." Up until this point, Claire was a successful accountant, but she felt it would be wrong to keep a good job someone else might really need - so she quit. That little detail spoke volumes about her character, which was reinforced for me as the story went on. Claire is a good, decent person who really thinks about the consequences of what she does for others. I loved the little details that Owens included about Claire paying percentages for tips and the way she organized and detailed things - it felt like the sort of details you'd expect an accountant to care about and it really made Claire real. And then there was the way she handled seeing ghosts - she went through a real struggle to accept what she was seeing, even hiring a top-of-the line psychiatrist to help her.
Zach is also going through a big life change - though I can't hardly see how it compares to what Claire is going through. When the book opens, he's a cop who's been shot and can no longer work in the field because of a drop ankle. He moves to Denver CO (which is where Claire already lives) and gets started at a PI firm. I do feel bad for him that he can't be a cop anymore - it's obvious that he loved what he did and it's where he feels best. But the man just wouldn't stop complaining about having to go private. Ex-cops and Ex-military make that move all the time - yet somehow he had a harder time dealing with what was happening to him than Claire did with her life changes. I guess further proof that women are tougher then men ;) But I did still like Zach - he's a good person, has good intentions, and I liked the way he dealt with his elderly client. Very respectful and caring. So I hope he just stops complaining, accepts the changes around him and then I'll love him too.
My absolute FAVORITE character was Enzo. I love animal companions in books - especially ones like Enzo that are a BIG part of the book. He talks to Claire, guides her and runs around acting like a dog. He has some other - somewhat malevolent seeming (to me) - spirit attached to him though and that totally creeped me out. Sometimes that voice would take over and give Claire instructions and I hope we'll get a better idea of what/who that spirit is in future books.
The Story...
The world build in The Ghost Seer was great too. We're basically in our world and there are some people - like Claire and, to some extent, Zach - who have an extra sense for the "other worldly things." Zach has this rhyme he learned as a kid about crows and apparently if you see x number of crows it means something different than xy number of crows. It was really neat - though Zach tried really hard to not accept his ability, so that was frustrating, much like his whining about his situation.
The really really cool part, though, was Claire's gift. I might better call it a curse, though, because it comes with some serious baggage. There are so many rules about her ability - the biggest one being that if she doesn't accept her gift, she will go crazy and die. And Claire's struggle to deal with her gift starts taking a serious toll - she's always freezing, she can't eat, sleep -- she was literally dying slowly as the book progressed. Yikes! See what I mean about her having it worse than Zach? Another cool aspect was that she can see ghosts - but not all ghosts. She has the ability to see a specific time period - roughly 1850 - 1900 if I remember correctly. This worried me because her ghosts are kind of western and that's not really my thing. But it never went too far down that path and really just through in a bit of fun history to a very modern plot and world.
Concluding Sentiments...
Ghost Seer is a really inventive twist on your standard clairvoyant story and, with characters that I love, I plan to read the next one when it comes out.
rclz's review against another edition
4.0
Good book. Takes place in Colorado. I like the characters a great deal. They've got things to work thought but nothing that makes me crazy. Plot was put together well. I'll definitely keep reading the series.
parttimebloggerbookgeek's review against another edition
3.0
2.5 rounded up to 3.
Ghost Seer was not what I was expecting, it was more emotional based, versus adventure.
The history made up and not, was interesting.
While the characters of Jack and Clare seemed sometimes flat and then at other times, truly believable, the world building reminded me of what I sometimes feel in origin stories of Marvel Characters, lots of words, no action, until all of a sudden there is action.
I rounded up the half star, simply because I did enjoy this book enough to give the second one a chance.
Ghost Seer was not what I was expecting, it was more emotional based, versus adventure.
The history made up and not, was interesting.
While the characters of Jack and Clare seemed sometimes flat and then at other times, truly believable, the world building reminded me of what I sometimes feel in origin stories of Marvel Characters, lots of words, no action, until all of a sudden there is action.
I rounded up the half star, simply because I did enjoy this book enough to give the second one a chance.
setaian's review against another edition
3.0
Moderately entertaining way to kill some time.
I don't regret buying it but I was hoping for more.
I don't regret buying it but I was hoping for more.
lindca's review against another edition
2.0
This book reminded me of why I previously had read only one book by this author.
Ghost Seer isn't terrible, it's just blah. The main characters are flat and do and say things that make no sense. We are treated to scintillating dialogue like this:
"I like you." ...
“I like you, too,” she said.
“You’re special,” he said, and her expression closed down again.
“I don’t want to be special. I want to be normal.” Her voice turned crisp.
“Okay,” he said mildly. “But you’re rich.”
Her body relaxed into the seat, and the curve to her lips returned, her arms uncrossed. “Yes, that I am.”
Excerpt From: Robin D. Owens. “Ghost Seer.” Penguin Group US, 2014-04-01T04:00:00+00:00. iBooks.
This material may be protected by copyright.
I got through the whole story, even if I easily was distracted by riveting things like doing laundry, but I have no great desire to read the next book in the series. I just hope I remember this the next time I'm tempted to read one of Owens' books.
Ghost Seer isn't terrible, it's just blah. The main characters are flat and do and say things that make no sense. We are treated to scintillating dialogue like this:
"I like you." ...
“I like you, too,” she said.
“You’re special,” he said, and her expression closed down again.
“I don’t want to be special. I want to be normal.” Her voice turned crisp.
“Okay,” he said mildly. “But you’re rich.”
Her body relaxed into the seat, and the curve to her lips returned, her arms uncrossed. “Yes, that I am.”
Excerpt From: Robin D. Owens. “Ghost Seer.” Penguin Group US, 2014-04-01T04:00:00+00:00. iBooks.
This material may be protected by copyright.
I got through the whole story, even if I easily was distracted by riveting things like doing laundry, but I have no great desire to read the next book in the series. I just hope I remember this the next time I'm tempted to read one of Owens' books.