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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“Welcome to the Strande Estate.”
“Does it scare you? The idea that you might be here at night alone?”
“Well, if it’s haunted, I won’t really be alone, will I?”
CHARACTERS
Alice Monroe: Green eyes, blonde hair, 26, New caretaker creative maintenance manager
Charles Mensonge: Hazel eyes, blonde hair, 34; Very cute, very tall handsome nephew of the friendly (!)ghost, He is a magician and illusionist like his uncle
Julian Strande: One side blue, one side light brown eyes, light brown hair; The ghost of the wealthy famous illusionist whose body never found, genius lunatic, a madman,
Charles is an irresistible guy; I fell for him immediately. Who can resist this guy for real? He is geekish, quirky, flirty, and adorable. His sense of humor might be too direct and uncomforting initially, but it's only until you get used to it! He is a chatter but the kind I extremely love!
He was like a painting of a man, he was so handsome. He had no right being real.
Alice is smart, also geekish, nerd, and lovely; I related to her immediately! She was brave in general, but the way she was scared easily when it came to sudden reactions was charming! Plus, most of the time, her inner monologues were like talking to myself.
She liked everywhere that wasn’t real. Stories. Fantasies. Illusions. Anywhere she could lose herself that was better than where she was.
And Julian, the ghastly ghost! I am angry with him, but he sure has the charms!
“I think I rather like your nephew. Hope you don’t mind.”
PROS
*Alice loves baking/cooking, and she is good at it. Her favorite to bake is a pumpkin pie, and that’s also Charles’ fave. - YAY pumpkins!
*All the sexy times – Yes, I generally need sex in my reads…
*Alice does 3D printing designs - I love it so much when h has a designer side
*Storytelling + inner monoluges + dialogues
*Out of body bj experience
*Ghostly dream climax
*Loki the cat
*I have a thing for heterochromia
“Sorry to be weird, but, um…”
“I love weird.”
Then, man, you’re gonna love me. Damn it, stupid, focus!
Did I just friend-zone a ghost?
I think I did.
OVERALL
*It was a different and interesting story. I got angry for some specific times, but never once was I bored. It was a refreshing read.
*It was sweet, romantic, funny, SO entertaining, partly hot, a tiny tiny bit horrifying.
A GREAT read overall.
*I specifically liked the ghostly parts, and I am dying to have more in the second book, especially more ghost sex, please!!!
*Okay, this is finally my LAST review of 2020 (I promise), and I have been so generous with my votes lately, so I am not gonna lower my ratings for this one, plus I really loved this book, so it’s only fair!
*Thanks for the gem Renee, If it wasn’t for you, I could’ve never found this book!
“You’d better be Charles,”
“Mmh. What if I’m Julian?”
“Sex with a ghost? That’s kinda hot.”
I dedicate the song Lenka – Trouble is a Friend to this book!
♫ He's there in the dark
He's there in my heart
He waits in the winds
He's gotta play a part
Trouble is a friend
Yeah trouble is a friend of mine. oh oh ♫
“I hate normal. Don’t ever be normal.”
“My love will never fade. -JS”
“Does it scare you? The idea that you might be here at night alone?”
“Well, if it’s haunted, I won’t really be alone, will I?”
CHARACTERS
Alice Monroe: Green eyes, blonde hair, 26, New caretaker creative maintenance manager
Charles Mensonge: Hazel eyes, blonde hair, 34; Very cute, very tall handsome nephew of the friendly (!)ghost, He is a magician and illusionist like his uncle
Julian Strande: One side blue, one side light brown eyes, light brown hair; The ghost of the wealthy famous illusionist whose body never found, genius lunatic, a madman,
Charles is an irresistible guy; I fell for him immediately. Who can resist this guy for real? He is geekish, quirky, flirty, and adorable. His sense of humor might be too direct and uncomforting initially, but it's only until you get used to it! He is a chatter but the kind I extremely love!
He was like a painting of a man, he was so handsome. He had no right being real.
Alice is smart, also geekish, nerd, and lovely; I related to her immediately! She was brave in general, but the way she was scared easily when it came to sudden reactions was charming! Plus, most of the time, her inner monologues were like talking to myself.
She liked everywhere that wasn’t real. Stories. Fantasies. Illusions. Anywhere she could lose herself that was better than where she was.
And Julian, the ghastly ghost! I am angry with him, but he sure has the charms!
“I think I rather like your nephew. Hope you don’t mind.”
PROS
*Alice loves baking/cooking, and she is good at it. Her favorite to bake is a pumpkin pie, and that’s also Charles’ fave. - YAY pumpkins!
*All the sexy times – Yes, I generally need sex in my reads…
*Alice does 3D printing designs - I love it so much when h has a designer side
*Storytelling + inner monoluges + dialogues
*Out of body bj experience
*Ghostly dream climax
*Loki the cat
*I have a thing for heterochromia
“Sorry to be weird, but, um…”
“I love weird.”
Then, man, you’re gonna love me. Damn it, stupid, focus!
Did I just friend-zone a ghost?
I think I did.
OVERALL
*It was a different and interesting story. I got angry for some specific times, but never once was I bored. It was a refreshing read.
*It was sweet, romantic, funny, SO entertaining, partly hot, a tiny tiny bit horrifying.
A GREAT read overall.
*I specifically liked the ghostly parts, and I am dying to have more in the second book, especially more ghost sex, please!!!
*Okay, this is finally my LAST review of 2020 (I promise), and I have been so generous with my votes lately, so I am not gonna lower my ratings for this one, plus I really loved this book, so it’s only fair!
*Thanks for the gem Renee, If it wasn’t for you, I could’ve never found this book!
“You’d better be Charles,”
“Mmh. What if I’m Julian?”
“Sex with a ghost? That’s kinda hot.”
I dedicate the song Lenka – Trouble is a Friend to this book!
♫ He's there in the dark
He's there in my heart
He waits in the winds
He's gotta play a part
Trouble is a friend
Yeah trouble is a friend of mine. oh oh ♫
“I hate normal. Don’t ever be normal.”
“My love will never fade. -JS”
This was fine! I stayed for the interesting premise and intrigue with Julian/Charles. I potentially wanted more characterization and less spice though. The characters and writing felt a bit too similar to previous books I've read from Kingsley and that was disappointing. Harrow Faire truly stole my heart and I tried to find that substance here, but no dice.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is 5 star material.
My main problem is with book 2 and its existence. These are two books of 250 pages, I abandoned the second one at 67%. These two books could have been edited a bit (hint: remove most of the first half of book 2), and released as 1.
My main problem is with book 2 and its existence. These are two books of 250 pages, I abandoned the second one at 67%. These two books could have been edited a bit (hint: remove most of the first half of book 2), and released as 1.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Suicide
Moderate: Rape, Torture, Violence
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
a little too instalovey for me but I’m too intrigued to care. hopefully the 2nd book is enough to subdue my gripes. however it is very much a true phenomenon that when an author you love writes tropes you hate, they are somehow okay in context.
i HATE insta love. I hate insta attraction. i hate the “we made eye contact and I’m automatically soaked” kind of writing. which this book is sadly full of. obviously in real life you can meet someone and instantly wanna jump their bones sometimes. but i prefer a slow burn. i prefer finding someone unbearably attractive because you KNOW them deep down, you know their quirks and weirdness and and then you want them. sometimes this book felt a bit superficial. there’s some time jumps which is another thing I hate in romance books, only when it’s in terms of relationship development. we lose a whole month of their relationship that i could’ve seen go deeper, to make me really feel like they’re in love. time jumps make sense in friends to lovers, i don’t need to see every moment of a friendship. but I prefer to see people fall in love???? i am often a DNF girl once i get like 5 chapters in and there’s already talk of boning. however when this author writes some of the things I hate the most in romance books, it is immediately excused because there’s always some kind of mystery. i want to dig deeper anyways.
i HATE insta love. I hate insta attraction. i hate the “we made eye contact and I’m automatically soaked” kind of writing. which this book is sadly full of. obviously in real life you can meet someone and instantly wanna jump their bones sometimes. but i prefer a slow burn. i prefer finding someone unbearably attractive because you KNOW them deep down, you know their quirks and weirdness and and then you want them. sometimes this book felt a bit superficial. there’s some time jumps which is another thing I hate in romance books, only when it’s in terms of relationship development. we lose a whole month of their relationship that i could’ve seen go deeper, to make me really feel like they’re in love. time jumps make sense in friends to lovers, i don’t need to see every moment of a friendship. but I prefer to see people fall in love???? i am often a DNF girl once i get like 5 chapters in and there’s already talk of boning. however when this author writes some of the things I hate the most in romance books, it is immediately excused because there’s always some kind of mystery. i want to dig deeper anyways.