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A review by prationality
The Ghost and the Graveyard by Genevieve Jack
2.0
Welcome to another round of "I'm So Torn!". On the one hand I was really digging the story here. Grateful makes enough of an impression that her immediate lust for Rick can be overlooked since, well she acknowledges her bad decision making skills and the need to tone it back. The mystery surrounding the creepy happenings at her new house kept me reading and while I wasn't particularly fond of either guy (for reasons I'll explain) neither one seemed like a complete Alphahole.
So far so good!
And then we get to the explanation part of who Rick is, who Grateful is (was/could be/whatever), her place in the universe and oh yeah the TRUTH behind her life.
Firstly - the whole plot with her father's dark secret surrounding her birth didn't feel needed. I see why Jack had it as part of the story--it helped to bridge connections with another character's motivations--yet how disturbing to hear such (even if it was a completely normal and unfortunately frequent emotional response).
Secondly - Rick goes from mysterious sex on a stick graveyad caretaker who seems a little bit too interested in Grateful (though not in a creepy stalker way) to...well being kind of creepy.You find out that he was married to various previous incarnations of Grateful through the centuries; she's a reincarnated piece of his beloved's soul and they are stronger together then apart...also he is severely weakened without her love/sex/blood. Soon as the cat is out of the bag he is suddenly like 'And to solve all our problems marry me!' and POUTS and SULKS every time she reasonably states its not a good idea. He basically uses her intense physical response against her as perfectly rational reasoning.
Thirdly - Logan goes from being a 'aw poor puppy!' to 'dear lord could you be more suffocating?' fairly quickly. Granted Grateful sees what is going on and understands that she can't just...keep him as her ghostly servant/emotional support, so good on her for recognizing it was a bad idea. By the time his ah lingering spirit problem is figured out I was ready to smack him, bury him and hand Grateful over to her scheming, manipulative ex (its bad when the guy who stole your money is the less evil of the men you know).
Fourthly - its a spoilerthe ghost sex with Logan was SUPER CREEPY. SUPER DUPER 100% CREEPY. That could just be me though, I've never been into the whole 'my lover is a phantasm of energy/smoke/mist' genere of paranormal romances, but it seems pretty popular.
And while I admire the fact that Grateful stood up and said 'Hey stop deciding my life for me!', its kind of a moot point given the circumstances of Rick staying powerful enough to defeat the creepies involve her. I also felt like Logan's resolution should have been given a bit more time--a lot happens at the end and the mystery of him is kind shoehorned in between figuring out the bad guy's motivations and saving all of humanity.
So far so good!
And then we get to the explanation part of who Rick is, who Grateful is (was/could be/whatever), her place in the universe and oh yeah the TRUTH behind her life.
Firstly - the whole plot with her father's dark secret surrounding her birth didn't feel needed. I see why Jack had it as part of the story--it helped to bridge connections with another character's motivations--yet how disturbing to hear such (even if it was a completely normal and unfortunately frequent emotional response).
Secondly - Rick goes from mysterious sex on a stick graveyad caretaker who seems a little bit too interested in Grateful (though not in a creepy stalker way) to...well being kind of creepy.
Thirdly - Logan goes from being a 'aw poor puppy!' to 'dear lord could you be more suffocating?' fairly quickly. Granted Grateful sees what is going on and understands that she can't just...keep him as her ghostly servant/emotional support, so good on her for recognizing it was a bad idea. By the time his ah lingering spirit problem is figured out I was ready to smack him, bury him and hand Grateful over to her scheming, manipulative ex (its bad when the guy who stole your money is the less evil of the men you know).
Fourthly - its a spoiler
And while I admire the fact that Grateful stood up and said 'Hey stop deciding my life for me!', its kind of a moot point given the circumstances of Rick staying powerful enough to defeat the creepies involve her. I also felt like Logan's resolution should have been given a bit more time--a lot happens at the end and the mystery of him is kind shoehorned in between figuring out the bad guy's motivations and saving all of humanity.