Helpful Score: 2
{4.5 stars}
Eerie & suspenseful. Stevens brings in old south superstitions to mix with a great suspenseful mystery. This all started with Amelia restoring an old cemetery in Charleston, where she found herself right in the middle of the path of a serial killer. This is where she meets John Devlin, the detective working the case. But he has his own mystery surrounding him, the death of his wife and daughter. After taking a trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains in book two, where we discover Amelia's roots, we have now returned to Charleston, and back to Devlin. The mystery surrounding Devlin is not simple, it has many layers, suspects, and lots of supernatural elements. If you are not from the south some of the aspects of this series may be confusing, but I think it's all blended well with the core mystery of the book. Stevens has a real knack for the this kind of mystery, I really love her style. And I'm really happy to find out that this series is going to continue on past this trilogy. Amelia is a great character, and each cemetery she restores has its own story to tell. Give Graveyard Queen a try, I think anyone with a taste for suspense will enjoy them.
http://texasreader-stacy.blogspot.com
www.goodreads.com/whatstacy
Eerie & suspenseful. Stevens brings in old south superstitions to mix with a great suspenseful mystery. This all started with Amelia restoring an old cemetery in Charleston, where she found herself right in the middle of the path of a serial killer. This is where she meets John Devlin, the detective working the case. But he has his own mystery surrounding him, the death of his wife and daughter. After taking a trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains in book two, where we discover Amelia's roots, we have now returned to Charleston, and back to Devlin. The mystery surrounding Devlin is not simple, it has many layers, suspects, and lots of supernatural elements. If you are not from the south some of the aspects of this series may be confusing, but I think it's all blended well with the core mystery of the book. Stevens has a real knack for the this kind of mystery, I really love her style. And I'm really happy to find out that this series is going to continue on past this trilogy. Amelia is a great character, and each cemetery she restores has its own story to tell. Give Graveyard Queen a try, I think anyone with a taste for suspense will enjoy them.
http://texasreader-stacy.blogspot.com
www.goodreads.com/whatstacy
After receiving a message from Detective John Devlin asking her to come home, Amelia Gray has returned to Charleston. But Amelia is hesitant to get involved with John again. He is being haunted by the ghosts of his wife and young daughter. Amelia knows she should keep her distance from them; but those ghosts are not keeping their distance from her. And neither is the ghost of Robert Freemont, a cop who asks her to help him find who killed him so he can cross over. As Amelia works to discover the identity of the murderer, she once again becomes involved with Devlin and his ghosts.
I'm glad to see Amelia back in Charleston. She is once again restoring an old graveyard to its original beauty and trying to avoid the ghosts the lurk there. But trying to help Robert Freemont cross over leads Amelia to root doctors, gray dust, and palm readers.
This book was a good follow-up of the first story in the series. It ties up a bunch of loose ends that were left after that book. My rating: 4.5 Stars.
I'm glad to see Amelia back in Charleston. She is once again restoring an old graveyard to its original beauty and trying to avoid the ghosts the lurk there. But trying to help Robert Freemont cross over leads Amelia to root doctors, gray dust, and palm readers.
This book was a good follow-up of the first story in the series. It ties up a bunch of loose ends that were left after that book. My rating: 4.5 Stars.
5 stars for a completely originally concept (a graveyard restorer who sees ghosts) but 2 stars for a very repetitive writing style that pulled me out of the story. It felt like the first paragraph of each chapter was a summary of the last chapter! Also, she does such a great job of creating an eerie, spooky atmosphere (I attribute one bad dream to this book!) but it's undermined when she then also tells us that it's eerie and spooky. I do think I will read the other books just to get the full story. I was also surprised to see it categorized as paranormal romance as it felt much more like a mystery with one sex scene than a romance novel.
I was not impressed by this - the 3rd of Amanda Stevens "The Graveyard Queen" series. I did really enjoy the 1st - The Restorer". The 2nd "the Kingdom" was alright, but left you hanging.
But this book was dull as if she knew the 1st was good and would attract readers to buy the next two.
I'll go back to Heather Grahams Books - I haven't been disappointed in her Ghost/Romance style yet and have read most all that she has written.
But this book was dull as if she knew the 1st was good and would attract readers to buy the next two.
I'll go back to Heather Grahams Books - I haven't been disappointed in her Ghost/Romance style yet and have read most all that she has written.
First - this is book 3 in the series and I really think these books are best enjoyed when read in order (not always the case with all series books - i.e Rogue Angel).
I just finished this thrilling conclusion to a planned trilogy and now I really wish the story was not the end of a trilogy. It's so good that I would be thrilled to read another installment. I'll keep my fingers crossed that maybe this won't just be a trilogy...
Amelia Gray go back home to complete the renovations on a cemetery that was the centerpiece of the first book in the trilogy. Meanwhile, Amelia is in love with a haunted man and one of his ghost is far less than friendly. I don't want to spoil the plot so I won't say much more.
This story is written in first person point of view which, with this tale, heightened the suspense all the more because we could only know what Amelia is feeling and seeing. You are removed from the place you are and placed directly in the main character's shoes. Amanda Stevens manages to heighten the suspense so much that I couldn't stop reading. Again, more a thriller than romance - regardless of the fact that this one is categorized as romance, any reader who loves thrillers would enjoy this book.
I just finished this thrilling conclusion to a planned trilogy and now I really wish the story was not the end of a trilogy. It's so good that I would be thrilled to read another installment. I'll keep my fingers crossed that maybe this won't just be a trilogy...
Amelia Gray go back home to complete the renovations on a cemetery that was the centerpiece of the first book in the trilogy. Meanwhile, Amelia is in love with a haunted man and one of his ghost is far less than friendly. I don't want to spoil the plot so I won't say much more.
This story is written in first person point of view which, with this tale, heightened the suspense all the more because we could only know what Amelia is feeling and seeing. You are removed from the place you are and placed directly in the main character's shoes. Amanda Stevens manages to heighten the suspense so much that I couldn't stop reading. Again, more a thriller than romance - regardless of the fact that this one is categorized as romance, any reader who loves thrillers would enjoy this book.
This is the third book in the Graveyard Queen series by Stevens. I've heard rumors that a fourth book is planned for this series but haven't found the title yet. I got an advanced reading copy of this book to review through NetGalley(dot)com. This was a very good addition to the series, I did think it was the weakest book of the series, but given how much I loved the last two book in this series...this book was still a good book.
Amelia returns to Charleston somewhat beat up about everything that happened during The Kingdom. She is happy to be able to be near Devlin again, but unsure of her reception. Things start getting complicated for Amelia right away. Devlin's daughter constantly haunts Amelia pleading for help and then another ghost blackmails Amelia into hunting down his killer. The mystery draws Amelia deep into the dark side of Charleston; full of root doctors and other questionable magic.
The writing in this book is just as beautiful and haunting as in the previous books and I really enjoyed it. There is an interesting mystery and it ends up being somewhat complex but is intriguing to read about.
I did have some problems with this book though. Amelia doesn't spend much time doing cemetary restoration; not like she did in the last two books. The history and strange peacefulness that accompany the cemetary restoration scenes are part of what drew me to this series, it is just such an interesting career. So I was disappointed that we don't' get to read much about the cemetery restoration in this book.
This book also did not have as high of an eerie or creepiness factor as previous books in the series. I love that this series has been creepy and strange without getting super scary. This book was more of a mystery and had less of a creepy gothic overtone than previous books.
The last problem I had was Amelia herself. When she is around Devlin she gets so...well...weak. She lets Devlin make all of the decisions and her personality seems to fade in his presence. After all the backbone she shows in The Kingdom I didn't enjoy seeing her like this. It made me kind of sad that this was where she ended up. Devlin is kind of a secretive jerk at times in this book and I didn't like how Amelia just put up with it.
The above complaints aside, this book was still a beautifully written and well done mystery. A lot of the strands that were presented in the first two books are nicely tied together and wrapped up in this book. It was just that a lot of the things that made this series really special to me weren't as present as they were in the last two books.
Overall this was a good addition to the series. There is a lot of great mystery in here and a lot of questions answered. The writing is absolutely beautiful. Amelia seems weaker than in the last book and doesn't spend as much time doing cemetary restoration. The gothic creepiness factor was less than in previous books as well. So there is some good and some bad here; but overall I think this is the weakest book in the series so far. I am curious to see if there is a fourth book and, if so, where this story ends up going. I would recommend to people who were fans of the first two books. I also recommend to those who like a gothic tone to their urban fantasy.
Amelia returns to Charleston somewhat beat up about everything that happened during The Kingdom. She is happy to be able to be near Devlin again, but unsure of her reception. Things start getting complicated for Amelia right away. Devlin's daughter constantly haunts Amelia pleading for help and then another ghost blackmails Amelia into hunting down his killer. The mystery draws Amelia deep into the dark side of Charleston; full of root doctors and other questionable magic.
The writing in this book is just as beautiful and haunting as in the previous books and I really enjoyed it. There is an interesting mystery and it ends up being somewhat complex but is intriguing to read about.
I did have some problems with this book though. Amelia doesn't spend much time doing cemetary restoration; not like she did in the last two books. The history and strange peacefulness that accompany the cemetary restoration scenes are part of what drew me to this series, it is just such an interesting career. So I was disappointed that we don't' get to read much about the cemetery restoration in this book.
This book also did not have as high of an eerie or creepiness factor as previous books in the series. I love that this series has been creepy and strange without getting super scary. This book was more of a mystery and had less of a creepy gothic overtone than previous books.
The last problem I had was Amelia herself. When she is around Devlin she gets so...well...weak. She lets Devlin make all of the decisions and her personality seems to fade in his presence. After all the backbone she shows in The Kingdom I didn't enjoy seeing her like this. It made me kind of sad that this was where she ended up. Devlin is kind of a secretive jerk at times in this book and I didn't like how Amelia just put up with it.
The above complaints aside, this book was still a beautifully written and well done mystery. A lot of the strands that were presented in the first two books are nicely tied together and wrapped up in this book. It was just that a lot of the things that made this series really special to me weren't as present as they were in the last two books.
Overall this was a good addition to the series. There is a lot of great mystery in here and a lot of questions answered. The writing is absolutely beautiful. Amelia seems weaker than in the last book and doesn't spend as much time doing cemetary restoration. The gothic creepiness factor was less than in previous books as well. So there is some good and some bad here; but overall I think this is the weakest book in the series so far. I am curious to see if there is a fourth book and, if so, where this story ends up going. I would recommend to people who were fans of the first two books. I also recommend to those who like a gothic tone to their urban fantasy.
Amelia is back in Charleston and trying her best to avoid Devlin. But it isnt so easy to do when she thinks about him constantly. It doesnt help that ghosts keep leading her to him.
His dead friend, nicknamed the Prophet, who we met in the first book, is calling the shots this time. He just wants to rest, but he thinks the fact that he doesnt remember who his killer is might be why he cant. He wants Amelia to figure out who killed him. In fact, he even blackmails Amelia a bit, just to ensure shell help him out. But despite that, I liked him, and I liked his ending-it seemed appropriate.
This book has a lot more reveals than the other two, and I found so much of it incredibly interesting. This one also has a lot more action, so to speak. I liked seeing Amelia make a friend, and I hope that trend continues as she carves out a spot for herself in Charleston.
Loved all 3 of her books in this series. She is writing 4,5, and 6 to go with this series. I am very excited and wait like an expecting mom....interesting subject to write about. Found no other writer to write on this job description. All 3 copies sit in my personal library.
His dead friend, nicknamed the Prophet, who we met in the first book, is calling the shots this time. He just wants to rest, but he thinks the fact that he doesnt remember who his killer is might be why he cant. He wants Amelia to figure out who killed him. In fact, he even blackmails Amelia a bit, just to ensure shell help him out. But despite that, I liked him, and I liked his ending-it seemed appropriate.
This book has a lot more reveals than the other two, and I found so much of it incredibly interesting. This one also has a lot more action, so to speak. I liked seeing Amelia make a friend, and I hope that trend continues as she carves out a spot for herself in Charleston.
Loved all 3 of her books in this series. She is writing 4,5, and 6 to go with this series. I am very excited and wait like an expecting mom....interesting subject to write about. Found no other writer to write on this job description. All 3 copies sit in my personal library.
I read up to page 14 and stopped. I do not like to get scared. In a very few pages, Amanda Stevens set up a scenario that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. If you enjoy creepy atmospheres, by all means read this book.
Not as good as the first two. Amelia is back in Charleston. She now has the ghost of a murdered cop haunting her. He wants her to solve his murder. Shani also wants Amelia's help.
I was glad that Amelia's fixation on Devlin came to a conclusion. Either be with him or move on. I got tired about how Amelia was always perseverating over how she broke papa's rules. Just. Get. Over. It. I don't think this was a bad thing.
New interesting characters that could be friends- Isabel and Clementine.
I thought the ending was a little rushed.
I was glad that Amelia's fixation on Devlin came to a conclusion. Either be with him or move on. I got tired about how Amelia was always perseverating over how she broke papa's rules. Just. Get. Over. It. I don't think this was a bad thing.
New interesting characters that could be friends- Isabel and Clementine.
I thought the ending was a little rushed.
