The only thing Hyacinth wants is her life back. Literally. She and her sister were murdered by Demons, leaving her young nephew, Geordi, to his father’s family in the brutal Sicilian Mob. Then Archangel Michael offers her a deal: recapture a powerful rock the Demons stole, and she can live long enough to find Geordi a safe home. Refuse, and she’ll continue up (or down) to the Afterlife.
So, slightly more alive than dead, she heads for Turkey and the Demons, taking Geordi, her mysterious neighbor Jason, and a sexy dead guy only she can see with her. But the hardest part won’t be battling Demons, meeting Satan, or dodging Middle Eastern customs—it will be later, when Geordi is settled, and Michael rips her away again. How can she abandon her nephew? Or can she outwit the Angel of Death himself, and stay with Geordi forever?
I received this book for free from Gifted in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
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Welcome back fang fangs, today we are embarking on a trip, not through time, but distance. From rainy, cold Oregon all the way to France and Turkey.
Hyacinth is an antique trader. She doesn’t deal in the mundane, but in the unique and let’s be honest, likely and mostly illegal. She has a relatively ordinary life, with a sister and a nephew who visit once in awhile and a neighbor who is bartender and who knows what else.
That is until two men appear in her office to offer her more money than she is used to, and she is used to a lot of money. They just want artifacts from a specific location, one that her late partner had recently acquired before his death. Thinking of her sister and her nephew she doesn’t really think about why these men want this specific dig, not does she really care. Money is money and the things were just sitting collecting dust in boxes in a warehouse.
That is until she unpacks what looks like an ordinary rock that when she touches it, it screams. Not in a typical rock screaming fashion, but in a specific only she can hear it way. Not only that, but it seems generally happy to have bene heard by her. Which if you know anything about rocks, they usually don’t care if someone handles them or not. Or at least in my experience, but then I may be missing out on many rock related conversations.
Essentially from the time that she touches the rock to when the book ends, her life is never the same. Literally her life is not the same since she dies soon after she discovers the rock. The rest of the story is a tale of what happens when a woman who is used to not trusting anyone must trust someone. It is not something that happens quickly or in some cases painlessly.
I liked this story a lot, it brought in death, life, ghosts, history, archeology, demons, and angels. Oh yeah did I mention there are demons and angels in this story? There are and it is not who you expect, or I guess it is who you may suspect since you know there are demons involved. I however did not and was naively reading along and BAM there are demons. I mean when one is not expecting demons it can be a bit sudden. Don’t think everyone is a demon, because sometimes bad guys are just bad guys and are not demons at all.
It is a bit wordy and long. Don’t get me wrong the story is good, but there are some places that I started to glaze over but then something would happen that would pull me back into the story. I really enjoyed Kerry’s attention to detail not only when the story is in France, but on the trip to and in Turkey. The story has enough detail to make it feel like I am there, and I really like that in a story, especially one that is lengthy.
There needs to be a reason why I want to keep reading. The attention to detail, and characterization really keep me present during the entirety of the story. As this is just the first in a series, I am looking forward to the follow ups. I want to know what happens to Hyacinth. Actually not just her but I want to know more about Jason and more about this specific place in Turkey.
About Kerry Blaisdell
Kerry Blaisdell is the award-winning author of The Dead Series, including DEBRIEFING THE DEAD - 2019 HOLT Medallion Literary Contest double winner for Best Paranormal & Best First Book, Romance Writers of America RITA® Award finalist, and Royal Palm Literary Award finalist - and its sequel, WAKING THE DEAD, which InD'tale Magazine recommends for "fans of television shows like 'Constantine' or 'Supernatural.'" She also writes Romantic Suspense and Historical Mystery. She has a Bachelor of Arts from UC Berkeley in Comparative Literature (French/Medieval English), and a Master's in Teaching English and Advanced Mathematics from the University of Portland. Kerry lives in the gorgeous Pacific Northwest with her husband, two (mostly) adult "kids," assorted cats and dogs, and more hot pepper plants than anyone could reasonably consume.
