Audiobook Review: Haunted in America: True Ghost Stories From The Best of Leslie Rule Collection by Leslie Rule, Narrated by Lisa Flanagan

Haunted in America: True Ghost Stories From The Best of Leslie Rule Collection by Leslie Rule, narrated by Lisa Flanagan, is a compendium of the best of Leslie Rule’s ghost explorations and interviews. With the most-spine tingling stories from the author’s previous four books, Coast to Coast Ghosts, When the Ghost Screams, Ghosts Among Us, and Ghost in the Mirror, along with new and updated accounts and theories, Rule brings her original voice to this omnibus of chilling, fascinating tales.

Haunted in America is an interesting listen for believers and skeptics alike. I liked that while there are plenty of tales of encounters, some spooky and others hopeful, there was great importance placed on respect for the current owners of these locations, the people that have had the experiences, the souls of those that might be trying to communicate, and the families that are left behind. I thought that the focus on history, research, and respect was a bit gratifying and quite the change from attitude many ghost researchers and hunters seem to have in the field, and the way media presents it. I thought that the narrator did a great job of telling the stories with the respect and solemnity due the subject matter- especially when relating the details of tragedies and death that often come hand in hand with tales of hauntings. I did not always agree with the authors take of certain situations and stories, but I did appreciate the honest and well researched relating of both her experiences and those she discovered in interviews and through research. 

Audiobook Review: All the Living and the Dead: From Embalmers to Executioners, an Exploration of the People Who Have Made Death Their Life's Work by Hayley Campbell

All the Living and the Dead: From Embalmers to Executioners, an Exploration of the People Who Have Made Death Their Life's Work was written, and the audiobook narrated, by Hayley Campbell. We are surrounded by death. It is in our news, our nursery rhymes, our true-crime podcasts. Yet from a young age, we are told that death is something to be feared. How are we supposed to know what we’re so afraid of, when we are never given the chance to look? Fueled by a childhood fascination with death, journalist Hayley Campbell searches for answers in the people who make a living by working with the dead. Along the way, she encounters mass fatality investigators, embalmers, and a former executioner who is responsible for ending sixty-two lives. She meets gravediggers who have already dug their own graves, visits a cryonics facility in Michigan, goes for late-night Chinese with a homicide detective, and questions a man whose job it is to make crime scenes disappear.

All the Living and the Dead: From Embalmers to Executioners, an Exploration of the People Who Have Made Death Their Life's Work is a fascinating read, or listen as the case may be. I think the author did a great job as narrator, and found it much easy to get past some of the more gruesome moments on audio instead of trying to read it on the page. Campbell did a great job of getting her experiences, and those of the individuals she interviewed, together into one book that explored not only how they view death, and the way society as a whole treats death, but how the people that deal with death everyday as part of their jobs have come to be in their position and how the deal with it all. There were moments that were very hard to listen to, and I cannot imagine being someone that has to deal with the autopsies, embalming, or clean up crew that follows a death. However, I could see stepping up as a bereavement midwife or part of a disaster relief team in some compacity, but if I am honest I do not think I would be prepared for the emotions and trauma involved with any of them. I was amazed at the levels of day to day work involved in the death industry, and sad that I never thought about how much unseen labor is involved. Although, I should not be surprised because the behind the scenes work of most industries often gets ignored or forgotten.

 All the Living and the Dead: From Embalmers to Executioners, an Exploration of the People Who Have Made Death Their Life's Work is a thought provoking book with in depth research and honesty that will make you think a bit more about death, and life. 

Book Review: Igniting Darkness (sampler) by Robin LaFevers

Igniting Darkness by Robin LaFevers is the conclusion to the Courting Darkness duology, set in the world of Robin’s beloved His Fair Assassin trilogy. I am sad that I only have a sampler here- but (fair warning) I have been following this series from the beginning and love it more than I can properly express. 

When you count Death as a friend, who can stand as your enemy? Sybella, novitiate of the convent of Saint Mortain and Death’s vengeance on earth, is still reeling from her God’s own passing, and along with him a guiding hand in her bloody work. But with her sisters on the run from their evil brother and under the watchful eye of her one true friend (and love) at court, the soldier known as Beast, Sybella stands alone as the Duchess of Brittany’s protector. After months of seeking her out, Sybella has finally made contact with a fellow novitiate of the convent, Genevieve, a mole in the French court. But Sybella, having already drawn the ire of the French regent, may not be able to depend on her sister and ally as much as she hoped. Still, Death always finds a way, even if it’s not what one expects. No one can be trusted and the wolves are always waiting.

The sample I read via Netgalley for Igniting Darkness confirmed my need to read this full book. I do not recommend newcomers to this world start here- as this is the fifth book set in this world and they do build on each other and set up connections and intrigue that newcomers would miss or be confused or bored by because of the missing context. I loved that we get the multiple points of very and a more in depth look at the machinations that keep these characters and this world moving. Anyone that has gotten this far in the series needs to read this book, including myself. I need to get my hands on the full book and I both look forward to and dread it at the same time, because I am not sure I am ready to see this story come to an end. 

Early Book Review: It’s Your Funeral by Emily Riesbeck, Ellen Kramer, Matt Krotzer

It’s Your Funeral by Emily Riesbeck, Ellen Kramer, and Matt Krotzer is a young adult graphic novel currently scheduled for release on July 21 2020.

Marnie Winters was going to turn her life around; get out of the house, make friends, no more “Miserable Old Marnie!” Everything was going to plan, but then, of course, she died. Now, Marnie’s a ghost trapped on Earth, and the only one who can help her is the overenthusiastic, alien social worker, Xel, whose job is to help ghosts “close their file” and pass on.  Xel has an idea to soothe Marnie’s troubled spirit: an internship in the hopeless bureaucracy of the trans-dimensional Department of Spectral Affairs! This new do-gooder duo has their work cut out for them in a series of hilarious mishaps and misadventures throughout the space-time continuum (but mostly in and around the office) as Marnie finds pathways through her feelings of worthlessness by helping others. A paranormal fantasy about healing, learning to love yourself, and being OK with being not OK.

It’s Your Funeral is a graphic novel that is fun to look at. I really enjoyed the artwork and colors, and thought the imagination involved was wonderful. It was also a read that will appeal to many on an emotional level. There are a number of very different personalities, and I liked that no one style is touted as perfect or better, rather it is those differences that make things work.  I cringed a few times, especially when Marnie took her emotions out on others, but those emotions and reactions rang true and help move the story forward and raise the emotional stakes of the story. I like that the book acknowledged that dealing with anything, including depression or anxiety, is a process and that taking the time and being kind (including to yourself) is key. I thought the overall product was very good, and good read.

It’s Your Funeral is a well drawn and told story that will appeal to a number of young adult and adult readers. 

Early Book Review: Heiress for Hire (Duke's Heiress) by Madeline Hunter

Heiress for Hire is the first book in the Duke's Heiress series by Madeline Hunter. It is scheduled for release on April 28 2020.

Minerva Hepplewhite has learned the hard way how to take care of herself. When an intruder breaks into her home, she doesn’t swoon or simper. Instead she wallops the rogue over the head and ties him up—only to realize he is Chase Radnor, the man who nearly got her convicted of her late husband’s murder. Now he’s insisting that Minerva has inherited a fortune from his uncle, a wealthy Duke. Chase can’t decide whether Minerva is a wronged woman or a femme fatale.  Since the scandal surrounding her husband’s death, she has set up a discreet detective business to rival Chase’s own. She may be the perfect person to help him uncover the truth about his uncle’s demise. But as proximity gives way to mutual seduction, Chase realizes he craves a much deeper alliance.

Heiress for Hire is a book that might be a romance, which is well done, but I often was more invested in the mystery than the romance. I liked Minerva, she was still compassionate and sweet despite what she has been through in the past. She is smart and I enjoyed getting to know her and her found family. Chase was a little harder to get to know, his mysteries were revealed more slowly, but he was a well written character. I think their individual lives and their coming together were very well done, and I liked the importance put on consent. I liked that an old mystery was solved, even if I expected that outcome before it was revealed, but I would have liked a little more closure on the larger mystery. I waiting for some big reveal, but we did get many smaller pieces to the puzzle and veiled conclusions. I suspect there will be more as the series continues, but I am not sure if I will be continuing.

Heiress for Hire is a historical romance with complex characters and an underlying mystery or two. 

Book Review: Girl in the Green Silk Gown (Ghost Roads) by Seanan McGuire

Girl in the Green Silk Gown is the second book in the Ghost Road series, set in the same world as the InCryptid series) by Seanan McGuire. I do recommend reading the series in order so that the relationships have more meaning to readers. You do not need to have read the related series however, to fully enjoy this one.

For Rose Marshall, death has long since become the only life she really knows.  She’s been sweet sixteen for more than sixty years, hitchhiking her way along the highways and byways of America, sometimes seen as an avenging angel, sometimes seen as a killer in her own right, but always Rose, the Phantom Prom Date, the Girl in the Green Silk Gown.The man who killed her is still out there, thanks to a crossroads bargain that won’t let him die, and he’s looking for the one who got away.  When Bobby Cross comes back into the picture, there’s going to be hell to pay—possibly literally. Rose has worked for decades to make a place for herself in the twilight.  Can she defend it, when Bobby Cross comes to take her down?  Can she find a way to navigate the worlds of the living and the dead, and make it home before her hitchhiker’s luck runs out? There’s only one way to know for sure.

Girl in the Green Silk Gown is the next chapter in Rose's story. I was glad to get more of her story, and to get a better understanding of Laura's character. I was so proud of Rose for her ability to resist temptation at several turns, it would have been so easy for her to end up at the crossroads. However, her struggles with the changes she faces during the trip alternated between being hysterical and a little annoying as she whined about things. I really enjoyed her journey, and the lengths she goes through not just to get back to where she could be, but to also help others when she can, had me eager to see how things would resolve this time around. I am still waiting for Bobby to earn his due, and for a few other bits to resolve, but I am surely enjoying the ride.

Girl in the Green Silk Gown is another fantastic book from McGuire. My only problem is that her audio book reader is too good, and so I often hold out for that version rather than reading right away. But, the wait is oh so worth it!