The Sinner by Amanda StevensThe Sinner by Amanda Stevens
Series: Graveyard Queen #5
Published by Harlequin, MIRA on September 27, 2016
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 384
Format: Paperback
Source: Advance Reader Copy
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five-stars

I am a living ghost, a wanderer in search of my purpose and place… 

I'm a cemetery restorer by trade, but my calling has evolved from that of ghost seer to death walker to detective of lost souls. I solve the riddles of the dead so the dead will leave me alone.

I've come to Seven Gates Cemetery nursing a broken heart, but peace is hard to come by…for the ghosts here and for me. When the body of a young woman is discovered in a caged grave, I know that I've been summoned for a reason. Only I can unmask her killer. I want to trust the detective assigned to the case for he is a ghost seer like me. But how can I put my faith in anyone when supernatural forces are manipulating my every thought? When reality is ever-changing? And when the one person I thought I could trust above all others has turned into a diabolical stranger?

Wow. This whole series is so amazing! And that last line? Whoa. You guys need to pick it up ASAP. It’s an Urban Fantasy, but with strong romantic elements, and I think it’s one of the best out there.

This is book 5 in the Graveyard Queen series, and I don’t recommend reading it without the background of the other books. But seriously every single book in this whole series is fantastic.

Amelia sees ghosts, and her gift has only been getting stronger. She no longer follows the rules that kept her safe. She can’t. The rules have changed.

In the first book, she follows her father’s rules, and the number one rule is don’t let the dead know you can see them. If they sense you can see them, they’ll want help. Or worse, they’ll want you. But in the last book, Amelia had to face some hard truths. Those rules no longer apply to her.

And the distance between Amelia and John Devlin has only grown. In this book, they’ve been separated for a year, and she’s beginning to think about moving on. She can’t wait for him to work out his issues forever. So she takes a job restoring an old cemetery a bit outside of Charleston so she can get away from everything for the summer. But her job can’t be that simple, can it?

Some…thing calls her into the woods, and she finds a body. Among other things. Finding this body is only the beginning of a centuries old mystery that leads to nothing but death. And fear. Amelia is constantly being told she’s incredibly powerful, but she hasn’t yet learned to use those powers, at least not enough to keep her personal boogeyman out. And when he comes to her for help, she knows it’s not out of the goodness of his heart. Darius Goodwine is not altruistic.

But the detective  in this small town is just as mesmeric and hypnotizing as Darius. Amelia doesn’t know if that’s a good thing or not. And since he has an open mind about the unexplained, she’s incredibly tempted to take him up on his offer of more than just coffee.

So much is going on in this small town, and the local people might seem kind and helpful, but the past holds so many dark secrets, it’s impossible to know who to trust. With Devlin not quite behind her, and Kendrick pushing to be with her now, she feels confused and manipulated. Meanwhile, she’s been told she’s the only one who can beat this evil that is stalking not only a small southern town, but now it’s stalking Amelia.

This is one of those series where the first book is so good, and yet each book only gets better. Eerie, creepy, haunting, this book doesn’t let you stop thinking about it once you shut the covers. It lingers. It haunts. It keeps you.

***ARC courtesy of Harlequin MIRA

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five-stars