Legend of Witchtrot Road by E.J. Stevens

Series: Spirit Guide, Book Three

Publisher: Sacred Oaks Press

Format: Kindle

Published: 20^th September 2011

Number of Pages: -

Book: For Review From Author*

Genre:  Ghost Story, Paranormal, Dark Romance, Urban Fantasy, Murder Mystery, YA

Recommended Age: 12+

Contains: Mild Violence and Ghosts

No Alcohol, Drug References

Available On: Amazon (Paperback, Kindle), Barnes & Noble (Paperback, Nook), Smashwords (eBook) and The Book Depository (Paperback)

Author's Blog: From The Shadows

Warning: May Contain Spoilers From Previous Books

Surviving agitated ghosts, irritated witches, angry werewolves, and the horrors of high school has never been so hard.

The night of Samhain may be behind them, but Yuki and her friends have only begun to face the challenges of their paranormal gifts. Tensions are rising--in the pack, at school, and within their tightly knit group of friends.
The tragic death of Wakefield High student Dylan Jacobs has emotions boiling over. The J-Team, Yuki's arch nemesis, have turned the entire football team against her. They claim that Yuki is a witch and blame her for the death of their fellow teammate. Will Yuki be able to solve the mystery of Dylan's death, and the legend of Witchtrot Road, before tempers flare and things turn violent?

                                                                   Review:

Yuki survived Samhain, and everything should be fine (until next year, anyway.  Or until the witches she stole the amulet from find out she took it.  Whichever comes first).  But a jock has just died on Witchtrot Lane, centre of a witchy curse, and the J-Team – jocks and general jerks – think Yuki is the one who killed him.  She didn’t, obviously, but try telling that to the J-Team.  Plus a werewolf from Simon’s past has reappeared, and the rivalry between the two of them seems ready to explode.  But back to the J-Team… they are determined, scarily determined.  Yuki’s in real danger, until she can prove to the J-Team that’s she’s innocent.  Business as usual then: working on short time with a curse hanging over her head.  And don’t forget: “Never, ever travel on Witchtrot Road after dark…”

This is seriously one of my very favourite series ever.  It’s fun, cute, quirky, scary, funny and choc-a-block with ghosts.  The world is amazing – spirit guides, werewolves, dead-people-smelling-girls, witches.  The characters are wonderful and relatable.  The relationships feel 100% real and believable.  I was glued to the page from start to finish.  I just love everything about the Spirit Guide series – what am I going to do while I wait for Book Four?!

Yuki is honestly one of my favourite heroines.  She’s quirky, fun and totally cute.  I love her!  Plus, she’s completely insane.  Or, as my aunt would say, “special in the head”.  Which is just a nice, cute way of saying mad.  Yuki’s just so funny and witty and generally awesome!  I mean, she made little rice balls people, out of rice pudding, trail mix, fruit pieces and toothpicks… and ATE THEM!  God, that made me laugh.  She’s just absolutely, insanely wonderful – I love her snarky…ness.  And the really wonderful, wacky ideas came out of that special head.

Calvin Miller, alpha wolf and Yuki’s gorgeous boyfriend.  He’s perfect: can I have one like him?  Though he takes his alpha responsibilities seriously, he also had a bit of a wild side.  (Swoon.)  And he’s always looking after Yuki.  He is, truly, as Yuki said, “made of awesome”.  Cal’s just way too cute, and really rocking that alpha thing.

Cal and Yuki were, once again, the cutest EVER.  I totally felt the chemistry, and the love and the general adorableness.  They just complete each other.  Cal could practically read Yuki’s mind: he knew exactly how to make her feel better.  They were so cute, and the chemistry is totally believable.

And Emma, the best friend ever, who is sweet, funny and addicted to organisation.  And, again, knew exactly how to make Yuki feel better, what Yuki needed.  I love her!  But something strange was goin’ on with Emma in this one…  She wasn’t “On The Drugs”, but what the hey was up with her? 

Simon was just brilliant!  I LOVE his guy!  He’s absolutely hilarious, totally vain and completely bonkers.  Now Cal’s second in command: Simon would do anything for his alpha.  And he respects Cal (‘though Cal’s probably the only one Simon does respect!).  Always flirting, he’s constantly funny with an ironic edge.  He’s ace and wonderful and the best.

A newcomer in the series, Gabriel, Meredith’s brother, Simon’s true love who died because of him.  Gabriel hated Simon, blaming him for Meredith’s death (this is part of a whole backstory thing, one that no one will get unless they’ve read the books).  Gabriel was bad tempered.  Therefore Yuki nicknamed him “The Brat”, and let me just tell ya, the nickname suited him.  He was sulky and childish.  Although, he was kinda funny – but shh!  Don’t tell him that! 

The plot was really fast and super twisty, with an ending I definitely did not see coming – just how I like ‘em.  I was scared, amused, confused and seriously wowed by the (another Yuki word) awesomeness.  I love this series!  I haven’t come across anything even close to it.  No one does the hilarious to the scary like E.J.  She rocks!  As Yuki would say.

Now: BOOK FOUR PLEASE!  I mean, the ending was even worse than the others.  Way worse. Not suspense-worse, just worse-worse.  And if I don’t find out what happens next, I’m gonna end up Loco Lycans.  Seriously.  Plus, how will I be able to live without Yuki and the gang?!  I almost lost it when I went a day without the books.  So how, how, how will I manage without them?

Finally, to sum the story up in one sentence: Sleuthing with a side of ghosts – love it!

Star Rating:
4½ Out of 5

Read this book if you liked:

Spirit Guide Series by E.J. Stevens

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Bloodlines by Richelle Mead

Challenges It's Taking Part In:

100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge 2011 (Hosted by Book Chick City)

2011 eBook Challenge (Hosted by The Ladybug Reads)

Megan

* This book was received from the author in exchange for an honest review

Happy Reading

The Spirit Guide Series

Spirit Storm by E.J. Stevens

Series: Spirit Guide, Book Two

Publisher: Sacred Oaks Press

Format: Kindle

Published: 13^th December 2010

Number of Pages: 210

Book: For Review From Author*

Genre: Ghost Story, Paranormal, Dark Romance, Urban Fantasy, Murder Mystery, YA

Recommended Age: 12+

Contains: Violence, Death

No Alcohol, Drug References

Available On: Amazon (Paperback, Kindle), Barnes & Noble (Paperback, Nook), Smashwords (eBook) and The Book Depository (Paperback)

Author's Blog: From The Shadows

The Spirit Guide Series

"Let the spirits guide you, but never let them take you."
Spirits of the Dead are coming...
Yuki is about to face an army of lost souls on Samhain, the night of Halloween, when the spirits of the dead roam free. Yuki will need all the help she can get from her friends, but will Calvin be there for her when she needs him the most?

                                                                   Review:

Yuki is special: she can smell the dead.  She is also running out of time.  Samhain is fast approaching – as is the storm of spirits it will bring with it.  Yuki needs to find a way to get through the night.  Preferably with her sanity.  To make everything worse, a murderer is out there – a murderer who seems to be targeting werewolves.  And then, just when Yuki is starting to think that her life cannot get any better, a disaster strikes.  And still, time is running out.  On the bright side, she’s found something to deal with her ghosty problems.  The downside?  It involves stealing.  From witches.  Wonderful, just wonderful…

Oh, how I missed Yuki!  Which proves how addictive this series is, seeing as I read Spirit Storm straight after I finished She Smells the Dead, but there you go.  And what a wonderful sequel!  It was just as quirky, cute, fun and such a pageturner!  I found myself sitting in bed, my kindle on my lap, reading way into the wee hours.  I love this series! 

Vanessa Stennings, more commonly known as Yuki, was just as wonderful as she was in the first book!  She had the craziest ideas (wearing a shirt full of safety pins to keep the spirits away.  Who else?), as well as being insanely excitable and energetic.  Her dress sense: amazingly wacky, featuring gourd spiders and shoulder-bag pumpkin ghosts.  And they were called Legs and Boo.  Don’t you just love her already?  She’s so cute, hilarious, and her wonderful madness was just contagious!

Calvin Miller was amazing.  And also an alpha wolf.  Basically, he says “jump”, the other wolves say “how high”.  He, too, was wonderfully mad.  And adorable.  He was so brave and strong: just what Yuki needed. And, I can tell you now, that Cal and Yuki were the cutest.  Ever.  They’re soulmates, but it actually works.  Cal’s soul is special: he has a spirit wolf.  And Yuki’s just plain special: hence, she smells the dead.  So, really, it’s more spirit mates.  Either way, they’re adorable.  So, so, so, so, so cute!  It also felt wonderfully real, all the way through the book.  It was the light in the spirity dark.

Emma was officially the best friend ever!  She was totally sweet and the “normal” thing grounding Yuki.  Plus she was completely addicted to research – how completely weird?  And she Training to be a vet, Emma named her cats Van Gogh and Chairman Meow!  Plus, I love her diabolical plans…!

Simon was kind of a jerk.  He was also sarcastic and very funny.  And a wolf.  An old one!  Seriously, he was born with the wolf spirit.  Which meant he was kind of, in Yuki’s own words, “off”.   He was, uh, “ancient”.  Y’know.  Thirty! 

Man.  In the first five pages: a murder!  That is just how I like my thrillers!  And a deranged, symbolic, werewolf-hating murder?  Does it get any better?  Yes.  When you throw in ghosts, eminent danger and a brilliantly wacky heroine.  I adore E.J.’s writing and plot, even if some parts felt a little skipped-over, a little anti-climatic.  But the ending?  Wow.  Let’s just say, if I didn’t already have the third book, there’d be a pretty impressive chance that I’d lose my sanity! 
Plus, on a completely unrelated topic, isn’t this cover just the most beautiful thing ever?

Star Rating:
4½ Out of 5

Read this book if you liked:

She Smells the Dead by E.J. Stevens

Soul Screamers by Rachel Vincent

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Challenges It's Taking Part In:

100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge 2011 (Hosted by Book Chick City)

2011 eBook Challenge (Hosted by The Ladybug Reads)

Happy Reading

Megan

* This book was received from author in exchange for an honest review

She Smells the Dead by E.J. Stevens

Series: Spirit Guide, Book One

Publisher: Sacred Oaks Press

Format: Kindle

Published: 19^th August 2010

Number of Pages: 178

Book: For Review From Author*

Genre: Ghost Story, Paranormal, Dark Romance, Urban Fantasy, Murder Mystery, YA

Recommended Age: 12+

Contains: Violence, Death

No Alcohol, Drug References

Available On: Amazon (Paperback, Kindle), Barnes & Noble (Paperback, Nook), Smashwords (eBook) and The Book Depository (Paperback)

Author's Blog: From The Shadows

The Spirit Guide Series

Synopsis From Goodreads:

It's the beginning of senior year and Yuki's psychic awareness of ghostly spirits is threatening to ruin her life. Her ability to sense spirits of the dead isn't glamorous like the ghost hunting on television.
SHE SMELLS THE DEAD.
The smell impressions are becoming stronger. Yuki is being visited in her dreams, and she suspects that her friend Calvin is involved in something strange. To make matters worse her crush on Garrett is going unrequited, Yuki's friend Emma is on a rampage against bee oppression, and Calvin Miller mysteriously disappears.
Will Yuki be able to focus her powers in time to save the lost soul who is haunting her? Meanwhile, who will save Yuki from following the spirits into the light?

Review:

Yuki’s more-or-less your average girl: she has great friend Emma, she has a crush – who doesn’t crush back on her – and awesome boots.  Except Yuki can smell the dead.  Yeah, that’s right.  It’s not glamorous, and it makes it a lot harder to figure out what the spirit haunting you actually wants.  Now it’s senior year, and Yuki is being haunted by someone who smells like vinegar.  But that’s not the worst part.  She’s suddenly got strange feelings for Calvin Miller, her other friend and is having prophetic dreams at night.  And she knows – knows – that something odd is going on with Calvin…  Can Yuki save Vinegar Man?  Before she loses herself?

I loved this book!  It had action, romance, humour, dead-smelling: everything a girl wants in a paranormal book.  And – more importantly – it was wonderfully written with great characters and plot.  Thanks E.J.!

Yuki (her real name’s Vanessa, but she changed it because of some unfortunate nicknames) was just a character I instantly liked. I liked her habit of exaggerating, her sarcasm, her brilliantly mad fashion sense: everything.  Especially that her spirit animal is a dung beetle.  I laughed so much at that one.  All her strange, unique little sayings made me laugh, too.  How can you not at things like: “son of a dung beetle”, “holy heck”, or “this sucks eggs”?  She was just awesome, from the way she dealt with her gift – in a great, sometimes-funny and always relatable way – to the way she always called Cal by his full name to the habit she had of saying things like: “crow dude” or “doctor man”.  I loved her!  (Did she remind anyone else of Abby from NCIS?  Abby is my favourite TV character ever!)

Calvin Miller was sort of New Agey, into mystical, um, stuff…  He was just adorable: strong, cute, forgiving.  I loved him!  He really made me laugh.  Although, his big secret was kinda obvious.  To me, anyway.

Emma was the best!  She was a vegan and always laid into Calvin for eating meat.  As a vegetarian myself, I loved her: “Can you taste its fear?” comments.  She was really into human rights for everyone – people in the dark ages, bees.  Also into the whole herbal remedies, she was practical, cute, and funny.  She was awesome!

And Calvin and Yuki were really cute.  Their relationship was easy, natural, and oh-so sweet.  They constantly teased one another, and had funny conversations with words like “Smellavision” and “Technosmellor” in them.  However, their friendship changed lately.  Suddenly Calvin was flirting and interrupting Yuki’s daydreams about the studded, Emo-ish guy she was crushing on.  That’s what I liked most about this couple: the fact that they were friends first.  It wasn’t a love-at-first-sight connection, instead being a sweet and one-hundred-per cent believable romance.  Plus there’s the whole adorable: “Beetle Princess” and other nicknames as well.  I can’t wait to see where this couple goes!

I have to mention E.J.’s writing once again: it was amazing.  Easy and funny, I completely felt like it was Yuki talking, not an author writing as her, if that makes any sense.  It sounded like a teenager speaking, without having to try too hard by using irritating words such as too many “like”s or “totally”s.  It was believable and completely addictive.

Now, I have to admit something.  Before I read this book, I just assumed it would be a ghost haunting a girl, who would give him peace and everyone would be peachy.  I was wrong.  Yes, there was murder mystery, but it was so much more than that.  There was a whole other side, one that was so new and so amazing: a brilliant new take on many popular folklores.  I adored She Smells the Dead, and have only one major fault: it was too short!  And it had a terrible cliff-hanger.  I’m over the moon that I have the rest of the series so I can get my ghostly fix and find out what will happen next!

Star Rating:
4½ Out of 5

Read this book if you liked:

Haunting Violet by Alyxandra Harvey

The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare

Challenges It's Taking Part In:

100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge 2011 (Hosted by Book Chick City)

2011 eBook Challenge (Hosted by The LadyBug Reads)

Happy Reading

Megan

* This book was received from author in exchange for an honest review

Haunting Violet by Alyxandra Harvey

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Format: Paperback

Published: 4^th July 2011

Number of Pages: 352

Book: For Review From Bloomsbury*

Genre: Historical, Paranormal, Ghost Story, Murder Mystery, Dark Romance, Fantasy, Magic, YA

Recommended Age: 12+

Contains: Very Mild Violence, Dead People, Some Swearing and Alcohol/Drug References

Violet Willoughby doesn’t believe in ghosts... but they believe in her.

Violet has spent years taking part in her mother’s elaborately faked séances, putting the rich and powerful in touch with the dead, and their success has brought them a life of luxury they could only have dreamed of and Violet the prospect of a society marriage.

The last thing Violet expected was to start seeing and hearing the dead for real.  But now she is haunted day and night by the ghost of a drowned girl who won’t let her rest until her murderer is uncovered.  Violet must use her talents to unravel the mystery surrounding the girl’s death – and quickly before the killer strikes again...

Review:

Since she was nine, Violet has helped her mother achieve fame as a talented spiritualist.  This talent is faked.  Tools such as bellows, laudanum and salt are used to trick the rich into believing in her séances.  So when Violet, her mother, Colin (an Irish orphan, taken in by her mother – not due to the kindness of her heart, but for the labour he provides) and their maid Marjorie travel to the country to entertain Lord Jasper and his guests, they all know the stakes are higher than ever.  They’d put on a good show, get paid and be able to keep their respectable house for a little longer.  But then Violet starts to see ghosts.  After all that time with her mother, she was certain ghosts aren’t real.  Apparently, the ghosts don’t agree.  Especially one particularly persistent ghost, who has lilies in her hair and bruises round her neck and wrists.  She was murdered.  And it’s up to Violet to find the killer...

I absolutely adored Alyxandra Harvey’s Drake Chronicles, and I am anxiously awaiting the release date of the next in the series.  And as I read Haunting Violet I fell just as much in love – more even.  With a backdrop of Victorian England, the setting was just as enchanting and believable as that in books written by Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters.  All the little details built together to create a world so historical and so British that I honestly felt like I travelled back in time.  The customs, the dress, the speech, the behaviour: all of it just added to the magical Victorian world.  And all this was before the ghosts came into the story. 

Violet I just liked instantly.  We meet her when she was nine: the first time she was taken along to one of her mother’s séances, and forced to help her drug two elderly women.  Violet hated it then, and grew to resent it – and her mother – as she got older.  From the very beginning I was sympathetic towards her: her mother was just horrible.  Plus she was a bookish little girl, and a bookish young woman, and I loved her “I'd rather have books than chocolate" quote as I agreed with it wholeheartedly.  I was a little worried at the beginning, scared that the brilliant kick that Harvey’s other female leads wouldn’t exist in this polite world.  My fears were ill found, as Violet had that brilliant attitude I love about Harvey’s girls.  The way she handled her rather unwanted gift was realistic, and she was somehow very modern.

Collin was another winner, with his good sense of humour and subtle Irish accent.  He and Violet look out for each other – after they’d outgrown the putting worms in one another’s beds phase, of course.  I loved Collin, and I’m telling you now that he is just as good as Nicholas and the other Drake boys, so you won’t be disappointed on that front.  And there was also a Lucy-like best friend.  Elizabeth is nobility, but I fell in love with her from her very first sentence: “I once fitted five of those little egg things in my mouth in one go”.  She really made me laugh, and the scenes between her and Violet made me actually feel their friendship: it was completely believable. 

Now, this book seriously has everything.  It has a brilliant setting, amazing historical and paranormal influences, authentic romance, friendship and general relationships, as well as the most brilliant and new murder-mystery.  I loved the ways Violet, Collin and Elizabeth tried to figure out who the killer was, from using spirit boards to subtle conversations with the living upper class.  Somehow Harvey had me laughing one minute, then on the edge of my seat the next as she cranked up the suspense.  All the spirit and psychic parts of the story were absolutely convincing, plus seeing how old-days mediums (without powers) pulled off their performances was intriguing.

I love a good ghost story, especially one with so much realism, plus I’ve seen the length of this review, so I’m going to end on this note: please let there be a sequel!

Star Rating:
5 Out of 5

Read this book if you liked:

The Drake Chronicles by Alyxandra Harvey

The Darkest Powers Trilogy by Kelley Armstrong

Fallen Grace by Mary Hooper

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Challenges It's Taking Part In:

100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge 2011 (Hosted by Book Chick City)

Happy Reading

Megan

* This book was received from Bloomsbury in exchange for an honest review