Ghost Gifts by Laura Spinella
5 out of 5 stars

Summary:

All Aubrey Ellis wants is a normal life, one that doesn’t include desperate pleas from the dead. Her remarkable gift may help others rest in peace, but it also made for an unsettling childhood and destroyed her marriage. Finally content as the real estate writer for a local newspaper, Aubrey keeps her extraordinary ability hidden—until she is unexpectedly assigned the story of a decades-old murder.
Rocked by the discovery of a young woman’s skeletal remains, the New England town of Surrey wants answers. Hard-nosed investigative reporter Levi St John is determined to get them. Aubrey has no choice but to get involved, even at the terrifying risk of stirring spirits connected to a dead woman’s demise and piquing her new reporting partner’s suspicions.
As Aubrey and Levi delve further into the mystery, secrets are revealed and passion ignites. It seems that Aubrey’s ghost gifts are poised to deliver everything but a normal life.

My Thoughts: 
I really didn't expect to love this book as much as I did. It took me a bit to really get into it and, honestly, I was thinking it would be added to my DNF pile. But every time I started thinking about not finishing it, something else in the story would grab hold of me. So, by 35%, I was in. I really, thoroughly loved this book. It was light on romance, but the small amount of romance in it was very good. And that scene, (if you've read it, you know which scene I mean) was really, REALLY good. *sigh*



*Received as a Kindle First Selection*

Sanctum by Sarah Fine
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Summary:
A week ago, seventeen-year-old Lela Santos’s best friend, Nadia, killed herself. Today, thanks to a farewell ritual gone awry, Lela is standing in paradise, looking upon a vast gated city in the distance—hell. No one willingly walks through the Suicide Gates, into a place smothered in darkness and infested with depraved creatures. But Lela isn’t just anyone—she’s determined to save her best friend’s soul, even if it means sacrificing her eternal afterlife.

As Lela struggles to find Nadia, she’s captured by the Guards, enormous, not-quite-human creatures that patrol the dark city’s endless streets. Their all-too-human leader, Malachi, is unlike them in every way except one: his deadly efficiency. When he meets Lela, Malachi forms his own plan: get her out of the city, even if it means she must leave Nadia behind. Malachi knows something Lela doesn’t—the dark city isn’t the worst place Lela could end up, and he will stop at nothing to keep her from that fate.

My Thoughts:
Holy crap on wheat toast! This book is frakkin awesome...so happy I picked it up!

This story is about a lot of things, friendship, loyalty, abandonment, depression, substance abuse, suicide...and all of it is handled very well. Having gone through something like this very recently, not going to hell or dealing with anything supernatural, but having a very good friend dealing with addiction & depression, this book really struck a chord. When someone you love is hurting, there's nothing you won't do to try to help them...and sometimes, people just don't want to be helped.  That's a really hard thing to accept, that someone doesn't want help or doesn't feel they deserve help. I cried a lot while reading this book.

This book...this book cracked my heart open, poured the contents all over the floor & stomped on them...then drop-kicked me in the gut just for good measure...then filled my heart & stitched it up & gave me a bear hug. Five stars is nowhere near enough for this book.

Format: Kindle Edition

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Never to Sleep by Rachel Vincent
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Summary:
Don't Close Your Eyes.

Sophie Cavanaugh is not going to let her freak of a cousin's strange psychiatric condition ruin high school for them both. Not after all the work she's put into cultivating the right look, and friends, and reputation. But then, Sophie sees something so frightening she lets out a blood-curdling scream--and finds herself stuck in a bizarre parallel world where nothing is safe and deadly creatures lurk just out of sight, waiting for her to close her eyes and sleep...forever.

Could this world be real? Or does insanity run in the family...?

My Thoughts:
While I don't particularly like Sophie (I'm not supposed to) it was nice to get a little insight into her character. Yeah, she's still a bitchy princess, but she's also strong, clever and witty, which was kind of cool to see. I look forward to seeing how this whole life-changing event will affect her and her attitude in the books to come. Maybe her tenuous relationship with Kaylee can evolve into something more than bickering, back-stabbing and insults. Also interested to see what Luca will bring to the series.

I'd love to see an Emma novella soon, hint, hint :)

Overall, I'm totally in love with this series and don't know why it took me so long to finally pick it up. Thanks to Melanie for providing the final recommendation for me to do that :)

Format: Kindle Edition

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A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Summary:
In the class of the high school English teacher she has been haunting, Helen feels them: for the first time in 130 years, human eyes are looking at her. They belong to a boy, a boy who has not seemed remarkable until now. And Helen—terrified, but intrigued—is drawn to him. The fact that he is in a body and she is not presents this unlikely couple with their first challenge. But as the lovers struggle to find a way to be together, they begin to discover the secrets of their former lives and of the young people they come to possess.


My Thoughts:
Given the lyrical prose, I think this novel would fit just as easily in the adult readers section as the YA shelves. Helen, like all of us, is just trying to find her place in the world. Supernaturally lovely!

Format: Paperback

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