Quantcast

Thursday, March 1, 2012

The Kingdom by Amanda Stevens

The Kingdom is the second book in a series by Amanda Stevens--the first book came out in 2010 and it was called The Restorer--the first in the Graveyard Queen series.


When I saw the second one on NetGalley I promptly dropped everything to dig into the world of Amelia Gray--a cemetery restorer who travels around the country bringing old neglected cemeteries back to their original condition.  Amelia's got a bit of a gift, though--she can see ghosts.  The problem is that if the ghosts are aware she sees them, they will attach themselves to her, draining her energy so they can stay in our world.  She's learned from her father how to deal with this gift, and never ever acknowledges ghosts or lets them know she's aware of them.  


In the second novel, we find Amelia traveling to a small town called Asher Falls to restore a graveyard.  Asher Falls is a dying town; the man who "owns" the town made a deal whereby a reservoir was put in, effectively cutting off the town from highways and only making it accessible by ferry.  What Amelia soon finds out is that when this was done, the original cemetery was not moved, but is underneath the lake created by the reservoir.  Graves, statues, crypts--all under the water.  However, there is a second cemetery, and that's where her job lies.  But who hired here?  We don't know.  Yet.


But Asher Falls is one creepy town--not much going on; unfriendly people who all seem to be watching Amelia, and an unsettling feeling that seems to ooze through the town and the woods that surround it.  Oh--and there are ghosts galore!  Especially a young blonde woman, who appears on the dock of the house Amelia is staying at--on the lake.  What does she want?  


What connection does Amelia have to this town?  Why does she feel so drawn to the area, and what the heck is going on in this town?  Who brought her here?  And what connection does she have to the Asher family?


Oh, this book was even better than the first one.  I could not put my Nook down!  It answers some of the questions from the first book, but still leaves her relationship with Devlin on hold.  You should read The Restorer first so you can understand this novel.  I am so happy the third book is on NetGalley and already on my Nook so I can dive right back into Amelia's world.  It's a fascinating place.  These are spooky, but not overly scary, have some romance, but not enough to be annoying; and are chock full of that wonderful gothic Southern ghosty feel that I so adore.  It's coming out at the end of March in mass market paperback--$7.99; and The Restorer  has just been reissued as a mass market paperback, too.  The third book in the series, The Prophet finds Amelia tangling with Devlin again.  It is out in mass market paperback at the end of April.  I'm so glad the publishers decided to put the last two out fairly quickly.  You will too--cause once you start, you won't be able to stop.  


I'm off to read The Prophet--courtesy of NetGalley.  


Rating:  4/5; hard to put down, creepy and fun.

1 comment :

  1. I just finished this and loved it!

    Shelleyrae @ Book'd Out

    ReplyDelete