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Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Book Review: Grave Matters (Night Owls #2) by Lauren M. Roy

Grave Matters (Night Owls #2)
by Lauren M. Roy

Paperback, 304 pages
February 24th 2015 by Ace

Night Owls bookstore always keeps a light on and evil creatures out. But, as Lauren M. Roy's thrilling sequel continues, even its supernatural staff isn’t prepared for the dead to come back to life…

Elly grew up training to kill things that go bump in the night, so she’s still getting used to working alongside them. While she’s learned to trust the eclectic group of vampires, Renfields, and succubi at Night Owls bookstore, her new job guarding Boston’s most powerful vampire has her on edge—especially when she realizes something strange is going on with her employer, something even deadlier than usual…

Cavale isn’t thrilled that his sister works for vampires, but he’s determined to repair their relationship, and that means trusting her choices—until Elly’s job lands all of the Night Owls in deep trouble with a vengeful necromancer. And even their collective paranormal skills might not be enough to keep them from becoming part of the necromancer’s undead army.
"Holey Moley Fangman!"

I was introduced to a new breed of supernaturals in this book - "Creepers"! Even the name gives me chills up and down my spineless back! If they are scary to the vamps and supercharged Humans, they have to be some kind of "bad ass". Not just a zombie, a super powerful zombie that is hand picked by a necromancer!

Ellie, a product and ward of "The brotherhood," and her cohorts are having a pretty tough time trying to find and identify them. Her main job is to protect the "mob-like" group of Vampires that "Control" the southie area of her city. (Yep, just like the "Godfather") She discovers another group of "rogue" vamps are trying to take over control so you can fill in the blanks for yourself....yep, lots of blood and gore and a nasty new monster in town that marks vamps, ghosts, ghouls and anything else he can use to eradicate insurgents and maintain his life force.

These ghouls even read and carry out instructions. Their maker possesses them just by inscribing his signature mark and seems to be able to jump in and out of their minds at will. Talk about opportunist! They are not just undead but undead and guided by a scarier monster...chills again!

The whole group of friends are finding it a little hard to wrap their heads (pun) around the new breed and how they are "made" and why, This is where the twist comes in but I won't spoil it in this review! Val, an independent vampire and friends with Ellie, comes face to face with her own gruesome ways of "making" new vampires. (It would sure give me nightmares if I thought I had to put my hand in someones chest and pull out a part of their heart and then do the same to myself!) Who thinks this stuff up? It's too weird not to be true, right?

Such an array of characters have banded together to form their own coven. Kind of like California in the 60's! A warlock, 2 Succubi, 2 vamps and a Renfield. Now the Renfield seems to be a pretty cool sidekick to have for a vamp. Essentially they are there to serve the vampire master...Hey, I wonder if Walmart carries them...seems like they would be a hot commodity! Especially since he was pretty darn effective as the white knight at the end of the story.

I sometimes felt my eyes crossing as I tried to keep all the pieces of this story together, rather like watching a Hercule Poirot mystery where nothing quite makes sense until the end. The author does keep the action going throughout then brings it all together (WHEW...Finally) at the end.

Many near death experiences for the main characters. But apparently it's great to have friends with lifesaving tricks up their sleeves. I even smelled a couple budding romances (or maybe it was my suppressed Succubi tendencies towards mind control) that may or may not blossom in future episodes. I guess I will just have to keep reading to find out!

review: Night Owls (Night Owls Novel book one)

I give this book 4 sheep




Jeanie

About the Author:
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Lauren M. Roy has flexed her literary fantasy muscles over the past several years contributing to various role playing games, including Green Ronin's Dragon Age Set 3 sourcebook, Pelgrane Press' Mythos Expeditions anthology (part of the Trail of Cthulhu line), and Green Ronin's Song of Ice and Fire. NIGHT OWLS is her first novel.

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