Ghosts and Echoes by Lyn Benedict - review

Ghosts and Echoes
Shadows Inquiries #2
Lyn Benedict aka Lane Robins
Urban Fantasy/2010

***** (5 out of 6 stars)
Cover - I like the cover - the Miami skyline, the lavender hue, the gun in her hand, and the kind of pissed off look on the woman's face. Doesn't she look ready to shoot the next person to irritate her?

If you've read Sins and Shadows, then you know that the main character - Sylvie - can be a bit of a cranky person.  In the last book, I enjoyed her inner seething rage.  It was kind of constant, she was so pissed off most of the book.  In this book, she came across a little more sullen than angry.  Not sure if I really liked that part, but the story itself was good - a good plot, a good narration, good dialogue and some suspenseful scenes with creep factors.

Sylvie's sister, Zoe, has been in a bit of trouble and she gets dumped on Sylvie's watch while her parents take off on a trip.  Of course, Zoe disappears - she's a rebellious teen with some sinister associations as well as the same blood in her veins that has Sylvie hearing those dark, snarky thoughts.  While this is happening, Sylvie has been having money problems (all the urban fantasy heroines who work for a living seem to have money problems - so do I, lots of money problems.  I might feel like reading about people without money problems, but then again - I don't want to read about filthy rich people either.  hard to please, that's me) so her office manager/assistant forces her to take a simple case that turns out to be not so simple.  All the businesses around the area have been robbed without any signs of forced entry, and no witnesses.

AND .... a cop comes to her from Chicago, setting of her last traumatic snafu case where she had to fight gods and the furies of Greek legends.  Chicago is still recovering from this event.  Turns out this particular cop, Wright, was killed and brought back to life (yeay for CPR), only he doesn't seem to feel himself.  He has a passenger on board....a haunt....  

The book was well written, the story was a good story and the cases were interesting.  The problems that Sylvie has been having with the local police, however, hinder her investigations and she has been being harassed by them.  And kind of behaving in a harassed sullen young adult type of way.  At least there was no posturing a la Blake happening here; so uber-sensitive to that type of posturing since reading a few of those endless posturing episodes.  Because of the reason for their harassment, she gets a little sullen, but she also seems to have a bit of patience for it, understanding the reason and accepting the situations.

There is something in the ending that seemed a bit too convenient - but author's choice; and while it was so very convenient, the reaction from Sylvie wasn't exactly welcoming, it was more critical and "this is not a good thing".  The bottom line is that I'm glad I read Ghosts and Echoes and I enjoyed the book, very much. This is a good story, again, with believable dialogue and characters.  The cases were solved one way or another, and we've gotten a taste of Zoe, Sylvie's little sister.  Even though she was a total teen brat in this novel, seeming to care about nothing but her own wants and needs, she did seem to show signs of hidden depths, possibilities of growth, etc.  Promising, and could be an interesting secondary character addition to the series.   I have the next in the series waiting for me on the shelf.  I believe there are even more in the series waiting for me at the bookstores.

Shadows Inquiries #1

Shadows Inquiries #2

  

 

Shadows Inquiries #3

Shadows Inquiries #4

    

It's Monday, and...brrrrrr

it's been a busy week. the normal work week; along with me getting the oh so bright idea of going into work an hour and a half early so I could volunteer in my granddaughter's classroom....

this wouldn't have been so traumatic, but then this also happened to be the night that the kinders, 1st, and 2nd graders were performing in the Winter Showcase.  ahhhh - this started at 6 p.m. and ended when it ended.
my last job of the day ended at five thirty, so i had a half hour to walk back down to the multipurpose room and snag a seat.  no such luck.  the room was standing room only at the back and sides - the seats were completely taken.  completely.  ahhhh - if it weren't for this being my first granddaughter's very first performance i would have left.  I was in so much pain from the cold and work - but i put on my big-girl panties (what a term!) and just handled it.

i would have posted a pic of the kids on stage, but i don't think it's okay to post pics with other kids without permission from all the parents, so you get a pic of the granddaughter in her glory.  she chose to wear her flower girl dress, with the neckalace from x-mas.  she was beautiful - all the kids did a great job singing and reciting their two poems, and i could swear that i could hear her voice over the rest of the class - it was blended in, but recognizable. not one shy moment from her - she got on stage with her class and belted out the song. all the kids had strong voices and carried the tune very well.  so proud of them.

when i finally made it home, i was in some extreme pain (helped by pain meds, thank god) - but i would totally do it again.  volunteering for the class was fun - working at a table with the kids, helping them understand their assignment - all fun.  then watching the performance with so many kids that i deal with on a daily basis between library, lunch supervision and daycare - so much fun also, amplified with my granddaughter being part of this.

Well - On to the Book Meme...

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila of Book Journey.  We "get together" and see what others have been reading - finished reading, and are reading.  It's fun.  It's easy.  It's a good thing to do.

I didn't get a whole lot of books finished, but I did finally finish....

Ghosts & Echoes by Lyn Benedict...good story, grew on me as I got further along.

I also finished another short story (or two) from the Dragonthology anthology.

The shorts were titled  Unto the Breach by Jason Andrew and The Dragon of Sullivan Hall by Marian Allen.  Both were good, opposite sides of the story telling spectrum.  And...

I finished reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie - a VERY good young adult novel written diary style with accompanying cartoons  great book, tackling issues such as alchololism, family disfunction, racism, stereotyping, sex and other things that teens go through on a daily basis.

I had a little more finished than I though I did...

currently reading...

Wicked Wives by Gus Pelagotti - a fictional account of some very greedy, crazed women based on true events.  Boy are some people evil!

I also used my last gift card to buy a few books at Barnes & Nobel.  Not sure which book I'll pick out to read yet - while putting one book away, I ended up completely rearranging a book shelf of mine, which of course led to pulling books from two other shelves, as well as moving the stack from my bedroom shelf onto an actual book shelf.  Really - a stack on my bedroom floor?  Yup - for reals.  The books from the bookstore giftcard were...

         

 Scorch (#2) by Gina Damico, DeathLands Nemesis by James Axler (confusing, is it really no 1 or no 10? as all the other DeathLands books seem to be numbered - whatever, it was hard to find online), God Save The Queen by Kate Locke and Disappearing Nightly by Laura Resnick (the first in a series that I've been trying to find ever since I bought the unclearly marked second of the series).  I'm kind of leaning toward reading God Save The Queen.

Going through some of my shelves was an exciting way to 'rediscover' some of the books I've been wanting to find - some that i've been wanting to read for a while, some that i've bought and FORGOTTEN  that I bought (like Tin Swift by Devon Monk - it's here.  I don't remember buying it, but it's here!)  Might be a good reason to go over the bookshelves - rediscovering books you forgot you've bought.  oh boy. 

What are you reading, and what are you planning..?

reading and stuff

I've spent the last few days when I wasn't at work re-reading The Sweet Scent of Blood - the US version was just released this week. Happily this is one of those novels that are just as good the second time around as the first. There are a lot of books that I read (and movies I watch) that are good for me only the first time around. There are others that I love to re-read. This would be on the re-read list along with Terry Pratchett and a few other choice novelists. I have the UK version of The Sweet Scent of Blood already, so I bought the US version for a friend. Now I just have to wrap it and send it....... :). There will eventually be a total of 6 Spellcrackers books. (yeay!) The first two have already been published in the UK, and hopefully we'll see the second in this series (The Cold Kiss of Death) over here in the US soon. I'm very excited about this series.



After re-reading the above book, I was more in the mood to focus on other books - and since I was already shopping for a book I couldn't resist (of course, I'm a book addict) buying just a couple more. This book, FEED happens to say it's by Mira Grant...But if you've read Seanan McGuire's work and are waiting for more of her books, you'll be happy to know that Mira Grant is a pseudonym of hers. It's not a big secret, so I won't be letting any cats out of any bags. Especially since the copyright on the info page says "Seanan McGuire". Feed is about Zombies = about surviving at least 30 years after the BIG Zombie outbreak. There will be two other books. A trilogy of flesh eating monster fiction.

Then of course, there is Hell Fire - The second in Ann Aguirre's Corinne Solomon series featuring a woman who can sense things with the touch of an object. The first book was Blue Diablo. Not only does Ann Aguirre also writes a trilogy of "hot paranormal apocalyptic action" under the name Ellen Connor (co-writes with Carrie Lofty), but she also writes under the name Ava Gray. These (so-far) two books are in her words "High Octane paranormal romantic suspense - five books so far sold in that series. The two published books are Skin Game and Skin Tight. Ann Aguirre (apparently a writing FIEND!) is releasing YA novels Razorland and Wireville soon, post-apopalyptic fiction - sounds pretty bad-ass! This is of course, the author of the Sirantha Jax books (Grimspace, Wanderlust, Doubleblind, and Kill Box). By my count, that's at least FIVE (5, people!) series. Geez, I can barely get myself to work these days!

And lastly but not least, is Ghosts and Echoes. This is a sequel to Lyn Benedict's Sins and Shadows. Lyn Benedict also writes under the name Lane Robbins - I believe they are fantasy. I enjoyed the angry heroine of Sins and Shadows so much, that I'm looking forward to this second book. I hope she's just as pissed off. (d'ya think per-menopause just might be affecting me a bit?)

I have a few other books that I have to read - two of which I actually promised reviews for - so I'm going to focus on those first. Then I get to decided which book to read next. It's going to be hard to decide - again.

Speaking of reviews. I noticed recently that there are some reviews that I posted on Amazon.com a long time ago - back in April, May, through July in fact that are not up anymore on that website. This is irritating, since one of those reviews is for a book that was sent to me in exchange for the promise that I would review it. It looks like I got the book and just didn't do the review. I clearly remember posting it - but now it's all gone. (Strange Angels) Luckily I also wrote a review on my blog, but I sure hate to think that the agent thinks I reneged on my part of the deal. Thanks a lot Amazon! : (

Currently reading Rally Fever.

Sins and Shadows

Sins and Shadows

*****

Lyn Benedict

The 34th book read this year for me (so far) is reviewed here. I loved it. I want to read more. Kick-ass heroine, seriously kick-ass, not sort-of.