Dead Man And The Restless Spirits (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
3.5 starsI was given a free copy of the book by the author in exchange for a fair and honest review.Lou Harper’s novella is really three short stories in chronological order featuring the same two MCs. As you can tell from the title you should only pick up this book if paranormal is your thing. However, as paranormals go this one is hard to categorize. It’s amusing, with little dashes of mystery. Denton can see dead people and love interest Bran has his own secret or two. I found the MC’s likeable and sympathetic. I blinked a little at Bran’s secret, but I loved how Denton for dealt with it. One criticism, the use of the word “exotic” to describe a character who was part Chinese, followed by a “Hot. If you were into sort of thing.” That phrasing really struck a negative chord with me, so much that it threw me out of the story.However, on the whole, it was a quick, enjoyable and pop culture laden read and I wouldn’t mind reading more of this duo’s adventures. From the first sentence on I loved Denton! His 'voice', humor and attitude are just wonderful and he's most certainly perfect for quiet, shy Bran. Here are a couple of quotes just to give you a peek..."Uh-oh, you could end up like one of those horrible transporter accidents on Star Trek." .... "Obviously his hamster was on crack." The only thing that kept me from giving this five stars is because it sadly did still contain some of the things that drive me insane. Among those is that while the author did do a good job of keeping the characters sounding American there was still quite a bit of British grammar in this book.... "next morning" instead of "the next morning", straight away, bum.... It also needs a good proof reader to catch all of the errors... missing words, wrong words, wrong tense, etc. While thankfully these weren't horribly excessive they were still numerous enough to really bug me. The only other thing that I have a problem with is that once again, as in other books and media outlets the implication that people who are home-schooled are therefore socially awkward. That type of judgmental, unfounded attitude really ticks me off. Home-schooled children do not grow up to be any more socially awkward than anyone else. I should know since I home-schooled my two and we know many others. This implication is just as insulting as all of the stereotypes that ignorant people make toward LGBTQ people. However, despite these drawbacks I still have to give this four stars. Which actually says a lot about how much I love these boys. Personally, I think that Bran is so socially inept because of who his parents are, his own "oddities" and his high intelligence and nerdiness. And I loved him for each and every one of those things. He's just a scared young man who needed to find that special someone who could show him that he is lovable just the way he is. I look forward to reading more of this series. I received this book from the Author through the m/m romance group's Don't Buy Me Love Program in exchange for an honest review.
What do You think about Dead Man And The Restless Spirits (2013)?
Cute story. Cute guys. I hope they can make a future in the next story.
—Silenia
It was okay. I liked the characters all right, but it felt rushed.
—angie
