Rane Aria

 Just reading ,crocheting, and enjoying naps

The Abandoned - Amanda Stevens Ree Hutchins psychology student is trying to balance her life and that of her studies, when she loses one of her patient's to seeming old age. When she stumbles upon a deeper plot of blackmail and hauntings. With the help of ghost hunter Hayden Priest, they both discover a dark secret someone wants to be kept buried.... Thank you Ms.Stevens for scaring the crap out of me. I loved every bit of it! The Abandoned gives you a taste of what's in store for the The Graveyard Queen series, with the spine chilling ghosts that brush against your neck and cults that have ties to the black arts, and a tragic past of two women to be uncovered by Ree and Hayden. Ree is just a student trying to get her degree, when she overhears her professor being blackmailed and the woman she cared for name mentioned. This one act ties Ree to something much darker then the mere passing of one elderly lady. When Ree starts having dreams of another woman, and even wakes up in a graveyard in the arms of Hayden Priest. Hayden has his own ghosts to bear, and is surprised but also drawn to Ree whom he thinks perhaps maybe a vehicle for a ghost out for revenge. From page one this story zooms, with Ree and Hayden against the clock of what they stumbled upon, and someone wanting their secret to stay a secret no matter whom they may have to get rid of... No superhuman acts, just two normal people trying to figure out what their into. Hayden had a somewhat better grasp of the things that were happing to Ree, but you can see how drawn they both are to one another, even going that extra mile for each other. Both characters were drawn up very nicely, and I hope to see more of them later on perhaps in the series? Even with a few shockers along the way, you get that feeling that your not alone in the room. AS does an great job with the set-up with this prequel, with a few cameo appearances of characters like Amelia Grey the Graveyard Queen herself and Det. John Devlin... This was a quick paced shortie story, and while my only real grip was wishing Hayden and Ree had a tad more one on one time. This book had me glued to my kindle wanting to see what would happen next! It makes the reader wanting to get their hands on the rest of this series as quickly as possible!