Title: The Sceptic
Series: Arcana: Book One
Author: Lily Morton
Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited
Length: 365 Pages
Category: Paranormal, Contemporary Romance
Rating: 4 Stars
At a Glance: The Sceptic is, as her readers have come to expect, signature Lily Morton. The only unexpected difference is that the paranormal aspect of the book was more of a hook for me than the romance, taking readers along on another chaotic and mayhem-filled ghostly adventure.
Reviewed By: Lisa
Blurb: As the best friend of a psychic, Will Buchanan can’t help but believe in the dead. It’s the living that he finds to be problematic. However, after a spate of betrayals, he finally has the chance of a new life within his grasp, and he’s not going to risk it for anyone or anything. Staying safe is the name of Will’s game.
Jem Dawson defines the word temporary. A talented cameraman, he’s here today and will undoubtedly be gone tomorrow chasing adventure and danger. But, while he’s in York, he’s made it clear he wants Will, and Will can’t help liking the charming daredevil.
This inconvenient attraction results in Will accompanying Jem to the site of a notorious poltergeist outbreak. A malevolent spirit has targeted a family, and now the ghost hunting team for whom Jem does camerawork are going to be locked down in the house for three days.
The house is strange and filled with sinister and violent undercurrents. One by one, the group experiences threatening incidents, and as events escalate, Will has to ask himself if he’s risking not just his heart but also his life with this impulsive gesture.
Review: Fans of Lily Morton’s brand of paranormal romance will welcome the return to this -verse established when the loveliest of metaphysical muses, Blue Billings, was introduced in the Black & Blue series. Readers came to know Will Buchanan as Blue’s best friend, has been ever since he and Blue lived rough and watched out for each other on the streets, but now life has changed for the better for them both, Blue living in domestic bliss with Levi (and Rosalie, their resident ghost), and Will working at a bookstore that specializes in tomes of an unusual sort; although, Will still isn’t sure quite where he fits into this new life or if he can trust that these changes mean anything like permanence. He’s too accustomed to losing what he’s loved, so why invest at all? And with Blue safely settled, what useful purpose does Will serve in his life anymore? The answer to these questions can be, and are, answered by Jem Dawson and the way he makes Will feel.
Jem played a role in The Quiet House, in which he and Blue became good friends, and, by association, Will couldn’t avoid him. Those meetings have become more deliberate, however, as Jem finds any reason whatsoever to visit the bookstore. That reason, of course, is Will himself. Jem is entirely smitten with the tall, dark, and tattooed man who is as gentle as they come, and Jem doesn’t bother to hide that he’d like to get to know Will a lot better. Jem’s flirting isn’t exactly covert as he exudes a bright and cheerful charm, and the banter is, as we’ve come to expect, signature Lily Morton. The fine line Jem toes is not to push Will too hard and frighten him off. But Jem has no little experience with skittish creatures in their natural habitat.
When Jem invites Will on a ghost hunt with a group he’s playing cameraman for, the aim is for Will to portray the requisite skeptic, the devil’s advocate in the bunch who explains away the creaks and knocks and voices and displaced items and violent tempests within the house. This isn’t a simple cut-and-dried task for Will, however, considering Blue is his best friend, and Will has witnessed some strange phenomena in their years together. The days and nights he and Jem spend in this house of horrors offers up some fun chills and thrills, and where would they have ended up without help from a little close proximity and sleeping in the same bed to serve as motivation for their relationship to move forward.
The resolution of the story leans into the haunts and horrors of the people whose ghosts roam the house, how they came to be there, the danger they pose, and the mercy granted to a man whose life ended violently and all too soon. In fact, I think the paranormal aspect of the book was more of a hook for me than the romance, so take that for what it’s worth.
If you haven’t read the Black & Blue books, I wouldn’t recommend jumping in here, but if you were a fan of Blue Billings and were looking forward to more of the supernatural from Lily Morton, The Sceptic takes readers along on another chaotic and mayhem-filled ghostly adventure.
You can buy The Sceptic here:
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