All Alice wanted was a job. As the caretaker of the Strande Mansion, she got far more than she bargained for. Between trying to crack the code of the sinister Julian Strande and her new love affair with Charles, the current owner of the museum, she has a lot to balance.Alice didn’t believe in ghosts. That was until she met Julian Strande. Unfortunately, it seems the legends of the ghost of the … ghost of the estate are all very real, and he seems to have become obsessed with her.
Charles has promised her that Julian is harmless and just playing pranks. That he enjoys the company after all those years alone. It’s too bad that Charles may not be all he seems…
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Author’s Note: This book is what I would call “villain romance.” This story is for anyone who always finds the villain more interesting than the hero. That said, they are therefore sometimes not the nicest of male heroes. This story has a HEA, but it may be a tough ride getting there. This story has mature themes and content.
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Book 2 of The Impossible Julian Strande picks up right where book 1 left off, so I’ll do the same with my review.
Julian is nuts!
There. It had to be said. But he is so freakin’ adorable at times, I’ll forgive him anything. Almost.
Though Julian comes out of hiding, Alice is still in the dark as she works to solve his puzzle. Enraged when his sexual advances return, she threatens to leave the estate for good, and Julian does the unthinkable. He kidnaps Charles.
Knowing the demented magician has killed before, Alice races against the clock to find his corpse, hoping Charles is still alive. When she learns the truth, Alice’s reaction is explosive but led by her heart, an easy but short-lived peace wins out. When I looked down and saw I was ONLY a third of the way through the book, I knew this would not end well.
Peace and trust are shattered when Julian confesses the truth about Billy. Devastated, Alice tries to leave the estate and learns the true depths of Julian’s depravity. It still creeps me out!
Suspense amps up as Julian rushes to complete his ultimate goal for Alice. But Alice Monroe is having none of it!
The nerdy geek-girl is smarter than she believes and possesses strength she didn’t know was inside her. I was cheering as she worked to beat Julian at his own game. She wrestles with her heart and conscience, but fear is her motivator to win before her captor reaches the point of no return.
Julian is even more Phantom-like in book 2 as he straddles a fine line between true love and madness. Like the Phantom, Julian’s treatment in his early childhood shaped his life and it followed him into the afterlife.
I was ready for a bittersweet ending, but that would have been too easy. The author drops a plot twist I didn’t see coming, but… it made sense and made me smile because the heart wants what the heart wants.
I highly recommend this read, but please read book 1 first! Reading Ghosts & Liars without reading Illusions of Grandeur first would be like eating a hamburger bun without the patty. You might get full, but you’ll know you’re missing something!
Enjoy!
Ooooooh this book is intense! I felt like I was holding my breath through most of it and couldn’t put it down. Julian is even darker and more devilish than I imagined and he focused all of that on poor Alice. Who just happened to love him more than was good for her. I guess no one said it was easy trying to escape Wonderland.
Even though he is a madman I absolutely love Julian and Alice too and this was a dark and amazing read. It’s definitely a bit different and I do recommend it.
This book. These two books. Just…
Since I had never read anything by Ms Kingsley prior to book #1, I honestly wasn’t sure if I was going to get HEA for these characters. And let me tell you—it was flipping tense for a while there. Way more than I was expecting. I genuinely stopped at one point and went to amazon to make sure I hadn’t grabbed the wrong genre, but after a short breather I dove back in. I absolutely had to know how it ended. And I’m glad I did because it was a wonderful happy ending.
But be warned: this is a villain romance. Villains aren’t inherently good people. My guess is you didn’t pick up these books expecting to have tons of happy feel goods and butterflies and puppies. (Though, there’s an epicly awesome cat who got the literal best happy ending EVER) So, if you go into this with the mindset that he’s a villain, I think you can mentally prepare a bit. Still, there was one act in particular that almost inexcusably crossed a line for me. It changed the way I looked at him. Even though we do see in his mind, see what he’d been through in his life to make him react in certain ways, it doesn’t make it OKAY. But I still rooted for him. Rooted for both of them. I broke and broke and genuinely agonized over whether they’d get to be together. (Again, mostly because I seriously had no clue if Ms. Kingsley was going to give them an HEA. Up until like the last couple pages I was terrified she’d stuck this book in the wrong genre, lol.) But no. It got there. And it was worth the ride. So, even though this was a serious roller coaster, gets super tense, and there are a few places where you might wanna stop—don’t. Keep going, get to the end. Then you can breathe and process. Books exist to make people feel things, and this one ABSOLUTELY does that. I will say…anyone that has triggers should read this one with caution. (I suppose if you have those you might not be reading this particular series anyway, lol.) Am I still glad I picked up this series on a whim? Yes. I’ll remember it for a long, long time. 5 hard fought for, agonizing stars.
This is the second book in the duet and what a magnificent finish!
No Spoilers –
So I asked at the close of book one
Who is J.S. really?
Kingsley pulled back the curtain in this climactic ending and gave us a look behind the curtain
At what made our impossibly insane illusionist tick
and what made him tock (you do not want to be on his bad side)
This is where I shamefully admit I have a crush on the villain –
I knew there were more secrets to Julian and Mr. Mensonge
But I never could have fathomed the dark depths of their cruelty and misdirection
and Alice …
Down Down Down she went (and I mean that quite literally and No I am not spoiling it)
There were so many unexpected twists and “Oh He LL No you didn’t” moments I was emotionally wrung out by the time I finally flipped the last page (I feel the need to confess I did peek ahead and read the first paragraph of the last chapter only to find I was more stressed out than before I read it – I couldn’t do it)
I said this before and I will repeat it –
This is a duet you will want to go into blind –
Don’t read the spoilers –
Don’t go in with expectations because it will exceed them
Just kick back – turn on all the lights and enjoy the magic
and YES I bought this duet in paperback after reading the e-copy
It is that good
A Deliciously Surreal Conclusion to a Gorgeously Ghoulish Love Story…
In my review of the first book “Illusions of Grandeur” I stated how deliciously dark and absolutely spellbinding I found the story of Julian Strande to be. How I found Julian’s pursuit of Alice to be unequivocally captivating, his disturbing, and at times sadistic playfulness, as addictive as author Kathryn Ann Kingsley’s evocatively menacing storytelling. By the end of the first book I was desperate for more and immediately moved on to the second and final part of Kingsley’s, The Impossible Julian Strande series, “Ghosts & Liars”. And ho-ly hell does the conclusion to Julian and Alice’s story put your mind, heart, and soul through the ringer!
This book begins almost immediately where the first ends; thrusting you right back into the midst of Julian and Alice’s unimaginable and overwhelming tale of love amidst depraved chaos. It is a continuation of the many revelations surrounding the foreboding Strande estate and the many, far more ominous mysteries, surrounding the estate’s long dead patriarch. It is fast paced and twisted. A tale that forces you to explore the very tenets of what it means to be soul mates, and whether love can truly exist among wickedness. It is a splendid literary exploration that asks: is it possible to love someone so deeply, so irrevocably and all consuming, that you will overlook heinous acts and horrific intentions? Is it possible to possess a love so unadulterated and pure that it has the ability to survive everything? And as Julian wrenches Alice faster and deeper toward their heart pounding finale you are left gasping for air and stunned at the thoughts and desires that spark deep within the darkest recesses of your own romantic depths. Left stunned at how the heat will pool in your soul, deliciously swirling and igniting emotional appetites within your psyche you may not have before realized you had.
As I said in my review of the first part of this series, Julian Strande is the moody, charismatic, sadistic villain you never knew you needed in your life. His brooding intensity and Machiavellian intentions will plant treacherous desires deep within you and leave you fraught for more.
Here, Kathryn Ann Kingsley is once again intrinsically methodical in her literary madness; she will make you believe the devil truly is an angel, and she will make you love him completely. Once again her storytelling is ingenious, her literary landscape, haunting and hypnotic. Her characters come alive and leap up off the page, punishing your being with every vivid word and each unsettling and horrifying action. Oh how I mourned coming to the end of this book.
This story will haunt your dreams and invade your very soul. It will leave you craving more and in desperate need of a third book, of a continuation, ANY continuation of Julian and Alice’s story. And if I have any criticisms of this second book, it is that I wish there would have been something additional between the last chapter and the epilogue. A longer glimpse of that final decision through to the beginning of the rest, as there is so very much left unsaid, so many emotions left unseen, and so many conversations left unheard between them both. It pained me greatly to be so intimately invested in their journey, to be part of every single jolting moment of this rollercoaster ride of one heart’s lock finding its fated key that it left me wanting terribly. A solid 4.5 stars overall, and a book series that easily makes my top reads of 2020 list!
It’s been done many times before. ‘A girl falls in love with a lonely ghost and they start a doomed love story full of anguish because they can’t be together forever. What can they do?! ‘
They can read this series because it’s the first ghost story that wasn’t boring, ridiculous or cliche.
This second book was… darker. Crazier. It came pretty close to my limits. Stretched my principles a little. The level of violence and cruelty was a bit much at times. But still acceptable and it didn’t spoil my enjoyment of this book.
For everyone wondering if they should give this a try, the answer is yesss.
The ending was sweet and nice and a bit sad for some reason.
This series is unusual and unexpected and terrible but it still managed to convey and present such a beautiful and fierce romance.
10/10 would definitely recommend
Holy moly this was fantastical and Julian really came into his own in this second book so sinister with such devilish intent, a master of manipulations and half-truths.
He is a master at his trade and knowing when to play his hand.
I adored that the cat had been let out of the bag in regards to Charles real identity and loved how devilishly mischievous Julian was while re-aquatinting Alice with his extra ghostly abilities.
I adored Julian he’s such a conundrum of contradictions and I don’t think even he is fully aware of what he really wants.
Wanting to protect Alice while at the same time also being her greatest threat.
We get such an in-depth glimpse of the inner workings of Julian here and start to understand just why he is the way he is.
I swung from being sympathetic because of his deep-buried fears while at the same time shaking my head in pure disbelief.
But even when he was at his worst I still wanted to put my arms around him and give him a big hug.
He was so beautifully contrite and sorrowful when he knew he had done wrong and gone too far and he just seemed so alone.
It was like he just couldn’t help himself when temptation was put before him and he was his own worst enemy.
Julian at heart was lonely and empty and Alice is the spark that jumpstarts his cold heart and though he thinks he doesn’t deserve her love he is still prepared to do whatever necessary to possess and keep her for his own.
He’s ruthless and pragmatic and believes the end justify the means.
Alice well it’s her love and free choices that will ultimately save Julian.
Her ability to eventually accept all his parts even the ones that frighten and disgust her was a challenge but nothing worth really having is easy.
The chemistry between Julian and Alice was electric and made me tingle right down to my toes.
Every erotic encounter was delicious and made me practically shiver in delight.
Lucky lucky Alice is all I can say.
I adored these two together and loved where they eventually ended up.
The fact that Julian was so far from a hero really made it that much more delicious.
Both Julian and Alice grew a lot as individuals throughout and I loved that Alice accepted her man despite his flaws that she was able to look beyond the surface to what was beneath.
Julian and Alice have got to be one of my favourite book couples ever and I also really appreciated the epilogue.
This really was such a fabulous duet and I highly recommend this unique read.
I could wax lyrical all day about this masterpiece I am that enthused with it.
And If I could give this more than five stars I bloody would it was that good.
This one gets a massive hell yeh from me, give it a try it’s fabulous.
I voluntarily reviewed a copy of Ghosts & Liars (The Impossible Julian Strande #2).
Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/9460945-bex-beckie-bookworm
https://www.facebook.com/beckiebookworm/
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Our villain Julian didn’t make his true villainous appearance right away, but when he arrived, he let us see his true self with no illusion. All angles of Julian were revealed; the good, the bad and the ugly and while we saw different sides of him, Alice had her own journey of ups and downs, confusion and acceptance. While each had their character revelations, their twist and turns love story together was “Impossibly Amazing”. KAK continues to take us on a marvelous adventure in a creepy mausoleum and makes us want to visit again and again.