One night of filming in the wrong cemetery changes everything for a celebrity ghost-hunter with a half dead brain. When Melisande Blythe discovers that a secret society of wraiths wants her killed or worse, Mel will have to do the one thing she promised she would never do… trust a ghost.But does the corporeal spirit of her dreams really want her heart or does he want her newfound ability to … enslave souls? With Hell on the horizon, Mel is running out of time. She has to stop the fiery invasion or face the darkness warring in her soul.
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For Fans of The Dresden Files!
If you love Jim Butcher’s novels, you’re sure to love Glimmer of Ghosts. The heroine is an appealing narcoleptic ghost-hunter who gets more than she bargained for when she and her team of paranormal investigators film a ghost hunting expedition in a Portsmouth cemetery. There is supernatural suspense, action, and romance. Author Hunter J. Skye has a gift for bringing the dead to life with her deft prose and engaging characters. This award-winning novel is sure to please any fan of urban fantasy and paranormal romance.
Wow…chilling and beautifully written. I was hooked from the beginning. A strong heroine and well-developed plot and setting make this a can’t miss read. The ghosts were so creepy and realistic. Gave me shivers. Would highly recommend!
A Glimmer of Ghosts, by Hunter Skye, centers around Melisande – Mel – a gifted artist, who suffers from severe narcolepsy, and her team of hunky ghost hunters. However, as much as her narcolepsy controls her, she controls it, manipulating it to communicate with ghosts, spirits, and more corporeal entities.
An encounter with a malevolent ghost alters all of their lives, pitting them in a battle that brings them to the very gates of Hell. As Mel’s powers to manipulate the spirit world around her strengthen, her threat to them makes her, and those she loves, a target. The reader is swept along with Mel in her journey to understand and harness this developing ability to defeat the elements of darkness – but can she trust the sexy ghost who claims to want to help her?
To be honest, I was hesitant about reading this book as it’s not my usual genre. However, living in the Tidewater, VA area, it’s hard to escape the stories of hauntings in and around Portsmouth. I was interested to see how Hunter wove existing people, places and events with Mel’s supernatural tale, and I was not disappointed. Hunter has a gift for creating solid, believable characters. In fact, there are characters and their issues that beg for their own story line. Also, her writing is crisp and carries the story quickly; there is no weighted down, extraneous detail that distracts the reader from the story line. She also has a flair with words – “A feather lick of loathing” was an absolute favorite line.
In all, I’m really glad I took a chance on this book and anxiously await its sequel, A Shiver of Shadows, that is slated to come out next month.
The shadowy dreamlike world of narcolepsy is a subject in this stunning story full of adventure and deception. The first page hooked me with its snappy dialogue and the well-drawn characters. The author has a creative and playful way with language. Lots of in-depth research went into both the contemporary setting and the historic ghostly encounters. The imagery in the scenes carried me through like a dream, which I believe was intentional. Edwardia intrigued me with her beauty and her transformations into the monstrous villain. Thank goodness, the southern hero was on hand to help Melisande (Mel) Blythe survive.
My interest in reading this book came from my granddaughter suffering from the same disorder. She discovered it when she woke up to find her car hugging the guardrail. The doctors gave her medication, but her narcolepsy wasn’t as bad as the heroine’s in this book. I’m glad that the author brought this affliction to the light of the reading public.
Beautiful Dreamer, wake unto me…
I freaking love ghosts, more than the norm. I’ve tried my best to see all the movies, read the best ghost stories, and yes, I’ve occasionally watched those ghost hunter shows. You know the ones, so eye-rollingly fake with their ultra-shaky cams and fervent shouts that they heard or saw SOMEthing…
But, what if one of those groups did? Not only that, what if the star of one of those shows was an anxious narcoleptic/bonafide medium who actually succeeded in contacting the shades of the dead? And even more…what if she attracted the wrong spirits, who were hatching a dark plan that might harm everyone – both the living and the dead?
Meet the crew of Ghost Towne Investigations, starring Melisande “Mel” Blythe. Her and her friends unwittingly uncover a terrifying secret in Portsmouth, VA, earning the ire of a wicked ghost posse that will send chills down your spine. Unlikely allies also join the fray, led by the dreamy Colonel William Grayford…who’s been dead for a couple hundred years, but looks damn good for his age!
Is Mel strong enough to lead this fight? Her lifelong struggle with narcolepsy is both a blessing and a curse, as we soon discover. Can she save her beloved home and her friends – not to mention, herself – before it’s too late?
I truly enjoyed this story for it’s descriptions, vivid setting, unexpected humor, and Mel herself – a unique & sympathetic heroine. I honestly never realized what narcolepsy was truly like, and Mel’s lonely struggle with her affliction broke my heart…and her paralytic visions – the ultimate night terrors – well, they are pure nightmare fuel.
I’ve not read a ton of paranormal romance, but this is easily one of the best I’ve encountered. Awesome job, Ms. Skye! I can’t wait to see what you do next
When you’ve always been different from others, what if there’s a reason for that? What if you were meant for so much more than you could have imagined?
Hunter J. Skye takes us on a crazy adventure filled with ghosts and spine-tickling events. Yes, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up on multiple occasions while reading this book. The most experience I’ve had with ghost hunting was when I went ghost hunting in a graveyard with a bunch of friends. A Glimmer of Ghosts gave me that same eerie feeling!
Well-written with intriguing events and characters, this book is one you don’t want to miss if you love stories about ghosts.
Part Ghostbusters, part Beauty and the Beast, A Glimmer of Ghosts is Hunter J. Skye’s debut novel and promises to be the start of an impressive career. If you like ghost stories and paranormal romance, this book is for you.
The action starts off right away in a haunted graveyard, where main character Mel shows off her very unique talent. Mel suffers from narcolepsy, which causes her no end of trouble, but when in the stage between wake and sleep, she has the ability to see and sometimes interact with the spirits of the dead. This challenge-turned-strength was well thought out and expertly executed, both grounding the reader in the real world ramifications of her disorder and elevating it to the status of a superpower.
Aside from Mel, there is a cast of friends-slash-coworkers who work with Mel to produce a paranormal investigation reality show. I liked this group in general, but the fact that they were all male and all attractive made it somewhat difficult to differentiate them at first. They developed more distinctive personalities as the story progressed, but then they were notably absent from the climax. I was left a bit unsure whether Mel intended to interact with them in the future, and whether I should expect to see them in the next book of the series.
The final character on the protagonist side is the corporeal ghost of Colonel William Grayford. As Mel’s main romantic interest, the scenes with Grayford are always charged and steamy. I will say that if you have triggers about forced physical contact, you may not appreciate the scene of their first meeting. Ms. Skye did a wonderful job portraying Grayford as a man from a bygone era. His demeanor, dress, and speech patterns make him easy to picture as a colonial man of grit and dignity.
On the antagonist side of the story, Mel faces both the straightforward villain of Madam Landry — a beautiful, terrible ghost Mel meets in the first scene — and the more elusive Shadow that stalks Mel when she enters the hypnagogic state that allows her to interact with ghosts.
The world of the story centers around the town of Portsmouth, Virginia, and the level of detail Ms. Skye put into her descriptions shows either a personal familiarity or a professional level of research. Either way, it was beautifully executed.
Ms. Skye’s writing was clear, well edited, and engaging. There were a few sections that I felt dragged a little in the descriptions, such as the details of clothing and a drawn out sex scene near the end of the book. On the flip side, there were a couple scenes that didn’t have quite enough detail to ground me, so I found the interactions or settings difficult to picture. But the writing was smooth and fast-paced enough that even if a glitch in the details knocked me out of the story I didn’t have any trouble jumping back in.
Overall, I enjoyed this read and I’m eager for the next installment of the Hell Gate series.
I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.