Review: Genevieve Jack - The Ghost and the Graveyard

The Monk's Hill Witch Series:
 
Book 1:
 
The Ghost and the Graveyard: Grateful Knight
 
 
 
Purchase on Amazon: Genevieve Jack - The Ghost and The Graveyard (The Monk's Hill Witch)
Summary:
From Goodreads.com
Left destitute by an unscrupulous ex-boyfriend, Grateful Knight takes her father up on his offer to live rent-free in a house he hasn't been able to sell. Desperate to make a new start, Grateful tries to overlook the property’s less desirable features, like the graveyard that stretches to her back door. On the bright side, the unbelievably gorgeous cemetery caretaker, Rick, is dead set on helping her feel at home. She vows to take things slow, considering her recent disastrous relationship, but is baffled when she literally can’t keep her hands off of him.
 
When things in Grateful’s house start moving on their own another man enters her life, a sexy ghost with a dark secret. Magical forces are at work in the tiny town of Red Grove and they're converging on Grateful. Solving this ghostly mystery won’t be easy and with the caretaker becoming increasingly jealous of her spectral relationship, Grateful may be forced to choose between the ghost and the graveyard.
 
Review:
I was originally suckered into this book by the gorgeous cover. I’m not sure where I saw it but at first glance I thought it was going to be the cover of the next Darynda Jones – Charley Davidson installment, because let’s face it, it is very similar to that series covers to date. I was surprised to see that it was in fact a debut book in a new series. I read the blurb and was immediately intrigued! Ghosts, witches, vampires and a sexy graveyard caretaker! I was SOLD! I immediately downloaded the book from Smashwords to start this intriguing new tale. I am so glad I decided to give this book a whirl! At $2.99 it was a steal!
 
From the first chapter I was drawn into this tale, Grateful’s life is taking a new turn after her boyfriend left her taking all her money with him. Her real estate father is letting her stay at a house that he is having trouble selling rent free while she is trying to get back on her feet. At first glance she is in heaven, she drove by her upper hot neighbor and her house is so super cute, that is until she looks out onto the “backyard”. Her backyard consists of a graveyard, how spooky is that?! At first she has no desire to stay at the house and then she finds out her house is haunted. But she soon realizes that her ghost is actually really hot and helpful! He’s like a maid for free! You can’t beat that. But even more spooky things start to happen around her. Rick her super hot neighbor and the graveyard caretaker starts doing creepy things and all these weird creatures appear in the graveyard.
 
Grateful actually takes things pretty well considering… She went from an ordinary life to finding out she is supposed to help keep the supernatural under control as well as “sort” lost souls. At the young age of 22, she definitely could have handled things a lot differently. I actually commend her for trying to take things slow with Rick, he’s ready to go full steam ahead but she is more cautious, she tries to separate all the factors. She knows she is young and can’t handle a relationship right now and she tells Rick flat out. He can never say she lied to him; she was honest to a fault. She also takes her duty seriously, once she realizes how important it is, she does not shirk her duty and comes around especially when it comes down to life or death circumstances. I really liked Grateful’s strength and loyalty to those she cares about. Overall she is a great character, that I couldn’t really find fault with.
 
In this book we have a love triangle! I haven’t had a love triangle in awhile so I didn’t mind in the slightest that there is one here. So we have Rick the sexy, exotic, graveyard caretaker that just looking at his makes Grateful want to combust from the heat. He is direct and knows what he wants and that is Grateful! Grateful feels all these things for Rick but she isn’t sure how much is actually coming from her and how much is coming from him. Then we have Logan. Logan is our ghost in Grateful’s house. Grateful feels a connection to Logan that she can’t explain, but really how can you have a relationship with a ghost? How practical is that? Also, she feels bad that his soul is trapped here in her house, she wants him to move on, as is the natural order of things. She knows if she doesn’t sort him, he could be stuck in her house forever. That is not the kind of existence she wants for him. I kind of felt that Logan was kind of a bit creepy, he definitely has the insta-love thing going on with him. I’m totally on Team Rick!
 
The plot is fun, entertaining and different. There is a light humor woven into the story and I love anytime an author can make me laugh. I was at first scared that like the cover this book would be like the Charley Davidson series especially when it came to helping the departed move on, but it really ended up taking a different direction. There are magic, vampires, legends, fights to the death and even a possession or two within this story. There is never a dull moment in this book, it was quite entertaining. This is a great debut novel in a new series and I am going to be looking out for the next installments!
 
Rating: