Book Review ~ The Restorer

The Restorer (The Graveyard Queen #1)
By Amanda Stevens
Published By Mira Books
Release Date May 1, 2011

Received from Mira Books, netGalley for review

Summary (netGalley):NEVER ACKNOWLEDGE THE DEAD.

                                NEVER STRAY FROM HALLOWED GROUND.

                                 NEVER GET CLOSE TO THE HAUNTED.

                                  NEVER, EVER TEMPT FATE.

                                     My father’s rules.
                            I’ve never broken them…until now.

My name is Amelia Gray. I’m a cemetery restorer who sees ghosts. In order to protect myself from the parasitic nature of the dead, I’ve always held fast to the rules passed down from my father. But now a haunted police detective has entered my world and everything is changing, including the rules that have always kept me safe.

It started with the discovery of a young woman’s brutalized body in an old Charleston graveyard I’ve been hired to restore. The clues to the killer—and to his other victims— lie in the headstone symbolism that only I can interpret. Devlin needs my help, but his ghosts shadow his every move, feeding off his warmth, sustaining their presence with his energy. To warn him would be to invite them into my life. I’ve vowed to keep my distance, but the pull of his magnetism grows ever stronger even as the symbols lead me closer to the killer and to the gossamer veil that separates this world from the next.

Dislikes: When getting to the end of the book there were two things that bothered me. At one point there was a huge family revelation and the next page you went back to the main graveyard story. It was mentioned again at the end of the book as something Amelia was going to worry about/ figure out  in the future. This wouldn't have bothered me if there had been a simple sentence stating that it was in the back of her mind while she was working the graveyard instead of just adding it at the end. The other thing was the dark ghosts. I don't feel they were really explained and I'm hoping they show up in the next books with better explanations on what they are/do.


Likes: I really enjoyed this story, it is well paced and interesting, I was hooked from the very first page. I found Amelia to be a great lead female with a unique job and history. Her struggle with following her father's rules where Devlin is concerned or follow her own feelings was a great twist on the romance aspect.  Devlin's character I found the most interesting. With his ghosts and trying to figure out if he is one of the good guys it kept you guessing even when the book was finished. I also enjoyed the settings in the old graveyards and found myself wishing there were pictures to go along with the descriptions of the headstones.


Overall: This was a story that I can see being added to a lot of people's October reads. With the creepy setting of old southern graveyard's, ghosts, secret societies, sexy haunted lead detectives and more  I look forward to reading the rest of this series. Luckily the wait between books is not long and the second is due out this year also.


Release Dates: Prequel: The Abandoned (April 2011)

Book I: The Restorer (May 2011)

Book II: The Kingdom (November 2011)

Book III: The Prophet (May 2012)

Rating: 4