Cemetery Tours, from Jacqueline E. Smith (Cemetery Tours #1)

Hello, again! I’m so proud to announce that, as you read this, there are already TWO BOOKS DOWN on my TBR pile for the #12daysofbooksmas2 readathon! 😀 Both are from wonderful Jacqueline E. Smith, that kindly sent me her books in this series in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so much! But today I’m only talking about Cemetery Tours, the first book in the series 😀 Let’s go!

from my Instagram ❤

The Story

Michael Sinclair has seen ghost for the past 27 years. He grew up ignoring the held people in the afterlife and was really okay with his discreet job at the local library, with his shabby apartment and his roommate and best friend, ghost Blink. Then Kate and Gavin Avery happen in his quiet life.

Kate suffered a car accident and has no memory for the past two years and so. With the loss of memory, came a condition called Color Anomia, which makes Kate forget the name of all colors, despite still being able to recognize them. It’s a little annoying, but after everything she went through, Kate is just happy to be alive and moving in with her brother. Gavin, in the other hand, seems always sick, but not one doctor was able to figure out what was wrong with him.

Michael and Kate hit it off right away and develop feelings for each other, but the knowledge that a ghost haunts Kate and Gavin’s apartment and the arrival of an old frenemy collapses every aspect of Michael’s boring life. Now he has to decide whether he wants to continue to live a lie or fight for a chance of an almost regular life beside Kate. Assuming he’s going to survive his frenemy’s quest…

The Analysis

Just remembering that those were my impressions and opinion as a reader 🙂

This book rocked my weekend! I was excited to read it for months (even talked a bit about it here), so it was only natural to choose it to be my first on this readathon 😀 I loved every single aspect on it, truly. Jacqueline did a hell of a job here and Michael has become another book boyfriend of mine! ❤ A 5 stars reading with a major cliff hanger that made me feel blessed that I already had the second book in my e-reader, haha!

me after finishing Cemetery Tours

However, enough chitchat. Let’s get serious.

The narrative was third person with alternating points of view between Michael and Kate and some special scenes with Gavin’s. I love this style, as I already said quite a few times over here, and it worked out well, for the reader to see that both Michael and Kate had their problems, but they still felt better together than apart. There were no loose ends, just that major cliff hanger for the next book – which I was more than fine with, haha!

The plot was amazing and very intelligent. Smith writes on a way that keeps her reader second guessing every single character that is not Michael or Kate all the time, it’s amazing! And even when you think you figured out who is behind everything or why all of that is happening, Smith doesn’t allow you to be sure until the deed is done. I LOVE THIS KIND OF BOOK! *–*

Lately, I’ve been lucky to befriend some awesome characters, as you may have realized during my last reviews, haha! With Smith’s book, it wasn’t any different. I loved Michael and found him to be a very believable character, as he is very insecure about his ability to see the dead. I already read some books in which the main characters could see/ talk to ghosts and this was the first time that I felt like I was reading about a real person that could have been my neighbor. Kate also was a super refreshing female protagonist, as she doesn’t depend on Michael or Gavin and actually saves Michael’s ass more than once. Kate also is a very real woman and I made her an example. Even when she screwed up a bit thanks to Luke (I’ll get to him in a bit), I wasn’t mad at her, because I felt she was only human, you know?

But let’s talk about the major narcissist of the world, Luke Raine. He’s Michael’s frenemy and Kate’s idol, so I hated him in the begging, but he is a good guy. You know, somewhere really deep inside where his ego never gone and all, haha! I have no feelings for Gavin, good or bad. I mean, he was a douche several times, but a harmless douche? I don’t know, I just have no hard feelings for him, haha! Oops!

Another aspect that really caught me off guard on Cemetery Tours was the healthy state of Michael and Kate’s relationship. They pin for each other’s company, but it’s not an Edward and Bella kind of pinning where the couple die if they don’t get to breath the same air, haha! They were always cool with themselves and highly appreciate some privacy moments, which is pretty rare in almost any romance book. I liked that! 😀 WAY TO GO, JACQUELINE! ❤

Bonus point: character’s growth. Michael, Kate, Gavin and even Luke grow a lot when they start to spend time together and this is palpable. Of course that Michael’s that changes the most, as he is super social awkward and shy, but all of them had their souls marked with the happenings in this book.

This is the perfect ghost themed book series, in my humble opinion, as it has adventure, ghosts (duh), mystery, comedy, suspense and the right amount of romance. If you like any of those elements, JUST. READ. THIS. BOOK. SERIES.

That’s it! Thanks for reading and thanks once again to Jacqueline, for sending me those awesome books! 😀 The review for Between Worlds will be here by tomorrow night, keep an eye open ;D