Her dad’s an alcoholic. Her mom passed away when she was young. She sees dead people. Can seventeen-year-old Riley Smith’s life get any crazier? Yes it can.
When Riley’s attempt to help a spirit leads her to the discovery that the young woman’s death wasn’t an accident, she finds herself face-to-face with the killer. And just when things seem like they couldn’t get any more complicated, she’s visited by another ghost, a boy her age, whose smile makes her melt. Her job is to convince him to pass over, but her heart doesn’t want to let him go.
I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest and voluntary review. I was in no way compensated for this review.
I was beyond ecstatic to learn that C.C. Hunter had a new Paranormal YA series coming out! One Foot in the Grave is the start of The Mortician’s Daughter trilogy. This time, our heroine already knows of her connection to the paranormal, she can see and talk to ghosts! I love me a good ghost read! Possibly because The Mediator series was one of the very first Paranormal YA series I read eons ago and I loved the possibility of a romance between a living human and ghost! It has it problems, but you still can’t help but rooting for there to be a way!
Not only does this story have the possibility of a cross-dimensional romance, but there’s also a murder mystery of sorts afoot! But I’m getting ahead of myself! The story begins with Riley trying to settle into her new surroundings at the second move she and her dad made in the past two years. She’s beginning to suspect her father is a closet alcoholic but hasn’t been able to prove it yet, but since he lost his last two jobs and she’s seen other signs that could be the result of drinking too much. Then it happens, a ghost comes to Riley begging for help! She wants Riley to find her ring to give to her family. But then a funny thing happens, yet another ghost appears, only this time, he looks different than the usual sort of ghosts she sees, but he’s still clearly not of the living. Hayden is just different.
I was actually rather surprised by how quickly things started to develop between Hayden and Riley. Sure I expected romance between them, the cover description gives us that much of an idea. But man, I felt like it just happened so quickly. Add in that there also happens to be another guy, Jacob, at Riley’s school who has a crush on her and you have the makings of one awkward love triangle! Lol! What will eventually come to be final though has yet to be seen at this point, though I am pretty sure I will be heartbroken either way!
It’s not long though before the first ghost reveals that she didn’t die by accident, she was murdered and she wants Riley’s help to get her killer put behind bars. Though it doesn’t exactly come out that way. It was while Riley was trying to find the ring that she ended up running into the murderer. And now he has set his sights on Riley.
There was definitely an air of danger to this story once it’s revealed who the killer is. It was positively frightening because he was one seriously bad dude. And when a serial rapist sets his sights on you, well, it naturally makes for intense and scary reading!
Then there’s also the fact that Riley is trying to prove her dad is drinking and confront him about it. There’s a good deal of drama in this story as well in that scope of things. Add in the conflicting feelings over two boys, one dead, one alive and you pretty much have one rockin story in your hands!
The ending to One Foot in the Grave gives you a sense of conclusion to the murder mystery and yet still packs a punch with one whopper of a cliffhanger! Granted, I did sort of see this one coming once some things were laid out for us to know. I made a guess and it turns out I was right!! And man, I don’t envy Riley for the troubles she will be having in the books to come!
One Foot in the Grave is the perfect paranormal read! There’s ghosts, there’s mystery, there’s romance, there’s surprises around every turn and there is still more to come! This is going to be one delightful series! I can already tell!
Overall Rating 5/5 stars
I loved her other series and was curious about this book. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteGreat review!! I'll have to check this one out!
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