Gothic tales of haunted love is a new comics anthology curated by Hope Nicholson. It is not your normal book of paranormal stories. The comic book style actually gives to some of the stories as well as some it takes from. There were a few stories int he book I would of loved to read a whole book on instead of a few pages of comics.

 

The stories were good do not get me wrong I am just not a big comic book kind of girl. There are 19 stories packed into this book. There are pretty much every paranormal entity I can imagine in this book from Ghosts to just plain old murders. The stories are short. There are only 216 pages in the book.

 

The art work is done very well and tell the story pretty well without any words. The story Minefield is mostly not in English so I had to rely on the pictures. It is a story from 1950's Vietnam.

 

I did enjoy the story The Return. It is about an Indian who brings back his love who has died. She was actually engaged to another man. When they brought the man in to see her after hr return he was mortified but her. She had not been fully returned to the living yet. When she was fully returned to her formal self and her beauty restored the Fiance decided he did then want her back. /She tells him no since he did not love her enough to want her when she was ugly she would not take him now that she was fully restored.

 

I received this book from the Author or Publisher via Netgalley.com to read and review.

I have conflicting feelings about this book, but I did enjoy it overall.

 

*Tagged as spoiler, because this book could be triggering. There are lots of blood, gore, pictures of what looks like self harm, and murder...also baby killing.

 

 

There were a few stories that I personally felt did not make sense, and also I could not see what was Gothic about them. Maybe I don't fully understand the word "Gothic" but that was my feeling while reading this. I did like it that the "bad guy" was usually the girl, and she wasn't a damsel in distress or something.

Highly disturbing stories, but I went in expecting that. However, there was one story that was a little too much for me personally and it involved taking a baby from a mother's womb and killing it....

 

I enjoyed the varied artwork and color schemes used in this.

 

*Provided by Netgally*

Magic and Mayhem: Harmony: A 'Not-Quite'... Book Reviewed: Magic and Mayhem: Harmony: A 'Not-Quite' Haunted Love Story (The 'Not-Quite' Love Story Series Book 8)
Author: Julia Mills
Publication Date: 10/23/2017
Reviewed by: Tammy Payne- Book Nook Nuts
My Rating: 5 Stars


REVIEW
I absolutely love the books in this series. Every single page has you busting out laughing. It's a short read with a big boost of fun.

Harmony is one spunky, sassy witch I will give her that and her friends haha or shall I say house guests?
A Donkey whose female stole the Pink Lady, A parrot who doesn't shut up about Harmony's rear and a cat who thinks the zombies are coming next month.
Yep, a barrel of laughs and oh yea we get some creepy crawlies and a ghost who has the hots for Ms.Harmony but how will she handle that?
Grab your copy and find out what I laughed so hard at.

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What if you met the man you are suppose to spend your life with…after you're dead?

 

Thea Bell is murdered and is given a choice of staying in the afterlife or return for a time. She returns as a ghost to comfort her brother Flynn, but finds that it's Detective Aiden Mercer that is the one that she is attached to and that can see her, not her brother Flynn. As Aiden works on her case to find the killer they slowly start to fall for each other, but how can there be a future together, when one of them are dead?

This is actually the second book I have read this week about a ghostly romance.  I have not read a single one before this year. I actually can't remember that if I have read about ghostly romantic book before. The Ghost of Canterville isn't really that romantic and it's the only book I can thing off the top of my head. Then again I had completely forgotten that I should have read this one a couple of days ago. So it's probably just a coincidence.

Anyway, ghostly romance books are an interesting subject, there are some problems with a relationship when one is dead and the other one is the cop trying to find the killers. Thea is attached to Aiden, so she can touch thing around him (also touch him which later on becomes very handy when their relationship becomes more…intimate). It's a murder case and Aiden is working trying to find Theas killer and at first he is a bit freaked out that he can see Tea, but they soon work things out. There are things that I find a bit odd, she gets short and gets new clothes. I mean she is dead? How can a ghost get a bullet hole in its clothes and get new clothes? Shouldn't a ghost be bulletproofed?

I found myself enjoying this book, it was tragic and romantic. I could have lived without the sex scenes, but they weren't that many so that wasn't a big deal. I must admit that the whole concept with love with a ghost really is tragic in itself. I mean it can't end happily ever after, not in this life anyway (I have seen the movie Ghost so I know). But still, it is an interesting new thing to read about.

 

I received this copy from Xpresso Book Tours in return for an honest review!

I would definitely say that the story is pretty alluring. It opens explosively that you can’t stop yourself from reading further. I like the way the author opens the book with a crucial turn of events so that the hook is set right on for its readers.

The book has a good story plot but it only remains solid for the first half as by the second half , the book suddenly hops over to cliché romance and spoils the fun that was slowly developed by the first half of the book. Suddenly all that you have building seems pointless and the ending seems a little rushed and packed up in haste pulling all the loose ends in one giant knot to finish it as there are a whole lot of unanswered questions and events that still haunts so yes in that regard it is definitely haunting

I am also not very happy with the language as it is not smooth and velvety. it needs a little brushing and polishing but narration power is pretty decent. The plot in my opinion went a little too sweet and romancy. Certain aspects are a bit hard to digest and to bite on. The logistics and reasoning are not sufficient to help you savor the story nicely.

The book has a powerful first half but towards the second half the plot just slips badly and jumps to territories and aspects that seem a little inappropriate or intrusive at times. It’s the second half and the ending that needs a little bit more credibility and work since at present it seems a little rushed up and not that perfect. The story had a strength that slipped up midway. For a paranormal or thriller aspect, it may not provide much but for a romance, this book is beautiful and the book do manages to moves your heart.