This review is posted in conjunction with a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Meg will be awarding the complete Ramos Family Trilogy: Medium Well, Medium Rare, and Happy Medium (all ebooks) to one randomly drawn commenter during the tour. Click the banner to see the other stops on the tour.
Love is good for the soul… unless it’s one that you’re trying to exorcise.
Ray Ramos has a problem–the King William District mansion he and his business partner purchased for a fast renovation needs more work than expected. Ray could use a quick infusion of cash. Enter Emma Shea, assistant to Gabrielle DeVere, the star of American Medium. Gabrielle is looking for San Antonio houses to use for her televised séances, and Ray’s fixer upper seems to fit.
When Gabrielle does a sample séance, Ray and Emma become the target of a touchy ghost with no respect for boundaries. After Ray learns his family has a special affinity for ghosts, the two decide to investigate the haunted house. It doesn’t hurt that Emma is immediately attracted to the laconic Ray or that Ray is intrigued by the buttoned-down beauty who seems determined to hide her considerable assets behind sober business suits. But can the two of them fight off a vengeful succubus bound to the house while getting a lot closer than either of them planned?
MY REVIEW: Full of fun, heat and suspense, Happy Medium was a story that entertained from start to finish.
I really liked Ray. He was primal and earthy and interesting and loyal. He was who he was and if you didn't like it, too bad. But you knew where you stood with him and that goes a long way with me.
Emma was just a little sad. She felt so desperate at the start, eager to please and always feeling like she was falling just a little short. Gabrielle was so much larger than life, I'm sure Emma never felt like she measured up. It broke my heart a little every time Gabrielle insinuated that Emma was fat, and Emma's self-esteem dropped.
That's okay, though. Ray changes all that... boy howdy! He's hot to start with, but when they start going toe-to-toe with a succubus, things get even hotter.
Happy Medium is an interesting story, populated with unique, three-dimensional characters and plenty of action in the bedroom. It hit all my happy buttons, and I'll definitely be looking for more from this author.
4.5 flowers - This was a very good book! I'd recommend it to my friends.
Now enjoy an excerpt:
“It’s nice here,” she mumbled. Great. Somehow whenever she wanted to be smooth she ended up sounding like a doofus. Yet another indication she was out of her league with Ray Ramos.
“Yeah.” His fingers brushed across her cheek, and he moved closer.
The hell with it. It might be a temporary thing, but right now temporary worked. She pushed up on her tiptoes, resting one hand against his shoulder. For a moment, his breath was on her cheek, warm against the cooling night air. And then she brought her lips to his.
All the comparisons that leapt to her mind were clichés. Electricity. Wild fires. Lightning bolts. And none of them really described the feeling that broadsided her, like her whole body was suddenly tingling with life. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself closer.
He tasted of spice and smoke, smelled slightly of sweat and musk. He leaned back against the railing of the bridge, pulling her deeper into his arms, bending her body beneath his own so that her hips pressed against his, against the hard jut of his arousal.
His tongue moved across the seam of her mouth and she opened for him, letting her tongue slide along his. Another wave of heat washed over her. His hands slid over her back, untucking her shirt, fingers against bare skin. She pushed his T-shirt aside to feel him too, the faint crinkle of hair against her palms as she touched his stomach. In some distant part of her brain it occurred to her that a passing pedestrian would have quite a view, assuming the two of them weren’t totally protected by the shadows of the trees.
And she didn’t care. Whatever happened now. She didn’t give a damn.
Meg Benjamin is an author of contemporary romance. Her Konigsburg series for Samhain Publishing is set in the Texas Hill Country and her Ramos Family trilogy for Berkley InterMix is set in San Antonio’s King William District. Meg’s books have won numerous awards, including an EPIC Award for Contemporary Romance, a Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award for Indie Press Romance, the Holt Medallion from Virginia Romance Writers and the Beanpot Award from the New England Romance Writers. Meg lives in Colorado with her DH and two rather large Maine coon cats (well, partly Maine Coon anyway). Her Web site is http://www.MegBenjamin.com and her blog is http://megbenj1.wordpress.com/. You can follow her on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/meg.benjamin1), Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/megbenjamin/), and Twitter (http://twitter.com/megbenj1). Meg loves to hear from readers—contact her at meg@megbenjamin.com.
Happy Medium, the third in the Ramos Family trilogy, is available from Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Happy-Medium-Intermix-Ramos-Family-ebook/dp/B00AI5APW0/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1387227453&sr=1-2&keywords=happy+medium) and Barnes and Noble (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/happy-medium-meg-benjamin/1113916830?ean=9781101622568).
Great review, sounds like a good read.
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