Customer Reviews

Oleander House (Bay City Paranormal Investigations)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I'd hoped this would be the first of many in the Bay City Paranormal series that I'd enjoy reading. But my journey is over. It's not terrible, but has too many annoying points for me to go on with the books. I found the dwelling on Sam's attraction to Bo and his reactions unconvincing and pointless. Plus, what's with "the braid?" Never understood the emphasis on or repetitive mentioning of Bo's hair appendage. It's an easy-to-read book, but it didn't really wrap things up by the end -- probably as an inducement to continue reading the series.

This is vol 1 of the Paranormal Investigation series and it is much more than a M/M romance. The characters are well developed, leaping from the pages. The plot started off slow but as the story progresses, it is gripping and intriguing as the characters are drawn into a paranormal world which ultimately threatens their lifes. As this is a series, the romance between the 2 guys is not rushed as in most M/M erotica. In Vol 1, Ally does a marvelous job building up the tension and emotions between Sam and Bo. [...].

[...]. Howeve I find both Sam and Bo not very likable (reason for my 4 stars) and am still trying to figure out why. Bo definitely need a good shake and I would have preferred him to be more alpha. As for Sam, he could be more sensitive and vulnerable ? However they do grow on you and I find myself cheering them on to be together. And I have to say the last 40 pages as their feelings and the plot reach a climax is a darn fine piece of writing from Ally. For those of you who cannot wait, Vol 2 is available from Samhain and let's just say the paranormal plot is as gripping and the emotional entanglements between the guys angst filled.

This is the first book in the Bay City Paranormal Investigation series. As a first book I was kind of disappointed. The main character is a man by the name of Sam Raintree who has just been hired by the Bay City group and is ready to begin the first case. The group is to investigate Oleander House, located in the South (United States), which has a less-than-favorable history. It has been the scene of numerous slaughters, where all but one person residing in the house was torn to bloody pieces. That one remaining person often ended up in an asylum. The team is called in when a child touring the house, which has been opened as an attraction, is bitten by an unknown animal. The bite immediately becomes infected and the child dies. The Bay City group consists of four men (including Sam) and a woman, plus an additional woman who is an outside psychic brought in by the houses owner. The six of them proceed to investigate the house and property in an attempt to find the source of all the problems that have reoccurred over the years.

The regular investigation hits snags periodically, not the least of which is Sam's attraction to his (male) boss. While his boss is married and has children he seems to periodically share Sam's attraction while at other times he is cold and shoves him away. I found the interactions between the two, as well as Bo (Sam's boss) in general to be frustrating and they often seemed to detract a bit from the book. Additionally, some of the dialogue (between any number of characters, but especially the psychic) seemed forced. While I won't give away the ending, I will say that it seemed abrupt. I'm aware that there are other books in the series, but at the end of this book the story just seems to stop without any sort of resolution. I wasn't terribly impressed with the book overall but will give the series another chance and read the second book before giving up on it completely.

Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.

Rating: 7/10

PROS:
- Wonderfully restrained physical interactions in the relationship. However, based on what happens in this book, and knowing that there are several sequels, I hardly expect that to be the case in the later books (and anticipate that the slow build-up will make the sex scenes sweeter). In this volume, though, the characters never move beyond kissing and some fully/mostly clothed rubbing (although one has erotic and suggestive dreams). It's refreshing.
- Good plot (if somewhat simple, in that it doesn't have a lot of twists and turns) that gets interesting early on. I was pretty well hooked about 15 pages in.
- Well written juxtaposition of the mystery and the blossoming romance between the two leads. And the two storylines are actually dependent upon each other, rather than being mutually exclusive.
- There's a floor plan of the house at the beginning of the book. I puzzled over it for a bit before I began reading, wondering whether it was really necessary to include such a thing, but I found myself flipping back to it numerous times and in the end was quite glad that it was there.

CONS:
- I like all of the supporting characters, but none of them are very well-developed. I'm sure this will change once I've read some of the later volumes in the series, but by the end of this book, one secondary character still seemed much like another; that is, I couldn't easily discern the differences in their personalities. Still, at the end, I was saddened by something painful that happens to one of them.
- The on-off attraction vs. hesitation of one of the characters is frustrating (though probably pretty realistic). Seems like every time Sam looks at Bo he receives a smoldering gaze in return, yet Bo steadfastly refuses not only to act on his attraction, but also to admit it, even to himself. But this IS the reason why the romance moves so slowly (especially as compared to other books in the genre), so overall, I find I'm pretty forgiving of this.

Overall comments: I enjoyed the plot of this quite a bit, even if I did have to stop reading one evening when I looked out the window and noticed it was getting dark; I don't handle creepiness well, and while this book isn't the scariest I've read, it's admirably spine-chilling at times. If you're looking for erotica, this is not a book for you; there is longing but no sex between the main characters (although I'm sure there will be in the later books).

I've been a fan of Ally Blue for years now, and I can definitely say that "Oleander House" is one of my very favorites. It's not a "romance" per se, but the focus is on the developing relationship between two men, which I found emotionally satisfying and which made me look forward to the next book (this is book one of a multi-part series).

It is scary, yes -- deliciously so. Ally manages to blend a love story and a horror story so well that I give her a standing ovation.

I received this download as a freebie from the publisher. It's the first book in a series, it does have a cliffhanger, and it is not, thank god, erotica-- there's some explicit sex but it doesn't overwhelm the book.

I had been talking to a friend about the ghost hunter television shows where people go into a dark, supposedly haunted, place with flashlights and proceed to fake whisper things like "Hear that?", "What's Over There?" Then at some point they all start running. The TV shows are not nearly as scary as The Haunting of Hill House-- and this book isn't scary either though it does have some gore. It doesn't adequately exploit the possibilities of the set up. After all oleander is one of the most poisonous plants in the world.

I started out thinking in dismay I was reading a gay version of a 1984 Silhouette Desire-- New assistant falls for hawt married boss. There's also a witchy stereotypical psychic foisted on them by the owner of Oleander House. But soon even the conflict that was brought by the witchy psychic is dealt with and the only thing going is the sexual identity conflict and some psychic events.

I also had some trouble trying to figure out exactly what position the characters were in while having sexual dreams. I finally gave up on that.

Finally, this was my first experience of a m/m ebook. I've read other books where women have written about gay male relationships, but not ones where the relationship is the central conflict, i.e., genre romances. I think I prefer books like Gina Hale's Wicked Gentlemen to this. However, I am curious enough to try the second in the series if I can get someone to assure me that it resolves the plot threads left hanging at the end of this one-- other than the relationship one-- it's a romance, I know how that will end.

One big plus, the price is right on the downloads for the Kindle from the publisher-- as I stated this one was a freebie for me, but the purchase price is still more than reasonable.

This is a very good, very exciting paranormal romance about Sam, the new technician for the Bay City Paranormal Investigation agency, and the owner of said agency, Bo.

What I like about this book is the fact that neither of the men are completely out of the closet yet. Sam is at least honest with himself about his sexuality whereas Bo lives completely in denial, he is even married with children. As the story progresses and the investigators are trying to find out what's killing people in the Oleander House, Sam and Bo get closer and closer but Bo's reluctance to even admit that he might be gay pushes them apart at the same time.

Another thing that I like is the way the author approaches the paranormal investigation - there is no weird mumbo-jumbo but the investigators use science and EMF meters etc. to prove that there is something supernatural in the house. Quite interesting.

I got this book in the ebook format but there weren't many spelling mistakes as there usually are in ebooks, it was very well written and totally engaging!

A potentially interesting scenario of paranormal investigation totally spoiled by an immature main character. Better than some short gay novels but not by much.

I got this as a Kindle freebee and I like m/m, paranormal and I'd heard of Ally Blue - so I was expecting to really enjoy this. However, while it dealt with the fantastic, it was written so mundanely. None of the words or ideas sang, and a lot of the details were just boring. Then there was the romance - I actually found the romance aspect really difficult. Except for the gay part, the lines used was what every philandering man uses - I'm not fulfilled, she doesn't get me, the passion's not there, I'm just hanging in there for the kids.... The fact that one of the men was married was really disturbing for me, and quite a turn off. I couldn't like the lover who seduced him either. If the person is married, male or female, my advice would be to back off, not to aggressively go out and seduce them, so they can find their inner selves. Didn't like either of them by the end, felt sorry for the wife.

As a horror lover, I wish that there were more books out there like this. Strong characters, a fast paced plot, and a scary, poignant story.

The monsters are like something out of a nightmare, and there were times I was tempted to skip to the end to see if Sam would be all right. I loved that; very few books make me forget I'm reading, and not living, the story.

One of my favorite things about "Oleander House" is that it's the first in a series. Sam and Bo are wonderful together, and I get to revisit them again and again. I can't wait to read the next one.