The Restorer (The Graveyard Queen) [Mass Market Paperback]

Amanda Stevens (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 21, 2012 | Series: The Graveyard Queen

Never acknowledge the dead.

Never stray far from hallowed ground.

Never get close to the haunted.

Never, ever tempt fate.

My name is Amelia Gray. I'm a cemetery restorer who sees ghosts. In order to protect myself from the parasitic nature of the dead, I've always held fast to these rules passed down from my father…until now.

Detective John Devlin needs my help to find a killer, but he is haunted by ghosts who shadow his every move. To warn him would be to invite them into my life. I've vowed to keep my distance, but the pull of his magnetism grows ever stronger even as the headstone symbols lead me closer to truth and to the gossamer veil that separates this world from the next.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is paranormal romance done well."

-New York Journal of Books on The Restorer

"The beginning of Stevens' Graveyard Queen series left this reviewer breathless. The author smoothly establishes characters and forms the foundation of future story lines with an edgy and beautiful writing style. Her story is full of twists and turns, with delicious and surprising conclusions. Readers will want to force themselves to slow down and enjoy the book instead of speeding through to the end, and they'll anxiously await the next installment of this deceptively gritty series."

-RT Book Reviews on The Restorer, 4.5 stars "Top Pick"

"I love this book! Amanda Stevens' The Restorer gives the reader a fascinating character-who interacts with more fascinating characters! Ms. Stevens has managed the difficult feat of combining charm and chills." -New York Times and USA TODAY Bestselling Author Heather Graham

"Stevens makes her MIRA debut with this taut, disturbing story. The characterizations are vivid, and it's got a lovely twist in the tail. Not for the squeamish!"

-RT Book Reviews on The Dollmaker

"Faced paced and plotted with spectacular precison and guile, this is undiluted suspense at its very finest. Nervous readers should read it in full daylight."

-RT Book Reviews on The Devil's Footprints

"Stevens' swiftly-moving, intricately plotted story has oodles of twists and chills-plus a jaw-dropping shocker of an ending. This is good stuff indeed."

-RT Book Reviews on The Whispering Room

About the Author

Amanda Stevens lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband and a black cat named Lola. She is an avid reader, a fledgling taphophile, and a collector of Alfred Hitchcock memorabilia. When she\u2019s not writing, she likes taking road trips through the South. You can find her online at www.amandastevens.com

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Mira; Reprint edition (February 21, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0778314006
• ISBN-13: 978-0778314004
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (135 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #187,713 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Amanda resides in Houston, Texas, where she is currently working on The Graveyard Queen series for MIRA Books and the Soul Jumper series for Harlequin Teen. The author of over fifty novels, Amanda is a member of the International Thriller Writers and Romance Writers of America. She is a three-time Rita finalist and the recipient of career achievement awards in Series Romantic Suspense and Series Romantic Mystery from RT Reviews. Her Graveyard Queen series has been bought by NBC TV.

http://www.amandastevens.com/

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http://twitter.com/AmandaStevensTX

http://amandastevens.com/blog/

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 39 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Move over, Sookie Stackhouse! April 16, 2011

By M. Jacobsen VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

I unexpectedly found myself more than a little smitten with Amelia Gray, the heroine of her new mystery-slash-paranormal novel, The Restorer. Amelia, you see, isn't your normal run-of-the-mill cemetery restorer, although this isn't for lack of trying. Amelia sees dead people. She can't help it. Every time she looks around there are the dead people who, for various odd reasons, find themselves stuck in this world unable to move on.

You can't help but feel sorry for Amelia. After all, she didn't ask for annoying ability. What she does have, though, are the rules her father gave her when she first discovered this odd ability as a child:

1. Never acknowledge the dead. If you do, they'll feed off your energy like parasites, slowly draining your life away.
2. Never stray too far from hallowed ground, you're safe there.
3. Keep your distance from people who are haunted. They are a terrible threat and can't be trusted.
4. Never, ever tempt fate.

Simple rules, really. But for Amelia those rules have prevented her from having any kind of a normal life. Still, she finds happiness in her job as a respected cemetery restorer and has made a happy, if isolated, life for herself.

But when a murder occurs in a cemetery Amelia is working on, she meets Detective John Devlin, a man haunted by the deaths of his wife and child, the rules go out the window and Amelia is faced with the consequences. Big consequences.

This novel, the first of a new series called The Graveyard Queen, is a refreshing change from the ubiquitous paranormal teeny-bopper craze that's permeated bookstores everywhere since the Twilight Series hit town. This is a novel for grown-ups. And while I wouldn't call it dark, it does have shades of gray. Amelia is a strikingly honest character, a young woman who has shouldered an awkward burden - this isn't a trait that encourages a personal life, after all.

The murder mystery Amelia finds herself drawn into is no less compelling than Amelia's relationship with the haunted, broody and mysterious Detective Devlin. The choices she must make are difficult ones and her happiness - perhaps even her very life - is at stake.

So yay for a new series that has such a promising start! Move over Sookie Stackhouse, there's a new game in town.

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars There are rules ... April 27, 2011

By Eva

Format:Paperback

There are rules.

Never acknowledge them.
Don't look at them.
Don't speak to them.
Don't let them sense your fear, even when they touch you.
Never stray too far from hallowed ground.
Keep your distance from those who are haunted. If they seek you out, turn away from them for they constitute a terrible threat and cannot be trusted.

And never, ever tempt fate.

As is the way of rules, all of them get violated before the close of this paranormal romance. But that's what paranormal romances are for, right?

The Restorer is the first in a planned series of novels focusing on a cemetery restorer who ends up consulting in a police investigation when a murdered woman's body is found shallowly buried in a section of an old graveyard where she has been working. There are a number of ghostly occurrences, a secret society, and a darkly handsome cop with a mysterious past to drive the action along, with some surprising results.

I'm not generally a fan of this genre, and typically run hard and fast from anything with romantic inclinations, so my four stars represent truly high praise.

The author leaves enough loose ends to carry readers into the next book, but I do hope that she doesn't fall into a pattern of doing so.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Be Prepared to Pay Close Attention April 15, 2011

By Nancy VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Called the Graveyard Queen, Amelia Grey has been working alongside her father, the local cemetery grounds keeper since she was a child. All grown up, she is now a renowned historian and restorer of cemeteries but being able to care for the hollowed land is not the only thing she can do, both Amelia and her father can see the dead.

"I was twenty-seven years old and I'd never had a best friend, never had a real confidant and had never once fallen in love. From the time I was nine years old, the dead that walk among us had isolated me from the living. With that first sighting, my life had been changed forever. Like my father, I'd learned to live with my secret, had even come to embrace the solitude, but there were times, like tonight, when I wondered if madness might not also wait for me behind the veil"

There are very strict rules when it comes to having this gift; one is never to make contact. Second, do not let them know that you can see them or they will attach to you and you will never get away. The third is to never get close to a person who has a ghost attached to them." That one is a bit harder for Amelia since she has feelings for John Devlin, a police detective, assigned to investigate the recent body that has turned up in the cemetery after a storm. Of course, it cannot be as simple as a washed up casket; this is definitely a newly deceased person who did not have a proper burial. But of course, that isn't the only body in this story. Just when you think you have all the creepiness tied up Tom Gerrity, an ex-police officer who wants to torment Devlin shows up with some information of his own. Who is the Prophet and why does it set John Devlin off?

What does bother me about this story is that both Amelia and her father have the same ability, but yet Amelia is adopted. It hit me as strange that two people who are unrelated coincidently have the same gift, but now I am wondering if there is more to this story that will be revealed in future installments. Just one more twist in a very interesting tale.

"We can learn so much from the dead"

The end is quite twisty so be prepared to pay close attention. Things that you think are, aren't, things that didn't make sense are left dangling for the next in this planned trilogy, so be prepared to be left questioning and having to draw your own conclusions until next time.

Amanda Stevens definitely has a series to keep any eye out for.