The Restorer by Amanda Stevens

The Restorer by Amanda Stevens

Paperback, 376 pages

Published April 19th 2011 by Mira

Synopsis:  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 the rules passed down from my father. But now a haunted police detective has entered my world and everything is changing, including the rules that have always kept me safe.
It started with the discovery of a young woman's brutalized body in an old Charleston graveyard I've been hired to restore. The clues to the killer—and to his other victims—lie in the headstone symbolism that only I can interpret. Devlin needs my help, but his ghosts shadow his every move, feeding off his warmth, sustaining their presence with his energy. 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 symbols lead me closer to the killer and to the gossamer veil that separates this world from the next.


My rating: 2.5 out of 5
I just. . . . Didn't like it (Sorry to my followers who wished this was a better review)


This review is going to be short and choppy and right to the chase. Why? I read it three days ago and can almost not remember a thing. Which means it didn't effect (affect?) me in any way shape or form and I thought it was a pretty mediocre book.



To the point? It was okay. It took me a reaaaaally long time to finish. I was just bored.



The plot didn't thicken until the last few hundred pages. I was disappointed because a few things were predictable. Such as: The culprit, the romance, the ghosts.



In the beginning pages, you learn about the main character. Amelia Gray is famous by accident. Locally famous. She restors grave yards and there was a huge ghost conspiracy that she was involved in. Because she is "the graveyard queen", she has to help Devlin, a cop, solve a murder that was found in a graveyard, Oak Grove. While attempting to help with her strange knowledge of graveyard artifacts, she learns more about John Devlin and begins developing feelings for him.



I feel like there is not much to say about this book. Maybe it was the fact that I couldn't really relate. She's a lot older than me and I read Young Adult books. Not just Adult. I felt that maybe it was a little mature for me. The sexual content wasn't horrendous, but it was more than the average Young Adult junkie is used to.



The character development. . . . Well, it developed well (Not really sure how to word that. . . .?), I felt I knew Devlin and Amelia really well once I got to the end but I felt like there is a huge story the author isn't telling us.



No sugar coated-ness? Let's just be blunt? To me, this book was on the verge of sucking. I liked the characters, hated the plot. It wasn't my favorite. I was interested in this new species that was introduced as the book went on. But I felt like it was a waste of my time and there was no point in me renewing it over and over again. Which I did. Because I just couldn't finish it. Obviously, I did and I wasn't all too pleased with it's outcome. I'd say 2.5 stars?