Judy Allen

Explores eleven haunted cemeteries, retells the stories of their ghosts, and maps their locations.

Ghostly Graveyards

Jessie Stafford

Stolen Hearts is my first read by M O’Keefe and it certainly won’t be my last. I was interested in Ronan’s character from the other books in the Midnight Dynasty world. The enforcer, he remains distant, which continues in his story. Although this is solely in Poppy’s POV I didn’t feel as though I was missing out. Not yet.

Poppy isn’t the strongest heroine in the classic sense of the term. She doesn’t buck against authority or rule a boardroom, she suffers in silence. Living in her personal hell to ensure the stability of care for her sister and to show a sense of gratitude to her deceased mother’s best friend. Caroline Constantine, the matriarch of that powerful family, who helped them when their father passed as well. A lot of family passings right? A lot of pain to withstand which causes her to become a shell. She slowly starts to unravel the mysteries of her stepford life and learns quickly that she can no longer stay silent. Her decisions made out of blind loyalty may not have been as good willed as she was lead to believe. When it’s time for her to question those entanglements she finds her bravery.

Let me tell you I am NOT a fan of slow burns and this is a true slow burn, but this one is wonderfully written. I was immersed in the suspense once I got to really sit down and give it my full attention. I got a few chapters in and then life got in the way. Yet once I picked it back up I was consumed, reading all but the first two chapters in one sitting. Ronan is an enigma you can not let go once he starts to show undeniable signs of compassion and protectiveness.

Often I feel the element of suspense in romance is rushed, replayed or just doesn’t hit the mark period. This is the opposite. It has a healthy dose of the unknown and it felt authentic. I instantly started book 2, not because of the cliff hanger but out of pure need to keep reading. To figure out where this story is going not out of shock but out of investment in these characters lives.

Ghostly Graveyards

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