The Betrayed

Man alive, I have been on a run of books as of late. I have even more reviews coming. Maybe this weekend I'll get extra productive and type up all of my reviews and be set for like... a week. HA!

The Betrayed - Heather Graham

One night, New York FBI agent Aiden Mahoney receives a visitor in a dream--an old friend named Richard Highsmith. The very next day he's sent to Sleepy Hollow because Richard's gone missing there.

Maureen--Mo--Deauville now lives in the historic town and works with her dog, Rollo, to search for missing people. She's actually the one to find Richard?or more precisely his head, stuck on a statue of the legendary Headless Horseman.

Mo and Aiden, a new member of the Krewe of Hunters, the FBI's unit of paranormal investigators, explore both past and present events to figure out who betrayed Richard, who killed him and now wants to kill them, too. As they work together, they discover that they share an unusual trait?the ability to communicate with the dead. They also share an attraction that's as intense as it is unexpected?if they live long enough to enjoy it!

I am going to have to bite the bullet and just start ordering all of the books in this Krewe of Hunters series, because I am really liking it. This is only the second one I've read, I previously read #13, and I really enjoyed that one, too. The nice thing about these are that although they are part of a larger series, they are also stand alone, so it's OK if you come into them in the middle of things. 

Here's what else I appreciate about these books- lots of information. Not unnecessary fluff, but just weird tidbits that are interesting to say that you know. I also appreciate that the story takes place in Sleepy Hollow and we start off with a head, not connected to it's original body, but rather on the statue of the Headless Horseman. I will tell you though, that I kind of wanted more romance. It's romantic suspense, but I felt like though Mo clearly was smitten with Aiden, it wasn't totally reciprocated? It's not like he ignored her, but I felt like I couldn't relate to them being a couple, and that was kind of hard. I do like their chemistry as an investigative team though. What is also cool is that each of the Krewe members have a "gift" and while sometimes it's obvious, other times it's not and that's kind of the case here. Except Mo discovers hers differently, which was a cool blip in the plot, and Aiden kind of thinks he either doesn't have one or it's come and gone.

I will say the benefit to reading the entire series is that I would have a better feel of the rest of the stories. I really enjoyed the last book, The Hexed, and though I liked this one a lot too, it wasn't as good. It certainly wasn't bad, but I guess I hoped these stories would build and build. But take that with a grain of salt because admittedly, these are the only two I have read in the series and after I read more, I might feel completely differently. 

But we have lots of murders, lots of suspense, I felt satisfied when it's revealed who was responsible, and overall I really enjoyed this book. These would be really great fall/winter reads, because you want to curl up under a blanket with some hot chocolate and just enjoy. AND they are relatively quick reads, so even better! 

Connect with Heather on her website, Facebook and Twitter as well. 

Hexed

You guys! I think I have maybe found myself a new series!

Hexed - Heather Graham

Devin Lyle has recently returned to the Salem area, but her timing couldn't be worse. Soon after she moved into the eighteenth-century cabin she inherited from her great-aunt Mina—her "crazy" great-aunt, who spoke to the dead—a woman was murdered nearby. 

Craig Rockwell—known as Rocky—is a new member of the Krewe of Hunters, the FBI's team of paranormal investigators. He never got over finding a friend dead in the woods. Now another body's been found in those same woods, not far from the home of Devin Lyle. And Devin's been led to a third body—by...a ghost? 

Her discovery draws them both deeper into the case and Salem's rich and disturbing history. Even as the danger mounts, Devin and Rocky begin to fall for each other, something the ghosts of Mina and past witches seem to approve of. But the two of them need every skill they possess to learn the truth—or Devin's might be the next body in the woods...

Granted, this is number 13 in the series, but the great part is that it's stand alone. I didn't even know how far into the series I was until I pulled up the page on Goodreads! But now I'll tell you I liked this book so much I'm adding more of Heather Graham's books to my to-read list for sure! 

So we have Devin, who lives in Salem in a little cottage in the woods with a bird named Poe and her dead great aunt Mina's ghost. So, totally normal right there. She unexpectedly finds a body in the woods and runs almost into the road and flags down Rocky, who was driving by. Turns out, he's back in town to investigate the murder of another woman who, coincidentally, was murdered the same way as the one Devin found and of a classmate of his years prior. 

All of this launches a major investigation with Rocky's new FBI department, the Krewe of Hunters, in conjunction with the local police. It's a pretty informative book in regards to the Salem Witch Trials because the murders appear to be somewhat connected to them, but it takes quite a bit of digging, ancestral researching, and talking to ghosts of murdered girls, and a connection is made. But that doesn't give us who the killer is. Everyone is a suspect, though and it's so up and down. I couldn't put this book down at all and the ending? OK, I kind of figured?But honestly, there is a bit of a twist at the end and man- so good. I feel like I have to keep going with this series because it's everything you want out of a suspenseful romantic thriller. How's that for a genre?? I'm not kidding, this book is going to get you hooked on the rest of the series and if they are even half as good as this one, we are all in for a treat!