The Women of the Otherworld series is peppered with supernatural species (either well researched or well imagined). Armstrong is very thorough in her construction of this world that the average human has no notion of. In this most recent addition, Jamie Vegas, resident necromancer, gets herself into a bit of trouble - and it’ll take some quick thinking, a lot of luck, and one very hot werewolf to get her out of it.

Although Jamie really can see and talk to the dead, she puts on her shows helping people to find closure with their lost loved ones, but fakes the connection - think Crossing Over with John Edward. But when Jamie participates in a reality show special in Hollywood, she makes contact with the real ghosts of dead and missing children. And only she can put them at rest and help to make sure that more do not join their ranks. Helping her along the way is Jeremy, Alpha of the only American werewolf pack (seen in Armstrong’s previous books).

Jamie has been in love with Jeremy since she first met him four years before, but could hardly say two words to the strong and quiet leader without tripping over her own tongue, and he seems oblivious to her feelings. Now their friendship is developing and she invites him to join her for the show. Will she finally get Jeremy to see how much she cares? I think I’ll leave that for you to find out. But let’s just say, it’s about time that Jeremy finally gets what he deserves and has secretly wanted - which is some loving of his own.

This was a nice addition to the series, Jamie is not my favorite character, but it was time that her story was really told, with a great mix of mystery, magic, romance, and danger thrown in. And anything that brings Jeremy more into the forefront and develops his character is certainly okay by me…I wouldn’t mind if Armstrong defied the title of the series a bit and wrote a Man of the Otherworld book featuring Jeremy *sigh*.

Anyway, good read, worth the effort.

featuring Jaime Vegas, spiritualist

This book focuses on Jaime, the necromancer, and Jeremy, the werewolf alpha. Clay and Elena are present via phone, the latter having given birth to twins and busy taking care of them. Jaimie is bound and determined to convince Jeremy that a relationship will work, and she's using all her wiles to tempt him (some very hot scenes more suited to an Anita Blake book in there :) ). But at the same time, she's signed up for a reality tv show that aims to raise the ghost of Marilyn Monroe. The only problem is that other ghosts keep butting in, and she has to solve a mystery in the backyard of the house she's staying in. I liked seeing things from Jaimie's perspective, she's been in the background, and chafing at it, for a while, though I kept conflating her with the woman in Beyond Black and wondering at her unbridled sexuality. The plot kept me turning pages, and it was good to see Jaimie come into her own. Lots to look forward in the next book ... [ dig dig dig ] hrm, Personal Demon is told from the perspective of Hope, the half demon in this book. I didn't connect with her as much, but the other narrator is Lucas Cortez, so that could be interesting. ( )

Not as good as broken. 2009 ( )

I loved this. It added even more information to the background of a lot of the characters and it was a joy to see Jeremy lose that laid-back cool of his to Jaime's teasing. Blinding story! Can't wait for the next one. ( )

Opening Sentence: '…Brendan struggled to stay awake…’

The seventh book in the 'Women of the Otherworld' series concentrates on Jaime Vegas, a sexy, redheaded celebrity medium on the threshold of a spiritualist's dream: her own TV show. She and three other professional psychics have been brought to a haunted site for a reality TV show - they are to raise the ghost of Marilyn Monroe. Jaime's co-stars are the very young, and new to the business, Angelique and UK satanic specialist Bradford Grady. The producer thinks that as the TV audience watches the three jockey for prime position, even during a warm-up seance, is good for ratings. Jaime knows and uses a psychic's two primary tools, knowledge (prior facts) and statistical probability, but she has a paranormal gift on her side - she is a necromancer, someone who can reanimate the dead.

She makes a startling discovery in the garden - the trapped ghosts of six children, victims of a serial-killing cult intent on man-made black magic. She has to find who the practitioners are and bring them to justice in order to send the kids to their happy afterlife. She is helped by her boyfriend, Jeremy Danvers, the hunky Alpha werewolf. The loved-up twosome are assisted by another werewolf, witches, demons and ghosts with attitudes.

I adore this series and many characters in Armstrong's previous novels appear in this one, including the daughter of Lucifer, half demon Hope Adams, who is destined to be the heroine of the next novel, "Personal Demon". It isn't necessary to have read the other books in the series to follow events in this book. It is a paranormal story with 'real' characters, a balance of humor and drama, and with a healthy dose of seductive romance. ( )

Loved it! This is scary, super sexy, and Jeremy (leader of the werewolf pack) is WONDERFUL!!! ( )

An interesting mix of genres - paranormal plus suspense plus a little romance. I think I may have read a previous book from this series and, since this was better than average for its type, I'll definitely be looking for others by this particular author. The main character is a supernormal who sees and talks to ghosts and one of the important secondary characters IS a ghost.

Some Kelley Armstrong books I like more than others, depending on the narrator. I like Jamie the necromancer. She's a mature woman of the world. She's funny and, in spite of the supernatural things that happen in the story, her character is very real. The story and charcters were interesting. I like that the ghost Eve is in the story, as well as Jamie's romantic interest -- Jeremy the werewolf -- is in this tale. Great action, romance, supernatural stuff, and spots of humor. ( )

Hollywood psychic Jaime Vegas had been asked to take part in a TV special. What none of the others knew, Jaime was the real thing and during her time in the Brentwood house (rented for production of the special), she discovered several ghosts that left her (the necromancer delegate to the supernatural council) stunned and confused about what had happened to these children. With the help of Jeremy (a werewolf she is attracted to) and Eve (a half-demon ghost), she attempts to free the spirits and find the monsters who could have done this to them.

Book 7 ….. Interesting, the interaction between characters was good, I really liked all of the characters, there are a lot of them too. I am not sure Jaime’s sexual displays were needed, but they were interesting. I may have to read some of the previous books (it may answer a few questions), but the author did a good job of telling enough of the other stories that this can be a stand alone book but I am just the type that once other adventures (like being kidnapped before) are hinted at, I need to know more about them. I will be putting Kelley Armstrong on my tbr (to be read list), but not necessarily on the top. ( )

The 7th book in Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series focuses on necromancer and public spiritualist, Jaime Vegas. Jaime joins a team of spiritualists for a t.v. show attempting to "talk" to Marilyn Monroe. She gets paired with a Brit (who is very similar to a certain psychic on the Travel Channel's Most Haunted. Actually, not sure he is still on there.) and a young newcomer. While on set, Jaime discovers real ghosts and a mystery that only she and her friends in the council can solve.

I really enjoyed this one. I was waiting for Jaime to get her own story. She has always seemed like the weak one comparatively in the other books. Here she gets to be strong and show her abilities more. Plus she finally gets Jeremy on his own and away from his Pack. Leads to some...fun. ( )

Book 7 in Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld. This volume stars one of my favorite of Armstrong's characters, the necromancer Jaime Vegas. She sees ghosts, and makes her living as a medium, traveling the show circuit. She and two other mediums are tapped to do a reality show which is supposed to end by contacting Marilyn Monroe. Meanwhile Jaime is being contacted by ghosts that she can't quite hear or see, and she believes are the ghosts of children, and she determines to understand them and free them from whatever bond is holding them. Meanwhile, her relationship with the Alpha of the wolf pack, Jeremy, becomes the intimate one she dreamed of from when she first met him.

Strong entry in a strong series. ( )

Jamie Vegas, a clairvoyant, actually pretending for television. Is brought to a haunted home that her and others like her are to work together to unravel the past of the home. Jeremy Danver, alpha pack leader, comes to help Jamie when she starts hearing actually voices that it causing problem for her to pretend nothing is actually there. Jamie has been drawn to Jeremy, but without much acknowledgement from Jeremy. Jeremy may have been hiding a few things from Jamie, and she is set to unravel herself. ( )

See Bitten. ( )

Kelley Armstrong is surprisingly hit or miss with me. I loved, loved, loved Bitten but then didn't like her next few books. I figured that I just loved Clay. But then I read this book, and my new conclusion is that when she writes about werewolves, I somehow buy into her books, but when she writes about witches I don't. (don't ask me why...)
So this book is about the alpha werewolf, Jeremy, and Jaime Vegas who has lusted for him from a far for some years now. There is magic and evil and plain stupidity mixed up into it too, with a good mystery, though I always hate the idea of children suffering, and these villains are truly villainous. I enjoyed it and was pleased to find another Armstrong book that I readily liked again.. ( )

Spiritualist and supernatural necromancer Jaime Vegas takes center stage in this the seventh novel in the Women of the Otherworld series. She is participating in a television show called "Death of Innocence", where she and two other human mediums are going to try to contact the spirit of Marilyn Monroe. Upon arriving at the location in Brentwood, Jaime feels the pressure of ghosts trapped between our world and the next.

After some investigating with the help of sexy Alpha werewolf and half-demon ghost Eve, Jaime discovers the spirits belong to children. Humans are doing the unthinkable, sacrificing children to gain supernatural powers. Somehow it seems to be working against all the odds. They enlist the help of half-demon Hope who can sense and is drawn to chaos and try to track down the group responsible via an S&M magical society to murderous consequences.

Jaime is a light-hearted character, but this is a far from light-hearted book. The theme of child sacrifice and strong S&M with bondage will put some readers off. One thing that does distract from the more gruesome scenes is the blossoming relationship between Jaime and Jeremy. She has had a thing for him for the last 4 years and after it seeming like unrequited love things could be different. It was good to read references to lots of other main characters from previous books and see where they are up to with their lives and it will be good to learn more about Hope in future books. Overall, whilst I do enjoy dark books, this one left a lightly bitter taste if I am honest. ( )

Not bad, but pretty slow going. As with the rest of Kelley Armstrong's books, this is internally consistent fantasy - she doesn't play fast with the rules that she has set up for her world. ( )

Jaime Vegas steps into the narrator's shoes for the first time in this book after having appeared as a secondary character in books three to six in the Women of the Otherworld series. On the set of a television special meant to be about contacting the ghost of Marilyn Monroe, Jaime instead finds strange ghosts who seem to have been victims of human sacrifice.

Armstrong continues to show an ability to distinguish the voices of her different first person narrators which surpasses any other author whom I have read. Jaime has been something of a damsel in distress in her previous appearances, and the kind of character to whom you usually want to shout "DON'T GO INTO THE BASEMENT." Yet she is sympathetic and likeable from her own narration, and still recognizable as the same person she was in earlier books, only growing in confidence. Although some say that Jeremy is out of character in this book, I would say that it's a matter of us never having seen him in a sexual situation before. Most of what we knew about Jeremy before this book came through the eyes of Clay and Elena, who see him as a father figure.

I read all of the Women of the Otherworld books, to make sure I am up to date on the lives of all the characters, but I only buy the ones with narrators that I like. I read this book from the library not long ago, and bought it the day that it came out in paperback. ( )

Not a bad book. The plot of the novel was interesting, the conceit behind it clever (and what if they're right? A disturbing notion...), the seduction scene was delightful, and the protagonist's response the final situation-of-mortal-danger was inspired, although the setup for it was perhaps a trifle contrived.

The characterization was fairly good: I did find myself sometimes losing track of who was whom, but I'll lay that down to not having read the rest of the series.

However...

If I'd wanted to read a Laurell K Hamilton book (female necromancer romantically involved with a werewolf in a contemporary urban setting, y'know), I'd have picked up a Laurell K Hamilton book. If the author had found a different set of characteristics for her character, so to speak, or had done it before Ms. Hamilton, I'd be more inclined to read more of this series. ( )

Interesing addition to the series. Jaime Vegas is a necromancer working as a medium. Trying very hard not to expose too much on TV and to anger her co-stars on a program designed to see if they can find out how Marilyn Monroe died. Things don't go to plan and she finds herself embroiled in a trickly murder mystery with supernatural overtones, which brings out several other supernaturals to help. Can she keep her career on track and keep enough of the truth hidden to save the people she cares for?

It's an interesting read but it lost the push to complete it a few times. I found myself dipping in and out of it without any real trouble. It could have been better but it could also have been much worse. ( )

http://rivkat.livejournal.com/173052.... ( )

A book that mainly focusses on Jaime the necromancer and Jeremy and their burgeoning (and finally consummated) relationship.

Set in a TV show set, where they're trying to do a reality TV exposé of fake mediums, unbeknownst to the mediums of course, and not realising they've got the real thing right there.

They find ghosts, but odd ones, tied to a human group trying to do magic.

Fun and games ensue, and the story romps along at a fair pace as usual, but it feels a bit thin this time for some reason. ( )

I've been a fan of Kelley Armstrong since I was in Yamagata, when I read Dime Store Magic. For the most part, she's been very consistent and very good, with compelling characters and twisty but realistic enough plots, along with good dialogue.

She switches her first person narrators around, though, and they're of varying quality. The one for this book, Jaime Vegas, has been around for a while, but has this as her first main novel. Turns out, she's better than Elena (the werewolf who did books 1, 2, and 6), but not as good as Eve (the ghost/witch from book 5) and certainly not as good as Paige (the witch who's the center of 3 and 4). That she still feels like a different character from the previous narrators is nice, though.

Here, there are seances and a ring that seems to be going into sacrificing people, and so having the necromancer front and center does make sense. Like her other books, there're a lot of characters floating around, and I think increasingly, you need to have read the other ones to enjoy them at this point. But the plot is still twisty and fun, and I guessed the wrong culprit; it's always nice when that happens realistically.

The main problem I have with it is that she's gone back to having rather more sexual content; this fit the Jaime character, but I personally feel sorta meh about it. And the love interest character, who's been around for a long time, felt out of character at points to me, mostly to accomodate the love interest plotline. So I felt particularly meh about it, but maybe she'll mesh it in better in later books.

All in all, still the same fun, fast, slightly guilty novel that I expect and enjoy from Armstrong, and definitely better than the last entry in the series. ( )

Even though I read this novel while under the influence of Lortabs, a time when your mind tends to wander all over the place, this book managed to sink its hooks into me and wouldn't let go for the love of god, country, or money - so you know that it must be damned good!

On the set of a TV special, Jaime stumbles upon a garden full of ghosts that can touch her, but cannot speak or be summoned. Puzzled and disturbed, she asks Jeremy to help her investigate. Interrogations of ghosts, skulking about in alleys and sex toy shops, and calling upon help from beyond all ensue, at times to the immense hillarity of the reader.

The process of investigating is a big adventure for them, because neither Jaime or Jeremy have ever been allowed to truly take part in the Council's investigations. Jaime has only been asked for a summoning when needed, and Jeremy has always been too protected by Clay and Elena to do much more than research problems as they come up. This book allows both of them to shine in a way they never would be able to with the other characters around. And the, er, "romance"? Perhaps it was tame, but it was about time that Jeremy got some. ::grins::

Bravo to Ms. Armstrong for another fine novel! ( )

I love this series. A lot. It’s well developed, well-rounded, and well written. The heroines are strong and yet versatile, and the relationships make sense. A very nice series indeed.

This specific book could, if you chose, be read out of order without much confusion. Jaime, the narrator, hasn’t been a huge part of the previous books, and the parts she has played are touched on as good reminders of her background or ways to introduce new readers to her. (I suspect that the format change from paperback to hardback made it a priority that this book be able to support readers who are new to the series.) There are plot points from prior books that will be spoiled if this one is read first, and there are nuances to character that will be missed, but the book should hook new readers as well as old.

As to that hook, it starts off with Jaime preparing for a séance to raise the spirit of Marilyn Monroe and discovering that she’s going to be staying in a house where she’ll be required to eat her meals inches away from a hanged man – only he’s a ghost, so she’s the only one who notices. Jaime is a necromancer, and her powers of being able to see and contact the dead alert her to the presence of half-ghosts in the garden… ghosts which shouldn’t exist in the fashion they do. It’s written with a good blend of humor and substance, romance and action and thought. This is possibly my second favorite book in the series, possibly my third fav. But it’s definitely near the top of the series, and comes with high praise from me. ( )