Rachel Medhurst

Shallow and clichée-ridden.

Especially towards the end, this book gets so cheesy, corny and cringe-worthy I couldn't take it anymore. I dropped around 90%.
Everything in regards to relationships just happens too fast. People become best friends that trust each other with their dark secrets within days. And it's not a unique case of particularly good chemistry either. It happens left and right.
It's just shallow in the extreme which makes everything that is supposed to be emotionally poignant show more just feel cheap, undeserved, and uncomfortable.

The only redeeming aspect to me is the humour of this book. It's somewhat juvenile sometimes but in a self-aware kind of way that felt very refreshing and made me laugh out loud unexpectedly repeatedly.
Sadly there isn't much beyond that to keep my interest.

Even though it's clearly not YA it has strong coming-of-age vibes and also carries the same flaws as bad YA of that sort does. It felt very contrived just to convey the intended message in a very preachy, YA kind of way in places.

I don't recommend it. show less

I just love love love Gemma she is not only a kick ar$e Agent but also a book nerd and socially awkward yet she totally owns it. Things start to go sideways for her after trying to grab a guy she had been watching and now she is kind alive but kind dead and doesn't know how to deal with it, We get to see her go through the emotions of whats happening as well as get to know her team of Dave her desk friend, Jake the wolf shifter and Kate the seerer. There is plenty of mystery, twists and some show more good lol moments while Gemma and the team work their current case as well as Gemma find out whats actually going on with her. You will be hooked from the get go and gutted when you get to the end because you are left going noooo I need more! show less

I adored the concept of this novel, the way it was written and the characters created. The idea of guides to the afterlife is not an uncommon theme. Medhurst sets the theme apart by creating a detailed “Deadline” world. Her spirits are still very much in touch with their earthly emotions and bound to their earthly loved ones. They’ve no control over the assignments they receive so when word comes down that Danny’s wife has reached her deadline, his friends know it will be a very show more difficult transition.

Medhurst seems to use the scenes to show the humanity of the characters. We learn as much about Charlie in the scene in which he's watching a woman bathe and then witnesses and altercation as we do most characters in the space of a novel.

When the bad guy writes in a notebook the method of Mia’s passing, that might be a little much. By that point in the novel I simply didn’t care. I was so focused on following these characters and finding out what happened next that if the bad guy had rented a billboard and posted the way in which he was supposed to kill Mia I would have said, “Yeah, that sounds right.”

The ending is brilliantly handled and the novel is engaging throughout. Every in the line of business conversation was worth reading and I did not notice any errors in pacing or of a technical nature that hindered the enjoyment of the work. I would love to read more of this world and these compelling characters though I do not know if Medhurst has planned subsequent works. show less

This read like a really bad Draco Malfoy x Original Character fanfiction, it almost rivals My Immortal. That’s kinda a compliment, maybe?

First off, the names. Starting with Dracien Dread. DRACIEN DREAD. Who names their kid Dracien?? A Draco kinnie? Dear God, this name drove me insane for the entire book. I laughed each time I saw this name, my bad I suppose, but what did you expect? And don’t get me started on someone with a badass first name like A-LEESH-EE-AH, and the most boring last show more name ever, Jones (no offense to all my Joneses out there). The perfect setup for a pick-me girl.

Secondly, the writing. I went into this not expecting anything special since this book was free on Amazon Kindle, and because of this I wasn’t as disappointed as I thought I would be. I was surprised, though, to find that this was not this author’s first published book. This author has published over five book series before this and the writing was THAT BAD?? Yikes... this just makes me nervous to read this author’s other books.

Finally, this story in itself, which was mediocre at best. Let me start off by saying I love witches. Scarlet Witch is in my top five favorite superheroes, and I grew up watching Charmed reruns. I was excited to read a story about witches, but it was so lacking in everything. The plot was everywhere, the pacing was off at multiple points, and the ending was very confusing.

Overall, this was just so meh. At least this was a quick read. show less