Sandy Wolters

This book had a promising start. A bank robber is shot dead by FBI Special Agent, Pilar Campos. The dead man's brother, Boone, vows the ultimate revenge – her death: a life for a life. She is then forced into hiding until such time her safety can be guaranteed. Her boss decides that the ranch belonging to her working partner's brother, Amos, would be the perfect hideout, but Pilar is, independent, argumentative, feisty and not always compliant and somewhat irregular methods have to be adopted in order to get her to the ranch. Once there, despite her annoyance at her abduction (however well-intentioned), she finds herself becoming endeared to her new environment and beloved by all on the ranch; not only is she smart and spunky, but she has an uncanny knack of being able to be 'communicate' with the four-legged residents of the ranch. Beloved by all, however, except Amos himself…….at first.

The story had good components, but I felt the proportion allotted to the somewhat predictable love-hate relationship between Pilar and Amos was greater than it needed to be; I was waiting for the action surrounding the contract on her life by the brother of the man she killed and his attempts to find her, but the drama was rather hurriedly condensed into the last 15-20% of the book and Pilar's reaction to the revenge taken by Boone was not what I would have expected after those nearest, and most definitely dearest, to her were targeted by him.

There were some slightly distracting changes of tense in parts of the story, along with random changes of POV that added to the inconsistency.

I did however like the characters – they were diverse, well-conceived and the balance between the good, the bad, the genial and good-hearted was just right. My instinct however was to get a spoon and stir the novel up a bit to reduce the spicy concentration and add more boil and bubble!… (plus d'informations)

This book started out really powerfully, and well-paced. A few chapters in, (around the time of the art show) the pace suddenly deadens. The story loses a lot of the energy that was built up, and I immediately disliked Jared. It's hard to connect with a guy who starts off as so toxic. I loved Jody, and I feel like this would have been a much better story if it had stuck to Jody trying to help Fiona. Wolters is good at conveying emotions, but I really wish the momentum had been maintained throughout the story. I really had to push myself to finish it.… (plus d'informations)

🌟🌟🌟🌟STARS .
I loved this so much, Troubled Spirits (Spirit Voices #1) by Sandy Wolters snuck up and took me completely by surprise.
This is actually meant to tell the story of Jody and Jared, but for me, it was equally little Fiona's tale.
And what a little strong-willed adorable poppet she came across as, but I digress, let me start at the very beginning here.
So we have Jody who sees ghosts, has done all of her life and one night while sleeping she is awakened by the sobs of a little girl, Fiona.
Fiona wants Jody to contact her parents for her, in fact, she is extremely insistent.
Jody herself knows that the only way to get the little girl to move on is to comply with her request and as each visit from Fiona leeches the energy from herself she needs to be quick with this.
The only problem is Fiona is a little girl and as such has limited information on her past.
So fast forward a little bit and Jody is attending the opening of one of her best friends Art Show, here she gets to meet the very dynamic but cynical and closed off Jared a PI in business with her other childhood friend.
After some unbelievable convincing, Jared taken and besotted at first sight with Jody agrees to help her locate the child's parents.
So that's the main gist of troubled spirits.
Not an amazingly original concept right?
wrong!!!
What makes Troubled Spirits so epic is the sheer emotion it manages to convey to the reader.
Originally upon starting this I worried the writing style and myself would have issues adhering, we so didn't, cannot express just how much I fell in love with these simple yet amazingly complex individuals.
And in my opinion, this is mostly due to the lyrical prose of the author, where each word conveyed by her packed such a poignant and emotive sentiment behind them, a brilliant talent all by itself.
Troubled Spirits was for me more plot-driven than normal romantic fiction.
It gave the impression that the romance was a secondary concern.
And I found this a very refreshing concept indeed.
If I had to give a comparison to compare this to, the TV show Medium springs to mind, in as much as it also portrayed the ghosts as real people to talk to. such a fascinating subject to read about.
Although the plot with this moved at quite a slow pace, it had no trouble keeping me enthralled throughout.
sometimes simple just works, it also says to me that the author has no need of plot gimmicks to hold its reader, so bravo Sandy Wolters, I am suitably impressed indeed.
So its safe to say I have no trouble recommending this to others Troubled Spirits was a breath of fresh air that kept me captivated to the very end.
I received a free Readers copy of this book of which I have reviewed voluntary.
All opinions expressed are entirely my own.
Hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm
https://www.facebook.com/beckiebookworm/
www.beckiebookworm.com… (plus d'informations)