I had thought to read this series from the beginning, but when I got approved for this one on NetGalley did I change my plans. Sure, there is always the risk of not getting into the story when you decide to not start from the beginning. But, I'm glad to say that I had no problems with this book.

First, I want to say that I really love the cover for this book. The ominous single gravestone speaks to me. Well, not in the way that it speaks to Amelia Gray, but then again she's a cemetery restorer who sees the dead. In this book, is it the ghost of a child that haunts her as she works to restore Woodbine Cemetery. Who is the child and who could have killed her? Amelia also has to deal with her ex-boyfriend John Devlin who earlier didn't want anything to with his family expectations, but now seems to have decided to accept his birthright. Could he now be a danger to Amelia and her secret about seeing ghosts?

The Awakening is an interesting book. Now, the case with the dead child ghost is not that mysterious or surprising. But, I enjoyed reading about how Amelia investigates the little girl's death, and the connection it seems to have to her own family. Speaking of her family, I was intrigued by the fact that Amelia's birth mother died while she was still pregnant and that it's a miracle that Amelia was born at all. I'm very curious about her family. Everything concerning her family and the past was really interesting and I seriously need to read the previous books so that I can learn more. I wonder if that's not the thing I liked the most about the book was Amelia, her gift, and her family. The case in itself was not the most interesting things, it's rather everything around it intrigued me. I liked that the ghost child case did reveal things about the past, and that through the dead child did Amelia learn more about certain things that I can't write about without spoiling the book. It's a good book, and I love the ending!

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review! ( )

I had thought to read this series from the beginning, but when I got approved for this one on NetGalley did I change my plans. Sure, there is always the risk of not getting into the story when you decide to not start from the beginning. But, I'm glad to say that I had no problems with this book.

First, I want to say that I really love the cover for this book. The ominous single gravestone speaks to me. Well, not in the way that it speaks to Amelia Gray, but then again she's a cemetery restorer who sees the dead. In this book, is it the ghost of a child that haunts her as she works to restore Woodbine Cemetery. Who is the child and who could have killed her? Amelia also has to deal with her ex-boyfriend John Devlin who earlier didn't want anything to with his family expectations, but now seems to have decided to accept his birthright. Could he now be a danger to Amelia and her secret about seeing ghosts?

The Awakening is an interesting book. Now, the case with the dead child ghost is not that mysterious or surprising. But, I enjoyed reading about how Amelia investigates the little girl's death, and the connection it seems to have to her own family. Speaking of her family, I was intrigued by the fact that Amelia's birth mother died while she was still pregnant and that it's a miracle that Amelia was born at all. I'm very curious about her family. Everything concerning her family and the past was really interesting and I seriously need to read the previous books so that I can learn more. I wonder if that's not the thing I liked the most about the book was Amelia, her gift, and her family. The case in itself was not the most interesting things, it's rather everything around it intrigued me. I liked that the ghost child case did reveal things about the past, and that through the dead child did Amelia learn more about certain things that I can't write about without spoiling the book. It's a good book, and I love the ending!

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review! ( )

A entertaining addition to the Graveyard Queen series. ( )

A very good ending to the series. ( )

I discovered author Amanda Stevens when editor J.T. Ellison asked a group of thirteen authors to contribute a southern gothic short story, based on a photograph of a dilapidated house, to the book, Dead Ends. Amanda Steven’s story leaped off the pages for one significant reason: her writing is reminiscent of what I know as British phrasing, that fluid, conversational manner in which Daphne Du Maurier, for example, lulled her readers in her world-class novel, Rebecca. I don’t come across this captivating style of writing often. There’s an intelligent beauty to it, and Amanda Stevens wields it seemingly effortlessly. I looked further into author Amanda Stevens, discovered fifteen novels, and randomly chose The Awakening. I am glad I did.
Set in historic Charleston, South Carolina, The Awakening opens in Woodbine Cemetery, a hidden and forgotten burial ground, of which narrator, Amelia Gray, is commissioned to restore. Already the reader is poised to look over their shoulder. That the narrator speaks in a tone matter of fact prepares them for something unusual, though they immediately accept the premise as a matter of course. It is the fall, the wind rustles tree limbs overhead, the air is chilling, and Amelia Gray is an intuitive who sees the dead.
The Awakening is a mystery wrapped in a ghost story. Amelia discovers an unnamed baby’s grave in Woodbine Cemetery, sees the ghost of a child, and the story takes off in a dynamic suspenseful, surprising, and au courant. Because Amelia Gray is rebounding from her unresolved, broken love affair with dark and handsome John Devlin, a compelling romance tugs at its middle, and elements of the heroine’s journey string us along. This story has everything to keep the reader turning its pages: an eerie setting, a compelling backstory, an intriguing love interest, and, most important to me, a narrator that lets the reader know what she is thinking as events heighten to a hair-raising collide, and hidden elements come to light.
I recommend this expertly paced and crafted book because, to me, it defies genre. It is everything riveting, written in language so uncommonly beautiful I looked forward each night to returning to its burning pages. ( )