chez_jae: (Books)
Occult and Battery (Bay Island Psychic Mysteries #2)Occult and Battery by Lena Gregory

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Wednesday night I finished reading Occult and Battery by Lena Gregory. It's the second book in the "Bay Island Psychic" mystery series. Story is told in third person pov from the perspective of the main character, Cass Donovan. Cass is a former psychiatrist who uses her training to "read" people as a psychic.

Cass has barely gotten her psychic shop, Mystic Musings, off the ground when winter hits Bay Island. With tourists in short supply, she's hoping to draw in more customers and business by hosting a seance and group reading at an allegedly haunted local mansion. The new owners plan to turn the mansion into a bed and breakfast, and they are eager for the publicity the weekend will bring. Cass' excitement about the weekend fades when her ex-husband, Donald, shows up along with his new fiancee...who also happens to be Cass' former best friend. Nevertheless, her staunch friends, Stephanie and Bee, are there to keep her spirits up.

The seance is going well until a winter storm knocks the electricity out, and one of the owners of the mansion is found hanging in the cupola. While his death appears to be suicide, Cass believes he was murdered. When someone comes to Cass and asks her to contact the victim and later ends up dead as well, it seems that the killer thinks Cass may know more than she does. Now she needs to avoid a killer and solve the murders before anyone else ends up dead.

The story was interesting. I liked it better than the first one in the series. I especially like that Cass appears to possess some actual psychic abilities, although she is in denial. Bee is an absolute hoot, and I admire how Stephanie always has Cass' back. I would have enjoyed the story more, however, if my logic-brain hadn't kicked in.

Spoilers )

Favorite line: "Nice to know you guys were going to leave me here alone."
Lame, but nothing else really jumped out at me.

Characters were well-developed, including Cass' odious exes, and the plot moved along at a good tempo. In spite of my grievances with the less-than-logical aspects, I'm giving this one a four.
chez_jae: (Books)
Since I didn't have to get up early today, I stayed up last night to finish Death at First Sight by Lena Gregory. It's the first installment in the "Bay Island Psychic" mystery series.

Cass Donovan closed her psychiatric practice in New York and returned home to Bay Island to open a mystical gift shop, where she uses her skills and intuition to provide psychic readings. Cass herself doesn't believe she's truly psychic, but when a young local woman comes for a reading, Cass sees a shadow pass over her crystal ball. The only other time she saw such a shadow, it led to a death. Cass doesn't want to alarm Ellie, so she doesn't mention it. Later, Ellie's mother confronts Cass in the local deli and rants at her for giving Ellie a reading. When Cass finds the woman dead the following morning, she becomes the prime suspect in her murder.

Cass finds herself doing a sideline investigation of the murder to clear her name, trying to help her friend Bee with his annual fashion show, track down Ellie to warn her, and deal with her attraction to the stranger in town.

The story was fast-paced, but I swear, Cass is one of the dumbest heroines I've come across in a long time. She suspected Ellie's cheating husband of murdering the mother, and when Jay calls her in a panic at 3am and asks her to meet him out by the deserted lighthouse, because he can tell her who the killer really is, SHE AGREED TO MEET WITH HIM. Mind you, this was after HE CAME TO HER SHOP AND THREATENED HER.

*head desk*

There wasn't a lot of depth to Cass' character, at least not in this first book. I liked her friend Bee, along with her married friends, Stephanie and Tank. However, it sure seemed that Stephanie spent more time with Cass and Bee than she did with her husband. I didn't like that Cass couldn't seem to focus on anything whenever Luke was around.

Favorite line: A voice as sinful as his deserved the looks to go with it.

Very average, average rating:

***

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