Kindred Spirits

Nethercott Tales #2

by Jocelyn Kelley

The Nethercott sisters - China, Jade, and Sian - recently lost their beloved father., who believed in ghosts with all his heart. So when China sees her first one, she realizes the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree...

On her way home, China is dumbfounded to find a man in a Roman centurion’s garb. So Quintus Valerius explains: he’s a ghost cursed to remain on earth until he can save one of his descendants from murder. Thus far his work has been in vain, but this time the Roman spirit has a plan.

Quintus has a plan. He’ll cause an injury to Alexander, Major Lord Braddock, so China might keep him from his murderer. Tending the patient’s wounds proves nigh impossible. Alexander refuses to stay put—and she can’t keep from thinking about her handsome war hero in some very improper ways. But Quintus forgot to mention the second half of the curse, and China’s destiny may be tied to Alexander’s - to the death...

Genres: Romance, Historical

294 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 4, 2008

About the author

In spite of being raised to play well with others, Jocelyn Kelley has always believed every woman needs to kick some butt sometimes. She learned this in third grade when the boys played soldiers and tried to relegate her to a non-combatant role. Soon she was taking the hill (or at least the playground tree) with them. Her assumption that women could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with men continued when she was offered a Direct Commission to the US Army and served as the first and only woman in her unit.

Jocelyn's been writing “stories” all her life, and, when she decided to write for publication, she wanted to write what she read – historical romance. Why historicals? She explains it as, “I want my heroine to be able to pick up a weapon and use it without having to fill out reams of paperwork as she would in contemporary times. She might not use that weapon, but I want to give her the option to do so.” In other words, a kick-butt heroine.

She found the kick-butt heroines she wanted to write with The Ladies of St. Jude's Abbey series that came to life in her mind while she was walking through Times Square in NYC, Since then, she's written four books in the series. In July 2007, she begins a new series – The Nethercott Tales – the stories of the three Nethercott sisters, who in Regency England are trying to prove that their father's lifelong search for ghosts wasn't in vain. But they never expect that the ghosts will help them stop a murderer or end a thousand year old curse.

In her non-writing life, Jocelyn loves to travel and enjoys music. She was a soloist with a local group of Up With People, but limits her singing now to when nobody else is around.

She lives in Massachusetts with her husband and three children.

Reviews

[Kit★ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is definitely more like 3.5 stars, not just a mere 3 stars, but until we have a way of rating with half stars here on GR, I'll just have to make do. This was a pretty good story, well-paced with good action, a mystery, a ghost, and of course, a love story. I didn't realize when I bought it that it was part of a series, so I'd really like to read the other two, as well as check out other work by this author. China and Alexander were both bright, relatively happy and normal people, both likable and nice, and of course, good-looking. A ghost appears to China, telling her that she has to save the life of his descendant, Alexander. Of course, Alex can't see the ghost, so at first he thinks China is making things up. She brings him back to her house, a beautiful castle on the moors, and sets herself as his defender until the day of danger has passed. If she can keep him alive until then, the curse on the ghost and his descendants will be lifted, and all will be well. Alex finds himself strongly attracted to this beautiful girl who has saved his life, and as the time passes, they grow as friends, and eventually into passion. Meanwhile, China's sister has invited some people to the castle, a viscount who doesn't get along well with Alex, as well as his fiancee Lady Viola, and her cousin/companion. These people add some drama to the mix, and also serve as possible villians as well as (to me anyways) a little comic relief. Throw in some other locals, both nice and not-nice, a yapping dog, more than a couple of attempts to kill our hero and heroine, as well as all the mysterious happenings, and you've got the recipe for this entertaining read. The only thing keeping me from giving this the full four stars is the fact that the relationship between Alex and China seemed almost too easy. That and the fact that I would've liked more background info on Quintus' curse, and the mysterious giant that roamed the moors was a bit of a let-down, all the build-up, he came and scared people, and his shadow was seen stalking around, then that was it, no more about him, no real good info on what he was or nothing. So, all in all, it was good, entertaining, just as I was wanting it to be, and a good first try at a new-to-me author. I repeat, 3.5 stars not just 3.

[LadyAileen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anime Gemelle è un romanzo rosa storico con un tocco di paranormale che fa parte della trilogia Nethercott Tales, chiamata così perché le protagoniste sono le sorelle Nethercott. In ogni libro una sorella avrà a che fare con un fantasma e troverà il vero amore. In Italia purtroppo è stato pubblicato solo il secondo volume ovvero Anime Gemelle.
Nonostante sia il secondo, si legge tranquillamente senza alcun problema. In questo volume facciamo la conoscenza di China, una donna che incontra il fantasma di Quintus Valerius, un antico centurione romano che le chiede di aiutarlo a salvare l'ultimo discendente dalla maledizione che lo vuole destinato a morire o impazzire a trent'anni.
La storia è carina, ha un buon ritmo e con la giusta dose di azione e mistero. Quando ho iniziato a leggerlo avevo divementicato che faceva parte di una serie e sinceramente non mi dispiacerebbe leggere gli altri due.
I due protagonisti risultano simpatici di base, solo che avrei preferito un rapporto più conflittuale, invece tra loro è tutto troppo facile. Anche la maledizione viene spiegata ma forse poteva avere più spazio e approfondita di più.
Probabilmente la parte più intrigante è la prima poi si perde un po'.
Lettura leggera ma non tra i migliori di quest'autrice.

[Elena Micheli · Rating 3 out of 5]

carino

[Sandy M · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve never really looked at myself as a mood reader. But maybe I am. I picked this book up a number of months ago. I apparently got as far as Chapter 4, laid the book down, and never went back to it. Until now. I don’t remember now why I never picked it up again, and that actually puzzles me. This time around I stuck with it and really enjoyed the book. Hmmm. Guess I could be a moody reader now and again.

China Nethercott is about to meet her first ghost, one of which her late father had believed in until society thought him a quack. Her ghost is an ancient Roman soldier who had been cursed just before he died centuries before, thus all first born sons of first born sons have died on their thirtieth birthdays through the years. Quintus Valerius has roamed the earth looking for someone to break that curse so that he may rest in peace and his decedents may enjoy longer life.

Taking her mission to heart once she meets Alexander Braddock, she has to keep him safe only a couple of weeks and her good deed will be done. She never expected her feelings for the man would turn into love, and now keeping Alex alive is more important than ever. Suddenly, however, it seems she’s fighting more ghosts and unwanted guests, all of whom seem to want to harm Alexander. A nonbeliever, Alex is taken with China despite this anomaly in her character. But as more and more unexplained things happen around them, he’s forced to re-examine his beliefs and take a more active role in keeping himself alive.

I enjoyed these two characters quite a bit. Alex is a military man, straightforward in all dealings, even with China when it comes to loving her. When faced with the truth of her ability, he never hesitates once that ability is proven to him. China herself is a very strong character and complements Alex nicely. The secondary characters are well done, even those annoying ones who wear out their welcome.

In fact, I enjoyed this one enough that I will be pulling the first in the series out of the TBR pile when I come across it and purchasing the third book when it’s released next month. I’d like to see what Ms. Kelley has in store for China’s sisters.

See my complete review at http://www.goodbadandunread.com

[Lexie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prior knowledge of the first book, Lost in Shadow, isn’t really needed for this book. Any important information regarding Jade’s adventure is relayed and doesn’t really impact this story at any rate.

I enjoyed this book much moreso then first, but not for the romance. It started out quite promising, but it seemed somewhere in the middle that China just…gave up and gave in. She went from thinking that it was entirely wrong for her to be so intimate with the Major to succumbing and agreeing to a night time meeting! Then also very little was spoken between the two about love or even what their future held. Admittedly China was laboring to keep him alive and the Major was being a pain in the butt, but I would have thought once he began to believe her something would have been said.

The mystery for this book was no less interesting then in the first and even added in some Old Magic problems that both made no sense at all and seemed almost irrelevant. An Old God had a grudge against Quintus so it terrorized a countryside in England to get to his descendants? That part left me confused and I did my best to ignore it.

Who was presenting a very real and very human problem however was up in the air for much of the book and I was pleased with the ending.

In the end while I enjoyed this book, it left me very confused on some (supposedly) important plot points.

[Julie (jjmachshev) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book extremely hard to follow, very disjointed. It could have been a good story, but was just exhausting to read.