Ghost House: Book One

by Dani R.R. Hermit (Writing as)

Ghost House: Book One
A Parliament of Twilight novel

Jacob & Brodie star in Ghost House, exorcising demons for fun & profit. Too bad they don’t just play exorcists on TV.
Jacob is a former exorcism Agent for The Parliament of Twilight. Now he’s the star of Ghost House, another of those creepy ghost-hunting in quaint little towns kinda shows. He “exorcises” the ghosts & demons infesting the house, which are really big special effects and well-timed scares. It's not moral, but everybody goes home happy & the viewers are excited.
Brodie is Jacob's new co-host. He used to star on his own show about “spiritual redecorating” or something like that. He’s adorable, fluffy and everyone on the show loves him. Of course Jacob immediately hates him.
The boys are just getting to know each other & work out the kinks in their new partnership when an ominous letter arrives. Apparently Jacob might not be as retired as he thought.

Genres: Horror, Paranormal, M M Romance, Erotica

234 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2013

Reviews

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ghost House ( Book 1 ) by Dani R. R. Hermit

I received this book in exchange for an honest review by the Author and the “Lovers of Paranormal” Group on Goodreads.com
This is a brilliant and gruesomely twisted book. It has well crafted elements of eroticism, horror, mystery and magic. The plot is excellent, and very well thought out. The style of writing is rich and descriptive and flows well, making the book an easy read. The characters are well described and you will find yourself having a love / hate relationship with them. This book is a real page turner that will have you hooked until the very end. If you love books with a Supernatural theme or Ghost Adventures this book is for you, but I warm you this book is not for the faint hearted. I loved it and found it to be a fantastic read that kept me awake listening for thing that go bump in the night. I will definitely be looking for more of this authors work.
Thanks goes to the Author and Carrie ( the LOP Book Fairy ) for allowing me the oppertunity to read this book.

[Veronica of V's Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review via Goodreads' Don't Buy My Love program.

Jacob Kreuz is an exorcist. He was born into a family with an ancient bloodline and aptitude for this paranormal activity. Years ago he worked for the Parliament of Twilight as a professional exorcist, but now he stars in a "reality" show of fake ghost house exorcisms.

This book has a serious disclaimer. It should be heeded.

Brodie is brought onto Jacob's show as a sidekick. While Brodie has some paranormal ability--he can see lesser energy sprites and grumblies--his soul is too pure to perceive the evil Jacob regularly witnesses. Brodie idolizes Jacob! at first! and seeks first approval, then respect. He receives neither, for a large part of the novel. Though Jacob is attracted to Brodie, he holds him separate, recognizing that any interaction between them will only sully Brodie's pure soul.

No, Jacob would rather interact with the depraved twin producers of his show, Dorian and Adrian. There arena couple scenes of their twincest, that bear some heat...

On the site of their newest house investigation, Brodie charges in against Jacob's expressed admonition and becomes the center of a demon feeding frenzy. It is only through Jacob's intervention that Brodie is saved. Of course, Brodie must be purified, and the process isn't exactly pleasant.

Jacob is supposed to keep watch over Brodie to ensure he is not further attacked, but he departs for a night of debauchery with Dorian. Meanwhile, a demon does prey on the unattended, incapacitated Brodie. This sets into motion the climax which is brutal and deadly.

I'm never really a fan of books where the one character I liked is brutalized. Jacob is barely sympathetic. He's had a rough go of things, sure, but he is so wholly selfish I really struggled to connect to his character. Further, it seemed every decision he made was wrong. None of the characters, excepting Brodie, held any appeal for me at all.

I struggled greatly with the head-hopping point-of-view. In a scene with six characters, sharing all of their thoughts is too busy, particularly when they are all men, and all scheming on one or another of the party. It completely took me out of the scene--forcing me to re-read to understand who was saying what, and who was thinking what, and what the heck was happening. Additionally, this book could use some clean-up in terms of misspellings and grammar. The book is designed to have a sequel, and its ending is a pseudo-cliffhanger. I'm not sure I'm up for the second book.

[Christy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the first book by these authors I have read. I thought it sounded interesting as I do like paranormal and a story about ghosts, exorcisms, and a shadow society sounded like a whole lot of fun. The plot was a really good one and, for the most part, the writing kept me entertained and focused on the story.

Jacob is quite a unique character. On one hand he could be the most horrible, arrogant, entitled jerk I've ever seen. On the other hand he's a middle-aged man with some seriously horrifying events in his past that have shaped not only what he reveals of himself to others, but how close he allows anyone to get to him emotionally. He's an honest-to-goodness Exorcist who used to be an Agent for the Parliament of Twilight, a behind the scenes shadow society who deals with ghosts, demons, and paranormals of all kinds.

Brodie is young, innocent, sweet, and has a bit of psychic ability. He has been hired to be Jacob's sidekick on his show. You can imagine how Brodie feels when he discovers his idol is a fraud and the show is a fake. But when the mysterious letter arrives and Brodie is thrust into serious danger, he demands to know the truth about Jacob. Of course, Jacob being the giant jerk that he is, plays it all off and then leaves Brodie to go have fun! Oh he is annoying!

This was an interesting book and I did like the plot. I had some difficulties a few times with Jacob's incomprehensible selfishness and Brodie's equally unimaginable naïveté. The paranormal aspects were written well although rather gruesome in some parts and a little more background into the Parliament would have been illuminating. Overall it was a decent story and if you enjoy the things that go bump in the night along with some very interesting characters, blood, serious humiliation and redemption, then this might be for you.

NOTE: This book was provided by the authors for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.

[Lee Winterbourne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second outing from the Authors who brought us Monster. Although set in the same universe, Ghost House is far different fare. It's in the authors' vein of supernatural m/m erotica, but Ghost House is erotic horror and it lives up to that description in spades. Jacob, the main character, is a TV show host who"exorcises" fake hauntings for the camera. Brodie, his unasked-for assistant, has some genuine minor suprnatural talent and idolizes both Jacob and his work. But both have their secrets; I won't mention Brodie's, but Jacob's is that he wasonce a real exorcist dealing with real ghosts and demons. Jacob, jaded by his past, tries to immerse himself in booze and empty sexual encounters. Brodie expresses growing concern over Jacob despite the man's bad treatment of him. Pulling the show's strings are the members of Wolf productions. Al of thse characters seem to have little care for the safety of their assets, except for the show's wardrobe designer, the delightful Qentin, whom we learn was once Jacob's mentor in hunting real demons.

A real demon does arise to challenge the pair, and the consequences are horrific, heartbreaking, and a true revelation for Jacob. Come for the erotica, by all means, but please stay for the mystery, the well-crafted magical system, and your own curiosity's sake. Though this book is certainly not for the squeamish, by entering this world you will want to know more. This book has heat, intensity, true moments of terror, and most of all, characters that urge the reader to explore more deeply. Long live the Parliament of Twilight series!

[Dani Hermit]

This book was our first attempt at NaNoWriMo, and while we failed fabulously at getting in completed in a month, it never left us. It was a joy to write, and a challenge. But it also was the first appearance of the Parliament of Twilight. It was during the work on Ghost House that we finally found the thread to connect our worlds together. And what better way to draw in all the different characters we had created at that time than to use a quasi-evil secret organization?

Jacob has proven to be a challenge to write. He's not easy to like, being as he might be the biggest d-bag in all of the Parliament series. But there is a tenderness in him that Brodie brings out, just a glimmer of hope that he can be redeemed. But keeping that hope at just glimmer level is not easy when writing a story that, in the end, is supposed to be a love story.

While it is something like choosing between your children, I do think that Ghost House is my personal favorite among the three main series of the Parliament of Twilight.

[William O'Brien · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imaginative and bizarre

Ghost House: Book One (Volume 1) by Dani R.R. Hermit and Nevi Star

I was given a copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Ghost House: Book One (Volume 1) is the second work I have read from the authors and it met all expectations.

The twisted but brilliant imagination of these writer's works are superb- the paranormal aspect will grab most fans of the genre and anyone that enjoys the strange and erotica.

Demons come out to play and magic is in the mix with exorcisms and the well-defined characters.

There is an odd worrying sense of realism to the crazy events. Blood, gore and deranged thoughts, wonderful!

I must add that I love all the cover images... fantastic!

An imaginative and bizarre 5*****

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

WARNING: This book contains violence, torture, gore, rape and twincist. This is NOT a romance, but it is an erotic ghost thriller.

Ghost House centers around Jacob. He is the star of a popular reality ghost hunter show called Ghost House. He plays an exorcist on the show but in reality he is a true and trained exorcist who use to work for a secret organization called the Parliament of Twilight. The producers of the show decided to give Jacob a sidekick, which is the innocent and good hearted Brody. Brody can read people’s auras and is devastated to learn that his idle is a fake. He soon learns the truth when he encounters evil spirits in a house they were shooting out. Now Brody is thrust in Jacob’s former world, one Jacob has been avoiding for the last 5 years. Can Jacob save Brody from the demon after him and can Brody save Jacob from the half life he was leading.

Overall I really enjoyed the book. The storyline was intriguing and kept my attention the entire time. I did enjoy both MCs: Jacob and Brody. Yes, Jacob is an ass 99.9% of the time, but due to his past one can understand why he has cut himself off from caring about anyone or anything besides himself. I said I understood his reason, not that I liked it, but his mean behavior did not make me dislike his character. Brody is hard not to love. He is sweet, but not a total pushover. He truly cares about Jacob’s well being and wants to help him. He is a bit naive at times and I would have liked him to be a little more tougher, but his gentle nature won me over.

Though I liked the book, there were several things I didn’t like. The point of view changed often, sometimes even in the middle of the paragraph. This cause me to get confused often. Also, I did not like the secondary characters. They were an odd bunch, but since this is the first in a series, hopefully the other books will shed some more light on them. Finally, the ending did not endear me to this book. The book ends at the climax of the story. You are reading then….BAM, it’s over. It was definitely a WTF moment.

I would read more in this series because the authors captured my attention.

[Kerry Adrienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given a free copy of this book by the author on the M/M group DBML for review.

I was drawn to this book by both the cover and the description. I've not really read much erotic horror, and I certainly would never mark a book down in a review for having exactly the warnings mentioned in the WARNINGS.

Jacob is a complex and impossible to like character. I actually liked that about him. I don't think every character I read about has to be sunshine happy and likable, but I do want a strong, interesting character who is consistent in his choices. Jacob is. He does grow in the book--maybe not the way I would like or expect, but he's not my character. Kudos to the author/s.

Brodie, on the other hand, was more difficult for me to connect to. I found him more of a mirror to Jacob--more of a vessel, not a character himself. He wasn't as interesting to me.

The plot meandered a little, but that was okay with me because I found the world to be skewed and topsy turvy in a bizarre way that fit with the characters. I didn't like the too-often POV shifts--it took the funhouse ride a step too far and often pushed me out of the story. That's a personal thing, and I'm sure for others it was fine (or worse). As an editor, I would caution the authors to take care with the use of too many exclamation points (also too many question marks)--they become diluted with overuse.

Overall, the creativity of this book outweighed the mechanical issues for me.

[Bookjunkie12 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was given a free copy of this book by the author for an honest review.

Rating more like 2.5 stars

Ok the reason for my rating might be a little shallow...there was no HEA! And there is no second book available yet for me to figure out what happened after the end ugh! And yeah the MC's I barely liked Jacob's an ass and Brodie's an idiot. I expected more from Brodie and I wanted Jacob to get his act together. And the POV would change unexpectedly every couple of paragraphs which was a little confusing for me.

The book starts with a really hot sex scene and the story starts to build pretty well. Then it kinda fell off for me. I thought the mentioning of Brodie's small talents would translate to something BIG within the story but it doesn't. Brodie is the guy in a horror movies that you scream "Don't go in there" to knowing they are going to go anyway. Jacob comes around a little towards the end but not enough and just a little late. He spends more time trying to escape his past through drugs and sex that he can't pay attention to the present danger out to get him.

I did enjoy the horror in this story and the sex was pretty hot but I wasn't happy with the ending. But because my curiosity usually gets the best of me when the second book comes out I will get it because I have to know!

[Tiffany (BookAndCoffeeAddict) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the plot, I liked the characters, I liked the backstory, and I liked The Parliament of Twilight idea – I liked almost everything about this book until the last 20%.

This book starts out on the debauched/naughty side and ends on the gruesome side – I was NOT expecting the level of gruesome to be so extreme and I was pretty shocked (I’m not going to lie; I had to skim some parts). The interactions between Jacob and Brodie were great; I loved how their personalities played off each other. Jacob has been through some stuff in his life, some bad bad stuff, so I understood why he was the way he was (he is not a good person, living a very selfish and debauched lifestyle). I really liked Brodie, I thought he was cute and sweet and just an all-around a great character – which only added to my shock and horror towards the end of the book.

I have no complaints about the writing style, characterizations, or world-building in this book. The sum of my dislike extends completely from my personal tastes and how they differed from the direction this book took in those last few chapters. If someone is into erotic horror, then this book is right up there alley, but it just wasn't for me.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review (LoP or Lovers of Paranormal)

[R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not since Blue’s “Bay City Paranormal Investigation” series has a M/M Paranormal/Urban Fantasy story engaged me so thoroughly. Although the first couple of chapters did not grab me, it was not long before I could not put the story down. I eagerly read each new chapter to see how the story would unfold.

I must stress that this book is not for the faint of heart due to portions that are absolutely gruesome! Having said that, “Ghost House: Book One” was a very fast-paced, fun, addictive read. I enjoyed the unfolding character development, and the relationship between Brodie and Jacob. Jacob was a jerk, understandably once you learn more of this background, and Brodie was absolutely adorable. If you enjoy shows such as “Supernatural” and like M/M erotic BDSM, then this is a book you should enjoy!

Definitely look forward to Hermit’s sequel, and uncovering more behind the Parliament of Twilight’s premise.

Note: I received this book in exchange for an honest review from the Lovers of Paranormal (LoP) group on Goodreads.com

[Sara Bunch · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was given a free copy of this book for an honest review via Lovers of Paranormal R2R.

I was excited about this book when I read the summery of the book. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to my expectations. The story between the main characters made me want to cringe every time they were together. The central character was not very likable and I HATED the ending. I think it could have ended better. Some parts where every exciting and other parts seemed to drag on. It's an okay read, but not one I would re-read.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars Ghost House: Book One by Dani R.R. Hermit and Nevi Star is a fast paced story with lots of supernatural elements and interesting characters, both main and side. All the characters are in your face interesting, and in most cases very flawed personalities. The main, your true anti-hero, is a self-professed jerk, selfish and cruel in a self-absorbed kinda way; but at the same time you see hints of the man he could have been, should tragedy in his past not have changed his path. The second main is a sweet, innocent puppy, who keeps having eye-opening experiences of the not very nice supernatural elements. The two complement each other in a strange way - the one hard being re-introduced to his honorable side; the other in desperate need to grow up/harden in order to survive the world he now lives in, skills they can learn from each other. The side characters steal your attention away frequently as they stand out and grab your attention in their scene stealing way.

The action slowly ramps up until it is grabs you in a nail biting way, and wont let you go. Right up to the cliff hanger ending that makes you want to yell “What, no! You can’t end it there!”

Some very strong warnings though - the violence in the last third is quite gruesome, especially when it is directed to the sweet innocent main, whom you really wish this didn’t have to happen too. Also the constant switching point of view’s can be very difficult to follow - especially in the heavy action scenes. Switching between 2, 3 or 4 POV’s in one scene can make you dizzy, though not so much that you get too lost, hopefully, once you acclimatize to the story flow.

All in all an entertaining read.

[Billie Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was pleasantly surprised by this book, when I first read the blurb I thought it sounded very interesting. This book wasn't what I had expected, I thought I was in for a normal run of the mill ghost story, boy was I wrong. This is what I love to see in my ghost stories!! Gruesome detailed bliss, I was in heaven throughout the entire story, I loved the fact that the author went there at times and did so with such vivid detail!! Most authors don't do shock worthy writing but Dani R.R Hermit does it well!! The character development was amazing and I loved the relationship between Brodie And Jacob!! This is a must read but not for the squeamish. I have found an author that will definitely be at the top of my favorite author list!! Exceptional work!! ( I received a copy free in exchange for an honest review via LOP)

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the world that was created and the mystery of the story, but I can't say I enjoyed much else. It was a little dull, in fact, and Brodie was a horribly whiny character. Jacob was a complete asshole who cared more about getting his rocks off then making sure his partner was going to be okay. And then he basically rapes his partner when he gets back, still high as a kite. Things happened that I just did not enjoy. I would, however, still read the next book. I guess I kind of got sucked into the story.

I have to say, I am super glad my eye quick is no longer severe. If it had been I probably would have had my head in the toilet. As it was, I just gagged a bit. *shudders*

[Nadine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ghost House: Book One

Was given a free copy for an honest review. I first I like this book. Yes it started out hot. But I could not connect with the book. One of the first books I did not finish. However if you like paranormal murders, and MC that are hard to like then you might like this book. The author is a good writer, it was just not my cup of tea.

[J. · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was given this book in exchange for an honest review for LoP. I'm sorry to say that this book just didn't cut it for me. Based on the synopsis I was looking for something like behind the scenes with Zach Baggins Ghost Hunter meets the Real Deal. I got Jacob, impossible to like leading man, does Dallas in M/M mode. I'm sure there is an audience out there for this - just not me.

[Myke Dunn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I firmly enjoyed this book. There are points where you will cringe but its a fun roller coaster ride of erotisism and horror. If you like Supernatural and Ghost Adventurers but think there is not enough sex, you'll love this book.