When my family curse awakens, the dead come calling. They want to be heard, but they drove my mother insane and I fear that same will happen to me.
I became a surgeon to save people from death, not their afterlife. My sister Laura, should have inherited the gift, but instead it went to me. When I’m framed for the murder of my patient - an amnesiac detective who died over 80 years ago comes to my aid.
I have to help Elliot too. Without his memories he can’t pass to his afterlife, but the more I come to know him, the more I want him to stay . . . My mother warned me - but my stupid, selfish heart didn’t listen - I’ve fallen in love with a ghost. There can be no future.
But there’s more to the dead than ghosts, angels and demons. An unknown entity has unleashed creatures on Earth who steal souls from living bodies and - Elliot is the key.
To protect the world, I’ll lose my heart, my life and my soul. But whatever the cost, I’ll NEVER lose Elliot.
* * ~ * * Fans of ‘Ghost’, ‘The Ghost Whisperer’, 'Supernatural', and all those who enjoy reading about ghosts, angels, demons, reincarnation with a healthy dose of woo woo will enjoy this series.
If you like strong heroines that fight for the truth, lost souls that sacrifice all and the answer to the afterlife itself, dive into this exciting series today!
* * ~ * * "Ghost Unleashed" is the first book in the series, Demon Cursed.
From the author: This series is a slow burn MF romance, that is meant to be read in order.
There are cliff-hangers at the end of each book, with a developing plot telling the story of Cassie and Elliot's journey, all coming together at the end of the fifth and final book.
To enjoy the full scope of the story - you’ll need to read all five books in the series -
Charmaine Ross has penned over 50 heart-pounding tales straddling everything from reverse harem sci-fi and paranormal excitement to omegaverse allure and contemporary romance charm. Known for her blend of steam, full spice and all-the-feels, Charmaine's stories are your ticket to heart-stopping romance and boundless adventure.
Living with her endlessly supportive husband who has become a sounding board for her galaxy of ideas, Charmaine shares her lively home with two adult children and a pair of predictably spoiled cats. When she's not spinning tales, she's indulging in Netflix and Chill sessions, secretly hoping that one day, a Black Dagger Brotherhood vampire will swoop in and whisk her away.
With a wit as sharp as her imagination, Charmaine Ross fearlessly turns dreams into page-turning realities, steadfastly capturing the hearts of readers one mesmerizing story at a time.
Key tropes include: - Scent matches - Fated mates - Hurt/ comfort - Touch her and die - Enemies to lovers
After reading the prequel I was looking forward to reading this and I have to say I wasn't disappointed. Taking up the story from Jenny's daughter Cassie's POV, we get to see her come into her gift after one of her patients dies and how different her experiences are from her mother's. It has action, drama, mystery, some humor and of course what is shaping up to be a slow burn romance as well as a cliffhanger at the end. There are quite a few twists as well as a few surprises which I wasn't expecting and didn't see coming, it definitely had The Ghost Whisperer vibes to it and seeing as I loved that show I'll be continuing the series to see what's in store for the characters next.
Cassie has always known about the curse that has plagued her family, nearly driving her mother insane when the dead come calling. Happy to have it skip her, she has dedicated her life to saving others as a surgeon. That is, until one of her patients dies and she is framed for his murder. Finding herself with the ghost of an amnesiac detective who has come to aid her, Cassie realises she must help Elliot in return, because without his memories he can't move on to his afterlife. With an unknown entity who is devouring souls on their tail, Cassie and Elliot are running out of time to find the answers they seek. And when the time comes, will Cassie who has started to fall for Elliot be able to let him go?
I found myself really liking Cassie, who although she knows about the gift/curse her family has, has not been affected by it. Hard working and kind she is a dedicated surgeon who puts her life and soul into helping her patients. So when one of them dies unexpectedly she's understandably upset but also angry as she is notified by email. Rushing to the morgue she ends up hitting her head so when she gets there she is greeted by none other than her dead patient. After that shock, she also realises there is another ghost, a detective who has been sent to help her. Realising that the curse hasn't skipped her after all, she now has to learn to navigate her new 'gift' while trying to solve who framed her for murder, while finding a way to help the two ghosts by her side and keeping her growing feelings in check for one of them. I actually found the fact the love interest in this story is a ghost very intriguing and it's hooked me to find out just how this will work in the future.
I knew straight away I was going to love Elliot and of course I wasn't wrong. A detective who died eighty years previously, he's been assigned to help Cassie but he doesn't know who by. In fact he doesn't remember much of anything to do with his previous life other than he was a detective. I loved how bits and pieces are sprinkled throughout the story pertaining to his past and it keeps you guessing to who this man actually is. He also becomes very protective of Cassie and wants to do all her can to help her. Of course you know he is starting to feel the same way about her as she does him but he thinks because he isn't real there is no future for them, but that's the one thing she's determined to prove him wrong on. Yeah I'm definitely with Cassie on this he's very easy to fall for.
This was a fantastic start to this series and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing where it goes next. So if you like supernatural romances that are a slow burn with a bit of mystery this one's for you. Highly recommend 😁
Von Charmaine Ross habe ich bereits einige Bücher gelesen. Und sie waren jedes Mal anders: mal haben sie mir besser gefallen, mal überhaupt nicht. Da war „Ghost Unleashed“ wieder einmal gelungene Abwechselung.
Die Geschichte von Cassie, Elliot & Co. hat mich bereits seit der ersten Seite in ihren Bann gezogen und ich fand es hier wirklich sehr passend, dass die Autorin sich dafür entschieden hatte, die Story aus Cassies Perspektive zu erzählen.
Cassie ist eine großartige Protagonistin mit Köpfchen und Herz. Sie arbeitet als Ärztin im Krankenhaus und kümmert sich sehr gut um ihre Patienten. Deswegen ist sie umso irritierter, als einer ihrer Patienten plötzlich stirbt. Durch eine Verkettung von Umständen – und der Hilfe einiger Geister sowie ihrer Schwester – erfährt sie von einem regelrechten Komplott, der weit über das hinausgeht, was sie erwartet hatte.
Was mir wirklich gefallen hat, ist, dass Cassie selbstständig ist, für sich selber denkt und für ihre Überzeugungen eintritt. Manchmal fällt es ihr nicht leicht, gerade in Bezug auf ihre Mutter und deren Erfahrungen mit Geistern. Aber sie ist bedacht, das Richtige zu tun. Und das macht sie zwar nicht zu einer Kick-Ass-Heldin, aber einer Heldin mit Herz.
Unterstützt wird Cassie hierbei von ihrer Schwester Laura und den Geistern Elliot und Henry. Laura ist wie Cassie eine starke und unabhängige Frau. Allerdings verfolgt sie als Investigativjournalistin der paranormalen Seite eine etwas andere Karriere und hat dadurch sehr… interessante Verbindungen. Sie peppt die Geschichte mit etwas Humor deutlich auf. Ich mag sie sehr gern und würde mich sogar für eine Geschichte, in der sie die Hauptrolle spielt, durchaus begeistern können.
Elliot ist ein ehemaliger Polizist, der früh gestorben ist. Allerdings sind die Umstände seines Todes ungeklärt und er kann sich nicht daran erinnern. Er wurde zu Cassie geschickt, um sie bei ihrer Tätigkeit, den ruhelosen Seelen zu helfen, zu unterstützen. Im Gegenzug soll dann Cassie Elliot helfen. Doch wie soll sie das nur machen, bei jemanden, der vor knapp 100 Jahren ermordet wurde?
Henry ist Cassies erster Fall und ihr verstorbener Patient. Bei Recherchen zu seinem Tod stoßen Cassie, Laura und Elliot auf so manche Ungereimtheit und einen Komplett, der anscheinend mit dem Krankenhaus in Verbindung zu stehen scheint. Spannend.
Die Geschichte hat mir wirklich gut gefallen, sie war spannend und nicht alles wurde von vornherein offenbart. Was definitiv ein großes, fettes Plus in meinen Augen darstellt. Vermisst habe ich hingegen hier etwas die Informationen über Elliot und seine Beziehungsentwicklung zu Cassie. Das sind hier die Schwachpunkte der Story. Sie sind aber zu verschmerzen und man kann nur hoffen, dass sie im nächsten Band besser aufgearbeitet werden. Genauso wie die diese komischen Monster, die anscheinend wahllos Seelen fressen. *brr*
Ein gelungener Reihenauftakt, der mich wirklich begeistert hat. Die Charaktere haben mich mit Charme, Herz, Köpfchen und Kreativität in ihren Bann gezogen und ich werde garantiert noch zu der Fortsetzung greifen, denn ich möchte unbedingt wissen, was es mit Elliot auf sich hat.
Hinweis: Das Buch habe ich als digitales Rezensionsexemplar via Booksprout im Austausch für eine ehrliche Rezension erhalten.
Typical time to read: 4h45 according to Amazon Kindle This is book 1/5 in Demon Cursed series. I feel like I should begin my reviews like this above from now on. I’m not exactly trying to check if I ended a book earlier than anticipated (really not, especially this week where I’m having more migraine episodes), but I did mention and I’m adding a screenshot to my status updates on the past couple of reviews. We will see how that goes.
And yes, another series, and yes :: my one and only volume available (it was freebie for sure), and it will take sometime until I can grab all of these series I liked their intro from the past 10 days or so. And yeah, if you have been here a while, you are starting to notice that I’m not uploading screenshots from my Kindle :( and that is sad, cause I don’t have a desktop to unload the images, edit to add watermark, and the whole shebang. So, a wall of texts will be here until a surprise one day arrives.
Coming back to the book at hand. Or currently on my nightstand, cause I’m done (yeah, for once began writing this AFTER reading said book), if you liked that Tv show from long ago, Ghost Whisperer, you might like this book a lot. It’s the same thing but with a twist: main character is a doctor, suddenly seeing dead people walking, suddenly falling in love with one, suddenly seeing even more than wanted ever to see, and most importantly, having to deal with living issues while trying her best to understand her place in the great plan.
This author is knowledgeable enough with silver cord, energies, etc subjects. If you don’t know I was diggin a few books from the vault of the old and reading them, and they speak on this subject and more. So, it was nice. I’m not sure if my first annotation, guess is correct, cause I don’t have an answer just yet; but I’m sure the following books can answer them, it will just take a while for me to get there.
I feel like if I go around writing some more I might spoil the book, so, I’m leaving you all hanging. Take the paragraph before for the ultimate non-tea spill and be very thankful at that. I know that I’ll be super pissed at myself when it’s time for me to jog my memory and I’ve served nothing. Oh well, I will live and so will you guys. Take care and see you all on the next one.
Mom has had a curse her entire life. She sees dead people, but my sister and I have never seen anything. I work in the hospital and try to save as many people as possible while my sister would love to have the sight. She is a paranormal journalist. Mom has hidden herself away with dad as far away from people as possible, but when I mysteriously lose a patient and am not notified until the following morning and wind up hitting my head I start seeing people as well. People who shouldn't be there. Like my dead patient and a very handsome ghost detective. I need to help for them to move on, but I also don't want to go crazy like Mom....
I went down a rabbit hole for ghost stories for a hot minute there. Not really sure why. And honestly this one has the ability to turn into a paranormal romance. Sort of. It's weird in that regard, although not the weirdest thing I've read and it was far from a no from me. Basically able to touch the ghost while astral projecting. Anyways.
This is a murder mystery type book, which I am all for. However, I will say that the antagonist was painfully obvious. Like from the first interaction with the character I had no doubts what happened. Wasn't sure on the why until later but the how and who was plain. It didn't take away from the story and getting to the bottom of things was fun.
This book wraps up the goal of the story nicely of helping her patient while leaving enough strings unattached to want to continue reading. Mostly to find out what happened with Elliott (her ghost detective). It could be a cute series. I really liked all of the characters involved. Well, aside from those we weren't meant to like.
Biggest detractor from me was the throwing in of religion. Yes, yes. Most people are religious and this would be a plus for them. I know that. Just stating my opinion. At least the writing and everything outside of that one aspect was enjoyable. Especially Elliott.
I honestly think that people shouldn't skip their Wattpad phase... and some should just stay on Wattpad. The only thing believable in this book is that yes, some people CAN see and interact with ghosts (or spirits, or any other synonym referring to the same thing). The rest of the story? Nope.
This book feels like written in a super duper rush, or by a person who published their first draft, and I'm beyond frustrated. I want to scream almost at every page. Why would a killer listen to someone's long-ass monologue about how she suddenly can see ghosts and how she communicates with the ghost of their dead father? Why would a character mention, almost on every possible occasion, that she is a doctor? Is she afraid that everybody, herself included, forget she is one?
Because unfortunately, the idea of the premise is interesting enough. Someone suddenly finds themselves having to cooperate with a ghost of a detective from a long-gone era to solve a problem. There, it's not bad, right?
But it feels like Ross, the author, doesn't have enough competency to carry that idea through. Professions like 'a doctor' or 'a journalist' feel more like a label or an accessory rather than an important aspect of a character. Adjectives like 'smart' or 'beautiful' to describe the main character (Cassandra) are often thrown out of nowhere, without compelling reason, at times in the most improper and unbelievable situation, as though the more someone in the book says it the more the readers are convinced.
I picked up this book because I was hoping for a 'junkfood-like read', something I can finish without taking it seriously; pure, quick fun. Turns out I got the junk part out of the junkfood. Oh well, at least the book is free (I swear, nobody should pay for this).
** 3.5 Stars ** Cassie Hunter got a routine email that her patient Henry Davis died of cardiac arrest after the surgery she had performed. He was doing so well that she had signed his release papers before she went home. George Campbell should have notified her when he pronounced him dead, per hospital procedure. Instead she learned about it from a non-urgent email!
Storming off to the morgue, Cassie ran into a stranger and fell headfirst into a trolley. She got up and continued to the morgue where, to her surprise, she saw Henry’s body on the table and then saw his ghost happy to see her and saying he needed her help with his Will -- which caused her to pass out once more! A voice woke her and said she called for help, so he came. The man, Elliott, looked like an old-time detective, but something seemed a bit odd to her. He wasn’t part of the medical staff, so how did he get in here? She asked who he was and he pulled out his wallet to identify himself as Detective Elliot Stone. She felt his confusion as he realized he had lost his memories. And when George Campbell arrived and couldn’t see the man, she was a bit confused until the elevator doors closed and Elliot floated right through them – he was a ghost!
Cassie’s family curse awakens and she can see the dead. Her sister Laura was the one who was supposed to have inherited this “gift”, but it somehow went to Cassie. When Cassie confronts Henry’s murderer and is in danger, Detective Elliot Stone -- who died over 70 years ago – steps up to help her. Will she be able to repay his kindness by helping him get his memories back so he can move on to the afterlife. Can Elliot help her deal with the real murderer who is out of control and has shot her in the arm?
I grabbed this ARC because I was so incredibly curious about a ghost romance and whether or not it would be spicy! Well, you'll have to wait for book 2 for that answer. There was some intent, but no delivery in book 1.
I would file this one as more of a Romantic Suspense maybe? There was a lot if investigative work being done trying to figure out a mysterious death. This book was fantastic, I enjoyed reading it, but it's definitely a slow burn.
The main story element (of this book) is resolved in this book, but there is an over-arcing storyline that is NOT resolved in book 1 involving one of the main characters. You'll have to keep reading for resolution on that plot point, presumably. There is fantastic worldbuilding, I liked how her mother had dealt with the issue her whole life, and the MC figured out a different way almost immediately. Her sister is a fantastic resource. I just really enjoyed how it all fit together.
I want to say that this is a genuinely unique storyline, and to me - it is. I haven't come across this take on seeing ghosts in a book yet. That was refreshing that it wasn't another rehash of the same type of plot. Now, it did feel insta-love and I don't know if that was the point (as in, there's no growth to the feeling, just that it's there and not also a plot device). I did enjoy that there was a friend (sister) that played well in the story and also wasn't just a plot device as 'hey, the lead has a friend, but she's pointless, and we see them once.' I enjoyed the mystery of the death and the will.
Am looking forward to the second book.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I enjoyed the book, but in my opinion, it was just OK. I am currently reading a Devon Monk series, the Allie Beckstrom books, which are not all available on Kindle, but that series is amazing. I can’t really give this book more than three stars as it just is not as gripping or as exciting. There’s not as much humor. It did not meet my requirement for five stars which is to make me laugh and cry. I really didn’t laugh at this book and I really didn’t cry at this book. It didn’t even meet four stars either. Don’t get me wrong. I did enjoy the story. It just isn’t as good as everything else I’m reading.
This is a fantastic start to this new series and I can’t wait to read book 2 it’s a slow burn romance with Elliot and Cassie, there’s plenty of suspense, mystery, drama, danger and so much more to keep you entertained and turning the pages. I loved the characters especially Cassie who’s a strong go getter kind of girl well until she fainted at the sight of a ghost, fantastic characters, storyline and descriptions and I highly recommend this book it’s well worth the read. I bought a copy of this book and I’m so glad I did.
A doctor that suddenly can see ghosts...just like her mother...but can she deal with it better. A detective and a patient take our spirit talker through the motions that develop into much more. Spirits and soul eaters, family and romance make this tale magical and leads you on a dangerous adventure...with much more to come!!
This story is so unique for me! I loved everything about it, the storyline and the characters kept me interested and along for the ride! I will be reading book 2 to see where this all goes! No Spoilers! Give it a Read!.
Geesh. I never thought a ghost romance would work out, but Charmaine Ross just proved me wrong. I definitely liked Elliot and his shadowy past. The tension and turns in the story kept me hooked into the very end. I may buy the second book to see what becomes of Cassie and Elliot.
WOW! Different and strange at the same time. Good story though. I did have a little trouble in the beginning. Then it got a lot better. Danger, scary things going bump in the night. Next, book 2 sounds even better.