Oleander House

Bay City Paranormal Investigations #1

by Ally Blue

***This edition is no longer available***

Putting his life and sanity on the line—for a man beyond his reach.

Bay City Paranormal Investigations, Book 1

Sam Raintree’s experience with things he can’t explain isn’t the only reason his new job as a paranormal investigator is a perfect fit. His coworkers, preoccupied with things outside the norm, will never notice he’s gay.

Once he settles into his first investigation at Oleander House, his gay-by-stealth theory goes out the window. Not only is his unexpected attraction to group leader Dr. Bo Broussard painfully obvious, he can’t hide his increasingly erotic and frightening dreams stimulated by the house’s violent history.

Though Bo conceals his sexuality behind a wedding ring, mutual attraction shrinks the wary distance between them until the sparks ignite an electrifying encounter. Next morning, Bo’s back in the closet and blaming his “lapse” on the house’s unusual effect on Sam’s latent psychokinetic ability.

In other words, a poltergeist made him do it.

Sam’s outrage feeds a determination to prove Bo wrong—until the heat of conflict opens a door to the house’s murderous past, unleashing a torrent of bloodshed and life-changing revelation.

This book has been previously published.

Warning: This title contains explicit male/male dream-sex, cross-dimensional electromagnetic theories (mmm, that’s hot!), intense violence, and language graphic enough to wake the dead.

Genres: Paranormal, M M Romance, Mystery, Romance, Horror, Fantasy, Contemporary

232 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 3, 2006

About the author

Ally Blue penned her first tale at age eight, relating the breathless terror of her little sister’s not-quite-fatal encounter with a bee in the backyard. That was the beginning of a lifelong love affair with storytelling. She now writes gay romance of all flavors, and has recently branched into writing her first love: horror. She continues her neverending quest to scare herself. She is not a hippie or a brain surgeon, no matter what her kids’ friends say.

Reviews

[Sayuri_x · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is very much a story of two guys in the closet because although Sam accepts that he is gay, he doesn't really shout it loud and proud. Bo on the other hand is so far back in the closet, I think he might have a second job at Monsters Inc.

I really enjoyed the paranormal aspect of the storyline. It relied more on the creep factor, like old school horror than outright gore. I also liked how Ally showed the monotony and repetitiveness of the job. It's not all running along darkened corridors with poltergeist at your heels. It's reviewing hours and hours of video and audio punctuated by library research (Dork that I am I would love that aspect!). She portrays it like any other job. The only difference is it's not nine to five.

Now, that sounds really boring, I hear you say and it is in real life but Ally manages to have this little thread of 'not quite right' running through the whole book, so you feel on edge the whole time you are reading. Plus all the boring work is interspersed with some really great characters. Getting to know the team was a delight.

I loved the main character of Sam. He was this really weird mix of confident and vulnerable. He was sure in his own sexuality, but he wasn't comfortable with others knowing. When it came to his relationship with Bo, he was constantly saying to himself 'No, not this time. I'm not getting involved with him,' only to turn around and give in the minute Bo spoke to him. I do that all the time. With me it's chocolate though, not swarthy male paranormal investigators. But he wasn't a complete wuss. I was rooting for him when he called Bo on his behaviour and told him to stop sending mixed messages.

It took a little bit more time to get into Bo's character. It was mostly the braid thing. Bo has a long braid of black hair. I'm not into long hair on a man and I have to say, it took me quite a while to find a happy place in my head for the braid. Bo was so mixed up. I would have liked some head time with him just to see where his thoughts were but it was not to be.

As they were just starting out in the romance department and Bo wouldn't even admit he was gay, it wasn't a scorcher. That wasn't to say there wasn't any relationship stuff, there was plenty, just not a lot of action. This doesn't bother me, it's nice to see characters taking it slow instead of jumping into the sack asap. The sexual tension is bubbling along nicely in this installment.

I have two gripes with this book. One was the ending. It just suddenly stopped with no real closure. I get that this is a series but it felt like someone went 'OK, word count achieved, that's me done.' I was reading along merrily expecting a wrap up chapter but no. A short epilogue and that was it. It left me feeling kind of cheated but I can guess that Ally was trying to show that investigations whether paranormal or ordinary in nature, rarely get all neatly tied up with a bow in real life. Still, a little warning next time, dude.

My next and biggest gripe with this book was purely cosmetic. It was the cover. Damn but it was an ugly and cheap and home-made looking piece of shit. I can just guess Ally being really excited that she was getting published only to be handed that horrendous excuse for a cover. I would be gutted to link my work to that. It seriously sucked as you can see at the top of the post. It looked like someone just took a picture from 'Town & Country' and stuck some curly font on top. I could do better

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Oleander House. It is the first in the Bay City Paranormal Investigations series, and it did not disappoint. I was expecting a little bit more romance in this book, and instead I got suspense, action, horror, mystery and intrigue! I enjoyed all of those things and I cant wait to read the next in the series.

The romance element of this book focuses more on Sam and Bo admitting to their feelings for each other, as well as where they might go from here.

Intense, romantic and scary, this book was a lot of fun to read, and Im gonna hurry up and read the next one asap!

xo

[Kaje Harper · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this first book in the Bay City Paranormal Investigators series, and I intend to go hunt up the sequels. I liked the main characters and I have to give the author credit for not having Bo get too far out of the closet in a book that covers such a short time span. I also like that she killed off a main character, and didn't rescue her at the last moment (although it did break up the happy hetero couple that I was enjoying seeing in a m/m book). My one problem with this book was with the plot details. Say you are having repeated visions of a non-human creature emerging through you and ripping apart the man you are coming to love, and say there is a history of multiple bloody unsolved murders confirmed on this site...wouldn't you do something other than just hanging around waiting for it to happen and taking photographs? I would have liked to maybe see a more severe compulsion keeping the characters from leaving Oleander house no matter how hard they tried (the mention of a compulsion is so casual, and then they drop the subject. David didn't seem to feel it - could he have carried Cecile off the property and out of range? Why did no one seem to care or try?) Or else Bo could have taken some proactive steps to protect his people. This thing affects EMF - could he have armed them with Tasers or set up EMF field disruptors as an attempt at confinement or something? His efforts could have been ineffective, leading to the same end result. But as it was, I did blame Sam and Bo for Amy's death, because the reality of the threat seemed so likely (previous dead bodies! warning note from vanished woman! visible phenomena in photographs!) that their lack of any effort at preparedness seemed negligent. So I liked this a lot, but I hope in the other books they use a little more logic and preparation.

[Michele ~ la Smoocherina]

Bo is married with kids and away from home. I just figured, I have plenty on my TBR pile without reading about a cheater.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spooky, creepy reading. I love things that go bump in the night

[Jennifer☠Pher☠ · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5★'s - God! This is one of those books I wanted to love. Every page I kept thinking "any second now, just one more page" but it didn't happen. Sucks because I love ghost stories and this is a series with a lot of books out already. So much was wrong with this story. The investigators seemed to not know so much, the "relationship" wasn't one HE IS FUCKING MARRIED WITH KIDS DUDE and keeps telling you NO NO NO!! That part just felt WRONG! and the end? Well, that wasn't an end. Oh, and Sam's last name is Raintree but he isn't the one with the darker skin or the long hair? I was really confused when I started this book. I for sure thought Sam Raintree was the long haired guy. Weird. Honestly, the best part of this book was the steamy scene from the next book, which, btw, seriously made me want to read it. I guess with a series there is always book one that has to set up the series. Some of my favorite series books I hated the first one...So, good for you Ally Blue, I haven't given up yet. I still love ghost stories and I love boys so, I won't give up, I just won't move on immediately. But yeah, again, that scene from the next book was hot :)

[Jaime · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Review: This first book in the Bay City Paranormal Investigations series is a fast and tense read, not just because of the mystery unfolding during the investigation, but more because of the tension between the main characters. Ms. Blue has managed to create a realistic and painful bond between two very likable men that the reader wants to see resolved in a positive way. And she doesn't hand out pat answers, either. The reader is as aware that Bo has other people in his life to consider as Bo himself, and while throwing the two men together without considering the consequences would be the easy thing to do, Blue doesn't take that out.

As far as the mystery is concerned, it's given a good amount of weight, and at times, the romance reader in me was annoyed at the intrusion; a testament to the tight writing of the emotional bits of the book. Always, though, I ended up drawn into the mysterious events quickly enough that the annoyance was short lived. Even the relationships between the secondary characters was well written and realistic, a point which often gets overlooked in other romance books.

My Recommendation: Well worth the time to read for the strong relationship issues alone. As always the chemistry between her men remains Ms. Blue's strongest suit, and why I like her books so much.

[LilMisGrayBrisk · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had high hopes for Oleander House. I liked it, just not as much as I thought I would. It's the first book in the Bay City Paranormal Investigations series. We meet Sam, who is hired to do technical work with BCPI. The group is investigating a haunting at Oleander House and things get really creepy. Some of the members experience a malevolent type spirit and they are trying to figure out what it is. Sam is gay, but is not out. He's attracted to his boss, but Bo is married with kids. However, Bo gives off mixed signals and leaves Sam wondering what is going on. Throughout the story, Sam is fighting his attraction and it starts to get a little old. This book has suspense, violence and a little gore. 3.5 stars

[Mati · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well...One star is still too good for that trash of literature. I was trying to figure out what author was trying to say or rather what the characters were meant for. Sam Raintree was supposed to be main character of the show with "hey I am gay but I do not tell anybody well but I am ogling every ass around me" attitude. Sam joined the Bay City Paranormal Investigation agency as technician. The book is trying to pretend to describe paranormal investigation of the house where something from time to time hack people in to the pieces for unknown reason. It was like some dark entity had simply sense of humour and from time to time to hunt some humans or rather spooked them for some time then posses them then tear them apart. The chief of the investigators group certain doctor nick named Bo, who was ofcourse closeted gay with wife and bunch of kids. I was sick after several pages of whining Sam and his attempts to make out with Bo. Who had brains well he lost them in the middle of the book and joined the whining. No sex folks, just talk about I would like to have some but...
I finished the book only for one reason I wanted to know what was murdering the folks in the Oleander House. Well no solution but damn open end...if there is a next part I will skip it for sanity and taste reasons.

[Natsroshan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like to read stories about shapeshifters, demons but this one is my first real ghost-story.
I wanted to try it because i liked some of Ally Blue's stories and i've read lots of good reviews about this serie.

I'll say that i was really pleased but surprised to find myself liking the plot a lot: i liked it more than the romance itself!

For the romance i would give only 2 stars because i had hard time finding Bo loveable! I really like Sam's character through.
But i did not felt much chemistry bettween them and i was exasperated by most of their interactions.

What gives this book its worth is the paranormal investigation and all the questions and feelings i brought to me!
I'm not a believer in those things but Ally Blue got me bad! I found my self having goosebumps or standing up whenever i hear something.
I made a fool of myself (as always)...lol.

Only because of it, i'll give 5 stars and i bought right away the sequels! I have to know what is this Thing...

I recommend this book to those who like to read a well written story that brings new emotions.

[Diane Dannenfeldt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved the paranormal portion of the story as well as the investigation portion. It wasn't just walk in the house & bam there is the ghost and away you go. This was a very dark entity and I hope that we get to find out what it actually is in the upcoming books as there wasn't any real closure. I was saddened with the death of Amy and do blame both Bo & Sam for it. There were previous issues that Sam had experienced in the past and should have seen the signs.. I also have an issue with Bo is married!!! Even though he says that they are only civil to each other because of the kids, leave your wife before you take on a relationship with Sam. Yes they really don't do anything much but kiss but still, your married duded take care of that!!. Sam is going to have to do some major hand holding to help Bo come out of the closet but I can't wait to watch these two grow. Thank you to my SS, Lisa, for this gift. Now off to the next story, which is also a gift from my SS.

Still loved it the second time around.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not what I would usually like to read. I am not good with the paranormal element.
However, this was an interesting book. The paranormal investigation was aimed at just the right level. Not to techy and didn't have the ugh factor that some other books had.
The MCs were living in an old home with a bloody past. There had been killings and then the survivors had been catatonic and unable to help.
There wasn't much romance between the MCs in this book. Sam was gay but not out. Bo is in the closet but married with children. The paranormal gave Sam sexy dreams in the form of Bo.
An interesting start to the series and I will definitely be carrying on with it.

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have no idea how to rate this :)

5 stars for the plot. 5 stars for the setting. 2 stars for the romance/main characters.

As a mystery this was outstanding. Loved the whole setting and spookiness and plot and WTF IS GOING ON-ness. However, the two main characters needed to get their heads out of their asses. And the book just . . . ended before they did.

However, I am reading the next book soon because a)Love the plots and setting and I'm a plot whore and b) I have a feeling that the head-extractions will happen! And then I think this series will really take off.

[Relly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

4 ⭐️

I liked the paranormal aspects of this one. It sucked me in pretty quickly and I enjoyed the interactions between the characters.
I only had a few niggles. My major one was Bo – his back and forth drove me nuts. I understand he was in denial but it did my head in.
I felt for Sam but also didn’t like how he pushed it. I felt he should of just left it alone and left Bo in his denial. I also didn’t connect well with Amy.

I’ll definitely continue with the series at a later date.

[Bubbles Hunty Honest & Direct Opinions · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars I guess but I couldn't round up. I did not like Bo and only like the M/C at times. I liked Amy but she died. Extremely weak ending, just not impressed

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars I'm a little torn on this. The introduction to both Sam and Bay City Paranormal Investigations was really intriguing. I liked Sam as a character and I enjoyed the 'ghost-hunt' feel of what they were doing. I think a lot of my reservations have to do with Bo. I just didn't like him very much, and didn't feel much of a connection between he and Sam besides just that they kept saying there was one.

I've read books where one character thinks/is under the delusion that he's straight. The turmoil, the mixed signals, the guilt, I get it and I like it. But with Bo, I dunno, it just didn't work. He kept saying no, then flirting, then Sam would ask him for a final answer, then he would say no, then flirt, then Sam would ask him... you get the idea. Lather, rinse, repeat.

The paranormal aspect also got a little repetitive. Although it did escalate, I think it could have been carried out more successfully. They go back and forth about what could be going on, even though it seems kind of obvious it took them forever to say Sam was the focus even though that seemed clear from pretty early on and then when they finally know what it is... WHAM-BAM-CLIMAX-M'AM! Cue Epilogue. It was just too abrupt for me all of a sudden Amy's dead?!?! The rushed-ness didn't allow me to feel the emotions to go along with her death that I felt I should have.

In a way I get the rushed and somewhat open-ended ending, since this is a series. But it just felt unfinished to me, and I don't feel super emotionally invested. That being said, I'd definitely like to read the next in the series and follow-up. I do hope Bo becomes more redeemable and that their investigative skills improve somewhat.

Received for October 2013 Free-For-All from Mandy in Bookie Nookie's Erotic Lending Group

[Don Bradshaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book in Ally Blue's PARANORMAL INVESTIGATIONS series. Sam Raintree joins Bay City Investigations which is a small business that specializes in ghost purging until they are asked to check out the old Oleander House. Being the first book in a series thr beginning is kind of slow as you meet the characters. The story is written with Ally Blue's terrific style. The romance between the closeted owner, Bo, and Sam is fleshed out slowly to keep you wondering. I found the series a great read.

[Beck]

I'm leaving the rating blank on this one because I'm going to have to read it again ... I just could not engage with this story at all ... I can't put my finger on the issue and in fact, it may be more about my frame of mind than the book ... hence, because any rating would be poor and possibly undeservedly so, I'll put this on my re-read shelf and give it another go before giving my final verdict.

[Barb ~rede-2-read~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this story to be an exceptionally well-written paranormal adventure. The author got me from the beginning and the story just kept getting more intense, more complex and more interesting. It wasn't much of a romance, however, but it did introduce the MC's and left the promise of romance at the end of the story. I'm so intrigued that I'm now going to have to shuffle some books around so that I can continue with this series soon.

[Lillian Francis]

I think had I read this book when it first appeared I would have been more pissed at the ending than I am. I know there are 7 books in the series and I'm in this for the long haul.
I already know Sam and Bo from the companion mojo series (yes I inadvertently read them out of order) and it was an interesting look at how things started for them. I felt things ended abruptly with this current mystery but I'm hoping things are gone back to in future stories.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! Blown away and thrilled to have another series to read. I'm hooked :)

[Finnegan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am very conflicted with this book, so I am going to break it down and explained what I liked, and what I absolutely did not like.
Liked:
-I loved reading about paranormal investigators!! The investigation was riveting, and the mystery was very unique, it was not something I've read about before. The plot was the reason why I finished the book, I could not wait to see how it would be resolved.
-The other investigators were complete characters, and I appreciated how the author did not rely on cliches, for instance, changing the psychic from being the token bitch, to actually someone likeable.
Did not liked:
-Bo. So, he claimed to be straight, and more important, MARRIED!!!! Yet he aggressively flirted with Sam from the first moment, blowing hot and cold, and I hated that. There is one thing I can't stand, and that is cheaters. If he was so interested in Sam, go get a divorce and then pursue him as a single man. Also, he was Sam's BOSS!!! If Sam was a girl, this would never have been a plot device, and Bo would have been prosecuted for sexual harassment. Not cool, Bo, not cool.
-Sam. He knew Bo is married, yet he encouraged his advances all the way. So he is just as guilty to the cheating.
-The plot was never resolved to my satisfaction, and I had so many questions afterwards. Since the plot was what kept me going, this was soooo frustrating.

For a change, I read the story for the horror elements, and couldn't give two cents for the romance. In fact, I would give it 1 star for the ickiness of the married boss hunting his co-worker, but I really liked the rest of the story, so three stars it is.

[Meep · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kindle-Sort-ReRead

Dreadful.

The characterisation is weak, main characters unpleasant. The plot and paranormal a weak jumble with no atmosphere or logic employed.

The 'relationship' is distasteful. One man married with children. While Sam Raintree (who is fair?!) is hiding the fact he's gay by eyeing up every passing man. There's pushing away and ignoring to persist.

I pushed through for the paranormal solution only to end up annoyed be sure, big spoilerAmy is killed. As a victim she's a completely random choice. Except she dared to cockblock - telling her longtime married friend to be honest with himself, his wife, his new interest. Clearly she deserved death! And noone grieved, but hey on the very last page Sam makes the decision to research and investigate - wasn't that the whole point of the team being there in the first place?

The professional paranormal team with 20years experience who don't know anything, don't discuss what they experience, don't have contacts or references.

It's first of a series I don't need everything tied off pretty, but this was dreadful on every account.

[Janna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review was originally published at my blog

Genre & Keywords:
M/M, paranormal, Gay For You, ghost hunting, supernatural dimensions, violence

Why I read it:
Chris @ Stumbling on Chaos recommended this series to me

Storyline:
Sam joins the team of Bay City Paranormal Investigations, which is led by Bo. There’s an attraction between the two men but Bo is married with children. The team investigates a haunted house. While they discover dangerous supernatural dimensions Sam and Bo struggle with their mutual attraction and feelings.

My opinion in short:
This book had me on the edge of my seat during the complete second half. It has thriller elements as well as a blooming sweet gay for you romance. It’s well written, has likeable main and secondary characters and is a promising start of a series. I liked the angle of investigating the supernatural, instead of (one of) the characters being a vampire, shifter, demon, angel or any other paranormal being. I highly recommend this series.

~~~~~
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Heat level: 2 out of 3 flames
~~~~~

What’s more to know about this book:
• Characters
Sam is a likeable protagonist: open, vulnerable, honest, sexy, caring and forgiving. His frustration and anger are tangible and understandable. Bo is the main cause of his frustration and anger because he refuses to admit his gay feelings. I would’ve loved to smack Bo with something on the head to beat some sense into him (and this urge only grew stronger in the next books of the series). The rest of the team members are nice supporting actors who are interesting enough without them stealing Sam and Bo’s show.
• POV
The story is told in third person from Sam’s point of view, which works perfectly for this first book, with him being the newby in the investigation team. The reader has to guess along with him, not only about the investigation but also about the other team members, their relationships and feelings (especially Bo’s).
• Plot
The plot is the strongest feature of this book, it’s well developed, fast paced and full of suspense that keeps you at the edge of your seat, especially during the second half of the book, when the supernatural danger is manifesting itself more and more. The build-up is dosed perfectly.
• Smexing
M/M. There are not that many smexy scenes (when you don’t count the hot dreams Sam has) but the few sexual encounters between Sam and Bo are pretty scorching and well written. They are cleverly related to the paranormal story line as well. In this book the sex scenes add something meaningful to not only the developing romance between Sam and Bo, but also to Sam’s unfolding paranormal abilities, due to his vulnerability in those scenes (cryptic, huh?).
• Writing style
Pleasant, doesn’t draw too much attention to itself, which is good because it never pulls you out of the story. The dialogues are nice and numerous. The descriptions of the surroundings and situations are vigorous and easy to picture. I enjoyed Ms. Blue’s writing.

Favorite scene/quote:
The scene where the other team members find out Sam is gay and the way they (especially Andre and David) handle it:

““Yeah,” Sam answered. “Sorry I didn’t tell you before. It just didn’t seem important.”
“It’s not.” Andre clapped him on the back. “Whatever floats your boat, man.”
“Just don’t stare at my ass.” David grinned over his shoulder. “I get as much of that as I can stand from Andre.”
“You wish,” Andre said, and swatted David’s rear.
David yelped and danced out of reach when Andre lifted his arm for another swing. “See?” he exclaimed. “The guy’s totally gay for me. He can’t get enough of my manly sexiness.”
David wiggled his butt invitingly. Andre calmly flipped him off while Cecile giggled. Sam laughed, feeling the last of his unease drain away. In his experience, anyone who could joke so casually about it had no problem with it. He was profoundly grateful no one had mentioned his confession to Bo the evening before. He wasn’t ready for that conversation just yet.”

Linking:
Ally Blue’s website | blog | on Twitter | on Goodreads
Buy Oleander House here

The books in this series:
# 1: Oleander House (Sam and Bo, 4 stars)
# 2: What Hides Inside (Sam and Bo, 4 stars)
# 3: Twilight (Sam and Bo, 3.5 stars)
# 4: Closer (Sam and Bo, 4 stars)
# 5: An Inner Darkness (Sam and Bo, 4.5 stars)
# 6: Where The Heart Is (series-related: Dean Delapore's story, 4 stars)
# 7: Love, Like Ghosts (series-related: Adrian Broussard's story, not read yet)

~~~~~~~~~~
This is the first review I tried the format on that I came up with a little while ago . I would like to know what does and doesn't work for you about this review format.

[Plainbrownwrapper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, this is the third time this week that GR has insisted on treating different editions of the same book as though they were entirely different books, and only shown my review on one of the editions. I'm getting sick of this!

Here's my review once again. Please ignore if you've seen it already --

Overall I liked this one quite a bit. For the most part this was done with good logic -- and the characters actually sat there and *thought* about the implications of what they were doing and finding -- although that logic definitely did fail a bit when it came to the issues of leaving the house and protecting the ghosthunters. GR user Kaje has some good commentary on these problems, here. I liked the twist that this "creature" is not really a ghost, and I also liked that they are trying to solve its mystery in as logical/scientific a manner as they can rather than with a supernatural/religious/mythological mindset.

This feels like a promising beginning for a series. The within-book story arc was good even if nothing really got "solved", and there are plenty of mysteries and personal development to be moving on with in future books. 3.5 stars -- 1/2 star subtracted for the problems mentioned above -- rounding up to 4.

[Dante Love Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

I'm torn about his book.

On the one hand, it really wanted to be The Haunting of Hill House and was more like a poor man's version of the Stephen King miniseries, Rose Red. On the other hand, it was kind of like one of those paranormal ghost hunter shows where it is totally obvious that no one knows what the fuck they're doing and you watch just hoping something real will happen and someone will pee themselves.



Then there was the back and forth between Sam and Bo that made me want to kill myself.



In the end with what happened to Amy I kind of liked it, even though it meandered on and on and didn't have a very strong story structure.

I plan to try out the next and see what happens.

***

Buddy read with Al, Amy Noah and Ofelia. But I think everyone else threw in the towel. LOL

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oleander House is all about the smut. I admire the author for attempting to create a mystery and an interesting paranormal setting. However, as is the case with too many smutty books, more attention was paid to the angst and the lurvin' than was to the character development or side plots. Unfortunately, protagonist Sam was so poorly written that he came off as a bit of a psychopath. That is, we know all about his dirty urges and wants and needs, but little else. This book wasn't bad, however it needs work. We know what each character is doing or saying in the moment, but we know nil about each person's personality, lives or interests. Well, we know about the smutty interests but that is it.

I hate giving one or two star ratings to erotica because I already have quite low expectations from the start. Nonetheless, I can't bring myself to give this more than two stars. I almost want to go three for originality, but uniqueness doesn't really count for jack shit if the characters don't stand out.

[Plainbrownwrapper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall I liked this one quite a bit. For the most part this was done with good logic -- and the characters actually sat there and *thought* about the implications of what they were doing and finding -- although that logic definitely did fail a bit when it came to the issues of leaving the house and protecting the ghosthunters. GR user Kaje has some good commentary on these problems, here. I liked the twist that this "creature" is not really a ghost, and I also liked that they are trying to solve its mystery in as logical/scientific a manner as they can rather than with a supernatural/religious/mythological mindset.

This feels like a promising beginning for a series. The within-book story arc was good even if nothing really got "solved", and there are plenty of mysteries and personal development to be moving on with in future books. 3.5 stars -- 1/2 star subtracted for the problems mentioned above -- rounding up to 4.

[L-D · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Sam Raintree has just started with Bay City Paranormal Investigations. His first job takes him to the Oleander House, where paranormal activity has been recorded and the history of the house's inhabitants is both mysterious and frightening. As the team investigates and records the unusual activity in the house, Sam tries to hide his attraction to his boss, Dr. Bo Broussard. This is easy enough to do, since Sam has had a lifetime of hiding his feelings from others, but when he begins to realize that the straight and married Dr. may be attracted to him as well, his feelings become harder to ignore.

I thought this was a great first book in a series. The investigation was exciting. While I didn't really care for the closeted and in denial Bo at all, I liked Sam and the overall team dynamic with the peripheral characters as well. I would be interested in reading the rest of this series some time in the future.

[Shelby · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed elements of this book. The paranormal entity was interesting and I liked that the pursuit of it was handled in a manner concurrent with paranormal research as it exists today. (I actually have a friend who does this stuff.). Nothing they were trying was outside of modern realism as long as you accept and believe in the possibility of the paranormal/ghosts among us. I appreciated that this particular book took the realistic slant.

I liked the characters in the story as well. And I was cheering for Bo and Sam's attraction to one another. But this story does have one element that I really dislike. I hate seeing the married but confused and while things don't go all the way there it's still cheating to me. It irks me.

Still I enjoyed the story and would be curious about another book in the serious. I understood the way the ending came about but I wasn't actually expecting it and didn't love it but it was fitting for the story in some ways. 3.5 stars overall.