LOVER OF BOOKS

Badlands by Morgan Brice
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Supernaturally sexy!

This is the 2nd book by Morgan Brice in an interconnected yet stand-alone series of books. It's a spooky, fast-paced, action-filled, steamy romance set in the holiday town of Myrtle Beach. The writing kept me on the edge of my seat, turning each page anxiously, unable to put the book down until I'd read it all. It was a laaaate night, but so worth it.

Simon Kincaide, PhD. is a folklorist, writer, entrepreneur and.... he can talk to dead people. Technically he's a Medium and a clairvoyant with some rusty spell working ability. but he still talks to dead people. And Myrtle Beach is teeming with them thanks to it's rich history and tourist town nature. People come to Myrtle Beach to have fun in the sun, reinvent themselves, or to disappear. Simon came to Myrtle Beach first as a place to lick his wounds but he stayed to be true to himself. Simon had been a professor at a university in an area not known for it's liberal thinking. One wealthy parent thought his folklore course was thinly disguised witchcraft and basically bought Simon out of his job, his home and his fiancee. The university let him resign and his fiancee was more interested in securing tenure than keeping his relationship. So Simon fled.

No longer hiding his clairvoyance, Simon runs a shop on the boardwalk and he runs ghost tours, holds seances and sells his books to tourists and locals alike. He even does private psychic readings. He lives true to himself, and, if he is sometimes lonely it's a small price to pay for all that he's gained. Except someone may be trying to take it all away from him _because_ of who he can talk to.

Enter Detective Vic D'Amato, homicide. Formerly of Pittsburgh but now a reluctant transplant to Myrtle Beach. In Pittsburgh Vic witnessed something supernatural and as a result of him being honest about what it happened he became a pariah for being a bit 'crazy'. It cost him his job, his lover, and the city where generations of his family had been cops. Trouble was, he and his partner were working a serial killer case and there were too many coincidences to what had happened in his old city that he couldn't overlook the possibility of the serial killer being into some of that woo-woo stuff.

Acting on a hunch, Vic goes to talk to the local clairvoyant on the strip, and the attraction between him and Simon is instantaneous. But Vic's been burned by the supernatural once and Simon wasn't about to deny what he was and bury his gift for anyone, so it led them to a lust filled impasse. Except the body count was going up exponentially as the serial killer accelerated. And Simon's abilities had painted a target on the clairvoyant's back. Because the serial killer was hunting those with 'gifts'.

Simon's in a race against time to solve the murders, save his friends and possibly himself, and keep himself from becoming Suspect #1, all the while he is falling head over heels for the gruff, disbelieving detective. But how can Simon be true to himself and be in love with someone who thinks he's a fraud? Can Vic let go of the bitterness and fear and embrace what he knows to be real? Will the serial killer find Simon before Simon figures it out?




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