Blog Tour: Ashes to Ashes

Ashes to Ashes by Karina Halle 
(Experiment in Terror #8) 
Publication date: December 11th 2013
Genres: Horror, New Adult, Supernatural

Goodreads Summary

It’s been two months since Perry Palomino and Dex Foray’s relationship reached a new turning point, two months since Perry started a new life in Seattle, and two months since their Experiment in Terror show took on a new partner, ex-Wine Babe Rebecca Sims, and found a new level of success. But whenever there is light in their lives, the madness still has a way of coming back in.

When the team is sent back to the stormy Oregon coast to investigate a haunted school, Perry wants to use the opportunity to reconnect with her family and reintroduce Dex into their lives. Only Perry’s not the only one who’s reaching out – her grandmother Pippa has started appearing to her with disturbing warnings and Perry’s presence at the school has ignited a chilling new wave of supernatural phenomenon. Once used a century ago as a sanatorium to house children dying of tuberculosis, the school’s past residents are slowly coming back to life and with one thing on their mind. They want someone to play with, someone to join them. Forever.

Even when dead, some children get whatever they want.

And they want Perry.

* Find my review for Come Alive (Experiment in Terror #7) here.

My Review

“Only there’s no lighthouse this time. As shit-your-pants scary as that Old Roddy fucker was, we’ve got a school of dead children. But we can handle it. And if we can’t, well that’s what Jack Daniels is for.”

THIS is what I’ve been waiting for. For the past 2 books THIS was what was missing. This is, hands down, the best book in the series.

The creepy goes up a couple of notches. The romance becomes even better and the characters; well we have Rebecca this time around so everything in this book is more awesomer than it has ever been before. Hell Dex and Perry are FINALLY a couple so yes things are definitely different but a good different.

This book goes back to where everything started, Oregon. But this time around we are in a school of dead children.

The book starts with Perry getting a tattoo in honor of Dex. We all know Dex can be a little insecure when it comes to how Perry feels about him (and he actually has a good reason to be) so this also serves as a reassurance. What really bothered me was that it seemed as though Dex hadn’t told Perry what he learned from Max in Come Alive. Dex really needs to stop keeping secrets from Perry.

Pippa was back too so I was really happy. I may not have read her short novella but she is one of my favorite characters in the series. She has a great background story and despite being Perry’s grandmother she isn’t always warm and grandmotherly, she kind of does border on the edge of creepy because well, she isn’t alive. We cannot even be sure that she is a ghost.

While we’re still talking about Pippa I also have to say that I am annoyed that Perry always doubts Pippa’s advice, shouldn’t she know better by now? I have to give her credit though, she doesn’t completely dismiss it; it hovers at the back of her mind until well she realizes Pippa may be onto something with her ‘feelings’. That was my only grievance when it came to Perry. Aside from that I was really glad to read in her POV again. I may have enjoyed the 7^th book but nothing beats Perry’s POV. Perry has come such a long way from the first book. She has developed so much and has finally learned to stand up on her own feet. She may still be slightly insecure about her body but she’s getting there.

Even Dex has come such a long way. Yes he still annoys me with the amount of secrets he keeps but even I cannot fault him about the whole thing with Rebecca. Yes he didn’t tell her but it didn’t concern her, it happened in the past. I still continue to be surprised by how sincere he can be. I should know better by now but those moments are so rare that I cannot help but treasure them. But he is supportive no matter what and will always be there for Perry no matter what.

Their romance was at its best in this book. Now that they have finally worked through their issues, they can work together as a couple. I had the best time watching them do just that. To finally talk about these ghosts they see, to talk about their future both career wise and relationship wise. It was great.

THE PLOT THOUGH. HOLY CRAP. It was great. So so so great. There was so much creepy and so much scary. I had goosebumps. I always enjoy how these books aren’t about getting rid of the ghosts but rather about finding their stories and sharing that. They may be special but they don’t have superpowers. They cannot just get rid of ghosts; they can only help them by sharing their stories.

One of the other things that happened was that Perry talked to her parents. The reunion was absolutely hilarious. All the awkwardness made me laugh but the thing about Perry’s mother came as a surprise. I am curious to see how things will go.

That ending though, I CANNOT. WHY? I am going to like need the next book but you cannot rush genius so I’ll just have to wallow in my misery while I wait for the last book in the series to come out.

About the Author:

The daughter of a Norwegian Viking and a Finnish Moomin, Karina Halle grew up in Vancouver, Canada with trolls and eternal darkness on the brain. This soon turned into a love of all things that go bump in the night and a rather sadistic appreciation for freaking people out. Like many of the flawed characters she writes, Karina never knew where to find herself and has dabbled in acting, make-up artistry, film production, screenwriting, photography, travel writing and music journalism. She eventually found herself in the pages of the very novels she wrote (if only she had looked there to begin with).

Karina holds a screenwriting degree from Vancouver Film School and a Bachelor of Journalism from TRU. Her travel writing, music reviews/interviews and photography have appeared in publications such as Consequence of Sound, Mxdwn and GoNomad Travel Guides. She currently lives on an island on the coast of British Columbia where she's preparing for the zombie apocalypse with her fiance and rescue pup.

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