Stacey Kennedy – Page 2 – Escape Reality, Read Fiction!

Demonically Tempted is the second book in Stacey Kennedy’s intensely amazing paranormal romance/urban fantasy Frostbite series. The events in Demonically Tempted directly follow those in the first book, Supernaturally Kissed. You should read Supernaturally Kissed before Demonically Tempted. All the 5 star reviews of Supernaturally Kissed were dead-on, it’s fantastic. And so is Demonically Tempted. You’ll be tempted to stay up late to finish it!

Right where Kissed left off, Tess Jennings sees ghosts, especially her ghost-lover, Kipp McGowan, a cop who is determined to continuing serving with the Memphis Police Department, even as a ghost.

But Tess is the only one who can see him. And Tess’ ability to communicate with ghosts is very useful to the cold-case squad. So many cold-cases involve old homicides, and so many victims, well, have the kind of unfinished business that results in ghosts. Ghosts that Tess can help.

Tess gets a job offer from the Memphis P.D. Which she really has no choice about taking. Her old job isn’t there anymore. She spent too much time working with the cops on Kipp’s case. She got fired.

But working with Kipp’s old squad is okay. They accept her and Kipp as a team. But, there’s a problem. The supernatural community is not so accepting. Kipp is a ghost. His issues are resolved. He should cross over. And he isn’t, hasn’t, won’t. Because of Tess.

Tess’ powers are untrained. She started seeing ghosts when she was seventeen, after a very near-death experience. The Police Department has brought in a medium, someone who has more experience working cases, to work with her. Dane Wolfe says he can train her, but something about Dane gives her the heebie-jeebies, even more than the ghosts.

And something is seriously up with the ghost community. There are lots of ghost coming to see her. Deliberately. There is a dark spirit terrorizing them. Tess didn’t even know the ghosts were organized, and now they’re passing the word around about her. They want her to actually “Ghostbust” a bad spirit for them. What’s up with that?

So the quiet life Tess had at the beginning of Supernaturally Kissed is toast. Instead, she’s a police consultant with a ghost-lover and a real would-be Ghostbuster for the good ghosts on the ghostly side of Memphis–something she didn’t know existed. And she feels guilty for keeping Kipp from crossing over. Because she loves him more than she’s ever loved any man, and it’s going to rip her apart when he leaves. Which is what is supposed to happen.

And she’s in the middle of her first real case, which is nothing like it appears to be. And might be part of the whole supernatural Ghostbusting-thing.

Maybe Tess should ask for her quiet life back?

Escape Rating A: This just keeps getting better. And darker and deeper. The urban fantasy mix-in of the cop shop is marvelous–all of Kipp’s squad trying to get used to Tess, and knowing that he’s there watching, but they can’t see him. Some of them answer the question they know he’s just asked, even though they can’t hear it. Now that’s teamwork!

There’s angst here, too. Tess and Kipp know this can’t last forever, and there are definitely problems. Their relationship is hot, but, their ability to physically interact is seriously limited. And they definitely love each other. They want to do what is best for each other, but don’t know what that is, since they have no clue what comes next. What happens to ghost, after?

Demonically Tempted ends on a scrape-your-jaw-off-the-floor cliffhanger. I wanted to reach through my iPad and shake the next book out of Ms. Kennedy right then and there. (This feature needs to be added to future iPads)

The cover reveal for Mystically Bound is tomorrow.

Tess Jennings sees dead people. Ghosts. And they’re usually pretty clueless. No “Ghostbusting” required. Mostly they’re lost and confused and they need Tess to deliver a final message to somebody, or close out some unfinished business for them, or maybe just tell them they’re dead. Then they move on.

They aren’t supposed to spend an entire evening whispering dirty nothings into her ear. Not in a voice so sexy it ought still be doing phone sex, whether the operator is dead or alive.

But when Kipp McGowen, starts coming on to Tess in Supernaturally Kissed, the first book of Stacey Kennedy’s Frostbite series, he’s a ghost. The most deliciously handsome and mentally together ghost that Tess Jennings has ever seen. But definitely a ghost.

Kipp is a cop with the Memphis Police Department. And he needs Tess to help him solve one final case before he can “move on”, or whatever it is that ghosts do. He needs Tess to deliver all the information he has on the case that got him killed.

What’s weird about that case is that Kipp was working a cold case. It shouldn’t have gotten anyone excited enough to gun down a cop. But it sure seems like whoever murdered Hannah Reid five years ago must have gotten nervous about a cop asking questions about the old case. Even if the cop in question doesn’t know which rock he overturned that uncovered his killer.

Kipp didn’t see his murderer. It isn’t that easy. He wants Tess to go to the police station and talk to his partner.

Tess is NOT THRILLED. She knows what’s going to happen. The cops are going to be certain she’s a fake. Or crazy. Or both. She’ll be exposing her gift (or her curse, it’s all in the definition) and nothing good will come of it. At least not for her.

But Kipp is certain this is the only way he’ll get the resolution he needs to cross over. And Tess knows she won’t get him out of her life until he does. And dammit, she finds him amazingly, incredibly hot. Having him around, as a ghost, all the time, watching her, talking to her, in that sexy voice, describing all the things he’d do to her if he weren’t a ghost–she’ll combust.

She goes to the station. And it’s every bit as bad as she feared. Except that Kipp is there with her. Really with her. So it’s good. Even though it shouldn’t be. And that’s a problem.

Because he’s a ghost. And the longer he stays, the better they are together. The better they are together, the more difficult it will be when his case is finally resolved, whatever that’s going to take.

The more Tess works with Kipp and plays with Kipp, the more danger she is in. Working with the cops is dangerous enough, but the real danger, is to her heart. What happens if she falls in love with a ghost?

Escape Rating A: This is one of those times when the book is every bit as good as all the buzz you’ve heard. Everyone raved about Supernaturally Kissed and they were absolutely right. This story is a wow!

Tess is wounded and keeps to herself because she’s got a gift, or a curse. She can see ghosts, and she helps them cross over. Kipp is a ghost who needs her help. The only problem is that Kipp is her wildest dream of a man she would have wanted, if only he were alive!

Struggling with being a ghost, with needing to rely on others, and with the awareness that his time has already run out, makes Kipp into the man that Tess needs, except it’s already too late. Kipp’s a ghost. Resolving his last case is the loose end that keeps him from crossing over. When it’s done, he’ll be gone. But he’s a cop, and the case needs to be done so that Hannah Reid, the woman whose death he was investigating, has justice, and so that her murderer isn’t free.

It was never about Kipp. That’s what made him a good cop. That’s what makes him a good hero for this romance, in spite of being a ghost. Or maybe because he’s a ghost. A very hot ghost.

The Frostbite series continues with Demonically Tempted and the upcoming Mystically Bound (cover reveal tomorrow)

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