Reviewed by Tammy

TITLE: Ascension                              

SERIES: Southern Spirits, #7

AUTHOR: Bailey Bradford

PUBLISHER: Pride Publishing

LENGTH: 120 Pages

RELEASE DATE: September 14, 2015

BLURB:

Conner Sutherland never thought he’d meet the love of his life in the Afterlife…

Conner Sutherland has been alone for a long time. He can’t remember the last time he even felt the desire to be touched by another man. Sometime before his death, when he’d still been Laine’s lover. But Laine had found Severo years ago, and if any two people were meant for each other it was Laine and Sev. Where that leaves Conner, he doesn’t know, other than feeling lost and out of sorts.

He doesn’t want to think about the way he feels when he sees Ro—Rogelio, Sev’s nephew. Conner’s seen Ro grow from pretty boy into a handsome man, but wanting him is foolish and useless. Ro’s got a life to live, and even if he does things that hurt Conner, that’s not Ro’s fault. He doesn’t know he entranced Conner long ago.

Ro has only ever wanted one man for keeps. It’s a pointless want, though, because Conner Sutherland is dead and too busy pranking Laine and Sev to notice Ro anyway.

But life, and death, have a way of surprising you, as Ro and Conner find out.

REVIEW:

Conner Sutherland has been dead for a long time. He can’t remember when he died but boy can he remember how he died. Conner was raped, tortured and eventually murdered by his lover Laine Stenley’s stalker. Conner has been in McKinton as a spirit since Laine became the Sheriff years ago. Conner spends his time teasing and tormenting Laine and Severo as well as helping new spirits adjust to being spirit, but now Conner is so incredibly lonely. He just wants to find someone to love, the one person he has feelings for is alive and so young that he’s forced himself to stay away from him.

Ro – Rogelio Martinez, is Severo’s nephew. Severo is Sheriff Laine Stenley’s partner and McKinton’s resident psychic who can talk to spirits. Ro is now in his early twenties, he moved to McKinton with his family when he was a teenager just coming to grips with the fact that he was gay. Lucky for Ro his parents didn’t turn their backs on him, they moved to McKinton so they could all be near Sev and his support. Ro has been in love with Conner since he saw Conner’s photo in Laine’s office when he first arrived in town. He feels like such a loser, I mean how embarrassing, a young man in love with a ghost? As the oldest child Ro has felt the expectation fall on him to be the leader but he doesn’t want to go to college, he doesn’t want to leave McKinton because as strange as it might sound he doesn’t want to leave Conner.

Ro’s life is incredibly boring and totally unsatisfying, he works at the diner and not much else and then his mother dies and just about destroys him and his father. Ro goes off the rails for months after her funeral. Ro hasn’t had sex before, he doesn’t really know why, he won’t acknowledge that it’s because he is saving himself for Conner a ghost! And so begins the downward spiral of Ro. Everything comes to a head when Ro is hurt so bad he has to go to a clinic in Dallas because he’s so ashamed of himself. It’s during the trip to Dallas that Ro loses his life and becomes the next McKinton spirit. Conner of course feels the pull to go to Ro when he dies but he doesn’t realise Ro’s dead until he sees Ro’s body still in his truck.

Neither Ro nor Conner can believe they can actually be together now. The hardest part of being dead for Ro is watching his father and siblings fall apart knowing there is absolutely nothing he can do to help them. It’s not until the person who hurt Ro so bad has the gall to turn up on his family’s doorstep and then proceeded to tell his father in detail exactly what Ro and him had been doing. His father has a heart-attack when he learns the truth about what Ro had been doing. When his father’s soul leaves his body both Ro and Conner chase it and even though it’s a struggle they manage to push it back into his body. Sev, Ro and Conner all band together to help Ro’s father, brother and sister recover and move on from his death. It’s especially hard as Ro really isn’t all that unhappy about being dead as now he can spend eternity with the man/spirit he has loved since he was a teenager.

Make sure you have a box of tissues on standby because I guarantee you’ll need them.

RATING:      

BUY LINKS:

Pride Publishing

Amazon

ARe