Reviewed by Dan
This is a Series Review of Fawnskin Series (Books 1 & 2)
AUTHOR: A.J. Llewellyn & D.J. Manly
PUBLISHER: eXtasy Books
SERIES REVIEW:
If you are fan of tongue in cheek ghostly type tales, then the recently re-released Fawnskin series should be right up your alley. I liked the story, and I’m hoping there might be a third book in the series at some point. I saw a notice on an older edition of the books that mentioned a third book, but I’m not sure. I recommend both books, which build on each other, so read them in order.
SERIES RATING: 
TITLE: Fawnskin
LENGTH: 134 Pages
RELEASE DATE: October 5, 2018
BLURB:
When Rallus quits his FBI job and moves to the mountain town of Fawnskin, California, to get away from it all, he has no clue that rural life will mean falling in love with another mysterious newcomer. He falls hard and fast for Knox Baylor, who’s taken an unusual job as a shommerin, a corpse watcher at a funeral home.
For Knox, the job should be easy money, even if the hours are long…except that he falls asleep on the job and accidentally releases Mr. Harold Hoxheimer’s angry spirit, or dybbuk, which starts creating unholy havoc in Fawnskin.
Harold opens all the secret wounds festering under Fawnskin’s pretty, postcard exterior. Fawnskin is home to a fake fortune teller who blackmails residents but hides an even more sinister secret. And why do individuals keep dying in the old people’s home? Rallus barely has time to deal with these problems when a grizzly murder takes place and a small boy is abducted.
As they investigate, Rallus and Knox find that nothing is what it seems in this once-quiet town with the warm and fuzzy name…everybody has a secret, and some are willing to go to deadly lengths to keep them.
How can they keep Mr. Hoxheimer’s vengeful dybbuk from jumping from one host body to the next? What exactly does he want? And can Rallus and Knox defeat the growing evil with true love?
REVIEW:
I’ve never heard of the Jewish custom of corpse watching, which I guess is a real thing. Although in real life, I’m pretty sure the spirit doesn’t get out of the body when the watcher runs off to pee. 😊
Fawnskin was a fun read, with lots of spooky characters and other slightly odd characters, like the woman who owns the funeral parlor where Knox Baylor gets a job when he arrives in town. Knox is penniless, and doesn’t have money for food, say nothing about a place to stay, so he is delighted when he is hired on the spot for the corpse watching gig. After all, how hard can it be to sit with a dead corpse for overnight shifts?
It turns out it is harder than he thought. When the prankster spirit of Harold Hoxheimer gets out of his dead body and starts playing pranks and exposing secrets around town, Knox is desperate to get Harold back into his own body or get him somewhere… anywhere but where he is currently which is taking over other people’s bodies while he pulls his pranks.
Help arrives in the guise of a mysterious man living in a cabin. No one knows who this guy is, but Knox would like to. The two men meet, and things heat up. But will they get the spirit before he causes lasting harm?
I enjoyed this one and recommend it to anyone who likes spirits and things that go bump in the night.
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TITLE: Frenzied
LENGTH: 191 Pages
RELEASE DATE: October 12, 2018
BLURB:
In this exciting sequel to Fawnskin, many mysteries are solved, mysteries which sprang from a young drifter’s job at the Lakeside Funeral Home.
Ever since Knox fell asleep and released Harold Herxhiemer’s spirit, the town of Fawnskin has never been the same, and probably never will again.
As Knox’s and Rallus’ relationship blossoms, a dark cloud begins to move into Fawnskin, a cloud from Knox’s past that threatens to rip him away from the man he so passionately loves. And those who were presumed silenced forever continue to walk, descending on Fawnskin and seeking their revenge.
What will happen to the citizens of this fair town? Will Rallus and Knox find the answers they seek, or will unseen forces hold the town in its grip and destroy everyone and everything in its wake?
REVIEW:
This second book in the Fawnskin series read as a direct continuation of the first book. I read them both together, so it was an easy transition over to this one. I would not recommend reading this one without reading book one, because you would have no background.
In Frenzied, we continue the story of Harold Herxhiemer’s spirit. I really liked the irascible old man in the first book, but he was getting dark during some of this book. When he took over the body of one of the side characters who was in a car accident, I didn’t like him at all.
Knox and Rallus though, I liked. I liked the way the story progressed and the way the mystery of why so many old people were suddenly dying at the old age home was solved. The story moved along fast, and I was kind of disappointed to get to the end of the book. I can only hope for more at some point.
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