Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Smoke in the Mirror
SERIES: Road to Blissville
AUTHOR: Aimee Nicole Walker
NARRATOR: Joel Leslie
PUBLISHER: Tantor Audio
LENGTH: 7 hours and 38 minutes
RELEASE DATE: March 24, 2020
BLURB:
Memphis Sullivan thought he was coming to Blissville to help his cousin out, but instead, he gained three meddlesome females, a tribe, and a permanent home. More than a year later, he owns a popular comic book and vinyl record store and doesn’t think his life could get any better. That all changes when the star of his favorite television show and bad-boy fantasies rides into town and spices up his vanilla world.
Lyric Willows’ decision to visit an old friend in Blissville will change his life in ways he never dreamed possible. The paranormal investigator is immediately drawn to the mysterious disappearance of the town’s founder in 1850 and rumors that his former home is haunted. More alluring to Lyric than the history of Bliss House is the immediate connection he feels to the adorably geeky owner of Vinyl and Villains, who also happens to be his friend’s cousin.
Lyric becomes Memphis’ houseguest when he decides to stay in town to conduct a paranormal investigation. Tight spaces lead to sexy encounters, and before long, ghosts aren’t the only things that go bump in the night.
REVIEW:
Note: While this is book 5 in the series, it can be read as a standalone with some minor spoilers for the first four books. There is some overlap particularly with book 4 in this book.
Memphis Sullivan moved to Blissville after visiting to help his cousin Emery Jackson (one of the MCs of Book 2). He’s opened his own comics and vinyl shop in the same building as Milo and Meghan’s coffee shop from the previous book. When Meghan buys a supposedly haunted house, she reaches out to a paranormal investigator – a ghost hunter if you will – from a TV show to come. She wants to find out what has happened in the house and what happened to the original owner after an incident with Milo and Andy that has the group convinced that there definitely is a restless ghost in the house.
Lyric Willows has always been able to communicate with spirits. He’s a bit of a mysterious and popular cult figure because of his TV show. He doesn’t share much about his family or his past with anyone, despite a very annoying fan site that is always hounding him. When he arrives in town and agrees to take on the project, there is the little detail of where he will stay while conducting his investigation. Before he can stop himself, Memphis offers up his guest room. He’s a bit of a closet fanboy of Lyric’s and he can’t wait to spend more time with him.
Lyric takes him up on the offer and comes to move in. There is an absolutely hysterical scene involving a shower, some dogs and Bob that had me crying from laughter. Memphis and Lyric have a very strong mutual attraction, but Lyric doesn’t do relationships. His past haunts him and he doesn’t think that he’s destined for love and so he tries to keep Memphis at arms length. But then he thinks better of it 🙂
One of Lyric’s other passions is baking. There are a lot of wonderfully described baked goods in this story that made me crave cake! Lyric bakes to relax and he’s quite good at it. Memphis and his friends are treated to some pretty awesome desserts. The reason he likes to bake and the source of his recipes are another of the secrets that he carries with him. He doesn’t share easily, but as time goes on, he slowly let’s Memphis in.
The other story in this book besides the blooming relationship between Lyric and Memphis is the mystery of the owner of the house and what really happened to him when he disappeared from Blissville. This story takes Lyric on a trip that makes him realize that maybe it’s time that he set down some roots. This is a really different story that ended up being quite surprising and more interesting than anyone could have realized when Lyric first arrived in town.
I liked this story more than I thought I would. I’m not the biggest fan of ghost stories, but I really appreciated the very clever way the ghosts and the past were presented in this story and that the ultimate revelation was not soul crushing as I feared it might be. There are quite a bit of sexy times in this story as Memphis and Lyric at first have agreed to a no-strings attached, casual sex deal. Of course that doesn’t exactly work out for them, but instead they learn a lot about each other and it turns out that they have more in common and are more connected than they initial think. I liked the Lyric overcame his fears and what his past had taught him about love and trusted Memphis with his heart. Memphis has always been a good guy and it’s nice to see him get some happiness for himself with someone who really appreciates what a gem he really is. As usual, Joel Leslie does a fantastic job with all the voices – including all those we’ve come to know and love in this series as most of them appear in this book also. I’m looking forward to the next two books in this series! Recommended.
RATING:
BUY LINKS:
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