Reviewed by Valerie

TITLE:  The Mysterious and Amazing Blue Billings

SERIES: A Black and Blue Novel #1

AUTHOR: Lily Morton

NARRATOR:  Joel Leslie

PUBLISHER: Self-Published

LENGTH: 10 hours, 15 minutes

RELEASE DATE: November 18, 2020

BLURB:

Levi Black is at a crossroads. After suffering a loss and breaking up a long-term relationship, he’s looking for a change. When he receives the news he’s inherited a house in York, he seizes the opportunity to begin a new chapter in his life.

However, when he gets there, he finds a house that has never kept its occupants for very long. Either through death or disinclination, no one stays there, and after a few days of living in the place, Levi can understand why. Strange noises can be heard at all hours of the day and night, and disturbing and scary things begin to happen to him. He never believed in ghosts before, but when events take a sinister turn, he knows he must look for help. He finds it in the unlikely form of the blue-haired leader of a ghost tour.

Blue Billings is edgy, beautiful, and lost. Utterly lost. He conceals so many secrets that some days it’s a miracle he remembers his own name. He knows that he should ignore Levi because he threatens the tenuous grip Blue has on survival. But there’s something about the kind-eyed man that draws Blue to him. Something that demands he stay and fight for him when he would normally run in the opposite direction.

As the two men investigate the shocking truth behind Levi’s house, they also discover a deep connection that defies the short length of time they’ve known each other. But when events escalate and his life is on the line, Levi has to wonder if it was wise to trust the mysterious and amazing Blue Billings.

REVIEW:

The Mysterious and Amazing Blue Billings is, well, mysterious and amazing, a love story like no other. I adore this exceptional book – one of Ms. Morton’s very best. It’s part romance, part mystery of the ghost hunting variety, and all parts special. The two main characters, Levi Black and Blue Billings, work together to uncover who or what is haunting Levi’s newly inherited house in York, England. The story is truly frightening, but is countered by Lily Morton’s signature humor. 

Sometimes an author is able to achieve an intangible something special between their characters. Something difficult to describe. An affinity for each other, an interconnectedness. Warmth. Love. That’s what Lily Morton has done with Levi and Blue, and you can feel it almost from the beginning. This is a case where 1+1=3, not 2. They are more than the sum of their parts.  

Levi is a man who radiates kindness. Following the death of his beloved mother, he leaves London for a new life in York and has the once stately house fixed-up. But after being subjected to many strange and terrifying occurrences, Levi turns to Blue, the cute and intriguing ghost tour guide, who might have some answers because he can see ghosts. Blue, beautiful Blue. I’ve never wanted to hug a character more. He’s had a sorrowful past: raised by a mentally ill mother, then on his own – homeless or living in squats – since he was thirteen. It’s left him self-sufficient, brave, quick-witted, and clever, but also bereft of the kindness most take for granted.  

As they work to solve the mystery and expel the evil specters, their bond grows into friendship and more. Theirs is a slow burn – the physical intimacy blossoms slowly because Blue is convinced he’s not good enough for Levi, and Levi is worried about triggering Blue’s past.  

My laughter dies away as he rests against me, his front pressed to mine and his face lifted up, laughing and so bloody pretty. His smile fades as he stares up at me and silence seems to stretch like hot toffee. Without saying another word, we move as if in a dream, and our lips touch. They rest softly for a second in an almost innocent fashion as if we’re both stunned by the change in our dynamic.  

Blue is vulnerable and sad; he craves a happy, normal life and wants so badly to belong to Levi, but years of hardship tell him he shouldn’t trust people and get attached because everyone leaves him. 

This book contains forced proximity by ghost. I’m used to characters forced together by snowstorms, having to share one hotel room or only one bed, even getting stuck in an elevator, but by ghost? Here we have two men driven by terror to share a bed, huddled up together because of chilling chaos in the middle of the night. And it is horrifying. I’d be huddled up in that bed between those two sexy, minimally dressed men, too. (Well, let’s be honest, I’d be pressed between those two men, ghost or no ghost.) There’s a darkness in the house that’s filled with rage and hatred. Wickedness. It’s like an entity. And can I just say, cellars can be dark and frightening at the best of times; in a house filled with malevolent spirits … no. Just no. Bad, bad cellar. 

There are three secondary characters of note: Tom, Will, and Rosalind. Old man Tom is a cantankerous bookseller with a heart of gold. He’s something of a grandfather-figure for Blue. For years, his shop provided refuge to homeless Blue who spent many days holed up reading books and being fed by Tom.  Tom is now serving as a psychic mentor to Blue, helping him to strengthen his gift so he can help Levi. Tom is a delightful character whose sarcastic, snarky banter provides the right note of comic relief to the novel. Will is Blue’s only true friend, a man who has his back in all situations. Whether homeless or living in a squat, that kind of true friendship must go a long way toward survival. I hope we see Will finding his own happiness in a future book. Finally, there’s Rosalind, Levi’s resident ghost who killed her brother and then herself in the nineteenth century. I’ll let you get to know her yourself.  

So, what can I say about narrator Joel Leslie without a boatload of superlatives? There’s a reason he’s one of the go-to narrators for MM romance. He’s so prolific I was concerned his characters would begin sounding like previously recorded characters. I needn’t worry; his narration of The Mysterious and Amazing Blue Billings is sublime and like nothing I’ve heard of his before, due in part to Blue’s hearty Irish accent. His voice for Rosalind is impressive, especially for a man performing a female voice. At one point, he gives a monologue of approximately thirteen minutes without once slipping out of Rosalind’s character or accented voice. It’s easy to distinguish all of the character voices. Mr. Leslie is a voice actor – a performer. The inflection and emotion he infuses into his voices convey urgency in the scary situations. We can hear the fright in Blue and Levi’s voices and feel their terror. Their intimate times are so realistic, if judging by the heightened desperation and passion in Leslie’s voice. 

The Mysterious and Amazing Blue Billings is a brilliant audio book, both for Ms. Morton’s clever, creative storytelling and Mr. Leslie’s delivery. I hope you love Blue and Levi as much as I do. 

RATING:  

BUY LINKS: 

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