ARC Review: The Quiet House (Black and Blue #2) by Lily Morton

Blurb:

Levi Black has mostly recovered from the events of a year ago. The only lingering effects are that he’s much more well known in York than he’d like to be, and he’s a lot more cautious about walking around his house naked. However, those events brought him the capricious and fascinating Blue, so he’s not complaining. On the contrary, he’s happy, in love, and looking forward to Blue finally moving in with him. And if sometimes he wonders what Blue sees in a boring cartoonist, he keeps that to himself.

Blue Billings is finally ready to throw off the memories of his past and move in with the person who means the most in the world to him. His psychic abilities have grown in the last year to his mentor Tom's consternation, but Blue is determined to look on the bright side. He’s also focused on ignoring all the warning signs that he’s received lately.

However, even deeply buried secrets have a way of rising to the surface. And when a surprise from Blue’s past turns up and draws them away to a lonely house on the Yorkshire moors, Levi and Blue must fight for their survival once again.

Todd's rating:

 

 After loving Lily's first outing in the paranormal genre, I'd anxiously awaited the release of her second ghost story, which began a year after where the initial book left off.

As the story started, Blue had finally agreed to move into Levi's happy home, formerly known as the haunted murder house, allowing them to move their relationship to another level.

But when Blue's long-lost father, Declan, arrived with a proposition to scope out a haunted mansion, Blue was much more interested in getting information on his deceased mother's past than with any present-day ghosts.

So with Blue's cantankerous boss and friend, Tom, in tow, the guys found themselves surrounded by new apparitions and mysteries in the middle of the English moors.

I still loved Levi and Blue just as much as before, however, while I'd found the first book to be fairly spooky, I can't really remember any scenes in this continuation that gave me the shivers or made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. I kept waiting, but scary just wasn't in the cards for me this time around.

I suspect that part of the reason for my lack of chills was that the owner of the ancient manor, Viscount Ingraham, seemed to be turning the entire ghost hunt into some sort of sick supernatural competition, almost like some type of immoral reality TV show. It just felt much more "Blair Witch Project" than "The Ring".

I also experienced a ton of skepticism with Blue, Levi, and Tom's decision making when faced with some severely fucked up events at the mansion. After several very close calls with Blue and Levi nearly dying, over and over and over, they kept rationalizing reasons to *STAY*, which far surpassed the line of believability for me.

I finally got to the point where I was basically That Bitch sitting in a movie theater, screaming at the screen:

"Do NOT go back inside that house. OMG, I mean it. Aaaaaaand they're back inside.

I hope you ALL DIE, I swear to God, because you're apparently too stupid to motherfucking live!!!"

Or something like that. "Allegedly." ;- )

When all was said and done, though, Tom had totally stolen the show, Declan's worth as a human being had been (at least partially) redeemed, and Blue was finally convinced of how deeply and truly Levi loved him, so while sometimes frustrating, it all worked out well in the end.

I'd rate this one at around 3.5 stars, even though it had less of that *spark* of magic than the first book.

Personally, I'm hoping that book 3 will be Will and Jem's story, which I'd read in half a heartbeat.

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