Now THAT’S the spooky I fell in love with!

I’m so glad Perry and Dex’s angsty get together is over and we can just concentrate on the creepy.

This might be my favorite so far. Yeah, I think it is. ( )

I love it! All the shocks and twists were kind of predictable in this book, but I still really enjoyed it :) Perry and Dec are unlike other main characters and if you enjoy PNR books, I'm sure you'll love them too! ( )

For some reason I thought it would be a great idea to read this book at night, in the dark, while all alone at the house. Wth.

I won't lie, I don't remember a whole hell of a lot about this series, but it's my mission to get caught up with my long running series this month so I started with EIT. The dynamic between Perry and Dex continues to change, and we definitely see the growth in their relationship here, although at times it felt more "telling" than "showing". The cliffhanger at the end just makes me want to jump right into the next one. Glad I waited until it was released.

The horror was typical of Halle's books, though there was a bit more direction to it this time. In the end though the whole thing always seems more like a bunch of jump scares than anything that makes sense in a cohesive way. Just my personal opinion.

Looking forward to seeing how the whole thing is wrapped up in #9! ( )

*Spoilers marked.

2.5 Stars.



This is a tough review to write, because I wanted so badly to love this one. I had such high hopes for this book after the huge disappointment that was Come Alive. I thought that with the return to Perry’s POV there was no way it couldn’t be awesome. And yet, it was only meh, if that.

The Perry and Dex road has been a long and tumultuous one. Even when there were bumps, though, I couldn’t help but care for them and their troubles. I enjoyed their dysfunction. The drama was an emotional roller coaster, but it was fun to read. The thing is, it’s book #8 now. 8 books of relationship drama and misstep after misstep is too fucking much. When will these two get it together?

Sadly, I'm starting to view their relationship like a surface one and an immature one at that. There's a lot of talk of love and commitment, but the reality is that when they're faced with hardships, they lie or keep each other in the dark. We keep seeing this time and time again in every book.

I find it ironic that a major contention in this book was the fact that Dex and Perry have only known each other for eight months. A lot of their interactions from then on are spent trying to convince you that their love is strong and can conquer that. Unfortunately, by the end, I wasn't convinced. I hear the words that are coming out of their mouths and I understand what they think they feel and furthermore, I get that they believe in their love, but I do not see it in their actions.

This relationship felt so juvenile to me. I could pretty much insert my 18 yr old self and my just-out-of-high-school boyfriend in their positions and we would have had the same exact scenarios. The mistrust, the arguments, the lies, the doubt, the overzealous declarations of love, and most importantly, the keeping each other in the dark about important things bit. I've loved them so much throughout this series, even when they were down and even when they were both making big mistakes, but now that they're together and still functioning dysfunctionally, I am truly uninspired by them. It makes me sad to think that my love affair with Dex and Perry is coming to an unsatisfying end.

I would respect them so much more if they would acknowledge that they have some kinks to work out in their relationship, despite their love for each other. I would view that as (gasp) growth. Can we get a little actual growth with these two? We get a lot of trying to convince us that there's been growth, but no actual growth. Unfortunately, they're like bumbling teenagers professing their love at every turn and "fixing" every problem with a few rounds of dirty sex (commonly had at the most inappropriate and selfish times). They're just going to stop and have make-up sex while Brenna and Rebecca are waiting for them upstairs for a tour? What are they? 17?

As for the plot, there were a couple of things that I didn't buy, but I will say that it was pretty creepy. I don't scare easily, though I wish I did, but I have had some decent scares from this series. This book was pretty up there on the creep factor. Unfortunately, it was dulled a bit by some nonsensical behavior by the characters. It doesn't make sense to me for a character to go out of their way to find themselves alone in a place where they are terrified. I get that for the sake of the spookiness, that works, but for overly logical people like me, that just doesn't work.

Then we have Perry's continued skepticism. -__- She's still questioning herself! That is so beyond ridiculous to me. It's book 8 and she's been seeing creepy stuff and ghosts and demons throughout and she is still questioning herself and wondering if she's imagining things. AYFKM? At this point, she should be strong in her convictions and not let anyone else's skepticism deter her. How could she not know what she's seeing, if it's been happening for a long time now? Ugh.

My last complaint in this long list of complaints is the very excessive foreshadowing of a certain event and Perry's consequent induction into the TSTL club. How she could not put two and two together throughout the book and figure it out is beyond me. I honestly have always given Perry more credit than that and I am highly disappointed that she could not pick up on pertinent clues that are in your face as the reader. That's one of my biggest pet peeves in books to be honest.

I'm going to round this review out with a spoilery rant of ranty spoilers:



Seriously, Rebecca? Are you for serious? I've always liked her, but now she does this shit. I understand where she's coming from, but the timing was so completely wrong and it was just selfish of her to do that. I don't like it.

And thanks to Amanda for reminding me: FUCKING EWW to Dex's past threesome jokes. How can I take him seriously now? That bullshit about joking because it's something that could never happen? FUCK YOU. That's BS and Perry's an idiot for buying it instantly. He gives you that line of horse shit, goes into yet another cheesy spiel about his undying love for you, you respond with "Wow" (as if we haven't been hearing this overzealous crap for a couple of books now), and you instantly drop trou and let it go? You're a fool, Perry.

Also, why couldn't Dex have been upfront with her? Why did Rebecca have to tell her? Why can't these two just get it together?! Why does there have to be drama in every single book? It's bullshit. I don't think they belong together. I think they have a dysfunctional and unhealthy relationship. Certainly not one that is stable enough to convert into marriage. It's laughable to me. I feel like the whole engagement thing is just thrown in there to try to make us swoon. Realistically, in the eight months they've been together, they've had nothing but problem after problem and betrayal after betrayal. Now we're gonna put a little bow on it and make a wedding of it? Pffft.

And WTF with Perry and meds? It was bad enough when she did it the first time, but the fact that she is fully aware of how wrong it is and yet, she does it anyway, makes me livid. I just cannot find it in myself to respect her right now.


I'm deflated. I think the magic may be gone for me with this series. I rated this 2.5 instead of 2, because it was slightly better than Come Alive, but I debated.

Crazy as this may sound, I do plan to read the next one for two reasons. For one, I have to know what's going to happen. I can't just not know after all of the time I've invested. Also, the book ended on a very interesting note. I'm looking forward to seeing WTF that weirdness was all about.






( )

I’m a huge fan of this series and highly recommend it to everyone who enjoys reading books about the paranormal. Ashes to Ashes is the eighth book in this nine part series, and just when I thought the hauntings couldn’t get any creepier, any more chilling, and the love scenes between Perry and Dex any hotter, Halle proves me wrong with this book, and it is one of the best in the series. Each book just gets better and better!

As this series draws closer to its conclusion, and I look back at how the plot has progressed, I have to say I am very impressed with all of the thought and planning that Halle put into this series beforehand. I can now see how all of the minute details and foreshadowing have been cleverly interwoven throughout all of the books to provide continuity and unify the plot even when I wasn’t always aware of it. If you follow the series but haven’t read this latest installment, I hope you will do so as soon as you can because you won’t be disappointed!

Ashes to Ashes picks up shortly after the last book ends. Perry and Dex have been living together for two months now, working to strengthen their relationship which is still a bit fragile. Perry has made significant progress in letting go of past hurts and has opened her heart to Dex once again. And Dex, dare I say that handsome devil has turned into quite the sweetie? Don’t worry though, Dex is still the same pervert we all have come to know and love; he’s just moved beyond many of the emotional wounds that made him behave like a “douchecanoe” in the past. Their future together seems much brighter until the upcoming episode for their web show pulls them into the dark, ominous world of the supernatural once again, which leads Perry to question how well she really knows Dex.

With Rebecca as part of their team now, the trio heads to a reputed haunted grade school in Oregon that used to serve as a sanitarium to quarantine children with Tuberculosis until a cure was found. This “house of death” is filled with the ghosts of those poor, forgotten children who suffered terribly and the spirits of those responsible for the evil that once took place there. I was shocked and appalled by some of the eerie stories the group hears, but I was downright terrified by some of the intense, pulse-raising fright-inducing scenes that make up the second half of the book.

In addition to the supernatural entities that are after Perry, she also has to deal with the reappearance of Pippa who visits her in her dreams and conveys cryptic warnings about Perry’s future and the evil looming ahead. While Perry is trying to wrap her mind around Pippa’s insistence that she is in danger, Rebecca drops two bombshells that cause Perry’s insecurities to rise to the surface all over again. To top everything off, Perry visits her family and, although their relationship is strained because of Dex, I have to say I’m proud of Perry for facing her family’s criticism and rejection head on in order to begin the healing process.

The ending of the book introduces us to the last leg of Perry and Dex’s journey and boy is it going to be intense! Pippa’s warnings are now starting to make sense and the last book will finally bring the story to a full circle. I cannot wait!

I received an ARC of this book from the author for an honest review. ( )