REVIEW by Lorna: Forever Hers (Spirits of Saoradh #1) by Caroline Cairn (@CarolineCairn , @Mollykatie112)

Feisty twenty-four year old Holly, or Miss Greedy as her friends call her, receives a wooden cube as a gift from an enigmatic elderly lady, who happens to be her mother’s new neighbour in Lossiemouth, a small Scottish fishing town.

What she doesn’t expect, is for the cube to contain Blayne, a Spirit of Saoradh only she can see and touch. Blayne is a playful, headstrong ghost with no recollection of his human past and an ability to grant Holly’s wishes whenever she calls for him — as long as said wishes don’t raise any questions from the public that is. So a shiny new car might be out of the question, but the possibility of a flat stomach, a consistently spotless house or a perfect daily hairstyle more than make up for it.

Through their incessant banter, Holly and Blayne grow closer while fighting against their mutual attraction since they have no possible future together.

But when the painful reality of Blayne’s existence is revealed, Holly will realize that it’s not always the girl who needs to be saved.

Warning: contains mature scenes not intended for young readers.

 

Forever Hers
by Caroline Cairn

Series
Spirits of Saoradh #1

Genre
Adult
Paranormal Romance

Publisher
Independent

Publication Date
November 26, 2015

  

A Genie in a bottle? That is pretty much what I thought I was getting with this read. I sort of got that, but I also got a good romance, as well. And no he’s not a Genie, and there’s no bottle rubbing going on either! Lots of wishes are happening though.

Holly has just lost the next door neighbor, Max, that she grew up adoring. When she is given a box at the funeral by a lady that has already moved into Max’s house, she is pretty surprised. It’s just a small wooden box. Once she gets it back to her mother’s home, she is shocked when a gorgeous man pops up in her bedroom. He’s a spirit, not a Genie, but now he is bound for life to Holly. Holly can’t believe that now she can wish for things and Blayne can make them happen-within reason of course. Nothing that will cause outsiders to question, but having a flat stomach is definitely doable. And never having to clean the house again is a bonus.

I enjoyed Blayne as a character. He has no memory of his life before he died, but does know that he is over a hundred years old and has been bound at least two other times. He’s got a fun personality and enjoys floating around in the air and hanging upside down. Holly, I wasn’t as sure about, in the beginning especially. She’s a bit greedy-but then most people would be when faced with so many possibilities for wishes. She’s been hurt and quite recently, by a man that she didn’t know was a womanizer and a liar. Blayne does have fun with some revenge against him! In the end, I did like her better the farther I got into the read.

The premise surrounding Max as a Keeper of Spirits was pretty unique. And the world building of the dark place where Blayne has to stay when he is in the box was even more unique. There’s a couple of pretty horrible villains that live in that world as well. They make Blayne follow strict rules and when he doesn’t, he is punished and the punishment is torture. That part took away from the feel good vibe of the book for me. It’s not easy being a spirit that needs to find atonement for something bad he did back in his former life-especially when he can’t remember what he did.

Of course, this ends up being a romance, and it actually was a pretty sweet one. There are major problems of course, seeing as how Blayne is dead. I did enjoy the way the author was able to keep the reader guessing about if we were going to get a happily ever after and if so, how she was going to take the reader to that point.

Good romance, unique premise and world building(limited to the dark place), and fairly good characters, made this a mostly good read for me. I would recommend this to adult paranormal romance readers or young adults ages 16 plus.

The review copy of this book was supplied by the author in exchange for a fair and honest review.

 

About Caroline Cairn

Born and raised in France, Caroline Cairn studied hotel management before spending a couple of years in England, Ireland and Belgium. In 2001, she and her husband settled close to the Loch Ness monster in the Highlands of Scotland, and soon, two children and about thirteen fish joined them.

Dramatic scenes are still her favourite to work on, which is perhaps a reminiscence of her teenage years when every single ones of her stories had to end in epic tragedy (Shakespeare had nothing on her).

Thankfully, these days, she veers towards the happy-ever-after finale set in a glorious orange and red sunset.

To contact Caroline, please visit https://carolinecairn.wordpress.com/, or e-mail her at carolinecairn@gmail.com

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