The Mysterious and Amazing Blue Billings: Black and Blue Book 1, Lily Morton

Absolutely absorbing right from the very beginning!!  I seriously couldn't put the book down.  There was interest from the characters to the ghost to the story surrounding everything...I just enjoyed it all.  Well, almost all, but the awkward/dismissive interactions between Blue and Levi during their beginning was quickly forgiven when they actually started working together and progressing.  And while I admit that the supernatural element was a little heavy-handed at times and was resolved with fireworks and a fizzle, I liked everything else about the story so much that I was definitely willing to forgive those things.

Levi is adorably awkward and a little bit of an "ugly duckling" in the sense that he doesn't know how wonderful he is.  His heart is quite large and giving and was the perfect thing to make a home for Blue.  His generosity and honesty gave Blue the stability he needed to find freedom from his past and a belief in a happier future.

There were quite a few moments where the crazy seemed to disappear which gave the narrative a chance to focus on all the sweetness and stealth cuddling between Levi and Blue.  Their relationship grew alongside the more spectral aspects of the story and while they could have blended a little more fluidly, I liked how each element played out on their own.  The ending was really the best and most appropriate that could have been written for the men.  I'm incredibly glad we got the HFN we did, that there's so much more growth each person needs on their own and together that to wrap it up quickly to give us an HEA would be a poor way to follow up such a great story.  While I'm usually HFN-averse, what I like about this one is that it's, as I said before, the ideal way to go for where each person is at the time the story ends, and it's incredibly sweet and hopeful so it's not like a cliffhanger or an unsatisfying place to leave them.  If you didn't continue with the series from here it would be okay, though I wouldn't advise it because the guys were just so awesome, but the promise of an HEA could be considered enough.

With compelling men, a great story, and an interesting addition of the supernatural, this series is shaping up to be something absolutely memorable and I'm in for wherever this roller coaster takes us.

*$4.99 on Amazon!

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.