The Sinner (The Graveyard Queen, #5)

by Amanda Stevens

[jesstheaudiobookworm]

The Sinner was a weird one for me. For a while, I thought we were going to be dealing with zombies, but that angle never really came to fruition. When the series started out, there were the living and the dead (ghosts), but now we are entering a gray area with beings that are “something in between”. There was talk of an occult group that practiced necromancy, so I was sure zombies were the logical conclusion. They weren’t…, exactly. To be honest, I’m not sure what the plot conclusion was. Resolutions aren’t Amanda Stevens’ strong point.

The book’s ending, however, got my attention. My interest in the romantic angle of this series had been slowly growing over the last two books. I’ll admit that I didn’t see the break up coming. It was a nice curveball. I liked seeing insertion of a love triangle in The Visitor. I never felt the chemistry between Amelia and Devlin, so I was excited to see another player enter the scene and the end result of that triangle really threw me for a loop.

The end of the series is in sight, so I’m overlooking plot holes and leaning into the atmospheric richness. It’s perfect for listening during a Summer afternoon thunderstorm. It’s nice to see that Stevens isn’t afraid to contradict the obvious assumptions. So much of this series was beginning to seem formulaic. Her new approach is keeping me on my toes, but the new covers are making me cringe…