This was a good book. The story and characters were well developed.

Vivian Bedford nearly avoided a tragic end. But her survival has it's consequences. Now she can see spirits and auras.

*I received a copy of this book for free. The review is my own, honest and unsolicited. ( )

This was an ARC I received for an honest review.

Premise: Vivian Bedford is an normal everyday woman looking after her disabled family member when one day an encounter with a dying stranger opens a connection with the world of spirits. Lazarus Darkmore is a grim reaper wanting to recruit her as a soul broker. However, Guardian spirit Ezra and his new apprentice Zeke offer protection from the reaper only for as long as she works on their side of afterlife management.

What I enjoyed most about this book was the main character and her quiet strength. I liked that it focused as much on the supernatural as it did on Vivian's everyday struggles with finances, trying to care for her sister etc. It was a good balance. The other characters, Zeke, Lazarus and Ezra were all interesting in their own way but I feel that they all competed for air space and it was hard to connect with them. The first book of a series has to have some world building so I tend to give it a break because of that.

Also some books based on angels and demons have a religious undertone which I find boring and makes me shy away as a reader, not being religious at all. This book didn't rally have those types of "lectures" or bible references which I appreciated.

Overall a good start to the series, I think more time needs to be spent in the next book fleshing out the guardians and reaper as they have a lot of potential to be great characters. ( )

'won' a copy of this through librarything from Sieders back August 28, never got ebook copy nor physical copy, and not on ku so even if I would bother can't because definitely not buying it -- really, Sep, Oct, Nov, and it's now the 3rd of Dec....forget it ( )

Vivian is shaken up after being in a car accident. She now has some stranger powers and is seeing some strange folks around as she struggles to take care of her severely disabled sister.
What I disliked the most about this novel is that I didn't really like the main character. While I understand the guilt, mixed feelings, exhaustion and tedium that can result from caretaking, she never really seemed to have any care for her sister. In fact she had the luxury of enough money to have help and a giving best friend that appeared out of nowhere to support her,
The supernatural elements of the "angel" old man, and the "devil" cute guy never really came together for me, I'm still not sure what effect they are supposed to have or what their place in this world is. I'm willing to think that this first in the series title is just laying some of the ground work but I wish that a little more purpose had been shown here, ( )

I mostly liked this book - but had a very hard time with parts of it. ( )