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The Ninth Curse
Author: K.J. Gillenwater
Release Date: April 2009
181 pages, ebook
Paranormal romance/romantic suspense
Reviewed by: Mr. Rochester
Author’s blurb: His blood for a cure. It’s a cruel and deadly bargain…
Nine curses. Nine weeks to live. Joel Hatcher has inherited more than a family legacy. It’s a time bomb that’s ticking down to the inevitable: his own death. But the curse won’t die with him. Unless he can find a way to break the cycle, his younger brother becomes the next victim.
In the throes of the third curse, the Painful Pox, Joel makes a last-ditch decision to seek the help of a young spiritualist.
One look into Joel’s suffering eyes, and “Madame Eugenie” finds herself torn between doing the right thing and fulfilling her most secret wish—bring her husband Adam back from the dead. Joel’s cursed blood is the missing ingredient in her resurrection rituals, and Adam’s spirit whispers seductively that there’s only one way to get it: steal it.
As Gen and Joel unearth his family’s past to track down a cure, they come closer to each other, and to a horrible truth. To live, Joel must lose everything. Up to and including the woman he has grown to love.
Review:
Joel Hatcher has a problem: he’s suddenly cursed. Not one curse, but a really big one that incorporates nine curses. The poor jerk got a bundle package. He enlists the aid of professional spiritualist, Gen, to remove his curse. But Gen has a big secret to hide: a dead-slash-undead husband. Uh-oh.
I applaud the author for capturing the poignant emotion in this novel. I felt such sympathy for the hero, who suffered terribly, and I sympathized with Gen, the heroine, and her dilemma of whether to let her deceased spouse control her and bring him back from the dead or to follow her heart. The world-building—in this case the paranormal aspect—is done well and seems to be well researched too. There’s information about the Romani, spells, herbs, plant life, and even some insight into bringing back the dead (whether or not accurate in the realm of spellcasting, I don’t know, but it sure was interesting) that is interwoven with the plot. I also loved the historical aspect of this novel. The scenes were vivid, and I especially relished the ones where Adam appeared. Man, what a creepy dude!
The characterization is detailed, and I enjoyed getting to know the cast of characters right down to the old woman who seemed to be losing her mind to the B & B hostess who was a bit of a busybody.
And the cat, Bluto, adds a nice, whimsical touch to the story.
The cons of this novel? Well, keep in mind that this is just one reviewer’s opinion, but I felt the sudden pov switches into Matthew’s pov (Joel’s younger brother) and even one into Adam’s, the deceased husband’s, over halfway through the novel weren’t needed. Except for those two or three places, the entire ebook is tightly in Joel’s and Gen’s, switching back and forth at appropriate times. When I see this done in novels it irritates me; it strikes me as a cop-out of sorts, an easier method for the author to show what’s going on. I really felt it should’ve been kept in the main two povs that were initially established in the novel.
The other con was the long stretches of research. My eyes glazed over a little bit during the library research scenes, the combing through of newspapers and scrolling through computer records. Nothing really happened in these scenes other than research. Such info could’ve been condensed, in my opinion, but if this had been done, the novel would be closer to novella length. Another reader might have enjoyed these scenes, but I found them slow and I wished to page ahead to get to the good stuff.
As for the editing, I noticed about half a dozen errors in this novel, which is exceptional for an ebook publisher. Most of the errors were consistency issues such as using the em dash to signify action that breaks up dialogue then using the original comma style toward the end of the book. There were a couple of punctuation glitches that were so minor I can’t remember what they were now.
Overall, this is a good read, and I’ll be watching for more of this author’s titles.
Cover Comment: Although the cover is beautiful, I don’t see the romance or the paranormal properly conveyed in this particular cover.
Heat Level: 
(not added to final grade)
Storyline/plot, characterization, and dialogue: 5
World-building, mood: 5
Overall structure, grammar, punctuation, spelling: 5
Final Grade:
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