Amy Rae Durreson

This is so PRETTY.

This is my favorite kind of world-building, where a quirky character is doing their thing and in bits and pieces you learn that islands float in this world... It's possibly the sweetest romance I've ever read. That's saying something because they're my favorite kind, so I read every one I can find. Emyr and Heilyn's meet-cute, friendship, upsets and so on are as endearing as a basket of kittens, and then this setting elevates it to art in words.

I'm not sure why on my copy of the ebook this is #0, but in GR it claims to be #2...… (meer)

I first read this, good heavens, six years ago already. Below is the original review. This time was just as enjoyable if less poetic--by which I probably meant the way the author makes one feel right there in the little sea town, right there with ghosts. The ghosts part was every bit as tense. That surprised me. That's part of why I waited so long to re-read this. I'm glad it worked.

Original review:
This one needs a sixth star: poetry in the form of a novel. It is that beautifully written. Our protagonist is so broken, and you know just enough to really feel for him.

And then he meets Matty, the ray of sunshine.

Who looks just like the ghost.

That tension shifts and fades and gets sharp, but never leaves, and as more is learned, it becomes unnerving and even scary. I don't typically like ghost stories. But this one is exceptional.… (meer)

This is written as the story of what happened during a key period, years before in the writer's past. I found the way it was done compelling and, at the end, reassuring, because there are some creepy parts that had me reading faster. It's definitely a ghost story as well as a romance, and the author's note at the end explains what is fact and what she fictionalized, which is nice for anyone who knows the local history. Great characters, compelling backstories, Really Creepy haunting, and some themes I always enjoy; duty, pride, guilt, attraction, trauma, loss, recovery, acceptance, determination.… (meer)