J.V. writes solid romances with paranormal themes and this story is no exceptions. Other than my typical complaints with the genre, like characters being obtuse to create "tension," the book was otherwise very engaging with some good mystery elements as well, which was good enough for me to read the whole book over the course of an afternoon.

I enjoyed this for the most part but there were some situations that rubbed me the wrong way. I was kind of confused as to where Kevin’s prejudice and dickish ways came from? He seemed like such a supportive partner then it kind of just jumped to him being all macho and mean. It didn’t make sense to me and it seemed rushed, or disjointed from the story line.

Overall, interesting read. I wasn’t prepared for the supernatural element but I wasn’t against it either.

Speyer’s murder mystery Hunter is a lesser novel than its parts. Whilst diving into a very interesting murder mystery that is fascinating in itself, we have two annoying homosexuals who are playing a bitter game that doesn’t quite sit well within the confines of the story.

Luis is a FBI profiler whilst Donovan is his ex who broke Luis’s heart a decade earlier. These two characters constant influx with each other and petty squabbles tend to get in the way of the interesting part of the story. Luis is a lover spurned whilst Donovan is moaning about Luis. This continues throughout the book and after awhile the reader would like to knock their heads together and shove them back into the closet where they belong. As we are supposed to care about these two characters, I personally didn’t care one way or the other by the end and I am sure this is not what the author was anticipating.

The plot itself is very interesting and loved the mystery aspect of the novel. I personally feel that if you could have honed back on the constant irritation of the two main characters and concentrated more on the mystery this could have been a winning combination. As we really do not have too much information on the two characters previously, we do know that they must have accomplished something career wise based on their current job titles. Hopefully, they were not this childish in previous cases.

Overall, the book does have it flaws but this is more down to the characters of Luis and Donovan. Speyer is a talented writer and when the murder mystery takes over, the novel becomes completely engaging but fails on the relationship flaws of Luis and Donovan. If the relationship was more recent, maybe it would have been easier to swallow but did feel like a bad Jerry Springer relationship show dealing with he said/he said and really getting nowhere. The reader does spend his time thinking – just get over it and move on. I was hoping for better but did enjoy some aspects. Two Stars.

I am so tired of romantic heroes basically starting from a place of “I don’t think what I did was that bad, I don’t need forgiveness, but you should give it to me regardless.”

Let me back-up a bit.

Luis Gomes is an FBI agent recently transferred to Boston who, along with his new partner, have been assigned to a serial killer case, working with the state troopers. With three bodies already, and very little time between hits, they expect to see body four soon. And what Luis sees even sooner is Donovan Carey, his ex from thirteen years ago. Who apparently threw him out because Donovan wasn’t out, and broke up with him. And Luis ended up homeless.

So now we have Donovan bitching about how Luis being upset about that, and not wanting to work with him, is “pathologically weird” and how Luis is “being an infant about this whole thing.” What the actual holy hell.

I will say the serial killer part is interesting. That’s about it, though.

DNF at 74%. I read until about 35% and then skimmed but I just can’t finish it.

I do not like the MC’s at all and usually even when I start a book where characters are unlikable I find redeeming qualities in them. That’s not the case here. Luis is so rigid and he’s aggravating. Donovan seems almost clueless about everything from relationships to the case their working. Too many personal issues are overshadowing the case and they aren’t mixing well. I feel like there’s so much anger about how their relationship ended 13 years ago from Luis that takes up too much of the book. The fact that Donovan has no clue that leaving someone suddenly after 4 years in a relationship was a bad thing is so irritating.

The case is also boring me. It had such potential but all of a sudden a ghost shows up in the middle of the book and when there is no mention of paranormal activity beforehand it just doesn’t make sense. Even if I was expecting it by the time it happened I actually forgot this book had a paranormal theme to it. Luis spends most of the story talking about profiling and Donovan doesn’t take his ideas seriously. They were both so aggravating and I couldn’t even buy them as still being in love and getting together.

ARC received through NetGalley in exchange for review

A second chance romance with a murderous serial killer and ghosts, I loved every minute. Luis and Donovan were engaging characters and the storyline kept me interested enough that I had no problem reading it straight through. All in all a very enjoyable read.

I adored everything about this book. My heart broke for poor Luis. He has struggled his entire life to find a place to belong. He thought he found his home and family with Donovan in college, but Donovan broke his heart by refusing to come out and returning home. Luis has made a name for himself as a profiler in the FBI, but his inability to connect with people is causing him problems. The two are reunited on an eerie serial killer case and are forced to work together to catch the killer. I was on the edge of my seat from page one and hope for many more books in this series.

For me this book is about 3,5 stars.
I liked Luis,he is very good at his work,But not happy in his life,he is a loner,in his mind and eyes
a nobody.At the same time he is very loyal,sweet and caring.
He thinks not much off his self because off a very bad childhood and a bad break up.
when on a new case his ex boyfriend shows up,and they must work together to close
the case and catch a serialkiller a lott is happening,for the good and the bad.
I liked luis,I did not like Donevan,also Kevin is a hardship,i liked the ghost lightfoot much more.
The story begins good and that part is nicely written.it hase a nice pace and set the scene well.
The part where Donovans mother suddenly chances within the hour in to a supporting mother is
odd and rather silly.sexy scenes are not wel putt together and no steam at all.
If you are not good at it,leave it off page..
also the ending is a hfn and rather strange,but overall a nice read

Luis has spent his career chasing the darker side of life. First a vice cop, then an FBI profiler, now he lands in the Boston field office, and not by choice. He expects his case load to have a much lighter tone than he’s used to.

He wasn’t counting on New England’s dark history, or their pride in it. He didn’t understand how close-knit the old towns could be, or how protective they were of their own. He soon finds he’s going to have to count on every skill he ever used in his time at headquarters, and a few skills he didn’t know he had, if he wants to keep body and soul together.

Complicating matters is a new case Luis has just been handed, working with the Mass. State Police. Luis has history there, and ugly history too. Detective Donovan Carey is the guy who broke Luis’ heart over a decade ago. He wasn’t willing to even peek his head outside the closet, certainly not for someone like Luis. Can they put their history aside to deal with a mystery centuries in the making?

While I liked the the story , I didn't like some of characters in fact I couldn't stand Donvovan at all, and I'm not sure I ever will, it was like though out the book he kept pushing Luis and how it was always his plain to go back home after collage, he didn't even understand why Luis had the right to be angry or why he seemed to have changed ,Luis on the other hand made me feel sorry for him, the way he kept think he wasn't good enough to be loved and didn't deserve a happy every , and the stuff he put up with from his fellow officers.As for the story it self I liked how the author used history of New England , and how there was a tough of the paranormal , and how the setting seemed to give the story a dark and gloomy feel to it ,which bought the story to life . With that said I want to thank Netgalley for letting me read and review it exchange for my honest opinion .

Luis is a profiler for the FBI, very good at his job, lousy with people. He has a issues with people seeing him as a not “white” man (he is Brazilian). His life has been about not being quite good enough.

Donovan is a cop. Years ago they were college lovers. Donovan left Luis and went back home to Boston, to be the good son of an Irish family and take his place in another generation of cops. He can’t do that being gay.

When they are forced to work a serial case together, neither man wants to let the past affect the present but both fail miserably. More bodies piling up means more stress. It’s not until their lives are on the line do the men face what they mean to each other (some really good drugs helped too).

I loved Luis. Something about a really damaged man just speaks to me. Donovan was a pain in the butt. He did get better as a human and a man still in love after ten years of separation.

This had all the elements I look for in a detective type book. Engaging characters (even the bigoted ones). Little bit of mystery, little bit of paranormal, and a little bit of sexy times. I’m hoping the next book expands on all these things.

Mysteries, reconciliations, misconceptions and ghosts! I loved this story. J.V. did a wonderful job of mixing so many different concepts and coming up with a story that made me want more. A serial killer, an FBI agent with a shaky and still poignant past with a local cop. There was so much...bigotry, blame, unresolved issues and all the while, trying to catch a killer and experiencing the supernatural.. It made for an intriguing story and you still managed to get some love throughout.

I would rate this 3.5 stars.

Luis is a federal agent, trained as a profiler, sent to Boston where he is assigned to work a murder case with a state police detective named Donovan. Donovan was his roommate and lover in college thirteen years before. Part of why they broke up was Donovan's unwillingness to come out of the closet. Luis already faces discrimination for being Brazilian, so being gay is one more reason for his colleagues to dislike him; so he may as well be in their faces about it. Only Donovan knows Luis's history and how people are unfairly judging him. For them to get their second chance, Donovan has to be honest about who he is and Luis has to value himself and stop pushing people away.

Many of Luis's issues are his childhood trauma that he hasn't dealt with. As a psychological professional, it is sad how mentally unhealthy Luis seems to be. His stressful work environment is not helping, and neither does he help himself. He is also dealing with racism at work--nothing overt, more like micro-agressions. Donovan's family, also all police officers, are also not very accepting of Luis being brown, or gay. It takes awhile for Donovan to acknowledge he's done anything wrong, or for him to admit he hasn't ever recovered from their breakup either. Although I liked seeing flawed characters, it's also difficult to not dislike them all at times throughout the book.

The writing is uneven. For example, Donovan is seemingly impressed with Luis being an FBI profiler at the beginning, but then he says it's a pseudoscience and is disrespectful of Luis during the case. Then, he has an about-face defending him to Kevin, even citing Luis's qualifications. Donovan belives in ghosts and psychics, but not psychology? Why is a police detective acting as an intermediary between FBI agents? At the point that Kevin and Luis are having issues, Donovan and Kevin are acting more like professional partners even though they don't work for the same branch of law enforcement. Why does the FBI captain even listen to Donovan at all? The paranormal aspects of the case are only signaled by the cover. The entrance of paranormal activity is thrown abruptly into the middle of the story. I'm not sure it needed this aspect at all. I don't think it added anything to what was already an interesting murder case. I think it took time away from character development and interpersonal communication that would have strengthened this book.

There are many things I liked about this book, and there are several parts I feel could have been better executed. By the time they have their HEA, everyone feels bad they were mean to poor Luis. At least in two sentences Luis acknowledges he needs to handle things better moving forward...but I wanted to see that as an actual realization. I wanted to see the work that would go into that, not to assume everything will magically be better after he gets out of the hospital and goes back to work, with his new boyfriend in tow.

Glad I decided to read this, kept my mind occupied and not wanting to put it down. Giving this four stars.

I really liked this. I didn’t expect the sudden PNR, but that’s okay. I also seriously didn’t expect the ghost to be who it was, and it was weird but eh I liked it.

I still think Rourke should grovel a lot even tho his apology was good. And Donovan needs to make sure his mother is really and truly okay with the fact that he’s gay or be done with it.

But that’s what sequels are for.

I got this arc from netgalley etc.

Meh. I just couldn’t get into this book. It was kind of all over the place and I couldn’t even follow it to figure it out. Sorry this was not for me. Thank you to netgalley for the arc.

A serial killer murder mystery with a supernatural twist and an easy to love main character. Luis was closed off and snarky but very easy to relate to. I had a bit harder of a time with Donovan who seemed a bit... naive or possibly just very dense at times but then very perceptive at others. I really hope there are more books in this series!

This made me think of some of my favourite elements in Josh Lanyon's books. A vulnerable in some way main character, a murder mystery and a old flame back in the picture with unsettled business. I felt connected to the main character, Luis pretty much straight away. I loved how his partner was introduced into the story at the beginning, I think I might have snort laughed. I found him interesting and really liked how he seemed to have a hard time building working and personal relationships with his colleagues. Luis did get on my nerves sometimes though, his inability to see that people cared about him and assuming anyone with a problem with him did so because of the colour of his skin grated sometimes (though some of them such as his ex's family did so totally justified there). However how he was treated by his colleagues also really annoyed me, there was so much miscommunication there.

His ex Donovan was very sweet but quite..... thick when it came to Luis and how their relationship ended. How he thought it was fine and it wouldn't have damaged Luis in anyway and that they could just pick up where they left off was beyond me. Sometimes he seemed to understand him more than anyone in the world and the next he would do or say something that proved he actually doesn't know anything about him. After reading that you probably don't think I was rooting for them to get together but I actually was, I just wanted to knock their heads together sometimes that's all.

I think the ghost elements weren't very well introduced, it kind of came out of nowhere and wasn't very believable.

Overall I really enjoyed reading this and I'm looking forward to reading the next book.