I loved it! I feel like I am picky when it comes to the thriller/horror category, and this one did not disappoint. I really enjoyed Kit as a character. She has a tough story to begin with but as the story unfolds it gets more complex which sucked me in! As for the audio, it was very well done, and I highly recommend this book for spooky season!

This was a great slow-burn thriller/paranormal read! I really enjoyed this one. The narrator of the audiobook was absolutely wonderful. I really felt for Kit and her story. I recommend this book to anyone who loves some paranormal with their thrillers!!

*Thank you @dreamscapemedia and @poisonedpenpress for the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.*

I thought this one would definitely be a ‘lights on, have to watch cartoons after’ kind of story. While it wasn’t, it most certainly entertains and has me questioning my sanity at a few points. I love thrillers where you find yourself wondering what is really going on, and The Summoning doesn’t disappoint!

I am not a fan of stories of the paranormal and thought this book would just be a story of an imposter duping desperate people who wanted to contact their long dead relatives.  Basically, it was that kind of a story at the start. The “seer”,  Kit ,was trying to make ends meet after a death and a tragic accident devastated her family.  But she was talented at her skill and managed to stay off the radar of the police until she wasn’t. As the story moved along, so did the listeners beliefs as to whether this conjuring really could be happening.
   The saddest part of this book exposes what extremes people will go to to get one more moment with their deceased loved ones and how they can be so seduced to believe someone could possibly make that happen.
   The narrator was excellent .

The Summoning by JP Smith was released earlier this month. The timing is perfect as we approach Halloween.

This book was twisty and suspenseful. It was chock full of ghosts, hauntings, and illusion. The audiobook was nicely executed and enjoyable. I recommend this one to anyone looking for a creepy read this fall!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, the narrator, and publisher for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook. The opinions in this review are entirely my own.

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I started listening to this audiobook without knowing what to expect. I selected it because it sounded interesting and different from my usual reads. I WAS NOT disappointed! Although some of the plot is easy to figure out, it was fun to go along with it anyway. The narrrator made sure of that, her reading flawless. Kit, the main character is one with questionable morals that could easily be disliked, but I found I liked her immensely - because of her flaws. This is a fun, spooky suspenseful story that I highly recommend!

A big thank you to J.P. Smith, Poisoned Pen Press, and NetGalley for the ARC audiobook in return for my honest review.

Thanks #netgallery for this book in exchange for an honest review. While this wasn't as creepy as I expected from the summary, I still enjoyed the book. My only issue is with the story about the missing children. I feel like this just got dropped.

This book was such a interesting and intriguing story with excellent characters. I have read one other book by the author and it wasn't my favorite, so I am really happy I enjoyed this one much more. I loved the that the authors thought in some characters and events from one of his previous books, it was a very nice detail. I loved the narroration, I think the narrator did a great job and I was able to fly through this one. I wish the book was creepier though, with the title The Summoning I was expecting more supernatural elements and more of a creep factor.

The Summoning had a lot of potential. A lot of storylines that it COULD have branched off into but it did not. The author set it up but the book just went into a different (much less interesting) direction. The main character is entirely unlikable but for once I didn't mind that.
Since I listened to the audiobook vs reading this story, I would like to say I believe the narrator did an excellent job.
I feel like the book started strong and was excellent until it began nearing the end. As mentioned, there were so many story threads that the author weaved into this one and I think taking any one of them might have made for a better ending. What let me down most I suppose, was the ending. It wasn't a terrible book and the author is not a bad writer at all, as most of the story was very good.

This was a terribly convoluted book. It just felt like there were too many plot lines going on trying to and make this a spooky thriller mystery. What ends up happening is a lot of extraneous storyline that does not add much to the story.

Kit loses her husband on 9/11 at the WTC, and has spent the next however many years being a single mom and an aspiring actor. Kit's daughter, Zoe, ends up in a coma, and in order to get money to pay medical bills Kit has become a faux medium. Due to her acting jobs, Kit claims to know a lot about the law, and so is able to get away with having her patrons provide her money and skirt the law. Kit discovers that there are two detectives after her for fraud, and ends up becoming involved with one of the detectives. That's one storyline.

Adjacent to this storyline, Kit's seances seem to get much more real. Suddenly she is seeing visions/hearing voices, and she isn't sure if this is really happened, or if she is going crazy like her mother (because her mother was mentally ill and died when Kit was younger). She speaks to her psychiatrist, and also to her detective boyfriend, and they express worry, but nothing actually happens with this storyline.

There are also the individuals that Kit does seances for, who flutter in and out of the storyline. There seems to be a big mystery coming up with the story when we discover that this Alzheimer patient's son went missing years ago, and also has to do with a bunch of missing kids from that area through the years. Kit's vision shows her a darken room and the realization that these kids were murdered. It seems like she's going to use her new ability to help solve the case of the missing children, but this is all just a distraction for the novel.

There are more storylines, but this would become too long if I kept mentioning them.

The narrator for the novel is excellent, they have a wonderful voice that is pleasing to listen to and does allow the reader to pay attention to the story. I think there were a lot of great plot ideas for this book, but I feel it needed to be edited down and made into a more cohesive plot. Enjoyed it, but it also was confusing.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC audiobook of the summoning. From the description I expected a very creepy, supernatural story. This is not that though it does have some supernatural elements. As I received the audiobook my review will heavily lean on that to review. Unfortunately, this is a case where the narrator really ruined the story for me. Her voice was overdramatized, the accents incredibly fake (I’m a New Yorker and the accents here sounded like they were from 1950’s gangster movies?) I wish I could say more positives because the idea of this book was a great one but I can’t say I enjoyed the experience.

The Summoning by author J.P. Smith is a mix of psychological, murder and paranormal thrillers. Kit is a struggling actress who lost her husband on 9/11 and her daughter has been in a coma for the last three years. To make ends meet between acting she is a medium helping families find closure from those they lost during 9/11. Is she a scam artist? Well two detectives think so and are targeting her. But suddenly her seances are not all acting. Could she be summoning spirits or is she being scammed?

I really enjoyed the talents of narrator Ann Marie Lee especially when she conveyed Kit's fear and confusion. The author does a phenomenal job at slowly making us care about Kit. There were a few things left unresolved for me like the spooky story about the previous tenants in her apartment. I did not see the twists at the end but then again I am no medium.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from the publisher via #Netgalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my ow

If you are looking for an extremely entertaining book, that brings new twists at very unexpected times, then this is the book for you! What starts out as a woman finding ways in which to relieve her grief, soon turns into a cat and mouse, a psychological thriller. Just when I thought I had it all figured out, something happened that took the book in a totally new direction. I really enjoyed the different viewpoints and the way the book looks at grief in a way that I have never thought about before.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance reader's copy of J.P. Smith's The Summoning.

The Summoning
JP Smith
Kit Capriol lost her husband when he went down in the north tower on 9/11. Now her daughter, Zoey is in the hospital. There are bills to pay but there is no money with which to pay them. Kit turns to her skill as an actress. She targets people that are grieving, people that need closure. She reads the obituaries and the memorials then looks up their name and phone number. She contacts the surviving family and offers a connection with their lost loved one; she offers her assistance.
Kit lost her husband before she knew they were going to have a baby. Fourteen years later Kit’s daughter sees a woman fall onto the subway tracks. Zoey faints and hits her head; she has been in a coma for the last three years. She is an unemployed actress so she turned to seances. However, something has changed. She hears a voice begging for help, weird noises at night, the spirits begin to feel real. Kit has trouble deciding what is real and what isn’t.
David is a detective wanting to catch Kit in the act of taking advantage of survivors, to do so she must accept money from the hand of one of her clients. Kit asks her clients to leave a donation of no less than $100 in a bowl on a table. She never takes money directly from her clients. She is falling for the detective for the first time in a long time someone shows her some attention. David takes her to dinner and checks on her. He is trying to catch her in the act.
When I first began this book, I thought it was unusual and a bit puzzling but soon it became enthralling, spiritual, thriller, and supernatural. At first, I didn’t like Kit; she was taking advantage of people that had lost a loved one. After I grew deeper in the plot, I found her intriguing; she was a soothing compassionate person.
This book hinges on the edge of horror. The chapters are short and entice the reader to read just one more before turning out the lights. There were times I questioned Kit’s sanity. It was obvious she abused alcohol to the point of being an alcoholic. The first half of this book was a bit slow, but the last half felt like a thriller. All of the characters had ulterior motives and were a bit dubious. The ending of this book has twists, and the climax is surprising. David the boyfriend detective was not very likable, and you knew something bad was going to happen.
I am subtracting one star for the narrator. I found her voice annoying.

This book does not disappoint. I thought the characters were interesting and complex without being predictable. There’s so many twists that you feel the tension building as the main character Kit struggles with her own reality. What’s real, what’s supernatural, what’s warped due to her bodies deprivation??? You want to keep listening to see what she discovers next and if it’s her mind playing tricks on her (and you) or something else. Kit’s struggles keep you guessing and engaged to seek a resolution. I was shocked when the pieces were pulled together!

Full. Body. Chills. I devoured this audio book and just had to know what happens next. The narrator does such a great job capturing different voices, moods, etc. and I would highly recommend this book, especially during spooky season which is upon us!

Main character, Kit Capriol, is a medium. And every year on the anniversary of 9/11, she reaches out to surviving family members to help them communicate with heir lost loved ones. Kit lost her own husband on 9/11 and understands the grief.

However, Kit's typically harmless seances have changed. Mysterious voices, moved items - a shift has happened between the two worlds and now nothing is as it was before. As Kit struggles to make ends meet, mourns her daughter who is in a 3-year coma in a hospital, trying to evade the police who are trying to shut down her medium business, and now contend with a mysterious man she met in the bar. Kit's life is forever about to change and now she has a mystery to uncover.

I only listened to half of this book and then stopped. The audio and storyline was very corny and just not my style. I didn't enjoy the different accents. I was having trouble keeping interest and so I decided to move on to another audiobook.

Thanks again for this review copy!

Are you like me and like to have a spooky, creepy book to read around Halloween? Look no further. This is your read! I started this book not knowing what to expect and it took me in so many directions, and though I guessed a few of the plot twists, there were plenty that I didn't. I'll say up front that the ending broke my heart just a little, but I forgive the author because it seemed true to the story.

Kit Capriol is a mostly unemployed actress. She lost her husband in 9/11, and her daughter suffered a traumatic incident on the subway three years ago that has left her in a coma ever since. To pile more on top of these tragedies, Kit can't pay the bills so she resorts to acting as a medium and holding seances to bring grieving relatives messages from the dead.

Kit seemed to me anyway a very unreliable narrator, and often I find these books annoying, as the narrator is usually unlikable and whiney. Kit was the opposite for me. She certainly had a lot of faults, but she kept on trying and I believed in her essential goodness. The more unreliable she seemed to get, the more I was rooting for her. Well done to the author for handling this often difficult task so well!

Kit has done ok for herself with her seances, and she likes to think she actually brings her clients peace and closure. But one day something happens, voices start breaking through. Is Kit really communing with the dead?

Meanwhile, for the first time in a long time, there are bright spots in Kit's personal life. She may be finally getting a break on the acting front. And a new man has entered her life. This helps while she tries to juggle those who think she's a charlatan and would like to destroy her.

I listened to an audio of this book, and let me say that Ann Marie Lee got it pitch perfect, bringing so much life to the story. I have not read such a unique plot or seen such a well crafted character in some time! I thoroughly enjoyed this read an highly recommend it!

Thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media and author JP Smith for allowing me to listen to this ARC.

Book Review: The Summoning by JP Smith

The Summoning is an adult paranormal suspense about an actress turned medium who finds herself the subject of a police investigation but as suspicions swirl around her she begins to actually have contact with the other side.
Kit Capriol is a 9/11 widow with barely enough funds to support herself and her daughter who has been in a coma since seeing a woman struck by a subway train. For extra money Kit helps other people who have lost loved ones by running a small medium business. Her success as a medium attracts the NYPD fraud department and the two detectives on the case will not leave her alone and strange things are starting to happen during her sessions.
I thought this book started strong and then started to go off the rails around 75% through. The police investigation seemed unprofessional and illogical. The possible voices of the dead coming through her didn’t lead anywhere and just muddled up the story. I really didn’t enjoy the last few chapters and conclusion. This one showed a lot of promise in the beginning but I just didn’t appreciate where the plot went or the main character’s choices.

🎧 I listened to an audio production of The Summoning and the narration was just okay for me. I sometimes found the voice actor a little overwrought and dramatic.

3 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I received a review copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This was not the way I thought this novel would go. I thought it would go one way and it went another and it worked out. I had no idea until the final 15 minutes what was going to happen. The story was fantastic, the characters rich in growth and the scenery completely relatable.

Love it and will be looking for more by the author and narrator.