Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher/author for providing me with an ALC in exchange for my honest review.

OMG!!! This book was exactly what I wanted it to be! I loved it. I will make sure to check out other books by this author. When I requested this I was just intrigued by the concept of it and I loved how it turned out. This story had a great plot and if you have read this and enjoyed it, This was so much. It was such a great story. I would say give this one a try. I will continue to follow this author. Way to go to this author for not letting me down.

I highly enjoyed the narrator of the audiobook. Kept me listening.

This was creepy but at the same time thought provoking. It ends with me definitely wanting to continue the series

This is a SOLID 3.5 stars.

Definitely creepy and very satisfying, keeps you wondering what's real and what's not, and regardless of the fact that it's a duology that definitely leaves one wanting more, it has an end of sorts.

It's written in first person present tense which was difficult to get used to, but once you're in it, you're in. I listened to this while driving home from another city and the dark absolutely contributed to the atmosphere of the story.

The way everything is described is really vivid despite not being chock-full of adjectives, and I absolutely cared about every character, despite flaws and addictions etc.

The narrator was Luke Welland and he was great. His tone was perfect for the story and the youth of the main character (sort of, you'll see when you read it) and he was really good at the more expressive aspects. Many a narrator struggle with the shouty/screamy parts and he did great.

All in all, it feels like a debut (which it appears to be) but there's a lot of potential you can feel when you're in the story. I'll be picking up the second book for sure.

I received a copy of this audiobook for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest, voluntary review.

This one was not bad at all, but man was it long. Not too scary for those who like less fear in their reading.

Anyways, this was about Jack, who fell down and woke up being 13 again, losing his family all in one swoop. There were ghosts, some good and one not. It ends in a cliffhanger in regards to Jack.

There were also povs from other people that really shouldn't have happened. Also, this should have been about 100 pages less. Some places dragged on too long and there were way too! many! random! exclamation! points!

But the idea was good. It just wasn't executed very well.

If you are easily affected by horror this probably is not the best book for you. Lots of spiritualism, religious beliefs, and scares. Well-written, thought-provoking and often provocative. It is not by any means a clean book, as there are many taboos addressed. If you are strong in your own beliefs. A dark and twisted book.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* This was, something else lol i was unsure but this was actually pretty interesting, would read more of this series

I know I personally like to go into horrors or thrillers as blindly as possible, so I am going to keep my summary of this book extremely brief. In a single complicated moment, Jack goes from being a middle-aged man with an entire family back to his thirteen year old self. After this transition, not only does he fully remember his previous life but also he now can see ghosts and spirits. After his near death experience, instead of being afraid of this new ability, he takes it upon himself to assist these souls and investigate one in particular, Kasper.

This book has chapters from Jack's perspective, one of the nuns, and Kasper- an artist who lives in the apartment across the street from his school. I will say that I found Kasper's chapters more interesting, which was unfortunate since those aren't as numerous as Jack's. However, on the other hand, Jack's chapters had a lot more atmosphere and added more to the spooky setting. I think all characters were really well rounded and developed for a horror novel. If I am being honest, I will say that the biggest negative for me was the overwhelming amount of religion in this book. I am usually not to bothered by it, but it just felt like a lot in this story. There were bible verses, nuns, and Catholic schools. And I get it since it's the whole heaven and hell and demon thing, but this could have totally worked being a normal high school with regular teaches and a any other mantra when the main character is scared and needs to hype themselves up or give themselves hope. I also thought the nun's chapter was a bit out of place since the first event she lists happened SO LONG AGO. Maybe it should have been broken up throughout the book so it wouldn't felt as out of place when it happened.

The pacing did sometimes feel a bit off and some parts in Jack's chapters in particular seemed to drag on. Not to mention the ending (again, goes back to that nun's chapter for example). It just felt like it took FOREVER to end. I think that with a book of this length, that maybe we as readers didn't need to go back through EVERYTHING in order to understand what was happening. I would have just liked the book to end in all honesty.

I also found myself wondering this A LOT (and it's entirely possible I missed the answer) but when Jack is so upset about Katherine and his children, how come he didn't just shut up and focus on what was going on in front of him, because couldn't he just meet her again as he aged up? Because even though he's confused about who fell, he remembered his father, and the accident (even if it didn't happen to him) so wouldn't he still have the chance to live out that same life again? I don't know why but that super bothered me. But again, it's super likely that there's a reason this couldn't occur and I just didn't pick up on it.

I think the narrator did a great job, but I do wish there was more of a distinction between Jack and Kasper. But his tone did work well for setting the scene, tone, and the story as a whole,

Trigger warning: Child abuse and sexual assault. There is also a lot of name calling and profanity in Jack's first few chapters after becoming a teenager again. It doesn't carry on throughout the rest of the book as heavily, but it's definitely in excess in the beginning and an odd choice.

This book received a 2.5 star rating on my CAWPILE sheet. I'm going to round down for Goodreads only because the ending really did significantly impact my enjoyment of this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Books Fluent for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

I do love a good scary story, and Kevin Moore did not disappoint! I listened to The Book of Souls on audio, and I thought the narration was great! The story focuses on the main character who seems to be trapped in his 13 year old self's body. He wants to return to his life as an adult with his wife and children, and so he attempts to decipher what is going on, the supernatural elements are spooky, and the twists and turns are exciting. This was a great first novel, and I will definitely pick up his next book!

*I received this audiobook on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

The book's description made Jack's story seem compelling but the dialogue lacked depth and seemed to crafted by a high school boy with the amount of profane language included. We are introduced to the main character, Jack, as he awakens from an accident to discover he has traveled back in time to his younger self. Reliving his adolescence Jack discovers he now had the ability to see and communicate with ghosts and demons. In between, "young" Jack trying to figure out what happened to his future missing family and learning about his new secret abilities, we are introduced to a man named Peter. Peter, himself is no stranger to fighting demonic forces. A supernatural force, a ghost named Kasper (or Casper, I can't recall which is the right spelling), is haunting his apartment. Jack, in true Catholic fashion decides to try to help exorcise Kasper/Casper and help him move on to the other side.

Even though, I love horror and supernatural stories, this story did not really appeal to me. The audio voices were okay, but there was not any true differentiation to facilitate the transition between POVs (i.e., Jack, Kasper/Casper)
Also, I do wish there were trigger warnings for potential readers, especially for the following elements: mentions of child sexual abuse and attempted sexual assault.

The book started off strong, but I quickly lost interest. in the story. I did find the narrator and pacing to be well done.

4.2 stars

Categories & Content: Adult, horror, mental illness, suicide, blood rituals

Well this book was interestingly good! Definitely not a style I'm used to and still could not stop listening to this audio arc!

If you don't mind character centered slow burn narratives and like stories about ghostly realms, near death experiences (NDE) and afterlife mythology such as The Sixth Sense, Insidious, Stranger Things, What Dreams May Come, poltergeists, etc., you'd probably like this book as much as I did! All these movies come to mind because this book would also make for a great adaptation!

I would skip the prologue. I almost gave up while reading it because too far down the rabbit hole.

I'm glad I kept reading because it is so vintage-surreal-gothic-dark GOOD!! Can't wait to read the second book of this series!


Sent from my iPhone

First, I’d like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this book. I am leaving this honest review of my own will.

I was good. I liked the characters, and the cover art.

I really enjoyed this one. It was the right amount of spooky.
Really well established characters with great relationships

I really wasn’t sure what to expect going in this one. It sounded very interesting but also a little confusing so I just took the plunge and jumped in. I listened to the audiobook, thanks to NetGalley. Admittedly the first couple of chapters were a bit confusing to me and I actually went back and restarted the book.

But I ended up really enjoying this book. It’s not your typical scary story. The premise is quite a bit different from anything I read recently, so that was refreshing. I’m finding it sort of hard to sum up the book without giving anything away.

Jack is married with three kids. After a near death experience, he finds himself waking up as his 13 year old self. But he remembers his family. He knows he is married. The doctors just figure it’s due to his brain injury and nobody really gives it another thought.
There are three main characters here, and all three are integral to the story. It’s definitely got a supernatural feel to it along with a nice bit of horror and mystery. Very well written and I’m intrigued enough to be looking forward to the second book.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an audio-copy of this book. My review is voluntary. #thebookofsouls #KevinMoore #netgalley

Marketed as a paranormal thriller, The Book of Souls focuses on the merged stories of Jack, a man stuck in his boy self, Kasper, a confused ghost, and Peter, the man connecting the two.

I'm not typically a horror-reader, but I really wanted to try myself at something new. Besides, the story seemed intriguing. I really loved the pacing of the story, even with the back-and-forth bouncing of the line. Jack's visions throughout the book were probably some of the most terrifying scenes. It feels like the doubtful thoughts that we hear when we're struggling or working through hard things. Although, they're more severe, they could certainly be a metaphor for those inner, overwhelming thoughts.

From the story alone, it's clear that the author has a personal interest in the sixth sense and the paranormal. This gave the story so much heart, and made it genuinely a book of a soul (yes, I'm aware; I'm not funny) My biggest issue was the element of religion. I'm definitely not a heavily religious persona and sometimes this can make me slightly uncomfortable. Especially in terms of discrimination. Overall, however, I did like this book, and if you're into the paranormal, religious aspects and spirituality, go for this.

Thank you to NetGalley, Books Fluent and the author, of course!!

Overall, I enjoyed listening to The Book of Souls very much. The characters are well developed. The story was intriguing and suspenseful. We got some answers and I look forward to the sequel for the conclusion.

The weak point was surprisingly the antagonist. Much of his story is flashbacks and separate from the present. I was bored learning more about him and became indifferent. I kept wanting to go back to the present with Jack. This would have been a 5-star review if it weren't for this part.

Minor thing - The narrator brought Jack to life, but the points of view were all read similarly. This confused me sometimes when I continued the audiobook after a few days.

This is Kevin Moore's first novel but nothing in the reading gives you that impression. I loved, loved, loved this book.

Jack Kelly is a father whose son is under attack by what he can only describe as demons. He fights to save his son and is suddenly transported to a time when he is 14 years old and had just fallen through the rotten floor of an abandoned building.
He is hurt badly and knows he is dying and the demons are waiting to take his soul. He is saved, no spoiler there because without that fact there is no book. But he does not come back the same. For one he remembers his wife and three children, something a 14-year-old could not have. And he sees what others do not.

The story is addictive. Just enough of the creepy and spooky to make even a die-hard horror fan like me happy. You need to know what is going to happen next, who are the shadows, and will Jack ever get back home.
This is part one of a two-part series and I can't wait to see where Jack ends up next or what demon he must face

The audiobook version of this novel is narrated by Luke Welland. It took me a little bit to get to like his narrations and I'm still not sure I like him. When he reads a character he is excellent. The changes in the voices are subtle and not a caricature of what someone would sound like. It's when he reads the descriptive parts and the non-narrative parts that he sounds hollow and remote. His voice is a little bland and stilted in these parts of the book and that almost made me stop listening, but the power of the story as well as Mr. Wellands talent for conversations kept me engaged

Thanks to @netgalley, Books Forward, and Kevin Moore for the opportunity to read this eArc in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

This, I really didn’t like this one. Idk why, juts I couldn’t. I keep trying and trying and trying and. It’s juts not for me

Had a hard time getting involved in the story. The characters didn’t have much to them to want to continue with them. The story was hard to follow. The narrator didn’t give any help. Very monotone.

I would rate this 3.5 stars. This book took me a little while for me to decide if I was enjoying it or not, but even when I wasn’t sure it kept my attention.

Jack Kelly is a man in his 40s with a wife and 3 kids. When one of his kids, Stevie gets sick both him and Jack are affected by menacing spirits. We soon find out that Jack is really a 13 year old boy who has suffered an accident and imagined his adult life. Following his accident Jack is still dealing with menacing spirits and the ghost of a famous artist, Casper Greenstreet, who died in the building across from Jacks school.

This book is mainly told from Jacks POV and flashbacks from Casper’s POV. Following Jack’s journey of grief over losing his possibly imagined life and family and his recovery from his accident is an interesting one. The author is able to confuse you and interest you at the same time. Jack seems much older than his 13 years leaving you wondering if he really is a 40+ man in a 13 year olds body.

Following Caspers rise to fame and descent to a ghost haunting an apartment is both paranormal and surprisingly realistic.

I did make the mistake of listening to this in the car with my kids and had to turn it off and wait until I was alone due to the adult themes and language.

Trigger warnings: suicide, mentions of child sexual abuse, self harm, homophobia both internalized and external, attempted sexual assault.