There was about a 4 year wait between the books in this series. I always love the Graveyard Queen series. What a very interesting job to have like Amelia's. I'll admit sometimes I felt lost trying to decipher the feelings in this book. The romance between Amelia and John was confusing. At one point she feels connected to him but then she feels wary. The Devlin connection also felt "off" and confusing. Overall, the creepy factor that always draws me to this series was there. This one just felt different than the previous books. Different in not as connected. But I still love the series and recommend it to anyone.

This is the fourth book in the series so you will want to read the first three (The Restorer, The Kingdom and The Prophet) in order to understand Amelia her powers and rules as well as how her relationship with Devlin developed. Plus The Restorer is a great read and interesting story and I highly recommend it.

Amelia Gray is known as The Graveyard Queen for a reason; she is a professional graveyard restorer, restoring lost and abandoned cemeteries and cemeteries is where she feels most at home. When legend of the Krill cemetery enters into Amelia's life she knows that she needs to solve the endless amount of puzzles that it holds as it is unlike any cemetery she has ever been in before. However, unravelling the secrets that this cemetery holds will come at a terrible price and hit closer to home than Amelia ever thought possible.

I will be the first to admit that it has been many years since I have read the first three books in this series but other than a few relationship events with Devlin, that I could not quite remember, I did not find that I was lost in the content of the story as Stevens did a good job of reintroducing information and Amelia, her ability, the rules and the ghosts without feeling that she was rehashing the previous three books.

I have not read a ghost based story in some time and I was re-enthralled with this series, I really enjoyed this book. It had twists, turns, ghost, suspense and mystery all thrown into it and fit did not need a recent body count to achieve this (though not for lack of trying at times this book is more centered on the mass sucided that ocurred decades ago. With this there were some fairly dark elements that are slightly glazed over at times, that you may blink and miss them, but I appreciated that they were there. I think that Stevens did an amazing job with showing that it is not just the ghosts and demons that cause all the pain and suffering but there is a human element to it all as well. I also was not able to figure everything it with all the twists and red herrings that Stevens has throughout the plot so when I am unable to figure everything out I always enjoy the book more.

The previous two books have hinted that Amelia has more power that she knows, but this book really sets that in to motion. Amelia finally feels ready to accept these gifts and additional powers even if it means giving up the rules that she has lived with her whole life. I cannot wait to see what additional "powers" that Amelia has. Devlin and Amelia's relationship struggles quite a bit in this one and I will say that this is something that all readers of this series knew was going to happen eventually as they has such different points of view. I'm glad that Stevens decided to address it sooner rather than later in the series.

Although it has been a few years I really am looking forward to continuing on with the next book in this series to see where Stevens takes it. Stevens has re-hooked me into this series.


Enjoy!!!!

An average read - okay plot, okay characters and a not-so-thrilling storyline. Maybe I was expecting a lot, that's why I feel a bit disappointed,

I’m really sorry but I could not finish this book, I was really disappointed as The Restorer is one of my faves.

Amelia Gray is a graveyard restorer, and as such has spent her entire career (and much of her childhood) in old, neglected graveyards. It just so happens, she can also see and comunicate with the dead, and here in The Visitor, that gift(?) leads her to Kroll Cemetery, which has a tragic story to tell, as tragic as Amelia's own...

I've been in love with these stories since book one. The atmosphere and setting is unlike anything else on my shelf. Each one has been so absorbing. The author's ability to deeply unnerve her readers whilst also entralling them with her lush descriptions of the deep south are second to none. Of course, I'm also eagerly following the developing romance between Amelia and her detective John Devlin, as frustrating a pastime as that can be.

If you're relatively new to this series, then lucky you; you didn't have to wait for a million four years between this book and the one previous. As it had been a while for me, I decided to re-read the 1st and 3rd books just before starting The Visitor. Why skip the 2nd book I hear you ask? Because although we learned a lot about Amelia's birth in it (which I'd managed to retain anway) it was really the relationship between John and Amelia that I wanted to be fresh on, and he's not really in The Kingdom at all.

Speaking of Devlin, we made such progress with him in The Prophet so it was slightly annoying that he can't remember any of it! Or can he? These two seriously need to comunicate more. I want them to get to the point where it can all finally be out there in the open and they can work together. There's still a lot of mystery where Devlin in concerned, which I suppose it no bad thing, actually. Nothing worth having comes easy, and all that. I've just purchased the next two books, The Sinner and The Awakening so hopefully I'll get what I'm waiting for there.

5 Stars ★★★★★ A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Amelia Grey and John Devlin area some of my favorite characters! I love both of them, and the interaction between them. In some books that isn't much, but I still treasure each bit of it.

This one has the requisite thrills and again sent chills tingling down my spine. Stevens is so good at creepy, and she builds just the right atmosphere for it!

I loved this installment, and can't wait for the next!

3.5 Stars. I am such a fan of the first three book in this series for several reasons: I love Charleston. It's my favorite city in the US. I love old cemeteries, and whenever I visit Charleston or any other old town on the East Coast, you bet I'm going to spend some time exploring their cemeteries. And finally, I love me some Southern Gothic. Add a smart heroine, a brooding hero, some sexy times, some history, and lots of spooky chills, and it all adds up to reading perfection for me. It's hard to review books in a series without revealing spoilers from earlier books, and it's doubly hard to review a mystery without accidentally revealing a little nugget a reader would have rather found on their own, so I'm going to skip the plot recap and just tell you how I felt about this book: I waited three long years for this fourth installment, and while I wish I could say it was well worth the wait, I did not find it as satisfying as earlier books.

While I have loved the undeniable chemistry between Amelia and John Devlin in previous books, I thought this one focused too much on Amelia's insecurities where Devlin is concerned. Now that they are finally a couple, I began to notice little things that bothered me, not the least of which is Devlin's refusal to acknowledge Amelia's true nature in spite of everything that's happened (FYI: she sees dead people), and they don't seem to have much in common outside of the bedroom. All of this leads up to what happens at the end of the book (and if you haven't read this book yet, don't read the blurb for book five, which includes a spoiler), so it definitely serves a purpose, but I found her inner worries to be repetitive, and they also made her look a little weaker in my eyes.

Another thing that contributed to my lower rating of this installment is that Amelia doesn't even get to a cemetery until halfway through the book. The pace was incredibly slow. Who would have thought it would take me two weeks to finish this book when I devoured the others in two days. And lastly, this book should have been published sooner. Three years is really too long to go between books in a series with an ongoing plot. I'm very glad that it reminded me of so much I'd forgotten, but I'd imagine those reading it right on the heels of The Prophet might be annoyed at the backstory info dumps. However, book five is already out, and book six releases next month, so we don't have to wait any longer to see where this thing is going.

Now on to the things I loved and that will keep me reading this series! Amanda Stevens has not lost her knack for writing some seriously creepy stuff without straying into the realm of outright horror. Conjoined twins, cults, antique ghostly photos, a curiosity shop filled with the odd and macabre, bees and cicadas, and that ever-present Gothic vibe that is uniquely Southern--this book is full of things to make your spine tingle. And, as always, the climax is made of pulse-pounding, nail-biting stuff. And I'm glad that a little bit more was revealed about Amelia's heritage. I am hopeful that one day she is going to get all of the answers she needs to be able to embrace who she is and live her life to the fullest. I'm already on to The Sinner, hoping it will take this series back up to the level of awesomeness of the earlier books. If you haven't yet read this series, I highly recommend that you do, in order, starting with The Restorer.