The Ghost And The Graveyard by Genevieve Jack

This is my second reading of the book and I am pretty sure that my opinion of it has not really changed over the intervening 3 or so years.  It is a frustrating book in so many ways but one that somehow makes me keep reading.  So, why re-read?  The simple answer is I got the 3rd and 4th books in the series and it is so long since I read the first 2 I thought I'd better start from scratch again.

The most enjoyable bits of the story are definitely the supernatural elements.  Grateful's horror at finding ghosts inhabit her new home is actually quite funny in the way it is handled and her grudging acceptance of them turning to friendship is quite charming.  Sadly this is spoilt by an "indecent encounter" with one of them.

We then have the Buffy-esque Hellmouth in the local cemetery which is home to all sorts of supernatural critter; basically if you can think of one then it lives in there and is trying to break through in to the Human world.  Grateful's first experience of the nighttime cemetery is suitable bloody and panic fuelled, sadly her first daytime experience was spoilt by an "indecent encounter" with the caretaker.

The ghosts in her attic and the caretaker of the cemetery are convinced Grateful is the reincarnation of the Monks Hill Witch and that she needs to call upon her power to keep the world, well their small American portion of it, free from all things the go bump in the night.  This is quite an interesting tangent to go down and the discovery of a large spellbook - spelltome would be more accurate from the descriptions - and a bone sword seem to support this.  The only problem is Grateful needs to decide now if she wants the power as her closest friend is at risk from the Hellmouth occupants.  The tension builds up quite nicely and then is spoilt by an "indecent encounter" being necessary in the ritual to take back her power.

Are we getting the hint that there are a lot of "indecent encounters" in this book? 

There are a lot of them and some do seem to develop naturally from the situation that Genevieve finds herself in, these I can forgive.  Others seem to come at moments where the author has painted herself into a plot device corner and her only way out of it is to distract the characters and the readers with some carnality.  I call this the Laurell K Hamilton school of writing.

The actual supernatural beings and plot are quite good but seem to take forever to unfurl as we keep going doing down side routes that appear to have little to do with the tale.  I am certain that as this is the first book of a series that they are there for reasons yet to be revealed.

Generally the book is a bit hit and miss and very patchy.  However, there is enough going for it that I am interested in finding out what happens next - as evidenced by the fact I have purchased the first 4 books in the series - hope I don't regret that!