A Free Dreamer Review: Loose Ends (Badlands #4) by Morgan Brice

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Cold cases, old enemies, ex-lovers, and vengeful spirits are making life dangerous for psychic medium Simon Kincaide and his boyfriend, homicide detective Vic D’Amato.

The ghosts of Myrtle Beach are restless, trapped by love, secrets, scandals, and spells, keeping Simon busy protecting the living from the unhappy dead. Someone from Vic’s past is out to destroy him and everyone he holds dear, and the high-profile trial of the first case Simon and Vic worked together puts them in the spotlight—and put a target on their backs. As a deadly trap closes around them, can Simon and Vic tie up the loose ends to stop the threat, or will they become the newest ghosts of the Grand Strand?

Loose Ends is an urban fantasy MM paranormal romance with spooky supernatural suspense, hot sex, hurt/comfort, feisty friends, found family, ghosts galore, and dark magic. It is part of a series but can be read as a standalone and features an evolving, established romantic relationship with all the feels. Intended for readers 18 years of age and older.

I love a good ghost story, so there was no way I could have resisted “Loose Ends”. And it turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Like the blurb says, this works perfectly fine as a standalone. I haven’t read any of the previous books in the series and while it’s obvious these two guys have a past together, all the important bits are explained.

I really liked the fantasy aspects of this story. There’s a bunch of different ghosts and quite a bit of magic as well. I just wasn’t too fond of coupling of magic and religion, tbh. It all felt a little bit one-sided. There’s angels and saints and the like and it made me wonder if that really is the only way to banish a ghost. What about a Hindu ghost? Can you banish that one with Christian beliefs too? But I did enjoy how the magic was rooted in the traditions of different cultures, though.

We meet a few different ghosts throughout the story and they’re all very different and Simon had a different solution for each of them. It was actually interesting to see how he dealt with them and came up with individual ways how best to help the spirits.

Vic and Simon are in a comfortably established relationship and I often prefer that to a blossoming relationship. It leaves more room for the important parts of the plot. Here, the romance was still very strong and the two of them worked really well together. I really enjoyed how they interacted with each other.

There’s quite a bit of action and suspense going on as well. It takes our protagonists a while to figure out what’s going on and then it gets really dramatic toward the end. There was, of course, a happy end, which I never doubted for a second.

Overall, this was a good, solid book. Nothing spectacular, but still thoroughly enjoyable. If urban fantasy and ghosts are you thing, it’s definitely worth a try.

I’m not a huge fan of the cover. It’s just our two protagonists in front of a pretty landscape. I’ve seen hundreds of covers that look very similar and it’s not very memorable.

Buy Links

Amazon US  |   Amazon UK  |   Kobo  |   Nook

Book details:

Kindle Edition
Published December 29th 2019 by Darkwind Press
ASIN B0839PTFL6
Edition Language English
Series Badlands #3

By Scattered Thoughts

At over 50, I am ruled by my terriers, my gardens, and my projects. A knack for grubbing about in the woods, making mud pies, and tending to the injured worms, bugs, and occasional bird and turtle growing up eventually led me to working for the Parks. I was a park Naturalist for over 20 years, and observing Nature and her cycles still occupy my hours. From the arrival of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds in the Spring to the first call of the Snow Geese heading south in the Fall, I am entranced by the seasons. For more about me see my bio on my blog.

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