The Medium: Emily Chambers Spirit Medium, Book 1

Although I enjoyed the writing and the story, I felt deceived with the purchase of this "free" book. Simply put, this is just the first third of a complete story. In order to see a resolution to any of the issues/questions raised in this book, you must purchase 2 more books. Although I certainly enjoy a good series, I do expect each book in that series to be a complete story by itself. This series fails that requirement. Instead it is merely one rather long book split into three separate purchases.

Set in not current day England (think like horse and buggy times) Emily is an honest to goodness Spirit Medium, unlike the hacks, fakes, and wannabes that are popping up on the scene as the idea of contacting spirits and holding seances are like parlor games for society ladies. Emily and her sister Cecilia make a decent living on these parlor tricks. Until they hold a seance here the ghost won't leave when he's supposed to. And Celia accidentally lets a demon loose on London. In swoops Jacob. The rest is interesting, frustrating and a bit of a let down.I liked that, for the most part the characters are thought out and developed. The story didn't drag but it didn't go anywhere either. Jacob is a pain and pouty but at times also pulls some hilarious antics and tricks as only a ghost can. His 'romance' if you can call it that with Emily is trite and overblown. They are in love within just a few days, but he can't have her he's a ghost you know. But heaven forbid someone else show interest in her and blam he's all moody jealous that she might actually have a normal healthy relationship with a living breathing human, you know as opposed to a ghost. Celia is a mix between wanting her sister to find a man and marry when she should be encouraging her to grow up. Good gravy but Emily does not act her age, she acts like a petulant 12 year old child. In a day and age when most girls grew up and married young Emily is very immature. And there's this demon. Which really takes a back seat to everything else most of the time.The book had a very interesting cover story. The synopsis was intriguing. But it stopped there. Most of the story that actually happened had very little to do with the demon and more to do with Emily and Jacob making gooey eyes at each other, when they weren't fighting and pouting. Even the wrap up about the demon left me wanting more. I really wanted to like this book. I loved the idea of this book. However the actual story left me waiting for something to be delivered by FedEx that never got updated with tracking and just disappeared off the radar.

This is another historical novel about a sweet but spunky English girl who falls in love with the mysterious young man far above her station. Except in this case the girl in question is a spirit medium and the young man is dead. The bureaucracy of the great beyond has assigned Emily Chambers, the medium of the title, to work with a mysteriously corporeal ghost named Jacob. Their task is to shoo an escaped demon back where it came from.That task, however, often takes a backseat to other concerns in the plot of the novel. The question of how Jacob got to be a ghost in the first place (e.g. how he died) is a matter of some concern. So, predictably, is the relationship between Emily and Jacob. Often romantically inclined novels take the fact of romance for granted -- Main Character Female must merely gaze at Main Character Male and sparks fly. This is such a novel. The protagonists spend vastly more time denying their feelings than they do developing them in the first place. I feel like this is exacerbated by the fact that one of the lovers is, in fact, dead. You need a long run-up before making such a leap.If you can suspend that disbelief, though, this is a fun novel. The characters are pleasant and the writing is full of enjoyable little bits of dry humor.> His attire was not something to be dismissed casually. It was what he happened to be wearing when he died. Mr. Wiggam must have died wearing his formal dinner suit but it seemed Mr. Beaufort--Jacob--had been somewhat more casually dressed. It's the reason why I'll never sleep naked. Rating: 3.75-stars Length: 90,000 words Violence: Mild Sex: Kisses Drugs: No

I really loved this story. The author is a very good writer. I became entranced in the time frame, and her decriptions of life of women in the 18th century.The Authentic also did a wonderful job with her characters. I felt like I knew them personally.I loved Jacob the cursed ghost.Or is he a ghost?Demons that shape shift.A supernatural group for any kind of supernatural love to meet and study.The sad lot of the poor character's unfortunately to be born so in London.I love for the main Character Emily, a nedium.Who can converse with the dead, at will.and her stubborn,Straight talking, no backing down inferior woman that's for sure,When she falls in love with Jacob..against all odds of having him. She crys but doesn't give upAnd even when he doesn't want to know her feelings she tells him anyway. I find this refreshing as most woman in the stories suffer in silence, unless the man declares his feelings first.Yes, I really like this series, it's a supernatural mystery series...I feel this Author is going to be a well know oneIn time, no doubt.I will enjoy reading her new novels to see what supernatural stories she comes up with , but books with a completely new aspect on old subjects retold so many time before.I think she could tell a vampire, Fae, etc..storyand make it something completely new, never put on paper before therefor refreshing and fun to read.Thank you! For letting me read and review your story.

Gosh, this book annoyed me.I started out wanting to like it, but the more I read, the more I hated the main character. I'm still not even certain why I read through to the finish, gritting my teeth, apart from the desperate hope it would get better. It didn't.The flaw is simple - the heroine is completely passive. She watches things happen around her, and frets about it. She does nothing to help, to save her friends. She's weak and pathetic.Here's a line from the book, where her love is being attacked, and the attacker's companion has taken her hostage: "I struggled against Finch but it was useless. I was so weak by comparison, so _useless_. I couldn't get to the amulet. I couldn't get away. I couldn't _do_ anything." Exactly what I've been thinking for most of the book. If you're so useless and weak and never do anything, why are you the protagonist? First rule of writing fiction is: the protagonist must protag!

Warning ! Once you start reading this you wouldn't be able to stop. I read this over 4 hours. I kept trying to stop, but each time failed and picked up again immediately.What really surprised me and nearly stopped me discovering this author was the fact this is not based in a contemporary setting. I never read period pieces, but due to the crowd pleasing nature of the writing, meaing it is humourous as well as thrilling and very, very compelling, it was easy and nice to find I liked this so much.Emily Chambers is a medium living in nineteenth century London with her sister Celia, both are spinsters of modest means, but considerable spirit and intelligence. Therefore able to support themselves independently.One day after returning from a seance where accidently Emily and her sister have released a demon into the world she finds the ghost of Jacob Beaufort lounging outside her house. She is subsequently told by said phantom that there is waiting place for spirits who haven't crossed over properly, and the administrators there have assigned the former man to our supernatural expert so they can track down the servant of satan and stop it killing anyone. So begins an adventure which will have you turning page after page desperate to follow our protagnoists as they struggle against society, as much as the supernatural.However implausable the plot, the high quality of writing here keeps you hooked with the only criticism being that phrases like 'mad at you' are not common here in London now, and definitley would have been unheard of then. Not that is really matters, as this is so incidental and does not impact at all on the enjoyment of the book. I did wish a bit more was explained like Jacob's death and solidness, but understand that maybe that would wrap up a story arc too quickly, so I will downloading book 2 in this series as soon as possible.I was really impressed by the originality of this plot and kept wishing I was watching this on screen as I think would work so well visually.

Victorian London is steeped in mystery, much of it dark. This clearly allows scope for fantasy stories to abound.Found this one a surprisingly excellent story which was very cleverly constructed and kept me enthralled from start to finish.I was pleased to see how well and how easily the main characters became real rather than just characters in a book.The synopsis gives you an idea of the story and I would not wish to give any accidental spoilers. What I would say is the main character Emily was to easily believable. A seance attended by Emily and her sister really starts the story and then we find a demon let lose, From this point the reader is taken on a journey involving the supernatural and the dark side of London. We are introduced to a range of excellent characters some good and a fair range of bad too. I always find the bad guys the most colourful and this story proved to maintain my view.Found it very hard to find anywhere to take a rest from reading as the story moves on a pace and as each chapter ended I could not wait to see what would happen in the next.Thoroughly good read. My thanks to the author.

I understood that The Medium is a story for the young, so I put on my teenage hat and found I enjoyed it. I realised that it was written by an American author (the spelling is a giveaway), but I felt that the author had done some excellent research to place the reader in the time of nineteenth century London. I did pull out of the narrative a little when I read 'Emily walked a block...', since this expression is alien to us Brits. However it didn't detract from the narrative.I grew fond of Emily who at the tender age of seventeen is using her skills as a medium to earn a living and is also fighting a demon. I found Jacob and his friend George quite mature and it was difficult to think of them as eighteen-year-old boys barely out of school, when they seemed to have a wisdom ten years older. I wasn't sure about Emily's romance with a ghost, although there is obviously more to the story of Jacob and his early death. And I suppose this is the one problem I found with The Medium in that I must buy the second book to find out what happens next. The jury is still out on that, but I can recommend this story for anyone who likes the paranormal.

I really wish Amazon would make it clear when a book is Young Adult however this isn't the author's fault. As a YA read this was possibly OK so perhaps it's unfair for me to only give 2 stars, but this is my personal opinion. The idea behind it is good, let down however by language and terminology that was non-existent at the time the story is set. Basically I was not transported to the time period but felt as if I was watching modern day actors in a period piece with a poorly written script! (I tend to visualise my books as films!) Too much smouldering passion, cardboard cut-out characters and not enough depth meant that I skim-read parts. I did finish the book though, which is something, but I won't be reading the next exciting episode of Emily and the Erogenous Entity nor would I look for the author again. 14 year old hormone-driven girls with a love of the paranormal may well enjoy.