Review: A bittersweet ending to a great series
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 8, 2013
All good things must come to an end, thus Ms. Stevens brings us the last story in her Spirit Guide series, but not without one more good mystery for Yuki and the gang to solve.School is over, and the gang is all moving on to the next chapter in their lives. Some are off to college, Yuki is getting ready to open her art booth and Cal is busy as the alpha of his pack. When Emma tells Yuki that their friend Gordy has his family's beach house for the week and all are invited, Yuki is less than pleased, she and sand, sun and sea are not the best of friends. Yuki agrees to go, Cal and Simon are busy at the Wolf camp with the full moon so won't be joining them for a few days so Yuki and Emma make the trip.It doesn't take long before Yuki takes off on her own to paint. When she starts smelling brine, seaweed and rum she knows she is not alone. After a knock on the head, Yuki's abilities to smell the dead have become enhanced and now she can also see them...oh will the fun never end? She soon learns her newest visitors are the pirate Black Sam Bellamy, Prince of Pirates and some of his faithful crew. Yuki and the gang will have to try to find Sam's treasure so he can rest, return the amulet Yuki "borrowed" from the witches in Salem and put up with Cal's newest wolf charge, a sexy, snarly teenage girl named London. Never a dull moment.I loved this series from the first book. Ms. Stevens decided to not go the normal route and have Yuki see dead people but smell dead people. She added to the slightly off center theme by making Yuki's spirit guide a giant dung beetle, her best friend is a vegan studying to be a veterinarian, her boyfriend the hunky alpha of the local wolf pack and his lieutenant is a slightly older, very aggravating Englishman named Simon. Yuki and her three friends manage to get themselves into and out of more scrapes than Scooby Doo and gang, solving mysteries with loads of one liners, a little danger and a lasting friendship that nothing can dampen.This time around, we get to hunt for pirate treasure, learn more about Yuki's abilities from the witches, and watch Yuki deal with Cal's young charge. What a wonderful way for Ms. Stevens to wrap up this series, Black Sam was very sad and mysterious and his gang of four smelly crew members follow Yuki around; even riding on the top of the car like it was a coach. The gang was in top form, each bringing their own little quirks to the table but all giving their all to help Yuki.It was bittersweet reading this story, knowing it was going to be the last and trying to savor every last bit of it, yet unable to put the book down because it was just so much fun to hunt for pirate treasure. I will miss these young people; I've come to think of them as my own kids but like your own kids, they grow up and go on with their life. We must let them go, no matter how hard we want to hold on, so we smile through our tears and wish them well.Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Dual Review Team