Reader Views

Pearls: Spirits of the Belleview Biltmore

Article first published as Book Review: Pearls: Spirits of the Belleview Biltmore by on Blogcritics.

Honor Macklin is beginning to realize that she should not be in business with her unfaithful ex-husband. As other betrayals come to light regarding issues with him in the business, she decides to go down to Florida to finish clearing out her deceased mother’s home. Even though her mother had a house there, she spent a lot of time at the Belleview Biltmore Hotel. Since the house no longer has furniture, Honor decides that she will stay at the Belleview Biltmore as well. Shortly after arriving at the beautiful hotel, she meets Josh and his precocious four-year-old son Cody. Cody has an unusual gift of being able to communicate with spirits. Being a rational software developer makes it very hard for Honor to accept this, but when Cody starts giving her messages from her mother and she starts having some unusual experiences herself, she starts to believe. She also finds herself falling for Josh.

When Honor starts reading a journal that she found in an old hatbox, she starts having visions where she travels into the past and is able to see how the author, a woman, lived. She also meets other spirits and starts learning about how things were for them back in time. She wonders why she can communicate with them, but not her mother. As she looks for a connection, she finds herself becoming more and more intrigued with their history. She also initiates an investigation into her ex-husband’s activities. The lessons that she learns from the women in her past, one in particular, helps her to develop a strategy to unite honest, hardworking women at her business and in doing so she is also able to gather more information on the illegal activities that might be going on. Honor, Josh and Cody also start seeing themselves as a family. Her friends from the past help her find her true self in the present.

“Pearls” is a phenomenal story that combines paranormal elements with history, mystery and romance. Even though some of the characters had endured horrible situations, it was inspiring to see how they overcame whatever happened to them and became empowered to be independent. I also loved that there was a beautiful romance in both times. Looking up the Belleview Biltmore Hotel on the author’s website and seeing the pictures really brought the story to life. The hotel is beautiful and I can totally understand why the author is passionate about seeing this beautiful piece of history preserved. I highly recommend this novel to readers who enjoy mysteries and romances that include paranormal and historical elements. “Pearls” would also be the perfect choice for women’s reader groups. “Pearls: Spirits of the Belleview Biltmore” is definitely a novel that will be cherished.


Pearls: Spirits of the Belleview Biltmore
BonSue Brandvik
CreateSpace (2011)
ISBN 9781468013832
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (1/12)

Demon Soul

Rose Walters knows what it is like to have lost something.  Growing up, she had nothing of value for as long as she could remember.  She lost her mother at the age of sixteen, was kicked out of the house of the family who took her in and spent the remaining days of her own life in the streets and on drugs.  She has now been chosen for a different life after her death.  As a Soul Chalice, she is a protector of souls.   Her task is to protect Gabriel Cane and keep him from losing his soul.  Gabriel Cane is, part human, demon and fae.  He has spent many years being estranged from his family, mostly because he is ashamed of his demon heritage.   He blames himself for his mother’s death, because she died giving birth to him.  When he comes home, he has to face the fact that he has lost some of his soul to a vampire named Satine and she is fighting hard to reclaim the rest.  With the help of his family and friends, and now Rose, Gabriel must try to do whatever he can to keep the rest of his soul away from Satine.  Quickly they realize that Rose’s powers are demon-like similar to his own.  So Gabriel begins to work with Rose to teach her how to control them, much like how he has had to learn.  As Gabriel and Rose work on learning how Rose’s powers work, word has gotten back to Satine that Gabriel’s soul is being protected by Rose.  At first she didn’t recognize her, but as they both now realize, Satine and Rose discover that they were cousins when they were living.  As the stakes get higher, both sides are calling in all of their allies to help.  From vampires to werewolves to witches, they much use their strengths to save one soul that holds the soul of thousands.

“Demon Soul” is a very interesting book.  After reading the book, my first thought was this book is not “Twilight” and therefore, should not be read by the young teens who want to enjoy books about vampires these days.  So, I would caution anyone considering allowing elementary and middle school-aged children to read this book.  It does not appear to be the author’s intent, but this seemed, important to mention – just in case.  I also thought the authors writing style was very technical and mature in nature and would more than likely lose someone in that age bracket anyway.  The concept around “Demon Soul” is something that I have not come across before.  I would have to applaud Christine Ashworth for coming up with a plot that hadn’t already saturated the market.  The characters were different than what you would normally read about.  Although the book was a work of fiction, the author took real life issues and managed to weave them into the story in a very nice way.  So, the book went beyond a love story or a story about someone being rescued.  It went a little deeper and darker into family relationships and the issues that plague our society, such as drug addiction and created a story around that. “Demon Soul” is for those who want something different and want to go beyond the fluff that is out there today.


Demon Soul
Christine Ashworth
Crescent Moon Press (2011)
ISBN 9780984180592
Reviewed by Tracey Rock for Reader Views (1/12)