#Bookreview Buried Secrets by Elizabeth Meyette (@efmeyette) @AnAudiobookworm

Buried Secrets by Elizabeth Meyette
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

When Jesse Graham almost runs over a “body” in the road one night, she is plunged into a labyrinth of secrets, lies and murder. All Jesse wants is a simple life teaching at St. Bart’s… and a chance at love with Joe Riley. She realizes that plan has been thwarted when puzzling occurrences at St. Bartholomew Academy for Girls get increasingly dangerous. The danger doesn’t just spring from the ghost who haunts the grounds of St. Bart’s, but from a sinister presence that is not ghostly at all. As she digs into the mystery, threats on her life and the life of her student escalate.

Which danger threatens her life the most? The ghost haunting her student or the secrets buried in the school?

**********

I listened to The Cavanaugh House by Elizabeth Meyette a while back and back and instantly knew that I needed to listen to its sequel. In the first book, The Cavanaugh House did Jesse, after breaking up with her cheating boyfriend move to the house her aunt left her. She learned that the house was haunted by her aunt and with a little bit of help from friends did she put her dead aunt to rest. Now everything should be peaceful in her life, but after finding a "body" on the road and once again "seeing" a spirit does it seem that the peaceful life she is after is just a dream for now.

I was very pleased that Amy McFadden narrated this book as well. She is very pleasant to listen to and she shifts between the characters effortless. Part of the joy of this book is listening to her tell the story.

As for Buried Secrets did I find this story a little less interesting than The Cavanaugh House. Don't take me wrong, I enjoyed the book and Jesse is a great character. It's just the plot was stronger in The Cavanaugh House and I was more taken with Jesse plight to find who killed her aunt. And, the triangle drama that I was glad to not have in the first book did occur in this book, although with a new male character. Or triangle drama, it was more failed communication problems and misunderstandings. Why can't characters just talk it book? This is a pet peeve of mine, and I'm sure other readers won't mind it as much as I did. One thing I really liked is the friendship between Jesse and Maggie, who is a nun. It's such an odd pairing and I love their banter.

I enjoyed the book and I would definitely read/listen to more books about Jesse Graham!

I received this audiobook at no-cost from Audiobookworm Promotions. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

#BlogTour The Cavanaugh House by Elizabeth Meyette @AnAudiobookworm #giveaway

The Cavanaugh House by Elizabeth Meyette
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Author: Elizabeth Meyette

Narrator: Amy McFadden

Length: 10 hours 35 minutes

Publisher: Elizabeth Meyette⎮2016

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

When Jesse Graham unlocks the door to the deserted house she inherited from her Aunt Helen, she doesn’t realize she’s unlocking secrets that had lain dormant for years. Reeling from a broken engagement to acclaimed musician Robert Cronmiller, Jesse wants to leave the city where her name is linked to his in all the society pages. Her best friend Maggie, aka Sister Angelina, convinces her to take a job at a private girls school in the pastoral Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. 

Anticipating a quiet, revitalizing life in her aunt’s deserted house, Jesse is instead thrown into a maze of danger. Questions about her aunt’s death lead Jesse to investigate events surrounding it and the people involved, but she uncovers a web of deceit that reaches far beyond the occurrences of over two decades earlier. Still dejected from her broken engagement, Jesse finds it difficult to trust anyone, even her self-absorbed mother. Joe Riley is irresistible, but secrets obstruct involvement with him until Jesse can solve the secrets of the Cavanaugh House.

Someone doesn’t want those secrets unearthed and will stop at nothing, even murder, to keep them hidden.

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Poet, blogger and believer in dreams-come-true, Elizabeth Meyette’s journey has taken her through a career in education to a career in writing. Elizabeth put her first novel, Love’s Destinyon the shelf while she taught English, Journalism and Library Science/Technology.

Upon retiring from teaching, she dusted off Love’s Destiny, polished it and submitted it to Crimson Romance, who published it in June 2012. Unlike her first novel, the sequel, Love’s Spirit took only seven months from inception to submission, and was published in April 2013.To coin a friend’s phrase, she didn’t retire, she “refired” and loves her second career as a writer. Elizabeth’s mysteries are set in 1968 in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. An Amazon Bestseller, The Cavanaugh House, and its sequel, Buried Secrets, are available as audiobooks. She has also published poetry and freelance articles. Elizabeth is a PAN member of Romance Writers of America, a member Sisters in Crime, Capitol City Writers Association, Greater Grand Rapids Writers Group and Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators. 

She and her husband Richard live in the West Michigan. They made an agreement that she cannot cook on writing days after he had endured burnt broccoli and overcooked chicken. Fortunately, Richard is an excellent cook.

Website⎮Twitter⎮Facebook⎮Goodreads⎮Pinterest⎮Amazon

 

Amy McFadden has narrated over 250 titles in many different genres with a focus on Comedic Fiction, Romance, and not-super-violent Thrillers. She is an Earphones Award winner, and a four-time Audie Award finalist in Humor, Mystery/Thriller and Literary Fiction. 

 

 

   

I was intrigued by the description of this book. If there is something I really like is it haunted houses and I hoped that this book would entrance me.

One thing I really liked is that the story takes place in the 60s. It was a nice change from the usual contemporary settings that I'm used to (or books that take place late or early 19-century). I love to read books where the story takes place during 50-70s and this book reminds me that I should try to do so more often. It's so nice to go back just a couple of decades, and read about a time without the technology benefits we have now.

The story starts with Jesse Graham, after having broken up with her cheating boyfriend, arriving at The Cavanaugh House that she inherited years before from her aunt. She is after a change in her life and when her best friend Sister Angelina (Maggie) tells her of a job at a private school isn't she late to jump on the chance to get away and get a new start. What she doesn't know is that The Cavanaugh House is said to be haunted by her aunt. But, why would her aunt hunt the house, she died in care accident, didn't she?

The Cavanaugh House is an engrossing book to listen to, I quite liked both Jesse and Maggie, their humor and their close friendly relationship made the book both funny and endearing to read. I love the fact that Maggie is a nun, it's not often I read about two best friends in a book where one of them is a nun. This is probably the first time. I also liked the budding romantic relationship with Joe Riley. I was worried that the book would turn into a triangle drama when Jesse started to hang out with the local deputy sheriff, but it never got that way. I also liked that she did keep it cool with Joe, she has just left a relationship and was not interested in a new one soon, despite the butterflies in the stomach that Joe gave her. 

The mystery of her aunt's death and the haunted house intrigued me and I loved the twist and turns the story took. As a fan of mystery books was it a pure joy to read about Jesse discovering then the truth about her aunt. Even when I suspected things that turned out to be true where I more thrilled about being right than annoyed that it could figure it out before anyone else did in the book.  

Elizabeth Meyette has really written a fabulous book and I can't wait to listen to Buried Secrets the sequel to this book!

As for the audio version of this book was I very pleased with Amy McFadden performance. She shifted between the voices with ease and I liked that she didn't exaggerate the male voices. I'm also pleased to know that she voiced the sequel in this series.

The Cavanaugh House Giveaway 

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