Title: The Ghost in the Mirror (Samuel Dexter #1)
Author: Faith Gibson
Genre: M/M Romance
WARNING: This book contains scenes that might be considered triggers for some. Sam is a Marine involved in an explosion. This book also (mildly) describes children being kidnapped in the past and their remains found later.
“Let me say I love the characters in this book!” - Tasty Wordgasms
“It draws you in and you have to keep reading.” - Alpha Book Club
“Love, love Faith!!!! I highly recommend this book. Another smashing success by a very talented author.” - Reader Review
I sat down on the stump and allowed the sound of the water to soothe my soul. When I had complained about karma coming after me for some wrong I’d done, Grams chewed my ass out and said I was being kept alive for something I had yet to do. Fate had tried to kill me twice, and I had survived both times, so I obviously had a purpose for still being here. That purpose manifested itself in front of me. I was so used to Cindy being around me now that I had stopped being surprised when she showed up. She climbed down the bank and stood in the water.
“Can you feel that? Can you feel the water rushing over your feet?”
She shook her head no. The little girl bent down and tried to run her hand through the rolling water, but nothing happened. It was in that moment that I vowed to stop being a whiny bitch. This little girl had lost her life, most assuredly in a horrific way, and I was complaining because I was alive. She floated back onto the bank and walked toward me. Cindy climbed up on my lap and leaned her head against my good shoulder. I would have given anything to feel her hair tickling my neck. This precious child needed comfort, and I couldn’t give it to her.
“I’m sorry I got hurt, but I promise I’ll start searching for clues again real soon. I have to go to see Dr. Carr tomorrow, so I’ll stop by the old fairground then.” Her essence combined with mine briefly, letting me know she was okay with what I had said. It was the strangest feeling, having another entity flow through you. She leaned back and mouthed something. Of course I couldn’t hear her and reminded her of it. She jumped down from my lap and mimed singing into a microphone. “You want me to sing?” Cindy nodded so hard, her hair bounced up and down. “Okay, kid. It’s your ears.”
I’d been in a pensive mood ever since Orlando’s visit at the hospital, so I decided to sing something upbeat. I started belting out Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours”, and my little ghost started dancing. She grabbed the sash of her dress, holding on to both dirty ends as she twirled around, making her blue dress float around her. For the first time since she appeared to me, Cindy smiled, and I laughed. I was so caught up in the connection between the two of us that I didn’t hear the footsteps behind me. When a voice joined mine, blending in perfect harmony, I froze and Cindy disappeared.
I wanted to stop singing so badly, but I wanted to continue hearing his beautiful voice worse. I closed my eyes and sang, because if I looked up at Orlando, I’d have probably done something really unmanly. Like cried. And begged. And begged while I was crying. I’m not sure what I’d have begged him for, but it seemed the right thing to do. After the song was over, only then did I open my eyes. “We always did sound good together,” he whispered.
“I wish I could remember that.” I spoke honestly, keeping my eyes to the spot where Cindy had been. “I want so badly to remember it all, and I bet you’d probably like to forget.”
“Honestly? Yes. Most days I would like to forget I ever met you. Then there are the good days I cling to what we had and hope it wasn’t my only shot at ever finding love. But if it was, then at least I knew a love like no other.”
Orlando’s words killed me. Stabbed me in the heart, twisted, and pulled the organ out of my chest, tossing it to the ground where it landed with a flat thud at my feet. Then I remembered that he had a wife and child. If what he just said was true, he didn’t love his wife. God, how screwed up was that?
“Before we get to the reason I’m here, would you mind telling me who you were singing and laughing with when I walked up?”
Well, fuck.
4.5 out of 5 stars
The Ghost in the Mirror is the first in the Samuel Dexter series, a contemporary m/m romance with a touch of ghostly paranormal woven within the story.
We meet our hero Dex for the first time in his hospital room where he's recovering from an attack on his squad while overseas. While he has some injuries to heal, the biggest thing he's facing is a serious case of memory loss. Dex rolls with what life has thrown at him and deals with it and tries to get on with healing so he can get back to the Marines. By his side is his feisty Gram, who helped raise him from his teen years to now. She gets a little secretive on him, even though the doctor told her to share things from his past, she has chosen to let him discover somethings for himself.
While Dex is recovering he has a few unexpected visitors, which makes him think he's lost his mind. At first he doesn't tell anyone, then he shares what's going on with his Gram. She believes him and what's more tells him that her mom used to have ghosts who came to her as well. This plays a very large part in this first book in the series. Along with Dex trying to get his memory back, and his reconnecting with an old love, and some new friends.
I'd love to share more of the story with you but this was one of those books that you really, really need to read without knowing all the storyline. It's an attention grabbing story that had me staying up way too late trying to finish it in one sitting. For a first book in a series it laid a solid foundation for future stories and the main story arc of Dex regaining his memory. It also set up the storyline to continue with Dex and the various relationships he's established, including reconnecting with the boy he left behind.
Now this is a HFN story because it's a series and Dex and his guy Orlando have reconnected after many years apart. So don't expect a dash to the altar, or anything like that in The Ghost In The Mirror. The romance wasn't the prime focus in the story, everything else that is going on around both Dex and Orlando is the main focus for this book. That actually is a good thing for this story because it does have a lot of things going on that revolve around Dex and his getting better and rediscovering himself. It allows their relationship the space any beginning to a relationship, or a reconnected relationship would need to grow stronger. I only wish that there was more movement forward with Dex's memory loss and his remembering Orlando from when they were teens.
I thoroughly and utterly enjoyed this story from the characters, the dialogue, the storyline, all the way to how things worked out in the end. I look forward to many more books in this series and to see where Dex, Orlando, Gram and the others go next.
I highly recommend this story for those that love wounded heroes, second chances at love, and large ensemble casts to support the main characters.
We meet our hero Dex for the first time in his hospital room where he's recovering from an attack on his squad while overseas. While he has some injuries to heal, the biggest thing he's facing is a serious case of memory loss. Dex rolls with what life has thrown at him and deals with it and tries to get on with healing so he can get back to the Marines. By his side is his feisty Gram, who helped raise him from his teen years to now. She gets a little secretive on him, even though the doctor told her to share things from his past, she has chosen to let him discover somethings for himself.
While Dex is recovering he has a few unexpected visitors, which makes him think he's lost his mind. At first he doesn't tell anyone, then he shares what's going on with his Gram. She believes him and what's more tells him that her mom used to have ghosts who came to her as well. This plays a very large part in this first book in the series. Along with Dex trying to get his memory back, and his reconnecting with an old love, and some new friends.
I'd love to share more of the story with you but this was one of those books that you really, really need to read without knowing all the storyline. It's an attention grabbing story that had me staying up way too late trying to finish it in one sitting. For a first book in a series it laid a solid foundation for future stories and the main story arc of Dex regaining his memory. It also set up the storyline to continue with Dex and the various relationships he's established, including reconnecting with the boy he left behind.
Now this is a HFN story because it's a series and Dex and his guy Orlando have reconnected after many years apart. So don't expect a dash to the altar, or anything like that in The Ghost In The Mirror. The romance wasn't the prime focus in the story, everything else that is going on around both Dex and Orlando is the main focus for this book. That actually is a good thing for this story because it does have a lot of things going on that revolve around Dex and his getting better and rediscovering himself. It allows their relationship the space any beginning to a relationship, or a reconnected relationship would need to grow stronger. I only wish that there was more movement forward with Dex's memory loss and his remembering Orlando from when they were teens.
I thoroughly and utterly enjoyed this story from the characters, the dialogue, the storyline, all the way to how things worked out in the end. I look forward to many more books in this series and to see where Dex, Orlando, Gram and the others go next.
I highly recommend this story for those that love wounded heroes, second chances at love, and large ensemble casts to support the main characters.
Faith Gibson is a multi-genre author who lives outside Nashville, Tennessee with the love of her life, and her four-legged best friends. She strongly believes that love is love, and there's not enough love in the world.
She began writing in high school and over the years, penned many stories and poems. When her dreams continued to get crazier than the one before, she decided to keep a dream journal. Many of these night-time escapades have led to a line, a chapter, and even a complete story. You won't find her books in only one genre, but they will all have one thing in common: a happy ending.
When asked what her purpose in life is, she will say to entertain the masses. Even if it's one person at a time. When Faith isn't hard at work on her next story, she can be found playing trivia while enjoying craft beer, reading, or riding her Harley.
Faith is the author of The Stone Society, a paranormal, post-apocalyptic shapeshifters series; The Music Within, a MM romance series; and The Samuel Dexter books, stories about a retired Marine ghost hunter who has lost all his memories from before the accident that took him out of commission.
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