Prom Night in Purgatory was my second Twitter recommendation that was struggling to find more Amazon reviews. As a NA [New Adult] romance novel it was a mash-up of two genres I have a tendency to pass over hardcore… buuut you know, it’s nice to help out new authors and I can’t be that pessimistic can I?
Karma must have been listening in because it wasn’t terrible. In fact, it was kind of adorable… I mean as adorable as a story about ghost brothel can be. I mean I must admit I still have a long way to go before I enjoy the romance aspect of these stories buuut the rest was quirky and creative and I couldn’t help fall for the random humor like the recurrent appearance of an attack ghost bunny.
The story is about a cancer-riddled 25-year-old who is living out her last days to her fullest by hunting ghosts. Through a series of mishaps, she and a gaggle of friends end up falling into a little ghost pocket world they call purgatory, a place where the residents capture living humans from the other side and drain their life essence for sustenance in a sort of brothel-like establishment. It’s got adventure, a solid plot, mostly lovable characters, and humor. If this is your kind of thing then I highly suggest it.
What I didn’t like about it: the constant threat of rape and the fact the male lead basically falls in love with one of his raped conquests. SO TIRED of this bad boy trope. Would LOVE to see a romance about a healthy respectful relationship that doesn’t revolve around a rape fantasy. Even more sad the female author does not seem to know the difference between a labia and a vagina. Seriously, if you own a twat, look this shit up. It’ll do you a world of good. With all that being said these are more or less my own prejudices against what is already common in the genre so I still give this book a good grade. It was a welcome relief from the last book I read which had sooooooo much wrong with it.
And I mean I can’t really hate too hard on a book that has random little gems like this description, “The Tiffany blue feather plumes in her hair swooped back like a tiny Muppet taking flight.”
If I made this book sound at all interesting free to find it on Amazon (where yes, I will get a pittance of a commission for letting you know about it and will squeal with delight if you do.)