A Reason to Believe

By: Diana Copland

Narrated by: Jack LeFleur

Detective Matthew Bennett doesn't believe in ghosts. So when the spirit of a murdered child leads him to her body, he's shaken to the core - and taken off the case. Unable to explain his vision, or to let go of the investigation, Matthew turns to renowned medium Kiernan Fitzpatrick. Though he has doubts about Kiernan's claims to communicate with the dead, Matt is nevertheless drawn to the handsome psychic, who awakens feelings he thought were long-buried.

Haunted by the lingering spirit of the little girl, Kiernan is compelled to aid in the search for her killer. The chance to get closer to the enigmatic Matt is an unexpected bonus. Although Kiernan's been betrayed by people who turned out to be more interested in his fame than in himself, with Matt he's willing to risk his heart. As the two men grow closer, Kiernan helps Matt rediscover that life offers no guarantees - but love offers a reason to believe....

©2012 Diana Copland (P)2012 Audible, Inc

Solid mix of romance and mystery

i would rank this in the clear top tier of male/male romances. The characters are likeable enough without being perfect, and there is an actual plot around which the romance grows. I admit I prefer straight-forward books (suspense, historical, mysteries, whatnot) that have a male/male relationship rather than romances with a touch of a plot.

So this one really was my cup of tea.

The writing is of good quality and the narration was very well done too, as Jack LeFleur always professionally delivers.

A lot to like

Recommended, but expect a couple head scratching moments. This is a paranormal romance where both protags can see ghosts. The ability is new to police detective Matt and old hat for Kiernan, an itinerant psychic. The characters are likeable and have good, reliable friends, though we only get a close look at a chosen few secondary characters. Content warning: traumatic death of a young child as the main focus of the plot.

Matt’s reluctance to embrace ghosts as real seems reasonable, and I was willing to go along with the standard embrace of fictional elements for most of the book. Kiernan’s lighthearted flirting & T-shirts are very entertaining and the author does a great job of arcing details, like the shirts, along with the story. So it’s pretty good but I have quibbles. Character likability tips the review scales up despite them.

These quibbles contain possible spoilers, though I have tried to minimize/anonymize them to not spoil things. Events were developing well until the former 6 year old, now ghost, who has been established as too “young” to fully grasp what has happened, points Matt to a headline consisting mostly of words that might even challenge a 6th grade reader, let alone a 6 year old. That never makes sense. That 6 year olds can work TV controls is more believable; ghosts interacting with electricity has a long acceptance in the genre. But her pointing out a complex print headline mid-paper (article should have been front page) made me start to question the world-building. We can infer that different people have differing abilities to see & interact with ghosts as Matt rarely sees her after Kieran arrives. But how she goes from appearing and modulating electrical devices to hurling physical objects is never explained or even pondered by the characters. And if she can move things, why not just move things at her parents’ house? I get why she wouldn’t go to the killer’s house, despite being able to track other people she only knows post-mortem (he scares her) but a kid who knows to point to “indictment” in a newspaper in the house of a friendly stranger should be able to give her own mom info. I think I also needed an explanation for her ability to escalate behaviors because if she can do all the stuff she does, why involve Matt & Kieran at all? Kieran provides her some coaching, but as far as I read, did not teach her how to escalate her abilities.

(More spoilerish stuff here, again trying not to actually spoil major events but need a paragraph break.) As to the killer, there is no way that the hidden relationship connections are unknown. I was pretty satisfied with whodunit & why, sadly, being too believable. But how he flew under the radar with his obsession of years was a little less believable. Then there’s the fact that Matt’s boss Hates that Matt is gay and undermines him constantly. While he manages to not get fired, it’s unclear whether he’s going back to an actively hostile work environment.

Here is where I talk about the romantic end of the tale and since it’s a romance, knowing they wind up together is a given. I liked the relationship development and the fast pace is usual for romantic thrillers. But at the end, Matt gets failed-fortune-cookie advice about “not wasting” his life and I kind of recoiled. Grieving the loss of a loved one is not “wasting” one’s life. It didn’t help that with the implication of ghosts actually going to, say, heaven, indefinitely rather than leaving after their work is done means Matt eventually winds up in a heavenly threeway with Brad & Kieran. I’m not opposed to that but it’s a messy future. (To be honest, living forever is my worst nightmare so that factors in to my judgement.) So all the “feel good” emotional & ghostly revelations beyond “lets stay together because we like each other, both see ghosts, and the sex is hot,” was totally wasted on me. (Wasting reference intended.)

Steam: mild on page m/m. I did not think the author was great at segues into sexytimes. The timing and emotional need for the sex scenes wasn’t always compelling to me. It was mostly “Kiernan is flirty and Matt gets onboard” which is fine as far as that goes but I actually tuned out for a couple scenes so maybe it’s steamier than I say?

Narration. This might be my first exposure to this narrator and I liked his work. There was not a lot of voicing variance but it worked for me. Quality was good & consistent.

Unexpectedly good story

Characters well done, likable.
Story unusual, but I liked it. I was put off by ghosts in description but that was very well done too
Narrator very good.

I'm a fan

I am a fan of this writer. I want to read more by her. The story and the characters are well drawn. Great job.

I hope this book becomes a movie!

This book was steamy and hot, what more can I say? I will be waiting for book number 2 to come out thanks for writing!!!