Bingo Square: Border (with seances and Ouija boards, it’s the boundaries/borders between life and the afterlife/supernatural)
This one was a bit of a miss for me for Kelley Armstrong – I really loved her Women of the Otherworld series, and in general, her other novels, whether supernatural or romance, tend to work for me.
This specific novel is one of the supernatural/paranormal ones – the main character and narrator is Nic, a new widow after her husband Anton died in a car crash less than a year ago. Nic has been struggling with cystic fibrosis her whole life so they always knew there was a strong likelihood their marriage would be short but in no way did Nic ever expect to be the one left behind.
As a result, with her husband’s dying words, “I’ll be waiting” echoing in her ears, she continues to visit mediums, and expose them as charlatans in the process. Her friends and family want her to stop but agree she needs to make one last attempt with a real professional to finally let it go. And that’s how Nic ends up on a weekend getaway with some close friends and a professor of the paranormal in a house that used to be in Anton’s family to contact him.
The set up was well done, additionally we get hints early on that Nic had a brush with something supernatural earlier in her life, enough that she changed her name. As a result, there was a point where I found her skepticism and distrust of all the other characters more offputting and frustrating because she was the one with secrets.
I also really didn’t like some of the character decisions made by someone I thought was actually kind of an interesting character later in the novel – I did like how it all tied up together, but there were just some decisions along the way I didn’t enjoy and I’m not sure I was supposed to end up disliking the main character and her constant doubting of everyone (even if she may have had a point once or twice).