Avery Wagner quit ghostwalking when he lost his beloved anchor to cancer. Now teaching others who have the ability, he’s beginning to live again—but he’s not looking for another lover, not now, maybe not ever.
But then he meets Jameson… younger, talented, dedicated, almost perfect, even though his mouth sometimes opens ahead of his brain. And Jameson wants Avery desperately, though he’ll settle for friendship if he can’t have more.
When an emergency demands they work together in the field, Avery discovers just how perfect Jameson is. But he had a perfect love once before, and he’s scared to even consider that he might have a chance at another. Can he trust Jameson with his newly healing heart?
A solid entry for this unique series!
As seen in Ghost of a Chance, an anchor bond between a ghostwalker and his/her said anchor is a rare and wonderful but scary thing. Their connection is soul deep and intense, making the tough job that they do (guiding spirits to the afterlife) that much easier since they can anticipate each other’s needs. Avery had that once and lost his beloved Luke to cancer. Since then, the thought of ghostwalking without him is too much to bear, but Avery’s slowly getting back into a routine and though still sad and missing Luke, he can look at his past with fondness and not utter devastation. When his employer Requiem Inc., asks for his help to train new hires, Avery agrees as long as all his lessons are theoretical lectures and not actually crossing into the spirit plane.
Enter Jameson, a newbie anchor who is eager to start his job, wanting to learn everything there is to know to be the best that he can be. When he listens to Avery’s various lectures, he has all sorts of questions for him and unfortunately in his excitement, Jameson puts his foot in it. Despite the rough start between him and Avery, Jameson can’t get the handsome mysterious aloof man off his mind, and he’s determined to smooth things over.
Avery in turn can’t help admire Jameson’s tenacity despite his first wrong impression and slowly, these two form a tentative friendship. Avery notices just how good Jameson is at his job, and Avery’s own innate nature to be taken care of pushes to the fore, making him desire to perhaps ghostwalk again, if only in the proper hands of a certain somebody.
As a warning for those who are wary of second chance love, I can see how some might balk at an MC connecting with another person, especially when this is not an anchor bond and the new relationship can be deemed as “less” than. Regardless of potential awkward and uncomfortable feels towards this situation, I still thought the subject matter was handled quite well, being sensitive to all aspects of what moving on entails and doesn’t. Avery’s deceased husband is never pushed aside, always making it known that Luke was a very important part of Avery’s life, that they did have a great love. However, there is a healing process going on, and it is allowed. Jameson was wonderfully understanding, and though there are a few snags on Avery’s part which had me worried about unnecessary melodrama, such issues were never over the top or protracted - they were thankfully dealt with mostly as they came up and there was mature honest discussion, along with plenty of smexiness, plausible progression, and emotional heft.
I’m not sure if this is the last in the series but if so, it was a nice wrap up to those who work at this idealistic paranormal institution that Bethke has created. These three books have given us some very happy endings for those who work hard at giving peace to both the living and their dearly departed, and I would say this is one of the top Beyond series thus far in this DSP line!
Thank you to the author/publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review
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