Jenn Bennett – Grave Phantoms

The third book in the Roaring Twenties series, published May 5, 2015.
Genre: paranormal historical romance
Cover: good



Feisty flapper Astrid Magnusson is home from college and yearning for the one thing that's always been off limits: Bo Yeung, her notorious bootlegging brother's second-in-command. Unfortunately her dream of an easy reunion proves difficult after a violent storm sends a mysterious yacht crashing into the Magnussons' docks. What's worse, the boat disappeared a year ago, and the survivors are acting strangely...
Bo has worked with the Magnusson family for years, doing whatever is needed, including keeping his boss's younger sister out of trouble - and his hands to himself. Of course, that isn't so easy after Astrid has a haunting vision about the yacht's disappearance, plunging them into an underground world of old money and dark magic. Danger will drive them closer together, but surviving their own forbidden feelings could be the bigger risk.


The third and last book in this trilogy, taking place in the Roaring Twenties, San Francisco. The time of bootlegging, illegal drinking and smuggling, corrupt cops looking the other way. But it is also a time where a relationship between people of different races is frowned upon, and forbidden. Especially when the female in the relationship is white.
A time where fortunes can be made by those willing to take a risk. Like Winter Magnusson has. His right-hand man for many years has been Bo Yeung, a young Chinese man Winter took in. Bo has been doing odd jobs for Winter for years now, acting as chauffeur and bodyguard and serving as his eyes and ears. Living with Winter and his family, made Bo live between two worlds: no longer fully accepted by the Chinese living in China town, and certainly not belonging in the white world either, where he is seen as merely a servant.

But Bo has been in love with Winter’s younger sister Astrid for years now, and it seems that she feels the same for him. Or will time spend apart cure her from that? When Astrid goes of to college in Los Angeles, where she will make new friends and learn interesting things, will she forget all about him? And what if she doesn’t?

And then Astrid comes back home on her birthday, in the middle of a huge storm, and no one is there to welcome her, so she sets out for her brother’s warehouse herself, where she is certain she will find Bo. Slighty drunk on champagne. She just has to see him.
But then the storm tosses a yacht into their dock, a strange yacht that has disappeared a year ago, and has been missing ever since. The survivors all look and act strange, and are taken to the hospital. Bo and Winter want the ship gone from their dock as soon as possible, they don’t need curious gawkers around their place of (illegal) business. The police wants it to stay put, but Bo invents some excuse to get aboard and see if the motor is still running. Stubborn Astrid goes with him, as does the police officer on watch, and they find the place absolutely trashed. When Astrid stumbles and picks up a strange little statue, things go to hell.

She sees a vision of people getting killed in some strange ritual, a year ago, and falls into a coma. Bo is frantic, but in the hospital Astrid awakens again. It is a busy evening, as the survivors have also been brought there and they pick up some gossip.

Whatever happened to Astrid is dangerous, and even more dangerous are the people who want that statue back. And so Bo and Astrid set out together to find out the meaning behind the statue and the strange symbol on its stomach, meeting interesting people and falling more and more in love with eachother. Bo has his own ideas about their future together, but Astrid is determined to find her own place in the world, and in his life, and with some help from her sisters-in-law, she manages it.


This was a very captivating tale, which showed a unique peek in live in the twenties in America. I enjoyed the careful romance building between Astrid and Bo, it felt natural, even though both wanted so much more. After closing the book, I would have liked to have witnessed the trouble a mixed couple had in those days a bit more, not it was more glossed over or anticipated and it never came.
I really liked Astrid, and how she never backed down for anything. She stood beside Bo and did the things she thought were right and had to be done. I admire her for that.

Jenn Bennett certainly delivered in this very good last instalment in the series. I wish I could have met the Magnusson family back then.

9 stars.

© 2015 Reviews by Aurian