Kelley Armstrong has always been one of my fave authors - Bitten, Canadian, Virals - she's just the best! I've yet to read a book by her that I didn't enjoy, and then I picked up Living with the Dead.

Robyn comes to LA (her husband has recently passed away), and she gets herself into a pickle. She's a PR consultant for a Paris Hilton like celebrity, and suddenly her employer is murdered. And then someone else is murdered. You'd think that's fine and dandy, right? Nope. Because she fled the scene both times. Robyn works with Hope Adams (who we've seen before, if you've read this series) and this crime may get solved!

To start off, the book isn't bad by any means. I am in love with Clayton and Elena, and Paige and Lucas, and Jaime and Jeremy. Those are my Otherworld couples! Especially the latter, seriously - super hot. I highly recommend their books! I never cared much for Hope and Karl, and I didn't really care for Robyn. I felt like I didn't have a real connection with them so I just didn't want to read it. I wanted to see my faves! That's the problem with these types of series when there's a large array of characters with their own books - we won't enjoy all of them.

The story itself is super engaging and really fun to watch. Hope has such an interesting personality with her demon present, so she's a unique character to follow. I also thought the entire murder mystery was cool as well. Story wise, I think this book is amazing! It has Kelley's amazing writing and an awesome plot. This story had my attention the whole time and I devoured the book in a night. It is VERY VERY VERY good.

This book is more action, thriller and mystery than romance. I miss the sexy romance of the other Women of the Otherworld books, but maybe Kelley is taking this series in a different direction. I'm very curious as to how this series is going to play out...

Overall, this wasn't my favourite Women of the Otherworld book. I hope the next books pick up and I see more of my faves about! It's still a great book, but is more for thriller lovers than the fans of the romance in this series.

Two out of five stars. ( )

Similar to the eighth book, Living with the dead utilizes multiple perspectives to tell the story. This time we follow Hope and Karl, as well as a necromancer detective and Hope's friend, Robin - completely human, completely ignorant of the supernatural, and completely caught up in it. This book provides an interesting story as always in this series. ( )

The plot of Living with the dead revolves around the character of Robyn; recently widowed she has moved to LA and taken a job in PR with Portia Kane, a Paris Hilton-type celebrity. Or wannabe celebrity. But when Portia is murdered Robyn finds herself the main suspect and in her confusion makes a break for it. She is helped out by her best friend, Hope Adams, and her boyfriend, Karl Marstsen.

Full review: http://www.susanhatedliterature.net/2010/02/25/living-with-the-dead/ ( )

Excellent-I liked the blending of supernatural characters with regular human characters. ( )

I enjoyed this book, though it wasn't my favorite. I like the way we follow many different POVs - but that's a large switch from "normal" in this series. There is no 1st person POV, as is standard. There is no "Women of the Otherworld" series title on front. And we get to see what all sorts of people are thinking - including the antagonists.

The plot is well-founded and the characters are good. My main "issue" with this book is that I'm not a huge Hope fan. While I don't *dislike* her, she has to work harder to get me to like her. If it had been a book focusing on one of the characters I like better, I'd probably give the book 5 stars, because I'd have sympathized with them more. All told, though, if you're a fan of the series this is a good read. A new reader could easily start with this book without getting too confused (I hope), but to then jump back to the rest of the series might be a little odd. ( )