Give Up the Ghost

I think Jenn Burke is onto a good thing here, as Give Up the Ghost feels like a marked improvement on [b:Not Dead Yet 41435160 Not Dead Yet (Not Dead Yet #1) Jenn Burke https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1541418561s/41435160.jpg 64662177], the first book in the series. Although it contains one of my least favorite tropes, MC Keeps Secret From Lover Because Reasons, the world building is imaginative, the romance is sweet/hot (once the Secret was revealed about a third of the way in), and the secondary characters provide richness and depth. Personally, I think baby vampire Evan is stealing the show, and I hope the author gives him a love story of his own. And I'm also partial to business partner Iskander, largely because I'm primed from Jordan Hawk's [b:Widdershins 16128152 Widdershins (Whyborne & Griffin, #1) Jordan L. Hawk https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1352121658s/16128152.jpg 21952704] series to be partial to any character by that name. Wes is not always an easy MC to love - he's sometimes selfish and of course there's that aforementioned secretiveness - but he wants to help the people (alive and dead) he encounters, and he is learning to deal with a whole new set of powers that emerged at the end of book #1. I wouldn't mind seeing some of the action from Hudson's POV; at times he seemed to get a little lost in the shuffle, especially when another member of Wes' found family is endangered, and I want to see his own struggles to come to terms with the new roles he's taken on from a closer vantage point. But overall, this was a page-turning installment in what I hope will be a continuing series. The last few chapters especially brought a lump to my throat and then a happy relieved sigh. ARC received from Net Galley in exchange for honest review.