About Rebecca Crunden
Rebecca Crunden is a writer and fellow blogger. She has written multiple books over the years all of which you can check out by clicking here. She also has an amazing blog where she writes reviews and you can check that out by clicking here. If you want to read Haze by Rebecca Crunden you can find it on Amazon and Goodreads.
Synopsis
When Eliza Owens gets a phone call in the middle of the night from a girl she’s never met, she doesn’t know what to think. The girl introduces herself as Paige, and says she used to date Erik Stern, Eliza’s fiancé. What’s more, she has something important to discuss.
The only problem? Paige has been dead for years.
Believing it to be a sick prank, Eliza tries to force it from her mind until Sam, Eliza’s older sister, tells her she met Paige only a few weeks before. And, according to Sam, Paige has nothing nice to say about Erik.
The fight which follows shatters the lives of everyone involved, and Erik disappears without a trace.
Five years later, Erik returns to town after his father’s death. Old wounds quickly resurface, and with them several burning questions. None the least of which is: Who spoke to Eliza and Sam if it wasn’t Paige? And why?
My Review Of Haze By Rebecca Crunden
This book is a paranormal romance which is a genre I rarely dip my feet into. I did not know exactly what to expect considering I have a bit of a problem with paranormal stuff- especially ghosts in particular- so I was a little skeptical. So, I do like romance though so I decided to give it a chance and I’m glad I did because I was really impressed by this book and I think it kind of opened me up to a whole new genre I was not really into before.
I don’t want to give away a lot about the book and the story line because I want to avoid putting out spoilers so I am going to try to summarize it as much as possible without too many details.
“Death is a friend that greets us at the end”
It starts out with two characters- Erik and Miles- discussing and then attempting to bring someone back to life. It then moves on to nine years later. Eliza who is currently in a relationship with Erik gets a suspicious phone call from a girl named Paige who apparently has something important to talk to her about. However, when she discusses Paige with Erik it turns out that Paige was his ex-girlfriend who had passed away.
“Hope was for idiots.”
The story continues with Sam, Maya, Erik and Eliza on a hike and Sam and Erik get into an argument. Although Maya and Eliza try to intervene the fight escalates and Sam ends up punching Erik in the face. In response Erik lightly pushes Sam away. For some reason, instead of moving a few steps back Sam flies into a tree and dies. Everyone is in disbelief, especially Erik.
“Sam, unmoving. Dead.”
The story moves on again to five years later. Erik, had left town after the incident however has returned to support his mother after there was a death in the family. Eliza is in a pretty bad place. She is still traumatized by her sisters death and has started using drugs. The story goes on from here and I’m going to end my summary there because saying more may ruin the book for you.
“But if that night’s events hadn’t made sense then, they made even less sense now.”
Overall
I think Crunden is an amazing writer. Not everyone can pull off a paranormal romance and I’m not going to lie- I’m a very picky reader when it comes to romance novels. I don’t like cheesy romances in general and I tend to lean towards romance novels that also have some kind of story to them which is why I think I really enjoyed this book. I also really enjoyed the plot twists and I liked that she sprinkled in the paranormal stuff at the beginning instead of just diving straight into it. That left me wanting to know more about what’s going on and why all these things were happening.
Although this was a paranormal romance novel it also took the time to explore a lot of other areas as well such as mental health topics. It shows us more about guilt, repression, anxiety, depression, trauma and grief and the effects that these things can have on a person and the decisions that they make. It also has quite also describes and explores the effects of drug use among other heavier themes. Like I mentioned earlier- I like a book with more depth and a good plot which this book definitely had
Conclusion
In conclusion, I had almost no expectations when I began reading this book and almost no experience with this genre prior to reading this book. However, this book went beyond anything I could have expected and in the end I was quite impressed. It was well written, well structured, had a deep and interesting plot, enough plot twists to keep your interest but not so many that you lose interest and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who thinks they would be interested in a paranormal romance book. I also want to add that I am really loving reading books by indie authors. These books may be lesser known but to be honest some well known books are just over-hyped while books like these are kind of hidden gems.
Your Thoughts
Are you a fan of paranormal romance? Have you read Haze By Rebecca Crunden? Do you like paranormal or romance novels in general? Let me know what you think in the comments below!
Check out the book on Amazon and Goodreads. And be sure to check out the authors blog by clicking here.
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