Je t’aime Laurent may have been born blind, but that doesn't mean she can't see...auras. And a lot more. A psychic, she volunteers her services to the police, helping to solve crimes when trails run cold for the cops. The latest case she's been called in on involves a string of murders by a serial killer the press is calling The Shredder. She expects the case to be gruesome, but she doesn't expect to find the love of her life. Or a murderer who is already dead. Detective Kiel (pronounced Kyle) Stark isn't exactly what he appears to be either, something J can tell from his blazing white aura.

One of two detectives assigned to her, Kiel is attracted to the mysterious psychic who didn't react to his secret quite the way he thought she would. Instead of running in the opposite direction, screaming bloody murder, she sees him as the man he once was. He's the first “man” to call out to J's soul, and it isn't long before Kiel's captivated by her. They want a lifetime together, but getting too close comes with a price tag, one Kiel isn't sure he wants J to bear alone once he's gone. Will J be able to convince Kiel that she wants whatever time she can have with him, and will he be able to keep her safe from a killer that is no longer human?

Linda Mooney has been one of my favorite authors for some time now, and one of the reasons for that is I never know what she's going to come up with next. Although there isn't a strong romantic thread leading up to Kiel and J deciding to make what they can of a temporary relationship, Possession is a gripping, heart-pounding paranormal thriller. The fast-paced action grabbed me on page one of the prologue and then chapter one jumps a month ahead, something I wish Ms. Mooney would have noted at the beginning of the chapter because it was a little startling to find Kiel seemingly alive and well. At first, I thought the book had gone back in time.

Once I got my bearings, I had to keep reading to find out what happens, not only with the hunt for The Shredder, but with Kiel and J's love affair. Will Kiel somehow find a way to stay with J for a happy ending? Or will she lose what means the most to her, the man she's come to love with all her heart? Despite what she does for the police department, J lives a sheltered, lonely life. Before Kiel and Sam Reese, his half-brother and partner on the force, she had no one but the woman who came in daily to do her grocery shopping, banking, and cleaning. Kiel entering her life brightened her life with more than just his dazzling white aura. Frankly, I can't say anything more about Kiel without giving everything away, but just let me say, he's the great guy we all hope our daughters end up with. Even The Shredder, who's scary as hell, isn't entirely bad, and Sam is an accepting, understanding brother who isn't quite ready to let his baby brother go. I'd really like to see him get a sequel. He deserves so much more than what he was left with at the end, and I can think of several scenarios that might work to give him his own happily-ever-after.

The ending is a bit sudden, though not unexpected as this is a love story as well as a paranormal thriller. I just would have liked to have had the happiness drawn out a bit more. Otherwise, this book rocks. I definitely recommend it.

They say they when you loose one of you senses (like sight or hearing), the other’s sharpen to make up for the loss. J was born blind. But not only are her other senses sharper, she also has a psychic ‘seeing’ ability. She has learned how to use it to help the police in special cases, the latest one involving the maker of the street drug called Possession.
 
Detective Kiel Stark is working undercover on loan to the DEA when his cover is busted and he is attacked. He looses conscious and wakes up a week later in the park. When he goes to Sam Reese’s, his partner and half-brother, place he quickly learns things are much worse than he first thought. He wasn’t just attacked that night, but actually died. With Sam’s help, he figures out he now seems to be some kind of ghost or wrath… When he concentrates he can have a (his old) physical form, or at least seem to. But he no longer sleeps or eats. And he is learning he does have other ‘ghost like’ abilities, like being able to pass through walls or “teleport” to other locations. Kiel doesn’t know why he is still around, so he goes about his old life of being a cop as it is what he knows and loves. But he does have a ‘need’ to find his missing body and whoever killed him. Not that he and Sam make any headway on that front.

But being a ghost just might help them solve their latest case: there seems to be a new serial killer around. This one is sever but maybe smart. The bodies are beaten beyond recognition or even identification, but there are clues left at the scenes of the crimes. When they don’t get anywhere with the case, their captain sends them to a psychic the city police force has discretely used before, J Laurent.

J (Je t’aime) Laurent was a surprise baby. Her parents had tried but finally given up on having children and adopted her brother. Then she came along. They were older, but handled her blindness well. They did the best they could with her ‘gift’ but didn’t listen as they should have. Thus they and her brother were killed in an auto accident when she was six. She was raised by her grandmother, but even she died a few years ago. Between the money left from her father’s investments and the old Victorian house her grandmother left her, J doesn’t have to work or worry about money. But she still can’t ignore her psychic warning and flashes. Especially when bad things happen. So she helps the police with special cases. Now she is getting hints on the latest killings and meets the detectives working the case, Kiel and Sam.

J knows from the first meeting that Kiel is something different. He is also the first ‘person’ to call out to her, to her soul. And Kiel feels a unique pull to her as well. They both want to be together, but know Kiel doesn’t have much time left.

J is able to help with the case. But should they involve a blind lady on such a dangerous case? Kiel feels like he is taking from her when he knows he won’t be around long, that he is on borrowed time as it is. And J wants to get as many memories of Kiel to keep for after he is gone. Then J gets an impression that the killer is like Kiel, dead but still here/living… Now there is another link to both Kiel and J with the killer. Will Kiel be able to keep her safe?

Ohhh, Possession grabbed my right from the start! Some fast action gets us on the edge of our seats and Kiel’s confusion as well as the police mystery keeps us going. Then we have to try to figure out just what happened to Kiel, and what he is now (even he isn’t sure). This was very well done and kept us guessing without being too confusing or slow in the explanation as we go along. Possession ends up being a real page turner that I stayed up late to finish just to find out how everything worked out!

Possession has some unusual characters. The villain/killer is not what one sees often (in more ways than one.) Kiel is a good cop turned super cop, not because of becoming a ghost but because of trying to spare those around him as much pain and lose as possible. He wants to be with J but worries about hurting her, what his leaving will do to her in the long run. He even asks his brother to look out for her when this happens. And he knows that “his brother hasn’t mourned his death yet,” and worries about what his ‘final’ passing will do to him as well. He is a good representation of a normal person in an extraordinary situation. Of course, J is great. She may be a little cut off from the outside world most times, but she has learned to cope with her blindness, within her limits. She has some outside help, checks up that she isn’t being taken advantage of, and even has lots of Braille books for entertainment. So she does manage well enough even though she is on her own now.

As you can guess, I loved Possession. This is not your standard ghost or cop story. And I have to warn you girls, you will need tissues around the end, but there is a HEA ending (I really worried as I got to the end, hope this doesn’t spoil anything for you, but we do expect the hea when reading romances). Possession is a great paranormal, and anyone tired of the standard romance will enjoy this unusual twist on a good ‘who-done-it’ idea.

Have you ever met someone that wasn’t quite who or what you thought they were? Are you really willing to find out?

J Laurent is having that very issue. A sheltered psychic and gifted seer, she is called in to help the police solve their very difficult cases. Meeting step brother cops Sam and Kiel is going to change her life completely. J sees things in auras and what she sees in Kiel is not what she expected, but she is here only to do a job. A serial killer is loose and J is the only one that can find what the police need. What she didn’t expect was the mutual deep connection and attraction with Detective Kiel Stark. Kiel has his own secrets and connection to the killer but it is one that no one would ever believe.

Author Linda Mooney has written a new and interesting book. Possession is definitely not the same old thing. This is such a unique storyline with so many unexpected twists and turns, that I recommend once you begin you plan to read it right through to the end. The momentum is consistent and builds throughout until the inventive and surprising conclusion. The characters are real, very real. Sam and Kiel are not only brothers but they are each other’s best friend, confidants and biggest supporters even through these very interesting circumstances. J is the source of strength that neither knew they needed. It is the best of all worlds for the three of them but it is the love between Kiel and J that makes this story hum.

What an incredible imagination this author is gifted with and how lucky are we that she is willing to share it with us. I loved everything about it!!!