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Ally Blue’s Bay City Paranormal Investigations

Review 32

Samhain re-released the Bay City Paranormal Investigations series by Ally Blue on November 12.

There are five books in the series and Oleander House which was released in 2006, the first book in the series, was really scary. To give you a sense of the story here’s the blurb –

Sam Raintree’s experience with things he can’t explain isn’t the only reason his new job as a paranormal investigator is a perfect fit. His coworkers, preoccupied with things outside the norm, will never notice he’s gay.

Once he settles into his first investigation at Oleander House, his gay-by-stealth theory goes out the window. Not only is his unexpected attraction to group leader Dr. Bo Broussard painfully obvious, he can’t hide his increasingly erotic and frightening dreams stimulated by the house’s violent history.

Though Bo conceals his sexuality behind a wedding ring, mutual attraction shrinks the wary distance between them until the sparks ignite an electrifying encounter. Next morning, Bo’s back in the closet and blaming his “lapse” on the house’s unusual effect on Sam’s latent psychokinetic ability.

In other words, a poltergeist made him do it.

Sam’s outrage feeds a determination to prove Bo wrong—until the heat of conflict opens a door to the house’s murderous past, unleashing a torrent of bloodshed and life-changing revelation.

 
If that’s doesn’t get your blood churning, nothing will. I’m not ashamed to say that I read this book during the day and slept with the lights on for a few nights. 🙁

I asked Ally Blue what motivated her to write this series:

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When you first started writing Oleander House what did you want to achieve, other than scaring the crap out of your fans? 🙂 

Ally Blue: I need another reason?? Ha. Kidding *g* Actually, when I first first started writing it, it was a VERY different book. Very dark. Everyone but Sam and Bo died O_O So, really, I guess you could say the original aim truly was to scare the crap out of everyone 😀

But when I re-wrote it as the first in a romance/horror/suspense series (and you can thank my editor, Sasha Knight, for that), I wanted to get readers invested not only in Sam and Bo and their romance, but in the BCPI gang, in the paranormal investigations business, and in the whole deal with the interdimensional portals. AND I wanted to scare people!

 Why did you decide to write a book that was a horror and so completely different from say, Eros Rising, Willow Bend and Love’s Evolution?

Ally Blue: Simple: I love horror. I am a HUGE horror fan. I’ve been trying to scare myself ever since before I ever learned to read. So I guess I just naturally lean in that direction 🙂

 Did you ever, in your wildest dreams, imagine that this one book would be the start of such a wonderful series?

 When I first dreamed up the idea? (literally, since it came from a rather horrific nightmare I had one night) No way. See above *g* After I re-wrote and tweaked and turned it into a series, obviously I hoped it would be successful, but I never thought it would be as popular as it’s become. I’ve been surprised by how much people have liked this series, and it absolutely thrills me to know people are reading and enjoying my books 😀

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Here’s the blurb from the final book in the series, An Inner Darkness, which might give you an idea of why this particular series garners new fans all the time, and why Samhain re-issued the books four years after Oleander House was first released:

After more than a year as a couple—and plenty of bumps along the road—Sam Raintree and Dr. Bo Broussard are finally settling into life together. Bo has come to terms with his sexuality, their business is thriving, and Sam has begun to accept his role as a step-parent of sorts to Bo’s sons, Sean and Adrian. The only real dark spot is Bo’s ex-wife, Janine.

When eleven-year-old Adrian begins exhibiting signs of psychokinesis—the same ability which allows Sam to manipulate interdimensional portals—the friction between Sam, Bo and Janine escalates. Sam and Bo have reason to believe Adrian’s raw, uncontrolled talent poses a danger to him and those around him. Janine, however, believes Sam and Bo are encouraging dangerous delusions on Adrian’s part. Common ground is nonexistent, anger and hard words ever-present.

Caught in the middle of the conflict and burdened with an ability he can’t yet control, Adrian is soon pushed beyond his limits. With Adrian’s mind—and the lives of everyone around him—hanging in the balance, Sam and Bo race against time to save both boys and keep an otherworldly horror from breaking free.

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If you’re looking for a paranormal series that keeps you on the edge of your seat, with characters you love one minute and want to kick to the curb the next, you can’t go wrong with  Bay City Paranormal Investigations. I never did review the books because I read a couple of them before I had my own blog, but I can tell you that the writing and characterizations are excellent, the stories are exciting, and the pacing is incredibly fast.

If you want to be scared while enjoying a hot romance you can’t go wrong with this series, which now has a spin off.

The gorgeous covers by Valerie Tibbs I think did an incredible job of maintaining the atmosphere of the series, while at the same time updating it.

This is my second post on a series that I love, (the first one was Petit Morts) and I hope you will check out Bay City Paranormal Investigations the next time you’re looking for wonderful paranormal books. I love to be scared, don’t you?

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32 comments

  • I was just on Ally’s site yesterday and noticed the covers for this series had gotten a makeover – very nice!! Her BCPI series is among my favorites and I have enjoyed my way through all of her work. Love her style and how well she handles different themes.

    Hi Ally! Congrats on the re-release. (And thanks again for the “intro” to a certain multi-gifted British musician) 😉

    • Hi Dianne! Thank you very much! Totally my pleasure to introduce you to Patrick, you know I like to squee about him all over the place LOL

      Wave, honey, you’ve been a huge cheerleader for BCPI and I adore you for it, thank you <3

  • I loved the combo of horror and romance in this series, though fair warning, you might have the urge to slap Bo a few times before the first book wraps up. 😉

  • I have actually not read this series. I don’t know why really or what stopped me, I’ve read most other of Allys books.

  • Oddly, I’m not a horror fan, but I did enjoy this series. I’m not sure I’d call them horror so much as paranormal suspense. Please understand I’m not arguing with the author or publisher if that’s how they are defined, I just didn’t realize it, because it’s not what I’m used to in “horror”. If I’d seen them described as “horror” anywhere, I never would have picked them up, which would have been a shame, because they are great paranormal mysteries! 🙂

    • Hi Lynn
      I guess I always thought of this series as a mix of paranormal as well as horror because some of the stories scared the crap out of me. 🙂 However, if you’re a fan of either theme I think you will enjoy BCPI.

      • Hi Wave,

        Oh a great deal of it had me on edge, but not the same way horror does, more the way a really good suspense story does. Because of that, I think I picked up the rest the day after I finished the first. 😀

    • Lynn, I’d agree with you that they’re not so much hardcore horror. I don’t think Samhain actually labels them that way. Actually, I’m not 100% sure, I should probably check O_O I know they’re filed under “Romance” but I don’t remember if they have a horror label on them as well, hmmm…
      Either way, I’m glad you enjoyed them, thank you!

      • Ally, I don’t think they do, but they were recommended to me by a friend of mine who writes fanfic – I know evil word – and *loves* your work! I trust her choices so I can’t say I looked too hard at the description. *blush* That said, I would have paused if I’d see the word “horror” in the description.

  • Nice post! 🙂 I might give the series a try again. When I read the first book, it didn’t quite click for me. Not that it was bad, it just was one of those books that didn’t do it for me. But it just might now!

    The covers certainly look very nice!

  • Larissa
    My header is hiding from you before you pull it down. 🙂

    I think sometimes you need to be in the mood when you read a particular type of book and perhaps if you try BCPI now that you’re older (are you 25 yet?) 🙂 you might be looking for something different.

    • LOL it is? It’s showing just fine here 😉

      True! I found that with books by Josh Lanyon. I like them now (though I haven’t tried Adrien English just yet) while I didn’t a few years ago.

      Hahaha, I’m 27 (almost 28). That’s old enougn, I should think 😛

  • I love AB, I don’t know why I haven’t gotten around to getting this series but it’s been on my to read list for awhile. Thanks for the remind. 🙂

  • Okay, Wave, your blog has decided to stop letting me reply to people individually, so I’m gonna try this as a separate reply and see what happens. LOL.

    Larissa, hey, we can’t all like the same things, what kind of boring world would that be? I appreciate you giving it a try anyhow 😀 Hopefully it’ll click better for you if you try it again!

    nolagal, thank you very much! I’m happy you’ve enjoyed the series and the series-related books 😀 I’ve loved writing about this bunch and I’m still hoping I can do another one at some point.

    Sharvie, I hope you like the books!

    • Hi Ally
      You can’t reply direct? It must be a glitch because Christian and Lynn have been working on the comments. I’m sorry but technology defeats me. 🙂

  • Well I was replying directly at first, then I went to reply to Larissa and couldn’t. I broke it! LOL. I think I have a personal force field that screws up blog comments or something *g*

    • Well I can reply to you Ally. I just want to congratulate you on the series. What an achievement! Like Pia, here were times though when I really wanted to smack Bo, 🙂 but him aside, great characters and stories. Thanks for scaring me.

  • reading those may scares me, but my neverending curiosity always make me to read more. I am a bit fan of paranormal and strange scene, and also relationship between the characters, which make more intriguing. I am almost wish if it came with tv series, I am more than happy to watch.(….but with friends, not alone.ehem. 😀 )

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