Review: Lying Season (Experiment in Terror #4) by Karina Halle

Synopsis (Goodreads):

Ama­teur ghost-hunter Perry Palomino has bat­tled ghosts, fought off skin­walk­ers and skirted the fine line between life and death. But can she sur­vive bunk­ing down in Seat­tle for a week with her partner (and man she secretly loves) Dex and his perfect girl­friend, Jennifer? And can she do so while being tor­mented by a mali­cious spirit from Dex’s increas­ingly shady past? With love and life in the bal­ance, Perry must dis­cover the truth among the lies or risk los­ing every­thing she's ever cared about.

My Thoughts:  Big fat disclaimer: I fell in love with this series with book 1. Perry and her self-esteem issues, Dex and his ... well, all his issues, the ghosties they chased, the mystery of both of their pasts, the OMG! JUST GET WITH THE DIRTY SEXIN' ALREADY SO THAT I DON'T DIE FROM THE SEXUAL TENSION. Yes, it's true. I wanted the two of them to hook up in book 1 and Karina Halle, master story teller that she is, just kept ratcheting up the tension until I was ready to fall apart. It was, in a word, perfect.

This time around, Perry is tortured by a week spent bunking down with Dex and his girlfriend Jennifer. Let me just come right out and say that Jennifer is pretty much the most horribly fake person EVER. She's one of those who will smile to your face while texting the sordid details of your past to all your enemies. She's a skank. I don't like her. And Dex keeps clinging to her because, in his words, he doesn't like change. That kinda killed me, you know. It killed me that he could see how bad their relationship was and yet he was too scared of the unknown to let go. Which is a little ironic since he goes after ghosts in his spare time and those are sort of the ultimate unknown.

Part of me feels like I shouldn't be cheering wildly as Dex and Perry fight their attraction to one another during this week. For all intents and purposes, Dex is committed to Jennifer. I shouldn't want him to cheat on her. Yet I did. OMG! I DID! They're both trying to pretend like their little tryst on the island of forgotten souls didn't happen (because it's the right thing to do) but this attraction isn't going away.

Just so we're clear, I like a lot more about this book (and series) than just Perry and Dex's long, soulful looks. I love that we're finally getting more answers about both of their pasts. I love that Perry cares enough about Dex to push him into revealing his problems. I love that these books are so wonderfully creepy.

This series has hit all my bookish kinks and hit them hard. I'm desperate to see what's coming next and how Perry and Dex resolve their issues. *sits down and waits impatiently for book 5*

Other books in this series
Book 1: Darkhouse
Book 2: Red Fox
Novella 2.5: The Benson
Book 3: Dead Sky Morning

More books by Karina Halle

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