Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC. This is my honest review.
Another horror book for me. The cover made me reference the raven by Edgar A. Poe. This is book number two of this author's trilogy. You do need to read the first book to understand what is going on because the second book picks right back up in the middle of a story. Overall this book was a good start back into the trilogy for those who have been waiting for the second book. I recommend reading both books. I cannot wait until book three comes out.

Bleed More, Bodymore was a decent enough read. I didn't love everything about it, but it was interesting and face-paced. I don't know what happened with Plead More, Bodymore. I guess that sums it up right there, doesn't it? What happened? Nothing. Pages and pages of nothing. The plot didn't seem furthered in this sequel. Bleed More, Bodymore ended with Charon charging them to hunt down the dead that has come back. So what are they doing? Not that.

Joey didn't grow on me any more than she did in the first book. I spent the first annoyed by all the lip ring sucking and in here, all she managed to do is wander around smoking like a freight train. All. The. Time. Waylon is annoying because he kept disappearing and Joey is running off trying to find him. Jag is completely clueless. I don't understand how given everything he's seen, but then we are all in this sinking boat together, aren't we?

I doubt seriously that I will pick up the third book in the series.

Thank you to NetGalley, Ian Kirkpatrick, and Steak House Books for an ARC of Plead More, Bodymore, the second book in the Bodymore series.

I usually give a short synopsis of the novel at this point, but honestly, I don't really know what the point of the book was. Nothing much really happened. Wayland kept disappearing again and Joey kept trying to find him and save him. When she wasn't doing that, Joey was trying to explain to Jag that she was dead, and he kept telling her that she wasn't dead and was just on drugs. I mean, she literally looks like walking death, so I don't know how he doesn't understand that she's dead. At the end of the first book, Joey and Wayland made an agreement with Charon to kill or at least incapacitate the walking dead in Baltimore so that he can come collect them, so I thought that's what this book would be, but it never happens. Not even when they go into a bar filled with dead people and get into a brawl, Charon and Val come to collect the newly dead people, but don't grab the undead while they're there. Other than that, Joey is trying to find a way to not be dead anymore...and that's pretty much it for the entire book.

I'm still not entirely sure how old Joey is, although I'm guessing that she's early 20s, but there's nothing really that gives even an approximation of her age. Joey isn't entirely likeable, she's very snarky and doesn't seem to have a lot of respect for anyone around her. She doesn't like cops, okay, I get that. But Donny has been like a father to her and she isn't nice to him either, or show him any respect. Jag is alright, he's trying to be supportive but he just doesn't truly understand what is going on, so he's just along on this crazy ride. Wayland is a crazy wildcard who sometimes shows up and sometimes disappears, and you never know what or when either of these things will happen. The only saving grace is Charon and Val, because with them you know what you're getting. Charon is stoic and will give indirect answers to questions, and Val is just there to eat the hearts of dead people, he doesn't care about anything else.

All in all, not one of my favorite books. I had a hard finishing and really had to push through at times. There was a relatively nice conclusion to wrap everything up, so I don't think there's a third book, but I could be wrong. If you thoroughly enjoyed Bleed More, Bodymore, then by all means read this one. If you read the first one and just thought it was okay, you can probably skip this one.

I was a little disappointed by this sequel, and not sure I would have finished it if it hadn't been an eARC.
We pick up right where we left off in book 1, but it felt as though all the things that were set up in book 1 were forgotten about - weren't Wayland and Joey supposed to become soul collections for Charon? Instead, we mainly get Joey in repetitive vague-yet-violent scenes, where she's constantly being beaten up. That's when she's not reading graffiti every two seconds or chain smoking like a trooper. Where is she getting the endless supply of cigarettes? Her packets must have 100+ in them!
I understand the vibe that this book was going for (it's all her unstable ghost rage???) but it felt far too repetitive for me. I wanted more of Charon & Val, and more soul-reaping in general. Instead, we have a weird love triangle, which was especially disappointing because one of the things I liked about Wayland and Joey was that they were best friends, so to find out that Wayland secretly loved her (and bought her a ring???) felt too weird for me. It was a trope I could have done without.
My main problem with the book is that I don't like Joey. It's a shame because the writing is good and the world building is really cool. I want to know more about KC & Ralph, and The Cogs, but I don't think I'll pick up the sequel..

i won't call this book a slow burn because it moves really fast, but where the first book didn't dive into the emotion and relationships of the characters as much, this one gave more on why Joey might go as far as she did for Wayland in the first book and what her loyalty looks like. It was great getting back into this world and the new characters, particularly the medium, were especially interesting.

Great addition to the series and can't wait for the last one!

It's October again, so it's time for some spooky reads! In this case, I'm returning to Baltimore for the second time, in Ian's Bodymore trilogy (I'm pretty sure book 3 is coming next year).

And it's a comeback, because the book is starting right where the first one left. Don't try to read this out of order! It's hard enough understanding what's going on at the beginning if you have read the first book. (Maybe it would be easier if you read those books right after another.)

Some authors are prone to over exposition, where they tell the readers in long and winding sentences about stuff in their world everyone (but the reader) knows. Obviously, that's frowned upon, and not only by me.

Ian is taking things to the other extreme, where basically nothing is explained, and if through some miracle of God a small amount of exposition does happen, it's guaranteed to bring up even more questions than it answers. So I'm stumbling thorough the world of Bodymore, not knowing what's going on.

That's kind of sympathetic - Joey, our heroine, doesn't know more than I do. Which would still be fine if I had at least the feeling that the plot would be moving somewhere, but the plot seems to lack ambition and is content with stumbling alongside me.

So here we are, Joey, me and the plot (I'm calling him Spot for now - everyone, meet Spot, the plot. He doesn't know what's going on either.), wandering through Baltimore, looking for places to go. At least Joey can keep herself busy smoking an endless stream of cigarettes. That stuff would be the death of her, but since she already died in the first book, those worries don't stick.

A somewhat lackluster plot would still be okay if it's balanced by interesting characters. For a good junk of the beginning, it's the old gang, and while none of them are uninteresting, we already know so much about them. When we meet the medium for the first time, that's when things start to change a little. Ralph is actually the most interesting character in the book.

Personally, I would have opted for a little more exposition. Charon could have at least given his new employees some kind of leaflet with a quick run down. "You're dead now and you work for me - here's everything you need to know to survive your first day on the job!" - you know, stuff like that.

And that's just the problem. The first book ended with Joey and Way being employed by Charon to go on the hunt for the dead that came back. That's their whole job - find the (un-)dead Baltimorons (like themselves) and make sure Charon gets their souls. And now take a wild and educated guess about the one thing that is not happening during the course of this book. If Charon's mission to her had instead been something along the lines of "Go forth and smoke as much as humanly possible until you've teared through a year's worth of cigarette production", well, good news, she would have fulfilled her obligations around a quarter into the book .

*****

Well then. I was hoping for some ghost busting, which didn't happen. I will be back this time next year around, for the third and final installment. Let's hope there's actually some ghost hunting action then. Otherwise, this is one of the many cases where the second book in a series is the weakest (the curse of the seconds, right?). 2.5 out of 5, rounded up to 3.

Disclaimer: I’ve received a free Advanced Reader’s Copy and am leaving this review voluntarily.

Absolutely fantastic story. Highly addictive storyline with awesome twists throughout. Fast paced detailed book. Couldn’t put it down.