OLEANDER HOUSE - Ally Blue
A Bay City Paranormal Investigation, Book 1
Samhain Publishing - www.samhainpublishing.com
ISBN: 1-59998-147-5
October 2006
Erotic Paranormal Romance - M/M

Gautier, Mississippi - Present Day

Sam Raintree has moved from Atlanta, Georgia to Mississippi to work as a technical assistant for Bay City Paranormal Investigations.  As soon as Sam arrives he starts his new job and heads for Oleander House, where he meets his co-workers -- Amy Laudry, co-owner of Bay City Paranormal Investigations, Andre Meloy, Amy’s husband and lead tech specialist, David Brown, also part of the tech department, Cecile Langlois, a psychic and Dr. Bo Broussard, founder and lead investigator for Bay City Paranormal Investigations.

In the 1840’s, a man named Claude Devereux and his wife, Esmeralda, built a house and named it Oleander House.  The house was inherited by their son, Gaston, and in 1890 a preacher came to visit Gaston’s family and found the entire family slaughtered, except for their daughter who was physically unhurt.  The daughter was put in a psychiatric home, mute until her death.  Every couple of decades similar occurrences have happened -- a family murdered except for one survivor.  After another unusual incident, the current owner of Oleander House has hired Bay City Paranormal Investigations to finally get to the bottom of these events.

Sam is gay but it is something that he chooses to keep private.  He thinks that revealing it might cause unwanted problems, especially with his new co-workers.  When he meets Bo he is instantly attracted, but Bo is his boss and married with children, so Sam ignores his attraction and decides to suffer in silence.  As the group starts to investigate Oleander House, they are all affected.  Sam, who has had paranormal experiences since childhood, is getting intense, frightening vibes from Oleander House, but he is also picking up some things from Bo, making Sam think that maybe Bo is not straight after all.

OLEANDER HOUSE is at times truly scary.  The characters are not sure what is going on in the house, which makes for a suspenseful story.  But as the characters start to figure things out, there are incidents that are even outside of their normal paranormal investigations.  The details about operating a day to day paranormal investigation, and what it takes to do this kind of work, is intriguing and adds greatly to the story.  Ms. Blue is smart to show restraint when it comes to the developing relationship between Bo and Sam.  This is the first book in the series and a fitting beginning. There are still more houses to investigate, and what will happen between Bo and Sam?

OLEANDER HOUSE is an enjoyable and intriguing read, which successfully combines its paranormal elements with the budding relationship between the two male characters.  I recommend OLEANDER HOUSE.

Nickole Yarbrough