Ami's Hoard

2.75 stars rounded up

Sparrow Hill Road contains several short stories categorized into Four "Books" -- all featuring Rose Marshall, who died in 1952 after being run off the road by Bobby Cross, a man who have sold his soul at the crossroads so he could live forever.

Book One, Campfire Stories are more or less about how Rose gets his name as "The Girl in the Diner", "The Phantom Prom Date", or "The Lady in Green". In Book Two, Ghost Stories, we have more background about what happened to Rose when she died as well as her attempt to find the higher power to help her stopping Bobby Cross. In Book Three, Scary Stories, Rose encounters more frequent threats to her dead life, as ghost hunters know now how to catch her, and she also finally gets to face Bobby Cross again. And last Book Four, "True Stories", we have Rose being reunited with one who have loved her and tries to help her save her best friend.

I did love the idea and the premise -- and there is a guide to help readers related to the terms like routewitches, beán sidhe, crossroads ghosts, crossroads guardians, etc -- the whole concept of the ghost world and what the roles that these ghosts have are quite interesting. However, the story itself becomes repetitive and lagging after awhile.

I wonder if this is because the story starts as a serialized online fiction before it is being made into a novel. It's not that the stories are stand-alone -- they are actually quite connected and you can pull the red thread from the day Rose died until the last story in which she finds more help to confront Bobby Cross. I just felt that a lot of background info kept being repeated, amidst the introduction of new storyline, which makes it lose its appeal after half-way through.

Maybe it's better to simmer in reading this, maybe finish one story and then read something else before going back to the next one.

I also didn't like how in the end, Rose didn't really stop Bobby Cross. I wonder if this means the story will continue in a new novel as a sequel. I prefer it that way I think, because it is a unique urban fantasy if it is. But if it's another type of short stories collection based on serialized fictions, I may give it a pass instead.

Overall, this is barely 3-stars read for me ... I really liked the beginning until about the first 1/3rd, but then it just lost its appeal due to the repetitive nature.