The Reanimator’s Heart by Kara Jorgensen

Timy reviews The Reanimator’s Heart, the first book in the romantic fantasy mystery series, The Reanimator Mysteries by Kara Jorgensen.

This review is posted as part of a BBNYA Finalists blog tour organized by TheWriteReads.

Possible fit for The Sound of Madness Reading Challenge 2024 prompts:

Joker prompt that goes with anything: Now We Are Free

A reluctant necromancer, a man killed before his time, and the crime that brings them together.

Felipe Galvan’s life as an investigator for the Paranormal Society has been spent running into danger. Returning home from his latest case, Felipe struggles with the sudden quiet of his life until a mysterious death puts him in the path of the enigmatic Oliver Barlow.

Oliver has two secrets. One, he has been in love with the charming Felipe Galvan for years. Two, he is a necromancer, but to keep the sensible life he’s built as a medical examiner, he must hide his powers. That is until Oliver finds Felipe murdered and accidentally brings him back from the dead.

But Felipe refuses to die again until he and Oliver catch his killer. Together, Felipe and Oliver embark on an investigation to uncover a plot centuries in the making. As they close in on his killer, one thing is certain: if they don’t stop them, Felipe won’t be the last to die.

I contemplated between a couple of Goo Goo Dolls songs I thought would fit Oliver and Felipe, but I eventually settled on Let Love In, because this is the start of the story, and well, they needed to learn to let love in.

The Reanimator’s Heart caught my eye during an indie sale. It probably would have been sitting on my Kindle for years if it hadn’t happened to be a 3rd place finalist in BBNYA, getting its own blog tour by TheWriteReads. So I signed up, because it seemed like a waste not to, since I already owned a copy. Naturally, that was a stupid decision with my schedule being full, but you know how it is. I don’t believe in coincidences, so I was meant to read this book sooner rather than later. And boy, do the universe knows its shit. I literally read The Reanimator’s Heart in one sitting. Holidays do wonders for my reading. And good books.

It appears that 2024 is the year for mysteries and M/M romances when it comes to my reading. Not that I’m complaining (although I’m totally blaming A.J. Lancaster for getting me into M/M romantasy). The Reanimator’s Heart is an interesting mix of a bit of everything – it has fantasy elements (necromancy, magical abilities), mystery elements (two murders and there being paranormal investigators to begin with), and of course romance. The pitfall of mixing genres can be the wrong balance between the ingredients, so to speak. And of course, each subgenre has its rules and tropes that have to work together. The focus here was more on the romance than the mystery, but not overwhelmingly so and the mystery was still intriguing enough. If you read a lot of mysteries then you probably will be able to guess who is behind things (I had my suspicions and I was proved right), but that doesn’t mean this is not an engaging read. Mystery is a genre that’s hard to master anyway.

We are starting off with a murder mystery when Sister Mary Agnes is found dead and the sisters suspect foul play. Oliver Barlow and Felipe Galavan are sent to investigate by the New York Paranormal Society along with Peter Newman. As it happens, things soon get rather complicated and Oliver and Felipe have to race time if they want to figure out the case and maybe save a few people along the way. I’m obviously not going to talk about the plot much. However, I’m going to say that while I enjoyed the investigation part of this book, we never quite learned what the main point was behind the actions of the baddies. We never learned their motivation or end goal (as in, the bigger picture) so that was a bit disappointing.

Let’s talk about the characters a bit. Our two MCs are Oliver, the medical examiner and necromancer, and Felipe Galvan an investigator who has self-healing abilities. He is one of the best in the Society and thus he gets to be sent away a lot. They’ve been working at the same place for a decade, and while they were attracted to each other, neither of them made the first step, until they are literally thrown together. I liked that they already have some history, so this wasn’t a “we just met and a week later we are madly in love” kind of romance. I mean, okay, things still move fast once they step over their own shadows, but nothing seems unreasonable, or unbelievable.

Also, it was just hard not to adore these two together. I could relate to Oliver in some ways. He is an autistic character (not that it’s ever mentioned as such, but we know he is, and I think he was portrayed very well), who likes order, finds security in routines, is socially very awkward, and tends to overthink everything. He also has a lot of insecurities because of how he was treated by others before. Because people kept telling him he was difficult, he tries his best not to appear so to Felipe. I could relate to this a LOT, because I’ve been called annoying before (not entirely unreasonably, I might add, but still). That’s not really something you can easily forget, and it does affect you, as you keep second-guessing yourself before every interaction with others. What I’m trying to say is, I totally got Oliver.

Felipe, on the other hand, is much more social, he has good people skills, is more spontaneous, and also has a family. But he treats Oliver with kindness and understanding and gives him the space he needs. It’s very rewarding to see Oliver coming out of his shell thanks to Felipe and of course his best friend, Gwen (who is awesome, by the way). I loved their interactions, and how they solved their issues due to miscommunication or otherwise. I just, I totally adored them, okay?

I didn’t really see it coming, but The Reanimator’s Heart grabbed my heart, squeezed it, and refused to let it go, so now I need to go and read book 2 before book 3 is released later this year. I know, I know, woe me and all that. Seriously though, Kara Jorgensen‘s novel is full of relatable characters, an interesting world, and some mysteries waiting to be solved. I don’t know what else one would need in a good book.