[ o19 ]

[katara]

Title: The Haunted Sultan (Skeleton Key)
Author: Gillian Zane
Format: Epub
Rating: 4.5/5
Status: Finished
Reading Date: July 07 to 11, 2016
Book Summary: The Sultan’s Palace is one of the most horrific tales of New Orleans’ historic French Quarter. The Sultan, a Turkish man who lived there in the late 1800s, is said to be seen staring down at people on the street from the third-floor balcony of the house nicknamed The Sultan’s Palace. On most nights in the French Quarter, haunted tour groups traipse past the majestic house while tour guides weave tales of mass murder, thieving pirates and jealous brothers…but none know the real truth.

Sierra is spending her twenty-first birthday with her best friend in New Orleans. It’s Halloween and what better way to celebrate the night than on a spooky haunted tour? Sierra has to have the whole package though, and with her best friend leading the way, they find a costume shop down a dark alley and a mysterious shopkeeper who has the perfect costume for her. She doesn’t want money though, only a favor, help the one that asks. Clothed in a breathtaking costume, with a mysterious key around her neck, Sierra goes on the haunted tour and quickly forgets the strange shopkeeper, especially as she strikes up a conversation with Owen and sparks begin to fly. She doesn’t remember the words of the shopkeeper until someone asks for help…and the key around her neck opens the door to the Sultan’s Palace.
Review: Real Rating: 4.5



Above is the The Sultan's Palace in New Orleans. It was once the place of a horrific murder mystery where body parts and blood flowed through the place like a river. Was the man who lived within a Sultan? Or perhaps he had stolen the Sultan's harem?

No one is really sure what happened in the house but rumors continue to circulate of ghostly visions of a man standing on the balcony and cries within the palace itself.

For her twenty-first birthday, Sierra has come to New Orleans to celebrate it with her best friend. It is the month of Halloween and there are tons of ghost tours going on. Her best friend already has herself a costume and decides that if they are going on these tours, why not dress up. With her best friend leading the way, the two of them come across an odd costume store where a woman seems to be waiting for them. She gives Sierra a beautiful costume and skeleton key necklace. All this for Sierra, only if she does something and that something is answer the call for help. Simple right?

Unfortunately for Sierra nothing is ever simple and it ends up being the Sultan himself calling to her. With sexy Owen's help, Sierra sets about to free the soul of the Sultan.

This book was absolutely delicious. I love books with ghost stories and haunted houses. This book has it all including an evil ghost who is keeping the soul of the Sultan himself from finding any peace. Blood, sex, and evil all just wrapped up in one single story.

I am going to be honest I actually thought this book would have been more interesting if it had been made it into a longer story. I am not one for one of those stories where the female and male leads fall instantly in love. It never works and the story itself ends up being being awkward and not so well-thought out but this book did not seem like it. It actually worked for this one and I was truly surprised by this.

This book was my first taste into this series and I have plans on reading more of it as soon as possible. This book has set my standards for the rest of the series up high and I hope the others are just as page-turning and delicious as this one has been.