Review: Forever and One Week by Caroline Cairn

The Spirits of Saoradh, who carry the guilt of a crime they committed when they were alive, now spend their ghostly days in the Void, dark nothingness where time and space are distorted. Until they get bound to a human. As often as needed, that human can call them to the real world, ask them to grant a wish, then send them back to the Void. The Spirits also have to follow strict rules or be punished, unaware that they can earn their redemption through a selfless sacrifice.
Spirit Logan despises the obedience he has to show to his humans, and prefers the enjoyable solitude of the Void. For three years, he has managed to threaten them into severing their bond, thus having his memory wiped of their existence. Except his latest human, an emotionless woman with a secret past, isn’t scared of him. Worse, she doesn’t care about his ability to make wishes come true.
Tessa, a twenty-six-year-old nursery teacher in Fort William, Scotland, doesn’t expect a sullen ghost only she can see and touch to burst through her solid defences. Both dismayed and intrigued, she offers Logan a deal he can’t refuse: to live with her in the human world for one week, at the end of which she will agree to release him.
Slowly, Tessa braves through the safety of her detachment towards people to show Logan some kindness. But the more her feelings deepen, the more Logan increases his distance…

Ikiras Review 4 of 5 stars

I read the first of this series for review and thoroughly enjoyed it. So much so, I asked the author for copies of the following stories.

This is the second in the series and follows a different set of main characters to the first but with other main characters from the first present. These reamaining characters are key to both stories and any future ones - this you will understand when you read it.

It reads as a standalone book entirely so there's no need to worry if you've bought this without realising there was another to read first. There is one small reference to the first book but if you hadn't read it, you wouldn't even register it as it refers to a past event in an unlinked manner.

***Possible spoilers***

This story follows Tessa - a young woman who has had a very difficult life and Logan (her assigned spirit) who is very reluctant to be linked to anyone at all, let alone such a closed off young girl.

Tess; despite her life so far, is strong and independant and even when presented with the option of unlimited wishes, can't find it in herself to be selfish. She's a kind and caring girl behind the walls she's built up and Logan comes into her life just at a point where she could easily have exploited his powers but chooses not to. She only wants simple things...things we all want and some take for granted but having these things come to her so easily doesn't seem to sit right with her.

Logan - he's a hot spirit with an air of arogance about him. He'd rather be lonely than attached to some girl. He's hiding from his past and not looking to change that anytime soon but Tessa is desperate to help him.

The book centers around this relationship - will it blossom and help either one or both of them or will it fail miserably and leave them both even worse off than before...? I can't tell you that but I can tell you it's definitely worth a read to find out!

The book is very well written, as with the first - it took only 2 days to reads in between work and two small children so definitely had that un-put-downable feeling. If I could have read it in one go, I definitely think I would have.