5+ stars for The Keys: Voice of the Turtle by @KarenHuleneBart #fantasy #romance #bookreview #books
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  • N. N. Light
    • Jun 5, 2020
    • 3 min read

5+ stars for The Keys: Voice of the Turtle by @KarenHuleneBart #fantasy #romance #bookreview #books



Title: The Keys: Voice of the Turtle (Sacred Emblems)

Author: Karen Hulene Bartell

Genre: Fantasy Romance, Paranormal Mystery

Book Blurb:


Hours after arriving in the Florida Keys to help her cousin Keya create a turtle preserve, Ruth discovers a washed-up body and not one, but two apparitions—Maita, the angry victim’s spirit, and Bart, a swashbuckling ghost. Ruth’s curious ability to connect with the ghosts may help them move on, but how?


Keya is in a probate battle over her turtle-nesting beach. Land-hungry relatives want it bulldozed and developed. Like Ruth, she has a special gift—she can talk to animals. Between Ruth’s help and Keya’s unique ability, they work to save the property, but is it too late?


Can Keya save her beloved turtles? Can Ruth find Maita’s murderer or help Bart solve his 400-year-old mystery? There’s more than meets the eye to Keya’s land. Add in a dashing sailor who believes in her, and Keya may have more than she bargained for…

My Review:


From the moment Ruth arrives in the Florida Keys to help her cousin, Keya, create a turtle preserve on a hotly contested beach-front property, she realizes there’s more going on than she originally thought. Between the relatives who want to bulldoze the turtle-nesting beach, a washed-up body, two spirits in need of help moving on, Ruth and Keya have a lot on their plate. With Ruth’s ability to connect with ghosts and Keya’s ability to talk to animals, you’d think they’d be unstoppable. But even with paranormal help, these two women will have to battle many foes to save the turtles and to solve two mysteries. Will they succeed or are they too late?

The Keys has everything I love in a paranormal mystery: great world-building, a hard-to-solve mystery, romance, ghostly intervention, a good message on second chances and moving on, intriguing characters plus turtles. Who doesn’t love turtles? Karen Hulene Bartell has a gift for paranormal writing that’s both realistic and believable. I honestly don’t know if there are people out there who can talk with animals but Bartell makes me think it is true. The plot moves at a nice easy pace with just the right amount of conflict. There’s a lot of surprises I didn’t see coming and trust me, it just adds to the richness of this story. If you looking for a fantasy combined with a mystery and romance, you will love The Keys. Highly recommend!

My Rating: 5+ stars

Buy it Now:



Author Biography:


Dr. Karen Hulene Bartell, author of Wild Rose Pass, The Keys: Voice of the Turtle, Christmas in Cahokia, Holy Water: Rule of Capture, Lone Star Christmas, Angels from Ashes, Christmas in Catalonia, Sacred Gift, Belize Navidad, Sacred Choices, and others, is a best-selling author, motivational keynote speaker, wife, and all-around pilgrim of life. She writes multicultural, offbeat love stories steeped in the supernatural that lift the spirit. Dr. Bartell lives in the Texas Hill Country with her husband Peter and her "mews"—three rescued cats and a rescued CATahoula Leopard dog.

Social Media Links:


Reviewed by: Mrs. N

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