Review: The Monster Museum (Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper #10) by J.L. Bryan

Title: The Monster Museum

Series: Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper #10

Previous books in this series: Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper (#1) | Cold Shadows (#2) | The Crawling Darkness (#3) | Terminal (#4) | House of Whispers #5 | Maze of Souls #6 | Lullaby (#7) | The Keeper (#8) | The Tower (#9)

Author: J.L. Bryan

Genre: Adult, paranormal, horror

Publication date: August 31st 2018

Published by: J.L. Bryan

Source: E-book for review fro author

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Synopsis:

Just outside the small but colorful mountain resort town of Foxboro, Tennessee lies Dr. Weirdman's Mountain Museum of Monsters, Curiosities, and Ancient Mysteries. A tourist draw for earlier generations it offered travelers the amusement of touring unusual underground caves, and pseudo-scientific exhibits ranging from strange creatures to the supposed artifacts of lost civilizations.

Now the museum is a crumbling relic of an older age, fallen into disrepair. Its long-time owner has died, leaving it in the hands of a younger distant relative who knows nothing of how to run a failing tourist-trap of a museum, but who is desperate to make a living and provide for his own children.

The museum has a serious ghost problem, though, and Ellie Jordan is called in from Savannah to help. An unexpected old friend joins Ellie at the last moment so they can spend a snow-filled Christmas together in the mountains...if the ghosts of the restless dead don't turn the holidays into a horrific tragedy.

My rating: ★★★★☆
Ellie Jordan’s latest case takes her to Foxboro, Tennessee where there is a museum called Dr. Weirdman's Mountain Museum of Monsters, Curiosities, and Ancient Mysteries that is apparently haunted, for real. It’s almost Christmas but Ellie decides to take the case because there’s children involved and she’s worried about their safety. That’s the kind of amazing person she is.

Anyway, she is joined on this trip by two old friends and it was very interesting. And I’m glad it happened, otherwise Ellie would’ve spent Christmas alone. Calvin, her kind-of father figure and former boss, retired and moved away. Stacey and Jacob are away on holiday visiting his family. And she’s still broken up with Michael.

Ellie: “I’m kind of a hazard to the people around me.”
Calvin: “That sounds like an excuse for being alone the rest of your life.”

It’s sad because it’s true. She’s such a good person, but her job is very dangerous. And in this book she was very funny and I loved it, but I also understood that it was a sort of coping mechanism, and it just hurts my heart.

Speaking of Michael, the two friends that join Ellie on this trip are Michael and his sister Melissa. Yep. He called her and then the trip happened. This was all so complicated. The last time they talked Michael broke up with Ellie and things were not left off in the best place. It was just awful for Ellie. And I understand why Michael did it, you know, after being possessed by Anton. But now he’s hanging out with Ellie like nothing happened? What gives, dude? You’re the one that broke up with her. His actions and sudden reappearance confused me. I suspect his previous actions might have had something to do with Anton... but idk. I was just afraid that he wasn’t being sincere with Ellie and she would get hurt all over again. But he actually was. According to Jacob, Anton has not been in Micheal for a while.

Ellie and Michael were being very playful and flirty in this book, and look, I liked it, I really did, but it felt a bit off since they have been broken up for a while.

I found myself unable to decide whether I wanted to repair my relationship with Michael or just move on. That might have been a good subject on which to reflect before agreeing to let them come with me.

They were kissing (well, he plants one kiss on her) and flirting like nothing happened, and this did bother me a little which is odd because this exactly what I want! I want them to get back together! I love Michael—he’s very sweet and I was so heartbroken when he broke up with Ellie. But talking needs to happen. They can’t possibly be back together just like that. I do understand there was a lot going on in this book with Ellie’s job, so I hope the conversation happens in the next book. You know, about what happened between them and about the future of their relationship. This trip and their flirting threw me off. It was so abrupt! In all this, Ellie herself is quite confused about things as well. (So confused she starts crushing on the client, a single dad with three kids. I get it. I liked him too. But I was worried this would turn into a full blown love triangle. It didn’t, so yay. Lol.) But she’s unsure whether she and Michael were even good together, which I think they were!

“I’m a threat to you. Both of you. We’re opposites, Michael. You protect life. I spend all my time surrounded by death.”

They just need to sit and talk about things and work through their issues. I really do want them to get back together!

Amidst all this, Ellie is also still worrying about Anton, as she should cause he’s super dangerous. But lately he’s been oddly quiet.

And I pretty much knew from the start that Anton as possessing Melissa. It was insane though! That ending... wow!

So the client has twin girls who share this really uncanny connection, and apparently Ellie has twin cousins who are like this too. Well, I have twin brothers and they are nothing like this. They’re lame. Lol. This is random, I know, but I just find twins fascinating especially when they have a creepy connection like this! (My brothers aren't very fascinating. Lol.)

Anyway, I very much enjoyed this book! I liked the new setting with the weird museum, and the ghosts were very interesting too. Especially the main lizard guy. We get this ghostly flashback and it was awful! I mean, It was great, but the situation was awful! It was very interesting to see where this ghost came from. There was also a little bit of Egyptian mythology going on, and you know how much I love mythology! The writing was great too—I loved all the creepy imagery! I did miss Stacey and Jacob though. This was a solo job for Ellie even though they told her to wait. But it definitely qualified as an emergency when kids are involved. I just love Ellie.

This book ends in a bit of a cliffhanger, but the case in this book does get wrapped up, so I really liked that. I cannot wait for the next book! This is one of my favorite series and I cannot recommend it enough!

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a link to your review or comment below! :)