As promised, one final roundup before the day ends. This one is jam packed with ghosts, ghouls, magic, murder and a dash of romance! It includes; Ashley Poston’s The Dead Romantics, Alicia Thompson’s Love in the Time of Serial Killers, Lauren Forry’s The Launch Party and Sarah Painters’ The Ward Witch.
THE DEAD ROMANTICS – ★★★
Florence Day is the ghostwriter for one of the most prolific romance authors in the industry, and she has a problem—after a terrible breakup, she no longer believes in love. It’s as good as dead.
When her new editor, a too-handsome mountain of a man, won’t give her an extension on her book deadline, Florence prepares to kiss her career goodbye. But then she gets a phone call she never wanted to receive, and she must return home for the first time in a decade to help her family bury her beloved father.
For ten years, she’s run from the town that never understood her, and even though she misses the sound of a warm Southern night and her eccentric, loving family and their funeral parlor, she can’t bring herself to stay. Even with her father gone, it feels like nothing in this town has changed. And she hates it. Until she finds a ghost standing at the funeral parlor’s front door, just as broad and infuriatingly handsome as ever, and he’s just as confused about why he’s there as she is.
Romance is most certainly dead… but so is her new editor, and his unfinished business will have her second-guessing everything she’s ever known about love stories.
Call me cynical and cold hearted but sometimes I feel like I’m getting too old for chick lit romance. The Dead Romantics is perfectly servicable but it didn’t make me feel. Like, I want to fall hopelessly in love the way I did when I first saw Colin Firth and Hugh Grant in Bridget Jones’ Diary and recently, I’m yet to find a contemporary romance novel that evokes those butterflies.
I will give Ashley Poston credit where it’s due because The Dead Romantics certainly has an interesting premise. A disillusioned millenial writer is suddenly haunted by the ghost of her editor. As a former publishing gal and struggling writer, there were some hilarious and relatable moments.
I loved the dynamic between Florence and her family but the actual romance plot felt very disconnected at times and is something I probably could have done without in the end as I had such a hard time investing in Florence and Ben’s ghostly romance. I hate to say it but this was probably because Ben was so bland. We only get a brief glimpse of him before he’s thrown into the afterlife but even then he was devoid of the romcom charisma that I so desperately craved. He did not make my heart flutter or race. Throughout the course of the novel, he just pops up, says a few sentences and then disappears back into what I’m assuming is purgatory.
The Dead Romantics is an easy read. It’s very sappy, corny and dorky which adds to its charm. As I said, everything was servicable but the romance was a tad too much on the dull side for me!
LOVE IN THE TIME OF SERIAL KILLERS – ★
Turns out that reading nothing but true crime isn’t exactly conducive to modern dating—and one woman is going to have to learn how to give love a chance when she’s used to suspecting the worst.
PhD candidate Phoebe Walsh has always been obsessed with true crime. She’s even analyzing the genre in her dissertation—if she can manage to finish writing it. It’s hard to find the time while she spends the summer in Florida, cleaning out her childhood home, dealing with her obnoxiously good-natured younger brother, and grappling with the complicated feelings of mourning a father she hadn’t had a relationship with for years.
It doesn’t help that she’s low-key convinced that her new neighbor, Sam Dennings, is a serial killer (he may dress business casual by day, but at night he’s clearly up to something). It’s not long before Phoebe realizes that Sam might be something much scarier—a genuinely nice guy who can pierce her armor to reach her vulnerable heart.
At least the cover is cute. Seriously, that’s all have to say about this one. Spoiler alert: He’s not a serial killer but he should’ve been because maybe then something would have actually happened!
This book is literally Phoebe having mundane conversations either her brother, Sam or dissertation supervisor. There wasn’t even an ounce of charm. Phoebe is cringe. Actually, scratch that, she’s insufferable. She’s neutroic and obsessive. Pages and pages were dedicated to her unhinged ramblings that were packed with true crime or pop culture references that failed to land. Sam, our great romantic lead, is just there. He’s nice, I guess. I’d trust him to look after an Amazon delivery if I was out. That’s about it.
I also had no idea that it was going to get smutty but the way the ~spicy~ scenes were written were nauseating. Also, they’re talking about marriage after mere weeks… Sigh.
THE LAUNCH PARTY – ★★★★
THE TRIP OF A LIFETIME. YOU’D DIE TO BE THERE.
Ten lucky people have won a place at the most exclusive launch event of the century: the grand opening of the Hotel Artemis, the first hotel on the moon. It’s an invitation to die for. As their transport departs for its return to Earth and the doors seal shut behind them, the guests take the next leap for mankind.
However, they soon discover that all is not as it seems. The champagne may be flowing, but there is no one to pour it. Room service is available, but there is no one to deliver it. Besides the ten of them, they are completely alone.
When one of the guests is found murdered, fear spreads through the group. But that death is only the beginning. Being three days’ journey from home and with no way to contact the outside, can any of the guests survive their stay?
I’ve never read anything by Lauren Forry before but this was just incredible. I can’t believe I haven’t seen anyone raving about this one!
The Launch Party has a strong and original premise. A whodunnit murder mystery set in a luxury hotel on the moon? Sign me up! It’s a great homage to Agatha Christie; a locked room murder mystery with the victims trapped on a hotel on the moon with no means of escape. It’s truly terrifying stuff and the idea of the upbeat Fly Me to the Moon playing on a loop as the guests hide slash hunt down the murderer was so eerie. The whole concept was sheer perfection and the execution sent shivers down my spine.
It’s an extremely claustrophic read that had me on edge. Forry’s writing is so spellbinding and the descriptions have just the right level of vivid detail that at times, I felt I was right there. While the conclusion felt a little anticlimatic, I have to give Forry kudos for creating such an imaginative murder mystery devoid of the tired stereotypical tropes and one that managed to keep me guessing until the very end.
THE WARD WITCH – ★★★
Welcome to Unholy Island.
Esme Gray runs the guest house and tends to the ethereal wards that protect the island. She’s sheltering from a terrible past and will do anything to stay safely hidden. Luke Taylor has been searching for his missing twin for months, but has begun to believe that his brother might be dead. With his hope in tatters, a tip off leads him to a remote tidal island in the North Sea. It’s further out than the famous Holy Island, and far stranger.
Visitors shouldn’t be able to stay for more than two nights, so when Luke breaks this rule, the close-knit community is sent into turmoil. The residents of Unholy Island have secrets and they intend to keep them.
When Luke stumbles across one of the islanders dead on the shore, he finds himself under suspicion, made worse by his own troubles washing up on the tide. Esme is drawn to Luke, but she doesn’t trust her own instincts. That’s not ideal for a witch — especially when there is a killer on the loose and a storm is rolling in…
Another novel that’s perfectly servicable for its genre but likely isn’t for me. Now this may be my fault because for some reason I thought ‘wards’ meant hospital wards and that this was going to be an eerie thriller set on a island with a mysterious hospital where people don’t stay more than two nights… I couldn’t have been wrong, obviously, and should’ve taken my time when reading the blurb. Although, if anyone wants to write that novel – I’ll take 10%.
My initial disappointment is completely on me and I’ll own that. Despite its ominous blurb and the spooky cover, The Ward Witch is actually a cozy fantasy slash mystery. I loved the found family vibes of the residents of Unholy Island and the glimpses into the traumatic pasts that brought them to island in the first place. Specifically, I was charmed by Alvis’ Tardis-esque bookshop that Luke inherits and I found the premise of the Silvers very, very interesting. Admittedly, it was a slow start to things and I found the pace a bit too leisurely for someone who is used to gritty, action-packed murder mysteries.
Truthfully, it’s a bit too twee for me and I’m in two minds about whether I’ll pick up the second installment should there a be sequel but I am curious to learn more about the Silver family and it seems Painter has another series, the Crow Investigations, that dives into that so I just may that give that a go!
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