Crazy Spooky Love

Title: Crazy Spooky Love
Author: Josie Silver
Published: September 2, 2025 by Dell
Format: Kindle, Paperback 320 Pages
Genre: Paranormal
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Melody Bittersweet #1

Blurb: In the leafy, charming town of Chapelwick, the Bittersweet family has been a fixture on High Street for as long as anyone can remember. Their rambling black-and-white building houses all three generations of ghost-sensitive Bittersweet women and their business, Blithe Spirits.

On her twenty-seventh birthday, Melody Bittersweet converts the disused back storeroom into her office and opens her own business. Unlike the rest of her family, she’s not taking down messages from ghosts—she’s taking them out.

Soon, the Girls’ Ghostbusting Agency takes on its first a grand old house that won’t sell because a trio of incumbent ghost brothers raise merry hell whenever prospective owners arrive to view it.

It soon becomes clear that there’s a whole heap of unfinished business between the Scarborough brothers—including murder—and Melody isn’t the only one trying to unravel the mystery. Leo Dark, her rakish ex and business rival, is also on the case, along with the TV crew that trails him.

To make matters worse, the sarcastic and skeptical (and annoyingly good-looking) local reporter Fletcher Gunn has his nose in the story as well. Sniffing out a way to publicly discredit the Bittersweets is his favorite assignment—and has absolutely nothing to do with his inability to resist Melody.

With her business on the line, it’s up to Melody to work out the brothers' issues, but can she protect her own very susceptible heart from Fletcher’s charm? Does she even want to?

My Opinion: Josie Silver has long held a cozy spot on my romance shelf. Her stories usually deliver heart, nuance, and characters you want to root for. So, when I saw she was venturing into paranormal territory with Crazy Spooky Love, I was curious. A little rom-com shimmer with a ghostly twist? Count me in.

But from the first few pages, something felt off. The tone was disjointed, the setup unclear, and the protagonist, supposedly 27, read more like a teenager navigating high school drama. I kept going, partly out of loyalty and partly out of hope. After all, authors deserve space to stretch creatively, and I was willing to follow her into new terrain.

Unfortunately, the terrain never quite settled. The language bounced between retro slang and modern references, creating a time-warp effect that was more confusing than charming. The dialogue leaned heavily on teen-style banter, which felt jarring coming from adult characters. And while there were moments of light humor and character appeal, they were buried under layers of overwriting and fluff that begged to be skimmed.

By the halfway mark, I tapped out. The story hadn’t found its footing, and I couldn’t keep pretending it might. What’s worse, I already own the second book in the series, and now I’m stuck in reader limbo. Do I give it a shot and hope for a course correction? Or shelve it and preserve my fondness for Silver’s earlier work?

I genuinely don’t know what happened here. It’s so far removed from the Josie Silver I’ve come to admire that I found myself wondering if she even wrote it. Maybe this was a ghost story in more ways than one.

Murder on the Marlow Belle

Title: Murder on the Marlow Belle
Author: Robert Thorogood
Published: January 16, 2025, by HQ
Format: Kindle, 333 Pages
Genre: Amateur Sleuth
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: The Marlow Murder Club #4

Blurb: Verity Beresford is worried about her husband. Oliver didn’t come home last night so of course Verity goes straight to Judith Potts, Marlow’s resident amateur sleuth, for help. Oliver, founder of the Marlow Amateur Dramatic Society, had hired The Marlow Belle, a private pleasure cruiser, for an exclusive party with the MADS committee but no one remembers seeing him disembark. And then Oliver’s body washes up on the Thames with two bullet holes in him – it’s time for the Marlow Murder Club to leap into action.

Oliver was, by all accounts, a rather complicated chap with a reputation for bullying children during nativity play rehearsals, and he wasn’t short of enemies. Judith, Suzie, and Becks are convinced they’ll find his killer in no time. But things are not as they seem in the Marlow Amateur Dramatic Society, and this case is not so clear-cut after all. The gang will need to keep their wits about them to solve this case, otherwise a killer will walk free.

My Opinion: If you’re jumping into The Marlow Murder Club, I’d recommend picking a lane: either the books or the TV series. I started with the novels, so the show’s tweaks feel like unnecessary detours. The heart of the story is still there, but the rhythm and tone shift just enough to be distracting if you’re toggling between formats.

This installment is light and easy to follow, even if you opt to change between the written page and the audiobook. It’s not trying to be profound, just a typical whodunnit with one body and a buffet of suspects. The pacing meanders a bit, with stretches that feel more like scenic detours than plot propulsion. But just when I was settling into the idea that this one might coast to a predictable finish, Thorogood pulled the rug out with a twist.

What keeps me coming back isn’t the mystery itself; it’s the Marlow Murder Club ladies. Their banter, their quirks, their refusal to stay in their lane. They’re the glue holding this series together, and their antics still make me smile.

And just when you think the story’s wrapped up, it throws in a final flourish that retroactively ties the chaos together. It doesn’t change the picture much, but it does make it feel more complete.

That said, a few days after finishing, I couldn’t tell you the finer points of the plot. It’s more about the ride than the destination. If you’re here for depth, this isn’t it. But if you’re here for charm, a dash of absurdity, and a trio of amateur sleuths who refuse to quit, you’ll find enough to enjoy.

The Lies They Told

Title: The Lies They Told
Author: Ellen Marie Wiseman
Published: July 29, 2025, by Kensington
Format: Kindle, Paperback, 417 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

Blurb: In rural 1930s Virginia, a young immigrant mother fights for her dignity and those she loves against America’s rising eugenics movement – when widespread support for policies of prejudice drove imprisonment and forced sterilizations based on class, race, disability, education, and country of origin – in this tragic and uplifting novel of social injustice, survival, and hope for readers of Susan Meissner, Kristin Hannah, and Christina Baker Kline.

When Lena Conti—a young, unwed mother—sees immigrant families being forcibly separated on Ellis Island, she vows not to let the officers take her two-year old daughter. But the inspection process is more rigorous than she imagined, and she is separated from her mother and teenage brother, who are labeled burdens to society, denied entry, and deported back to Germany. Now, alone but determined to give her daughter a better life after years of living in poverty and near starvation, she finds herself facing a future unlike anything she had envisioned.

Silas Wolfe, a widowed family relative, reluctantly brings Lena and her daughter to his weathered cabin in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains to care for his home and children. Though the hills around Wolfe Hollow remind Lena of her homeland, she struggles to adjust. Worse, she is stunned to learn the children in her care have been taught to hide when the sheriff comes around. As Lena meets their neighbors, she realizes the community is vibrant and tight knit, but also senses growing unease. The State of Virginia is scheming to paint them as ignorant, immoral, and backwards so they can evict them from their land, seize children from parents, and deal with those possessing “inferior genes.”

After a social worker from the Eugenics Office accuses Lena of promiscuity and feeblemindedness, her own worst fears come true. Sent to the Virginia State Colony for the Feebleminded and Epileptics, Lena face impossible choices in hopes of reuniting with her daughter—and protecting the people, and the land, she has grown to love.

My Opinion: Ellen Marie Wiseman is a new-to-me author, but if The Lies They Told is any indication of her storytelling power, she’s earned a permanent spot on my “must-read” list.

What first drew me in was the subject of eugenics, a dark and often overlooked chapter in American history. But what kept me turning the pages was the way Wiseman wove that history into a deeply human story. The pacing was tight, the characters vivid and raw, and the emotional weight? Unrelenting. I found myself needing to read it in small doses, not because it lagged, but because it hurt.

The opening hit especially hard. My own grandparent came through Ellis Island, and I had no idea of the gauntlet some immigrants faced. Reading about the so-called medical inspections, where people were poked, prodded, and interrogated in a language they didn’t understand, felt eerily reminiscent of something far more sinister. It wasn’t just about health. It was about worth. About who was deemed “fit” to enter and who was cast aside. Families were torn apart by the stroke of a pen, and the idea that someone could be labeled a burden to society by a stranger with a clipboard made my stomach turn.

This book broke me. Again and again. I couldn’t look away, and I couldn’t pretend it was just fiction. Wiseman made me feel every injustice Lena and Silas endured. Every betrayal. Every moment of despair. And when they shattered, I shattered with them.

The pain didn’t end with the final chapter. The author’s note was its own kind of gut punch. In school, we’re taught that eugenics was a Nazi horror. What we’re not taught is that the Nazis took their cues from us. That silence, that omission, is part of the lie.

The Lies They Told isn’t just a novel. It’s a reckoning. And it will stay with me for a very long time.

The Tattered Cover

Title: The Tattered Cover
Author: Ellery Adams
Expected Publication: October 28, 2025, by Kensington Cozies
Format: Kindle 304pgs
Genre: Amateur Sleuth
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Secret, Book, & Scone Society #8

Blurb: As the residents of Miracle Springs, North Carolina, select their costumes, plan parties, and get excited for a night of tricks or treats, Nora joins in on the festivities by hosting medium memoirist Lara Luz at the bookstore. Charismatic and compelling, Lara mesmerizes the audience with her life story. Struck by a bolt of lightning as a child, she was pronounced dead only to be resurrected with the ability to connect with those on the other side.

Lara performs a reading for a select group of bookstore patrons when the encroaching storm knocks out the power. In the sudden darkness, howling cold winds intensify, and Lara clutches her heart, collapsing dead without warning. But Nora doesn’t believe she died of natural causes. Not one member of the psychic’s reading group—which includes the town’s widower pharmacist, an urgent care nurse, a mystery author, and even truculent Deputy Hollowell—were admirers of Lara.

Nora confirms this when she stumbles upon Lara’s journal in the aftermath of her death. For within its leathery bound pages are the medium and her clients’ deepest and darkest secrets, written in code. Now, Nora and the Secret, Book, and Scone Society must sift through the suspects and their motives to uncover which one of them is a killer before he or she is tempted to strike again

My Opinion: After a string of underwhelming reads, I reached for something comforting, familiar, and bookish that felt like fall. This novel delivered exactly that. Yes, it’s a little bookgirlie to say I needed a cozy mystery with coffee and pastries, but sometimes you need to lean into the season and let a well-worn series wrap around you like a favorite sweater.

I’ve been with this series from the beginning. The plot structure hasn’t changed much, and the characters feel like old friends who never surprise you, which is part of the charm. Nora remains the heart of Miracle Springs, and while Sheriff McCade might wear the badge, we all know who’s solving the case. The mystery itself gets a bit twisty, and there were moments I felt that I, too, had a concussion, but the plotting stays true to the amateur sleuth formula. You know what you signed up for, and you’re not mad about it.

There’s a quiet sweetness to these books. Friendship, found family, a touch of romance, and the kind of small-town rituals that make you want to linger. Each chapter opens with a quote, and some chapters even drop book titles like breadcrumbs for fellow readers to follow. It’s the literary equivalent of chatting with a bookseller who knows their genres and isn’t afraid to recommend across the aisle.

That said, the pacing lagged a bit. Covering three months felt excessive for a mystery that didn’t demand it. Was it meant to mirror seasonal change? To stretch out the investigation? Or give a pregnant mother time. I’m not sure, but I did find myself wishing for a tighter edit.

Still, this novel was a gentle reset; a palate cleanser between heavier reads. It reminded me why I keep showing up for this series: not for the plot twists, but for the comfort, the community, and the quiet joy of a story that knows exactly what it is.