Madyn Rose

Book Recommendations by Madyn Rose

Happy almost Halloween!!

My fall reads have been spooktacular! Since Friday the 13th I’ve been devouring these books and I highly recommend them for some last minute halloween vibes.

Since there are quite a few books this time I’m going to give the short and sweet versions them. The tropes are pretty much the same throughout them all. Ghosts, Witches, small-town, paranormal. Pretty much if you like Gilmore Girls x Practical Magic x Charmed x Supernatural then these are for you.

80s Ghosts

VS Lawrence

First off I want to shout out the cover because it is so freaking awesome! 100% hooks you in.

The premise of the book is that Chrissy, Bill and Rodney are a “Ghost hunting” team with a dream of making it big with their show. They haven’t had much luck finding any real spirits although they’ve been able to fake it for now. And then Chrissy gets an email inviting the team out to Merlin Highschool which was rumoured to be haunted after it burned down in the 80s. Finally a chance to make their dreams a reality.

What I loved about it: Suspense! Oh this book gave me the tingles a few times. It certainly had creepy vibes and there was a few plot twists that threw me off. The backstories were great!

There was a few things I didn’t love. The transcripts. They could have been way more interesting, some of them I found didn’t add anything to the story. And I would to have had more of why they unique trio of them found each other, I know it was through film class but considering there backstories was it the school that pulled them together?

Southern Spirits

Angie Fox

This is book 1/13 in the series. These books are sequential and they have vibes like Nancy Drew/ Aurora Teagarden Mysteries (both of which I like). Both of these books have no spice and I didn’t miss it at all.

This book is exactly why I believe in not DNF’ing a book.
I started it months ago, but after a few chapters, I just couldn’t get into it. I was preoccupied with other stuff so I put it down and finally picked it back up again.
I am so glad I did.

Our leading lady Verity Long accidentally releases the spirit of a 1920s gangster Frankie “The German” onto her rose bushes, locking him onto her property.

Verity already has enough issues including keeping a roof over head after losing everything to pay for a wedding she never even had. And frankie has a solution. The two form an unlikely alliance to find the missing money from the heist he and his gang did way back in the day. As the two hunt for the loot, Frankie is able to share his gift of seeing the ghosts that still reside in the town helping her solve more than one mystery.

I loved Verity and the rest of the characters. The storyline with the hauntings and her tapping into the ghost world was just fun to read. I loved Ellis, in case you were wondering and I must know what happens next, which is why I already read book 2.

The Skeleton in the Closet

Angie Fox

Book 2

Frankie, Verity and Ellis are back again and this time her troublesome ex is back in town and he is trying to win Verity back. Little does he know about his brother and his ex “dating” it adds for such a storyline in this one and honestly I really liked it.

This book has Ellis turning back to Verity and Frankie for some help when one of the local museum workers is killed while preparing for the town reinactment . A moment for the proud history of the small town and this year it’s being focused on for a documentary featuring the main two family rivals of the town.

Except it turns out there some history that could change the everything. Giving plenty of motive for murder but when the trio starts digging in the past they find there’s more than one murder that needs to be solved.

I really like this series and I will keep reading them buecause I am not invested in what happens and if Verity and Ellis will actually make a go of things, besides who doesn’t love a good mystery?

Pumpkin Spice & Poltergeist

Ali K. Mulford & K. Elle Morrsion

This book was fantastic. I loved the storyline, the town and the characters. This is an LGBTQ, paranormal, small-town theme.

A little too much wine and Jordyn summons the ghost of her ex for the equivalent of a drunk text. Apparently not a new thing, but this time she’s messed up the spell and now her ex is stuck with her until she’s able to move on…romantically.

Cue the cute, but flawed new girl, Harlow. The sister to the owner of Witches Brew cafe. There is instant attraction despite the bumblings of a nervous Jordyn. Not that it’s entirely her fault- her ghostly ex is right there with her which no one can see or hear. Not helpful.

I loved the town of Maple Falls and how the residents are mostly all paranormal like Witches, Werewolves, monsters, scary lake people and yet still had small town, adorable vibes.

The only thing I was kind of meh over was the sister. Man she is bitchy and mean. I would like to have seen the sister admit to being wrong more. I found our girl was just always trying to make up for it.

There is some spice in this book but just for a scene or two. It wasn’t the main driver of this but the angst between them help build it up.

Bewitching the Ghost

Gigi Blume

Alright, this was adorable. Willow Ravensong is the most un-witchy-witch there could be, despite her family’s heritage in their world. So when her dreams of opening a cafe, bar, bookshop become a reality she leaves the magic behind for a life that’s ordinary with her cat of course. Unlucky for her the buildings haunted history had been left out or the how the town holds more magic than anyone truly knows.

What I loved about this book was the banter. Willow and Montgomery were hilarious. The plot twists were great and if I doubted how the romance was going to play into it, I didn’t need to. The way Gigi brought them together was clever and sweet.

This is a low/no spice book and again, it didn’t really matter because I liked the story.

The Devil Made Me Brew It

Sarah Piper

This may be the last on the list but let me tell you how much I am loving it.

“What’s a broke tea witch to do when she’s about to lose her beloved café?

No idea, but chugging magic mojitos and drunk-summoning the Devil was definitely the wrong call.”

Okay you already get the idea of what this book is about and I loved it because it has all the feels. Violet is our very talented witch who just struggling to save her magical tea shop and Devlin (very clever name) is the iconic playboy devil with a soft spot for our witch.

The storyline, the banter and back and forth between the two and there’s spice which makes it the perfect halloween read. What are you waiting for? Go get a copy!

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* This is not a paid partnership- all recommendations are of my own*