(3.5 rounded up to a 4)

An Enchanting Case of Spirits by Melissa Holtz is a debut paranormal romance with mystery elements. It features a recent widow suddenly navigating spiritual hijinks and the hunky detective next door.

This was a fun read, and it's always great to see romances with older heroines! Alyssa, one of our POV characters, celebrates her fortieth birthday in this book. Our other POV character is Luke, the aforementioned hot detective.

Though the main character is a recent widow, overall the book is pretty light-hearted. I laughed out loud a bit while reading.

If you're a fan of cozy mysteries or paranormal romance, you might want to give this a try!

Tropes: paranormal, forced proximity

CW: death of a spouse (prior to novel, mentioned), grief, alcohol abuse, car accident

This book pulled on my heartstrings in every way I needed and I am already eagerly awaiting book 2!

This book was not just a romance, it was a story about grief and how we live after. It was a story about healing. It was a story about friendship. It was a story about how life isn’t over after your 20s or 30s or 40s. It was a story about new beginnings.

For those who love stories with….
GHOSTS
BANTER
SLOW BURNS
COZY MYSTERIES
FOUND FAMILY
LOL MOMENTS

This may be for you!

Thank you @prhaudio for the free audiobook!!

You know what genre I’ve really been enjoying lately? Paranormal cozy mysteries!!! It just makes you play detective without the heaviness of a thriller and comes with the charm of small town living!

I honestly enjoyed and binged this book!! Here we have Alyssa- a widowed female lead (who is still grieving) who for her 40th bday gave in to her friends’ idea and decided to go to a psychic for fun but what she really wanted was to be able to talk to her deceased husband’s ghost. Things happen during the medium visit and now all of a sudden, Alyssa can now see ghosts! And ghosts come to her to help them cross over.

So yes, this gives Ghost Whisperer vibes
Their friend group reminds me of Sex and the City (i haven’t watched the series yet but im familiar with the characters lol)

There’s ghosts and we follow how the leads figure out who caused these ghosts’ murders. There’s a next door neighbor trope going on so if you’re looking for some romance, this has it too. I love the female friendships and all their scenes together in the book.

Highly recommend to add this to your Fall/ Halloween reading! But you can read it now too if you want a small town charm + sleuthing + ghosts + tarot cards combo!! You’d definitely enjoy this one!!

The audiobook was so fun and easy to listen to. The narrators did a good job with making me breeze through this book! And now I need this to be adapted into a TV series please 😭

#anenchantingcaseofspirits #romancebooks #paranormalcozymystery #paranormalbooks #cozymystery #smalltownmystery #bookswithghosts #bookstagram #bookreview #booksbooksbooks

💭 Have you ever been tarot reading?
☕️ I had a phase where I watched a bunch of Stargirl the Practical Witch Youtube videos but that’s the extent of my tarot reading experience lol

An Enchanting Case of Spirits is a cozy mystery romance that combines Practical Magic with Sex in the City and Clue. This book had me cackling, clutching my pearls, checking under the bed, and awing all at the same time. The characterization was really well done, and the themes of friendship and grief were very relatable. I loved the mix of romance, humor, and sleuthing. This book was a fun and light read and I hope to see a sequel in the works soon!

Title: An Enchanting Case of Spirits

Author: Melissa Holtz

Publisher: Berkley

Format: Paperback, e-book

Set In: Knox Harbor, New England

Genre: Paranormal Fiction, Mystery, Thriller

On her 40th birthday, Alyssa Mann realizes that her joy for living was smothered two years ago when her husband, Garrett, died in a car accident. She still experiences the sorrow of the loss. Their daughter, Ava, called her mother’s best friends, and they insisted on celebrating her birthday with a Thursday wine night. Alyssa doesn't feel up to it, as she’s still dealing with grief. Unfortunately, they won't take no for an answer. However, at the last minute, they change their plans and take her to see Madame Corrine, who claims that she can tap into the spirit world. Alyssa hopes to connect with her late husband. Instead, she experiences a vision that later turns into a visitation of a young spirit by the name of Billy Garrett. She sees him at the edge of her bed and runs next door to her neighbor's house. Nick is a detective. He runs next door to investigate the situation but doesn't find anyone there. He asks Alyssa if she dreamt the encounter.

Unexplainable phenomena begin to occur in Alyssa's home, introducing an intriguing layer of mystery and suspense to her already challenging life. The presence of Billy, a trapped spirit, and other spirits, is just the beginning. With the guidance of Corrine, Alyssa embarks on a mission to learn about their deaths and assist them in crossing over. This journey of discovery and redemption is a thrilling and unique twist on the paranormal mystery genre to uncover the truth.

This is definitely a paranormal mystery that's not short on ghosts and tortured souls. The way it's written, you can literally see the story unfold. You learn that the characters who died are not just random spirits, but they are connected in a way that binds them together, and without Alyssa, they would remain in limbo. It's also about Nick realizing that with a medium, spirits can communicate, and this brings them all closer.  You have to see it and experience it to believe in the power of these connections. I jumped at the chance to read this book, and I'm glad I did. The e-book was given to me through NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

five unusual guests out of five

Denise Fleischer

gottawritenetwork.wordpress.com

May 4, 2024

"When a fortieth birthday celebration leads to a ghostly visitor, four friends find themselves navigating surprising mysteries and spiritual hijinks, in this clever debut from Melissa Holtz."
This is a comical and fun debut novel from this author. Alyssa and Nick make a perfect couple. I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley. This in no way affects my opinion of this book.

When a fortieth birthday celebration leads to a ghostly visitor, four friends find themselves navigating surprising mysteries and spiritual hijinks, in this clever debut from Melissa Holtz.
Ultimately, I'm throwing in the towel on this one. I am not connecting with a single character, and I'm finding our main character beyond frustrating. I'm sure character growth is part of her story, but I can't stick with her long enough to see it.
Plus, the love interest is a cop which is like entirely unsexy to me. A fact I thought I would be able to work around, having read cop romances in the past, but this one's main character trait is cop - which eww. No thanks.

In my life, I've never had the urge to see a ghost. Neither has Alyssa Mann but, after a 40th birthday party gone awry, here she is with a ghost in the house. Then another. And all of them want something. But she doesn't know how to help them. So she enlists the help of the medium who seemed to have unlocked the power.
Suddenly, she and her two besties (as well as the psychic, Corinne) are trying to figure out why the ghost of an obnoxious young man whose death was declared a suicide is hanging around her. He's the first, but he certainly won't be the last. Except the only one she doesn't see is her husband. Which is probably good because, like many cozies, there is a Hot Detective.
An interesting start to a series though I don't generally enjoy books where the point of view switches and this one was so infrequent it often confused me the first three or four sentences when it switched.

Three and a half stars
This book comes out April 9, 2024
ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

An Enchanting Case of Spirits is Melissa Holtz’s debut novel. It’s a paranormal romance that has major cozy mystery vibes, and it’s such a fun read!

Alyssa Mann is mourning the unexpected death of her husband. She has no interest in celebrating her 40th birthday, but when her friends insist on getting her out of the house, she reluctantly agrees to go for drinks and a tarot card reading. When Alyssa wakes up the next morning, she has a bad hangover and a strange man perched on the end of her bed. Alyssa freaks out and runs next door to Nick, her sexy detective neighbor, for help, but when he doesn’t find anyone, Alyssa comes to accept that she has seen a ghost. When more spirits start to appear to her, it becomes clear that she has the ability to communicate with the dead.

Some of the spirits following her are pretty obnoxious so Alyssa decides to enlist her friends and play amateur sleuth to determine what their connections are to her and/or to each other in hopes of sending them on to their final resting places.

I really enjoyed the cast of characters in this book, as well as the humor and cozy mystery vibes. The romance takes a backseat to Alyssa trying to figure out her newfound power and getting rid of the ghosts, but I still enjoyed the chemistry between Nick and Alyssa.

I alternated between the ebook and audiobook and enjoyed both. Piper Goodeve & Aaron Sherlock narrate the audiobook and I especially enjoyed how they played up the humorous in the story. Such a fun listen!

I’m not sure if this will be a series or a standalone, but I would love to revisit this world so I’m hoping for more books.

First I love that the main character is 40. It gets old reading about a twenty-something fretting about how old she is. So kudos for that.

I have a love hate relationship with paranormal, but I’ll say this one is a fun read. More mystery and paranormal than romance, but there are a lot of things to like. I love Nick, Alyssa’s love interest. In case you missed it earlier, this has a side of romance. It is PG and definitely a subplot, so you’ll be disappointed if you choose this for the love story.

I mention my love hate with the paranormal, but this one is someone tame. Alyssa visits a psychic and learns she can see ghosts and works with them to help them move on. The ghosts are snarky and grumpy, but wouldn’t you be if you couldn’t move on?

It is also a little heartfelt as Alyssa’s husband died in a car accident and she has hopes in communicating with him as a ghost.

The mystery involves the ghosts and trying to help them move on. While I’d categorize this one as a cozy mystery, the connection and solution aren’t apparent from the start. It had a little complexity and I found it interesting.

There is a lot of humor that can almost be silly at times, I really enjoyed this one. It looks like this was left open a little so it could become a series. I’d definitely pick up the next installment.

Piper Goodeve and Aaron Shedlock do a great job of narrating Alyssa and Nick. I enjoyed listening to them as much as I did reading the story. Their voices brought the story to life.

Alyssa Mann's life as a widowed 40 year old is turned upside down when a seemingly innocent birthday senance suddenly activates in her the ability to see and commune with ghosts. All because she just wanted to hear from her husband who had passed in a car accident two years prior. Suddenly, Alyssa's own home has a few uninvited guests looking for closure on their untimely deaths and the only person able to see and hear them to help is Alyssa herself. Alyssa teams up with Corinne, the psychic who helped awaken this gift in the first place, and her two best friends Lanie and Nina to rid herself of these visitors. Enter Alyssa's neighbor Nick West, a local detective she's goes to for help the first night a spirit visits her thinking someone has broken in. With the help of her friends and Nick, Alyssa goes about solving some apparent murders and a conspiracy involving some of the most powerful people in town.

I really enjoyed this book. It had great pacing and good comedic timing. I will say though that the climax was a bit anticlimatic for me. A bit too much like how this kind of situation would go down in real life. I thought there would be a big chase scene or something after everything is figured out and that's just not the case. Overall though, good book and would recommend for a lighthearted mystery involving the paranormal and a tiny bit of romance.

What a fun debut! There are many ways to celebrate a 40th birthday. Alyssa is a widow and the mom of a teenager. She’d like to avoid celebrating her birthday all together but agrees to let her friends take her out drinking and a tarot reading. This one has ghosts, a cute detective, hijinks and humor.

Huge thank you to @berkleypub and #NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

ARC Review: Publish Date 4/9/2024
Thank you Net Galley for letting me read more books!

This was a fun little jaunt into mystery-romance-paranormal territory. Alyssa, our FMC, finds herself seeing and talking to ghosts as a 40th birthday present, and if that metaphor doesn't scream "Welcome to your40's", I don't know what does. I liked the MMC, Nick. He is tall, mysterious, and handsome, but was far to absent as a romantic element for my taste. This story leads with the paranormal mystery and the romance took a secondary role. I needed more time between our MMC and FMC, and less time solving a very solvable, overly worked, mystery with annoying ghosts. As a side note, I also hated the supporting character Nina and her skeezy husband, Mayor Richard. The bonkers subplot of his blackmail to make her agree to marry him and then all the shenanigans that followed...what the hell even was that?

Overall, it had its moments and I didn't mind it.

This ended on a baby cliffhanger, so I am sure additional installments to come. Will I keep reading? I'll have to think about it. I would call this "MID".
3 stars.

Favorite Quotes:

We all know she’s about as comforting as sitting on a cactus.

“Have your cell phones ready in case we have to call 9-1-1; this looks like a potential sex trafficking situation,” I call over my shoulder to Nina. Lanie turns to me, nose scrunched and eyes squinted in something like disgust. “We’d be a bit past their target.”

When death comes for me, I want to head straight to that promised beam of light and be whisked off to the land of wine and chocolate.

“Listen, Alyssa, I’m a man of few words for good reason. My dad always said, ‘If you don’t speak, you don’t say stupid shit.’” His head dips and our eyes connect. “It stuck with me. But sometimes, I forget that sage advice and say stupid shit anyway.”


My Review:

I adored this cleverly penned tale of realistic woo-woo. Melissa Holtz has wickedly strong word voodoo and quickly had me ensnared with her witty arrangements of words. The storylines were lively, engaging, and highly amusing and creative, as well as insightfully written, and poignant. The characters were an interesting mix of quirk among both the living and the dead.

I so want to be a member of their Gin and Tarot Club and am already looking forward to more from this wily wordsmith and am fervently hoping she continues on with this one as a series.

This is definitely an entertaining read! It’s unique and interesting, and I always appreciate a book that’s not the same old thing you always come across. I love a small town setting, especially for a romance, and ESPECIALLY when mixed with paranormal aspects! This book isn’t very romance-heavy and focuses more on the plot. There are many interesting characters, especially the ghosts. I’d recommend for a quick, fun read!


Thank you Berkley and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

In An Enchanting Case of Spirits, Alyssa's medium powers awaken during a tarot reading and things will never be the same again for her or her friends. In this comedic ride with a psychic helping spirits with unfinished business move on (mainly, because she wants them out of her life), we discover that these spirits all have one thing in common (besides being dead). Unbeknownst to any of them, they all have a reason why they are flocking to Alyssa, and it is not just because she's a medium now. It's because she also has a connection to their deaths.

Alyssa and her friends (plus throw in the tarot card reader that sparked Alyssa's newfound power) band together to help unravel what happened to these ghosts. Nick West (the hot homicide detective living next door) can't really help them because his captain closed these case files after feeling pressure from the mayor.

Alyssa can't stand her neighbor, but in the enemies-to-lovers trope, you know she'll eventually change her mind. Both characters come from a background of loss. Alyssa's husband died in a car accident. Nick's fiancée died from cancer. In time, their attraction to each other takes over after all of her requests for help brings them together, even if he can't believe she sees ghosts.

But Nick starts to believe after a girl goes missing and she is able to give him details on where she can be found. That case that he was told to close, it ends up that she can do something to uncover the truth behind not just that one case, but multiple cases. While he may hate that she is becoming an amateur sleuth, he can't help but think that maybe he should listen to what she has to say, despite her strange way of obtaining information.

I enjoyed this book. There were a lot of laugh out loud moments with the ghosts providing comic relief to Alyssa's predicament. I was happy at the end when I discovered this may be the beginning of this story. I actually felt like screaming, "YES!" We're getting a book two.

Sleuthing friends where the ghosts are helping them with their own unfinished business, what's not to love? What they're getting themselves into though is pretty dangerous and could cost them their own lives. So yes, there is a bit of a scare element in this mystery.

If you like the show Ghosts, you will definitely love this book.

I thought this was a super cute cozy mystery, fantasy romance! Absolutely loved how each chapter was a different tarot card. If you know tarot, then each chapter signified something in relation to what we were reading which I thought was super creative! It was a bit of a slow burn, but I think the mystery of it all really helped alleviate that aspect of the book.

Reading this cozy mystery is like sipping a warm chai latte on a rainy morning. Love the fuzzy feeling I got from getting to know the sassy characters: Alyssa, Lanie, Nina and Corinne. Of course I also got all swoony with hot Detective Nick West!!! While it’s nice tagging along solving whodunnit, it’s also not all fun and games. Central to the story are the themes of grief, loss, letting go and moving on. Main character Alyssa is still a grieving widow after 2 years, so it was really fitting that her gift of being a ghost whisperer was opened. While helping the spirits crossover, she in turn was able to process and face her own grief. Don’t worry, as this is still a cozy mystery, you won’t get saddled with intense emotions. The witty and sarcastic banters between Alyssa and the ghosts provided the comic relief that I super loved! I also didn’t mind the predictable plot twist because I loved the well-developed characters. I’m really hoping this will turn into a series since the last sentence was such a cliffhanger! I’d be down to read the sequel for sure! Thanks @berkleypub for my e—ARC. This paranormal cozy mystery was really a delightful read for me!👻

Thank you @berkleypub & @prhaudio for my complimentary copy. My thoughts are my own.

I really enjoyed this cozy mystery with a paranormal aspect and just a hint of romance! This one has a strong cast of characters. ALYSSA proves to be an emotionally strong and witty heroine! I loved her friends with their equally strong personalities and interesting side stories that have the potential be further developed into a series! NICK, the skeptical police detective, grieving in his own way, is perfect for Alyssa. The GHOSTLY VISITS were quite amusing and I loved the mystery that tied all the spectral visitors together.

I enjoyed both the print and audio versions. The audio, expertly narrated by Piper Goodeve and Aaron Shedlock was perfect.

I recommend this one if you enjoy:
*ghostly visitors
*light romance
*witty characters
*an element of mystery

Thank you @prhaudio for my complimentary audiobook and to Berkley and NetGalley for my complimentary eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

An Enchanting Case of Spirits was a great mashup of murder/mystery and ghosts. Do not be fooled by the bright pink cartoony cover. This one tackles some heavy topics.
It can best be described as a paranormal cozy mystery with a touch of romance.

When Alyssa and her friend visit a medium on her 40th birthday something strange happens. Alyssa is zapped and now she is able to see and speak with ghosts. Little does she know her new found ability will help solve multiple murders. And also lead to a potential new romance.

I was pleasantly surprised by the ending and am looking forward to another installment of the sleuthing friends.

I paired the audiobook with the eARC.
Piper Goodeve and Aaron Shedlock have pleasant narration voices. I enjoyed the different POV of Alyssa and Nick.