*gfited ARC* This wasn’t my favorite. Was having a great time at the beginning! Lost me with the POV change. We switched to the other sister’s perspective and retold the entire story from her eyes. But all of the info we were presented with from her perspective we had already learned or was implied already. I don’t think the POV change and retelling was necessary. There was no new information there and I just started skimming reading the same thing over again. The ending was fine, but I guessed it pretty early.

3.75 stars* - I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley! I’m going to try and not give too many details of the story, in order to not spoil anything, but read the book description before my review if you haven’t!

To my actual review now: I was sucked into this novel from the start of the Prologue, which is a rarity for me. The book was sectioned into two Parts narrated by the two main sisters of the story. The first part being narrated by Sylvie, part two by Charlotte. I was actually a fan of each sister having their own parts to tell their side of things without it being a back and forth narrator. It made it less confusing. It also was a very plot heavy book, but I loved it because every event needed to happen for the finality of the book to make sense.

Part one, or Sylvie’s viewpoint, started really well and I loved all the atmospheric verbiage used. However, by the middle I felt like I was beginning to lose interest. It seemed the descriptions and sentences went in excess and were long-winded. I think that aspect lost my interest quite a bit. But don’t get me wrong the writing was still beautiful, if that makes sense. It was the last few pages of part one that brought me back into the story.

Part two was narrated from Charlotte’s point of view and I just could not help but root for her. She was the more relatable sister of the two. The author wrote her in a way that showed she was a flawed individual, but a good one regardless of that fact. Part two had me hooked throughout the rest of the book in the same way the beginning of the novel did.

The revelations at the conclusion of the book were absolutely heartbreaking, yet answered any questions I had left of what had gone on with the de Jacquinots family, especially regarding Florence and her grandfather. All in all, I really enjoyed this book. I just think it could have been far more concise in places that would make sure the reader doesn’t lose interest.

Great pacing and great development for the characters. I was heavily invested in the plot and descriptive settings.

This book was an interesting mix of supernatural and mystery. The plot revolves around two sisters trying to help a third woman with a possible haunting. The story switches from one sister’s point of view to the second sister’s point of view in the middle of the book. I found both points of view to be interesting and the two plots came together perfectly in the end. Overall it was a good read but at times I struggled to stay interested in the plot.

This book surprised me! For some reason I thought this was going to have a fairy tale element to it but that could just be me not reading the title properly (it's "spitting" not "spinning" lol). It's definitely got spooky haunted house vibes and the point of view change midway through the book was a genius move. Just be sure to pay attention to the dates, as the story goes back in time a bit. That ending had my jaw on the floor and my eyes bugged out of their sockets. Say WHAT now!!??

Thanks to Netgalley and Atria for this copy of the book in exchange for my review.

This gothic tale follows two estranged sisters, Sylvie and Charlotte, who come together for one last con to try and help Charlie pay for their ill father's medical bills. I loved each sister, though it was a bit of a slow read as we saw various events recounted from their POVs. And while I had a good feeling where the ending was going, it was still a thoroughly enjoyable read.

This book was so much fun! Anytime that’s a fan of Sarah Penners The Lost Apothecary and London Seance Society should read Spitting Gold. They all have similar eerie, gothic vibes.

Spitting Gold follows sisters, Sylvie and Charlotte, who are retired fraud mediums. They come together after being estranged for years for one final con.

I saw where this book was going from the beginning but I still absolutely loved the ride. I love that we got to read things from Sylvies and Charlottes POVs. The ending could’ve been better but it was a super fun read.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

Spitting Gold by Carmella Lowkis is a debut historical fiction with paranormal happenings taking place in 1866 Paris. The tone is gothic. The theme evolves around a fairytale about two sisters the good one who spit gold and the bad one who spit frogs. The book makes you go back to forth on who is the good and bad sister. The book is told from two perspectives the older sister and the younger sister. This novel has a huge twist that changes the narrative that I liked. For a debut Spitting Gold is paced fairly well. There is a fair bit of repetition that was not needed, which slows the second half of the book down, but I was intrigued enough with what was going on that it didn't hurt too bad. This novel has some good LGBTQ characters that were interesting in the time setting. The gothic and paranormal elements worked well. Since the two sisters are pretending to be mediums I found the tricks they used fascinating and seemed very plausible. The novel is half Nightmare Alley and half Wuthering Heights. I read Spitting Gold thanks to Netgalley's spotlight on debut artists. Thanks to Netgalley and Atria books for a free copy in exchange for a review. Spitting Gold was published on May 14, 2024.

Plot Summary: Sylvie is a Baroness in 1866 Paris who seems to have it all when she's visited by her long-estranged sister Charlotte who used to perform as fake mediums to scam for money. Their whole family is one of the scammers. Sylvie is happy to see her sister but also is banned from seeing her by her husband the Baron who helped the family escape a scandal years ago does not want his wife messing with medium business. But Charlotte lays out the plan and that their father is dying and could lose the house. The marks are the de Jacquinots: dysfunctional aristocrats who believe they are haunted by their great aunt, brutally murdered during the French Revolution. The aunt is rumored to have hidden a treasure that has still not been found. Charlotte and Sylvie will distract with the medium rituals while they search for treasure. But what if the ghost hunting the family is real and they start something they can not stop?

What I Liked: The cleverness of how the sisters faked the medium and all the tools they used for knocking on doors and other things. I like how gothic the tale felt, it reminded me a lot of Wuthering Heights not the story but the feeling of darkness beneath the surface. I loved all of part one and the twist to the story that changed everything. I loved the character of Mimi the French gay drag queen who knows all the secrets of a society that rejects him. His confidence and swagger were fun. The ending was good and pretty intense. I loved that the sisters' relationship keeps getting compared to the sisters from the fairy tale that spit gold and the sisters that spit toads.

What I Disliked: Part 2 had a great twist and a good ending, but repeated too much over what happened leading up to the twist. I felt it focused too much on the father relationship that was summed up pretty well in part 1 I didn't need multiple chapters on it I wanted to get back to the twist faster than the story did.

Recommendation: Spitting Gold is a solid debut for Carmella Lowkis, the story was pretty compelling and had me entertained. I had some issues with the repetition of scenes, which is something I've noticed in a lot of debut authors. Where Lowkis shines is the gothic feel of the story which I loved. I recommend you check out Spitting Gold.

Rating: I rated Spitting Gold by Carmella Lowkis 3.9 out of 5 stars.

I rated this book a 5 stars, it was a really fun book. This follows 2 sisters who are fake mediums that get money from coning people. The two sisters come back one last time to get enough money to help care for their sick father, but this time the ghosts might be real. It was funny and I couldn’t put it down.

This was an entertaining and fun historical story. I enjoyed the beginning atmopshere with the seance component. I enjoyed the first part from Sylvie's perspective more than Charolotte's perspective. Overall, something was missing from the book to make me really love it. But it was entertaining and enjoyable.

The atmosphere here is beautiful and haunting. Sylvie and Charlotte are wonderful characters and the plot is well executed. This is more of a slow burn as each of the sisters give their very different points of view on the same events. I truly enjoyed how it all came together in the end.

I quite enjoyed this historical fiction with a bit of mystery sprinkled in. I see other reviewers were under the impression that this would be historical fantasy, and I was too, based on the cover! The first half of the book seems to lean that direction, but then the perspective changes and we get to peer behind the curtain, and the story is really about family and love … and not so much about ghosts.

Sylvie and Charlotte are sisters who have recently both fallen out and retired their act as spiritists, working for rich people who want to contact the dead. Charlotte comes to Sylvie, asking for her help for one more con. But there turns out to be a deeper mystery troubling the de Jacquinet family than a fake ghost.

The first half of the book is told from Sylvie’s perspective, and the second half from Charlotte’s. Note: This is the appropriate number of times for a narrator change in a book, IMO. There’s some unreliable narrator play at work, and the relationship between the sisters is well explored in this change in perspective.

I see this has been compared to Sarah Penner’s novels, which I think is an apt parallel. It also reminded me a bit of Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese.

Spitting Gold is a solid debut. I enjoyed the first part - Sylvie’s POV, more than Charlotte’s version, but found the sisters strong, but unlikeable. The gothic historic Paris setting was an interesting setting that added to the story. Three stars for this story, but I’d read this author again.

Thanks to #NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free copy in exchange for a free copy.

Atria eARC
An extremely unique and well done historical fiction that I'll be thinking about for a while. I loved the format here - but don't want to say anything about it because I want people to be surprised by it. I loved the aspect of sisters coming together to con someone, especially through seances. It added so much interesting elements to the plot. I genuinely was surprised right along with the characters and was so impressed with the storytelling here. I was gripped from beginning to end and couldn't put the book down.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for this arc!

This is such a fun, engaging historical mystery told from the POV of two sisters working as fraudulent spirit mediums in 1860s France.

The sisters have a complicated past, but Charlotte has convinced her older sister, Sylvie to help with one last deception. The storyline kept me guessing and several twists had me completely shocked.

(It was also nice to read a historical novel that is set during a different time and place than WWII England.)

This was well-written, especially for a debut. I look forward to more work from this author.

I received a free copy of Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. What a thrill! This stunning debut spins gothic story tropes on their heads, as it tells the gripping story of two sister mystics who get caught up in a truly haunting family drama. Often, this genre can be droll but this book was plotted at a roller coaster pace that never let up. The perfect vacation read that I snapped up in two days. Spitting Gold is A thrill from start to finish with an amazing ending that this reader will remember forever!

One review claimed this was a Sarah Waters-esque novel and I do have to agree on that.

Setting that aside, Spitting Gold has its on unique voice for a sapphic historical novel.

I enjoyed the lead up to the halfway mark but was left confused in terms of what the characters became. I definitely understood the murky ideas of good versus evil between the sisters. But still couldn’t manage to get a firm hold on the motivations pushing them to make their decisions.

Overall it was a fun story to read!

(Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for access to this ebook in exchange for an honest review)

Overall, I give this book a 3/5 stars.

Spitting Gold revolves around two estranged sisters who used to work together to con families as fraudulent spirit mediums, and are in it again for one last show.

I think the author did a great job in the aspects of world-building and the creation of the characters and their personalities. I found myself enjoying Sylvie and disliking Charlotte in the first half, and then rooting for Charlotte and hating Sylvie in the second half. If this is what the author was intending, she did a really great job at getting readers to follow along.

This book would have been an easy 4, maybe even 5 stars, up until the last sentence of Part One. I found that as soon as Part One ended, the book was no longer really what it was advertised to be, and turned more into a mystery rather than a paranormal - haunting story. Which, in and of itself, is not what lowered my rating.

I think the separation of the POVs of the two sisters between Part One and Part Two really threw me for a loop. I was confused and not really sure what was happening, and found myself skimming through the first half of Charlotte’s chapters because they weren’t really going anywhere. I could have done without the backtracking in time to explain Charlotte’s involvement, BUT the backtracking is what helped to develop the romance, and I think that it is Florence who really saved the book for me.

Overall, I’m still feeling a bit confused about what all happened. I am certainly glad I read this book, and I would read another of this author, it just wasn’t my favourite.

This is a wonderful debut. Lowkis' storytelling mixed with the gothic elements pulls you right into 1866 Paris. Many times I find with Gothic novels that the line between excellence and falling short is a thin line of how the gothic elements, tropes, and characters are used. Lowkis, however, doesn't cross that line and instead pushes it to create a gothic novel that is enjoyable, thrilling, and overall a great read. The pacing was slow in some areas; however, when the pacing, characters, and storytelling came together, it was a thrilling read that I couldn't put down.

For a séance book this isn’t very (if you’ll permit me to make up a word) séance-y.

Alas, I should have heeded blurb warnings that said “for fans of Sarah Waters,” whose work I’m not fond of. It’s an apt comparison, though Waters is a superior writer of plot. If you like her style, you’ll probably like this better than I did.

Mostly though, the book is just depressing in that “bad guys always come out on top” kind of way, or bad girls, as the case is here. I find books that victimize the heroine to be a tough hang, and that’s the primary reason I didn’t enjoy this. I liked Sylvie a lot, and she’s a reasonably well written character, but she feels like she exists only to be the victim of her sister’s selfish and reckless actions.

It’s not that i don’t understand why Charlotte feels like she got dealt a bad hand, but the way she treats her sister, effectively ruining her life multiple times, wipes out any trace of sympathy I had for her.

And as mentioned above, the book doesn’t use the setting very well, particularly when it comes to the spiritualism components. There’s nothing eerie about the book. It lacks a sense of atmosphere, and the plot twist connected to the central séance scene is clever, but it breeds other problems that make the book deeply unenjoyable.

There is so much good fiction out there focused on séances and spiritualism. Skip this and go with one of the many better books on the topic instead.