In The Keeper of Lonely Spirits, E.M. Anderson has created both a heartbreaking and hopeful story about the exploration of grief and loneliness. In a story woven about helping spirits confront their past, Peter has raced away from his own past. But now in Harrington, he must come to terms with his own losses or lose everything he cares for, yet again.
I love the way spirits, ghosts of the past, are used as a way for others to confront their own losses and find a way to move forward. I am also delighted in how Peter progresses into relationships that evolve and he becomes far more attached than he wants to be. But in those attachments he finds strength and hope. While there are moments that are heartbreaking, the ending is beautiful.
If you like stories about love and family, loss and acceptance, The Keeper of Lonely Spirits would be perfect for you. The relationships, friendships and love, are beautifully and authentically written and even the ghosts have heart in this novel about love and loss. The ending is both heartbreaking and hopeful yet perfect even when it brought me to tears.

This was not what I was expecting at all! (In the best way possible!) it’s captivating. I loved the world building, and the story telling and the delightful diverse cast of characters. Highly recommend!

A well written novel that has no shortage of powerful emotions and great prose. This book makes for a great read.

Thank you, Harlequin Trade Publishing, for granting me access to this book for review through NetGalley! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Anderson weaves a cozy and wistful tale of small-town hauntings and lost (and found) family with "The Keeper of Lonely Spirits". The novel reads like a mystery and showcases a colorful and lush writing style. The author does a fantastic job of character development, writing characters you would want to know and befriend in real life, and features a diverse character set.

I enjoyed this novel, and felt the story growing on me the more I progressed with the book. It reminded me of the importance of loving those in your life you may one day lose, because there is beauty in loving again.

This is a book you need to go into blind. I did, and I am SO glad I did. Being a mood reader, it was a little hard for me to get into - but it was definitely a “me” problem. This book deal with grief and loss, and when I tried to pick it up the first time, it was the anniversary of my grandpa’s passing and it was a little too raw for my headspace at the time. However - I am SO grateful that I picked it back up, because… wow. This book made me feel seen. You will not regret picking it up! Thank you so much for the ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts!

This book felt like telling your best friend everything that’s been going on in your life, good and bad, and getting a warm hug from them at the end. It took me through all of the emotions possible, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

The storyline is wonderful, the setting feels real, and the ending wraps everything up so nicely, but the real standout to me was the cast of characters. The groundskeeper makes a great narrator, and the relationships he (reluctantly) builds throughout the book feel genuine and natural. It’s also a delightfully diverse group, without any unnecessary hardships resulting from the casually queer and non-white characters living their lives.

Heavy at times, but a portrayal of grief and growth I think everyone could benefit from.

What a gem of a book! I'm wildly skeptical of most books marketed as cozy. Cozy can so easily be dull and lacking plot. But this book was the perfect blend of cozy and exciting. Our main character, Peter, has been cursed to never die. He can also help ghosts to their next destination, which he sees as his current calling. He definitely does not want to care about the people he meets after taking a job in a small town cemetery. And he certainly doesn't want to fall for the caretaker of the local museum. Lovely, recommended for fans of found family and light ghost stories. It made me cry!

I didn't know what to expect going into this book, but the synopsis intrigued me so I definitely wanted to pick it up. The characters had so much depth and it's obvious the author really took their time crafting them. On the surface level this may sound like a story simply about a man who is essentially immortal who helps find ghosts and move them on, but it's so much more than that. It's a wonderfully woven story about grief, loss and learning to find your place in the world. I found myself taking my time with this story rather than speeding through it so I could truly absorb the story and the characters. It was really atmospheric and cozy and I look forward to reading more from the author.

This book was such a sweet adventure. I loved diving into this mix of found family, grumpy old man and queer love stories. I think as much as I liked the ghosts stories and the mysterious aspect of this book, I would’ve loved to follow more Peter live and childhood. However I still thoroughly enjoyed all the people that came into his life and seing a diversity of characters!!

I received an e-ARC and am giving my honest review!

This was an emotional ride of grief and longing and family, though not always by blood.

The groundskeeper has been cursed, and has been travelling for decades helping ghosts move on (and stop terrorizing the living). He never stays anywhere long, and absolutely never grows any attachments to anyone he meets. After his lover died of old age, while years went on and he never changed, romance has been something of his past. Then, he comes to Harrington, where he's heard of a spirit scaring people. Even though he has vowed to never grow new relationships, new attachments, two local kids, Samira and Sayid, the local museum operator, widower David, the manager of the cemetery Naveah, and the rest of the town slowly inches their way into his heart. With the threat of something rotting and changing spirits with its anger, as well as the predicament the groundskeeper is faced of his new-found "family," he has to battle both his inner wantings as well as the impending threat of this spirit.

This was beautifully written. I have to say, I'm quite annoyed at myself for not having read this earlier as it would've been the perfect addition to my final essay on types of devotion. The groundskeeper is a character I won't be forgetting for a very, very long time. I've grown a love for stories of immortal beings with their mortal loves (This is Not a Vampire Story by Simon Doyle having kicked this off) and this book does that beautifully. The push and pull of the groundskeeper's inner turmoil, desperately wanting to feel at home, to lose that sense of loneliness he's felt the majority of his life and call the people's he's surrounded himself with his newfound family.

Every single character made an impression on me. They were all so real, so flawed in the best way possible. Samira especially, I can't stop thinking about her. As an elementary teacher, I've met a lot of kids like her. On the surface, simply a troublemaker who is constantly going against the rules. But sit down with them once, have a conversation, and almost every time is just a scared little kid who's lost something, whether it be a person or even just attention in general. It broke my heart reading her story and emotions, reminding me of all of the kids I've bonded with, helped them to feel at ease and cared for, only to watch them have to go to a different teacher once the quarter is over, mainly never seeing them again. Never knowing if someone else would take over for me and give them the care they deserve.

I can't forget David. David immediately became my favorite character, I felt like the groundskeeper, whenever I saw his never my face lit up. I loved Isaiah as well, truly their relationship is one to remember forever. I just adored everything about the museum itself. David was the type of character that is like a cup of hot chocolate. You tell yourself you're happy with coffee but you have one sip of hot chocolate and remember how much you love it and everything like it. It's been a while since I've read a character with such a positive influence on the story, with no twist or anything to negate it, and it felt so nice. He kept changing between Burt from Severance and Michael Sheen (when he has crazy hair) when I'd picture him in my mind.

This novel weaved the intricacies of grief, despair, wanting, and even hope so beautifully. I feel lucky to have read it at all, it's the type of book to help you change your view on life for the better.

This book is definitely not my usual preference for either romance or fantasy, but I’m so glad I gave it a shot. The writing was beautiful and so was the story.
I almost wish in some ways it would’ve been longer. I was so intrigued about this version of Peter’s world where he can not only see ghosts and spirits, but also seemed to communicate with Mother Nature as well. It was such a unique and enchanting thought and it sprinkled little bits of magic throughout what was definitely a heavier story. While often melancholy, there was also so much growth and hope. I loved seeing all these characters ultimately accepting help, love, friendship, and family.
Overall, I’d love to see this author maybe expand upon this world, maybe with other characters that can see spirits and commune with nature. I could see them writing such a cozy fantasy book with similar ideas but maybe with less focus on grief. I think they tackled this subject beautifully in this book, I think it just made it a harder read for me personally.

This book surprised me. I anticipated a cozy romance merged with magical realism and ghosts. Although it offers those elements, it ventures into darker themes as it explores grief, loss, anxiety, and trauma experienced by both the living and the departed spirits.

That said, the characters were well-written, diverse, and quirky. I particularly enjoyed Peter, a cemetery groundskeeper who helps angry and unsettled ghosts. Cursed with immortality, Peter has been guarding his own broken heart—it's difficult to constantly watch those you love die—so he’s learned never to get close to the living.

The last part of this book was an emotional shift for me. The touch of romance and the big-hearted community / found family vibes were so heartwarming. It helped to lighten the darkness and sadness that hovered over the story.

Thank you @harpercollins @harlequinbooks @htpbooks and @elizmanderson for a gifted ebook via #NetGalley.

Peter Shaughnessy was cursed to wander eternally with the ability to see ghosts and talk to plants. After losing everyone he's ever loved, he focuses on the dead. After arriving in Harrington, Ohio, Peter is soon drawn into the lives of the townsfolk, and may even be falling in love. The angry ghost he's hunting is causing trouble and is threatening the lives of the people he now cares for.

Peter stopped aging in his 70s, so he often takes on the role of an unassuming groundskeeper for cemeteries and places where he will be unnoticed. He moves from town to town, avoiding attachments, and helping ghosts move on to the afterlife. They get unburdened of their earthly attachments keeping them around and affecting things. Ghosts aren't the transparent ones from movies, mostly the scents, emotions, and memories of the person that's left behind. We see how effective he can be, and then he hears about a strong ghost in Harrington. Once there, he finds it difficult to stay detached from the people around him, and the ghost proves more difficult to track down than usual.

There is so much grief, loss, and talk about family. Gradually, Peter grows to love the children who sneak into the cemetery, the historian, and the cemetery director. As he gets to know them, he tries so hard to break the connections, hurting them as well as himself. It also brings up memories of his own past and his losses. He can't bear to keep grieving, but it's all he does anyway. We see his growth, subtle as it is, and by the end, he accepts the fact that people love and lose, and it's still worth the grief to have the love while it's there.

Ghosts, grief and great diverse characters abound in this latest by a new to me author. I've been looking forward to this book about an Irish, nonbinary, immortal ghost hunter for months and while I liked it a lot, I'm not sure it was truly suited for audio - the format I opted to read it in. That said, it is sure to appeal to fans of authors like TJ Klune and has a lot of heart while still tackling some difficult topics from anxiety and panic attacks, depression and suicidal ideation. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

Ghost Whisperer meets Addie Larue with a mix of queer love and found family. This book is like a warm hug. So fantastic. I loved all the characters who are dealing with grief. I had a wonderful time with the pages of this book. I will be thinking about this book for quite some time.

I had a mix of feelings for this book. I loved the overall eerie but cozy vibe, the slow-burn queer romance, a wealth of diverse characters, the descriptions of the cemetery. The main character's repetitive stubbornness in keeping people at arm's length was frustrating.

Peter has been cursed with immortality and an inability to return to his homeland and family, but gained the ability to see ghosts and communicate with plants.. He's lost everyone he's ever loved, so he spends his years wandering the world hunting agitated ghosts, helping them to move on to the afterlife. His fear of more grief keeps him traveling around without getting attached to anyone else, or letting them get attached to him.

When Peter follows the story of an angry ghost to Harrington, Ohio, he connects with wonderful people who make him want to stay and risk his heart. He is torn between running to protect his heart (and theirs) and staying to protect them from the supernatural force threatening them all.

The pacing of this book made me a little crazy....the long slow first 80% and then the rapid whirlwind of ending events, especially the last few pages. I loved the atmosphere of it though, just very cinematic and lovely even though disturbing! I'm rounding this one up to four stars just for the vibes.

Thank you to Mira and Netgalley for The Keeper of Lonely Spirits by E.M. Anderson!

Thank you Harlequin Trade Publishing and E.M. Anderson for allowing me to read this lovely story before its publication date in exchange for an honest review.

What is grief, if not love persevering?

This book ripped at my heartstrings, basically all but destroying them several times, and then delicately put them back together. It is a beautiful take on grief, complex family dynamics, and choosing to move forward in your life despite an overbearing sense of guilt. If you like chosen family or slow-burn romance tropes, this book is for you.

This book sort of reminded me of Ghost Whisperer, as the main character's goal is to help spirits pass over. However, this book focuses much more on the emotional motives of the spirits, which was written very beautifully. Peter, an immortal trapped in the body of a 70-year-old, will easily become one of your favorite book characters of all time as you read about him sharing his vast emotional wisdom with a plethora of spirits and the living.

Overall, I loved this book. It was cozy, heart-breaking, heart-warming, all of the hearts. I cannot wait to read more by this author moving forward.

SPOILERS BELOW:

I rated this book four out of five stars, for two main reasons. One, I loved the book's plot progression and felt very immersed throughout, never waiting for any scene to end to get to the next one. However, there is a sort of fight scene that occurs towards the end that feels like the MCU meets Ghostbusters, and it did not really work for the overall vibe in my opinion. Additionally, there were parts of Peter and Sayid's powers that I wish were explained just a touch more. Sayid's storyline of yielding such powers felt unfinished.

This review will be posted on my GoodReads today (March 25th), and on my Instagram as well. Links are added below.

Thank you to HTP books and MIRA for the gifted ARC
👻🌳✨️🪦🪴🫂
This one is a bit different from the books I usually read but it sounded interesting and i'm so glad I gave it a try! I really loved it!! It's a cozy queer fantasy, with some horror/supernatural elements especially towards the end. There's a curse and a mystery and a spooky cemetery and a wonderfully diverse cast of characters.

"That's what life is."
"You lose people you love and you love more people and you lose them, too, and you keep loving anyway because what's the point otherwise?"

Peter is a groundskeeper cursed with immortality & doomed to wander from town to town sending restless spirits on their way. He ends up in a small town in Ohio where an angry spirit is hiding in the cemetery. Peter quickly becomes attached to the residents and the town. Should he leave and put them in danger or stay and get everything he's ever wanted ... even if it means he will one day outlive these people he's come to care for?

I just loved Peter, he's had a rough go of it. Poor guy. But he's such a good person and he just wants everyone else to be okay and safe. Even though he's not going to stay, he cares so much. I just wanted some sort of happy ending for him. He deserved to be happy. And David. He's so precious, with his goofy, colorful outfits
I adored these two so much!! I genuinely loved all the characters, a wonderful found family!

I loved how the mystery of the ghost was handled and I definitely gasped when it was revealed!!
The more serious things like therapy and grief and loss of a loved one was also done well and with care. Pretty much every character is dealing with the loss of a loved one, so be aware of that before reading.

Several queer characters and oh so beautifully written, the descriptions of the cemetery and forest are so lush that I almost felt like I was there.

There's honestly so much more to this book that i'm not saying! But it's so good!
The Keeper of Lonely Spirits is OUT NOW! Please go get yourself a copy!

I utterly adore the concept of this book. When I read the synopsis, I needed it. Immediately. Unfortunately, I have some personal hang ups that made what this book is actually about less for me than I wanted it to be.

This book does so many things so interestingly and so well. The characters are incredibly diverse for small town Ohio and they’re endearing as people. The way that ghosts work and the lore for what Peter does and how is interesting and makes sense while also feeling just a little unique. A lot of the prose is very pretty. When the action hits, I was hooked. Genuinely, there’s a lot to love here and I’m glad a lot of people seem to be enjoying it so far. It just was not for me.

Peter, our lonely groundskeeper, cannot die. I knew this. I always expect these immortals to be somewhere between 20-40 in appearance and sometimes countenance because that’s what you usually see. Peter hits at 70-80. I really truly struggle to read about characters like that and that’s fully on me. I’m stating it here only because I know it may be a hang up for someone else as well and I’d like to save you the trouble.

The tone and writing style is also very whimsical most of the time. This book is cozy but also kind of horror, if that makes sense, and sometimes with cozier storylines the whimsy just takes over and the logic doesn’t have to apply. A lot of people don’t mind that, but I overthink everything so little inconsistencies or anything that feels like it needs fact checking will stop me cold and I obsess over it a little. There’s a lot of that here and, again, that’s a subjective problem and not really a statement on how well this story was crafted.

That said, there were some less subjective problems I had with this book too. The plot was very drawn out, repetitive, and a little plodding up until the 60% mark when things actually started happening. It took 300 pages to get a backstory that all of the important parts had already been sprinkled into the narrative. I feel like I lived Peter’s past probably twenty times by the end and it was excessive. There’s so much buffer and fluff here that the plot structure kind of collapses; it could have been 150 pages shorter and still hit every emotional beat (flip floppy as they were, as intended). I truly enjoyed a lot of the last 30% of this largely because it tightened up. There were less extraneous details in the descriptions, people were reacting in a less easy going way (I will rant for days about the al Masri’s not being more worried about their kids hanging out with Peter before they even knew his name), and things that mattered were finally happening.

Before I get bogged down with things that don’t matter for this review, I want to reiterate that this isn’t a bad book. It’s a bad book for me. There’s a distinction I feel it’s important to truly make. This book is heartfelt and it’s a beautiful take on grief and love and what makes a home. I truly hope many people pick it up and enjoy it and see what they need to within its pages. Just maybe skip it if you’re not a fan of octogenarian narrators and can’t turn off the overly analytical part of your brain is all.

Thanks to Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for this eARC given in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions here are entirely my own.

I’d planned to finish this last week to help drum up hype for this book. Unfortunately, a number of things kept pushing it back. Here is my review of an ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley, on release day. Go out and buy it. It’s worth buying and reading right now!

Anderson’s content warning within their author’s note at the beginning was well done. Often, it’s a simple list, but the explanation of what happens supported by why felt authentic and less like a nod to current conventions and more like the author thoughtfully considered her readers.

The opening chapter is gorgeously written, grabs Your heart and rips it right out. You could read just the first Chapter as a complete short story, but I'm so glad we have an entire novel to learn about Peter Shaughnessy, why he's so lonely, and if those wishes and wants he hints at in the first Chapter get answered.

The story progresses with a person of very old and slightly curmudgeonly morals and behavior who can calm ghosts and help the onto the next life.

Anderson clearly cares about her characters and her readers. It's plain in the topics she broaches in Keeper and the way she handles them, with compassion.

I found myself saying to myself, hot damn this is good several times. Anderson's foreshadowing is spectacular.

Anderson sets up a cozy mystery and there are a lot of mysteries. She strings them out and answers them slowly.

You know the trope about the unwilling protagonist? Anderson takes that trope and cranks it up to 11. See Charlie Jane Anders review in The Washington Post and Bluesky posts about the book. Peter fights and fights and fights and by the time we know why, we understand and our hearts are breaking. And then the twist I did not see coming wholloped me right upside the feels. There's a meme for this.

The best line in the book: “Guarantee you won’t kill me,” he said. “But you can try.” Just wait until you get there!