Book Smart Kate

Book: 🌟🌟🌟💫 Audiobook: 🌟🌟🌟💫 Spice: N/A

by Paula Brackston (July 23, 2024) – Many thanks to @macmillian.audio for an advanced audiobook copy. Below is my honest review!

It is 1881 and Hecate Cavendish is breaking all the rules – shortening her skirts, riding a bike, and starting a job as an assistant librarian at Hereford cathedral. The cathedral is not only the central hub of the community, but it keeps within its walls centuries of magical and mysterious history. From a magical map, to ghosts both friend and foe, Hecate will embark on an adventure to save souls and discover the truth behind her unique magical abilities. 

For about 2/3 of this book, I was cursing along listening to a kind of interesting cozy fantasy book which then took a sharp turn into a significantly more scary, gritty, and higher stakes thriller. I was literally SHOCKED by one of the events of the book – and I am not regularly shocked by a book. I still have a ton of open questions after the conclusion of the story, which is probably by design since this is the first in a series, but I am looking forward to what’s next for Hecate, her family, the community, and her ghostly friends.

The audiobook is a well done single narration by Marisa Calin, who has done a number of my favorite audiobooks.

Do you have any favorite books where ghosts are part of the story?