An Enchanting Case of Spirits by Melissa Holtz #bookreview #fantasy #paranormal #romance #mystery #ghosts

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Title: An Enchanting Case of Spirits

Author: Melissa Holtz

Publisher: Berkley 

Publication Date: April 9, 2024

Page Count:  363

My rating: 4 stars

About the 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.

Alyssa Mann isn’t adventurous, not since her husband died and she found herself the single mom of a teenage daughter. But there’s no way to avoid celebrating the big 4-0, so when her best friends drag her out for drinks and a tarot reading, she throws caution to the wind and decides to see what the spirits have to say. It’s all fun and games, until she wakes up the next morning with a wicked hangover—and a ghost perched on the edge of her bed.

Sheer panic sends her running to get help from Nick West, the (very attractive) detective who lives next door. When he finds no one inside, Alyssa has to accept that she really did see a ghost. As the dearly departed keep appearing, Alyssa and her friends do their best to learn how to control her newfound power. Trading insults with ghosts, tracking down family heirlooms, and getting closer to the skeptical but helpful Nick is more fun than Alyssa imagined. But when looking into one ghost’s past reveals unexpected—and unwelcome—facts about Alyssa’s late husband’s death, she discovers she just may be in over her head.

An Enchanting Case of Spirits by Melissa Holtz is somewhat of a romantic paranormal fantasy with a heaping side of mystery. The story in An Enchanting Case of Spirits is one that does change the point of view between the characters with a friends (neighbors) to lovers slow burn romance.

Alyssa Mann has been in mourning since her husband died in a horrible accident but Alyssa’s friends really want to see her get back to normal and have a little fun for a change. When Alyssa’s friends suggest going to a tarot reading to celebrate her big 4-0 Alyssa figures what the heck, nothing will probably happen but just what if she could contact her husband?

Alyssa ends up getting more than she expected at the tarot reader but still ends up disappointed when heading home. The next morning however Alyssa wakes to a strange man in her room that poofed away when confronted. In complete shock and terror Alyssa runs to her neighbor, Nick West, who happens to be a detective and is happy to help but Nick never expected to be investigating a ghost though.

An Enchanting Case of Spirits is a debut novel from author Melissa Holtz so of course I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this one. Thankfully what I found was a fun story that kept the pages turning all throughout. I do think that this one was a little heavier on the mystery side of the novel than the romance but I didn’t mind at all. I enjoyed the side of ghosts this one offered up just as much as the main characters and when finished I would definitely give this author another try if she writes more in the future.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Find this book online:

Goodreads  /  Amazon

About the author:

Melissa Holtz is a former publicist and marketing expert in the romance genre. Now in an advisory role to several bestselling authors, she consults on industry marketing trends. An Enchanting Case of Spirits is her debut novel.