What do you do when three hot, possessive ghosts want to jump your bones?
I’m Bree, and I see dead people.
Not all dead people. Only those with unfinished business. They’re everywhere – I’ll be eating my breakfast and a poisoned heiress glares over my Cheerios, and I can’t even enjoy the wilderness without being accosted by chattering ex-hikers who don’t understand which mushrooms are edible.
I’ve returned to my hometown of Grimdale to cat-sit for my parents while I plan my next move. I’m looking forward to raiding their fridge, hanging out with their two mischievous kittens, and staying far, far away from anything supernatural.
But I forgot that I’m never alone in Grimdale.
The three ghosts I used to play with as a kid are back in my life again. Only now I’m their age and they’re infuriatingly attractive.
There’s the slightly psychotic Roman soldier who loves the Great British Bake Off, the bossy, aristocratic royal prince who demands the finer things in life (er, death), and the blind Victorian gentleman adventurer who doesn’t have a mean bone in his body (or any bones, for that matter).
But my three ghoulish houseguests are the least of my problems. I’ve landed a job giving tours of the historic Grimdale Cemetery, and on my very first day, I stumble into a fresh corpse.
The dead guy’s ghost needs me to solve his murder so he can cross over, but sticking my nose into spirit business might see me to an early grave.
As for my three hauntingly hot friends? It turns out their unfinished business…is me.
Bless Booktok for blowing Steffanie Holmes up, because I am so thrilled to have stumbled across her. Like most people (I assume), I found her through viral posts about two of her ongoing series, Nevermore Bookshop Mysteries and Grimdale Graveyard Mysteries. She kept popping up on my Instagram, and I knew from the first reel that I wanted to read her work. A bookshop that brings fictional characters to life? A woman being haunted by three sexy ghosts? Sign me the hell up! The only question was where (and when) to start.
I finally decided to take the plunge for a somewhat strange reason. I don’t know how I missed it the first sixty thousand times I saw her reels, but I finally came across one that revealed a surprising piece of information: Steffanie is legally blind. I myself am legally blind in my left eye (I suffer from severe amblyopia), and it’s always been a fear of mine that I would lose sight in my right eye and not be able to write anymore. So when I came across Steffanie Holmes, I needed to know more. And lucky for me, she’s very open and honest about her struggles and how she overcomes them. You can learn more from her FAQs if you too are interested. (I actually reached out to her after reading through everything on her site to thank her for putting my mind more at ease, and she’s such a lovely person!)
After finishing up my previous Kindle read, I decided it was time to start on one of Steffanie’s works. I opted to begin with the sexy ghosts, and opened up You’re So Dead to Me, the first book in the Grimdale Graveyard Mysteries. I will say right off the bat there’s only one reason I regret this: this book contains what I would call a major spoiler for something that happens in the Nevermore Bookshop Mysteries, so if you’re going to start reading these works, please don’t be dumb like me. Steffanie has a handy reading order list on her site!
And therein ends my regrets. Because guys, this book was great. We get to experience the story through the eyes of four different characters: Bree, the woman who can see and hear and *ahem* maybe a few other things with the dead; Pax, the warrior spirits of a fiesty Roman; Edward, the arrogant, horny spirit of a prince; and Ambrose, the gentle, polite spirit of a blind explorer. The chapter headings will helpfully tell you whose perspective you’re reading the chapter from, but they’re hardly necessary. Each of these personalities practically jump off the pages, so I had no issue telling if I was seeing through Edward’s eyes or Ambrose’s, and they are so well done that I am legitimately questioning whether Steffanie might be communicating with an ancient Roman herself. I cannot stress enough how much these characters really made the book for me, and I am dying to start the next one so I can have more of them! (And I have, perhaps stupidly, opted to finish Grimdale Graveyard Mysteries before I dive head first into Nevermore Bookshop Mysteries.)
For those like me who don’t only want to read mushy or steamy romance, this book still has you covered. It’s a murder mystery at its core, with Bree working together with the recently deceased spirit of one of the townsfolk to figure out who killed them and why. Conveniently, the dead have muddled memories when it comes to the lead-up to their deaths, so solving this murder isn’t going to be as simple as asking!
If you’ve been seeing Steffanie’s posts and are still on the fence about whether or not to start reading, put her at the top of your 2024 reading list. I am obsessed.
(Now I just need to win the lottery so I can buy copies of all her amazing, foiled hardcovers!)
RATING: ★★★★★
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