B+
Genre: Historical: American, Paranormal, Romance
This RITA® Reader Challenge 2015 review was written by Mandi. This story was nominated for the RITA® in the Paranormal Romance category.
The summary:
It’s the roaring twenties, and San Francisco is a hotbed of illegal boozing, raw lust, and black magic. The fog-covered Bay Area can be an intoxicating scene, particularly when you specialize in spirits…
Aida Palmer performs a spirit medium show onstage at Chinatown’s illustrious Gris-Gris speakeasy. However, her ability to summon (and expel) the dead is more than just an act.
Winter Magnusson is a notorious bootlegger who’s more comfortable with guns than ghosts—unfortunately for him, he’s the recent target of a malevolent hex that renders him a magnet for hauntings. After Aida’s supernatural assistance is enlisted to banish the ghosts, her spirit-chilled aura heats up as the charming bootlegger casts a different sort of spell on her.
On the hunt for the curseworker responsible for the hex, Aida and Winter become drunk on passion. And the closer they become, the more they realize they have ghosts of their own to exorcise…
Here is Mandi's review:
I didn’t plan on liking this book. Seriously. Despite a crazy schedule, I signed up to review five books for the RITA® Reader Challenge–and then I signed up to take an intense college course so I could finish my degree early. Yeah. I thought about dropping this book from my list as it seemed the least appealing to me, but I decided that I made a commitment and that I could manage. Of course, life has a funny way of laughing at plans and naive hopes, and the day before this review was due I found myself struggling to finish two projects before I could even start to read this book. It wouldn’t be inaccurate to say that by the time I did start reading Bitter Spirits, I was already harboring some of bitterness of my own. But I’m really glad that I kept my commitment, because–despite myself–I really liked this book. In fact, it’s not only the best of the five books that I signed up to read, it’s actually one of the best books I’ve read this year.
Aida Palmer is a freckled medium who can summon and release dead spirits. Winter Magnusson is a Scandinavian bootlegger with an undiscovered freckle fetish who has been cursed to attract ghosts. The setting is gorgeous San Francisco/China Town during the 1920s. Stir into that mix some great secondary characters, an engaging plot, and a fun mystery, and it’s little wonder that I fell for this book. Of course, one of the best things about this book is the real relationship. Despite the requisite insta-lust (even when he is about to faint, Winter still has lascivious thoughts about freckles during their first meeting), the relationship progressed at a very realistic pace. The dialog between the couple was fantastic and and it’s easy to see how and why the two fall in love.
However, even with all the great things about this book, it definitely isn’t perfect. Aida is incredibly likeable and relatable. She is practical and independent, but never in an anachronistic way. Her character seemed very real and in most cases her actions completely fit her personality. Except for one teeny, tiny thing. Personally, I find it a little hard to believe that Aida would be able to brush aside so easily the fact that Winter is basically a mob boss with everything that entails. Even though during the events of the book Winter only kills in defense and/or in vengeance for those he loves, it’s definitely implied that he knows how to handle his “business”. Maybe my disbelief stems from the fact that it wasn’t always so easy for me to brush aside that aspect of his life. Aida engaging in sexy times with the roaring twenties version of Tony Soprano kinda ruined that aspect of the book for me.
Despite that one moderate issue and a few other minor quibbles, this really was an enjoyable read. I’m not ashamed to say that I’ve already bought the other two books in the series and am really looking forward to reading them (whenever that might be).
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And besides the freckle fetish there’s this:
“Sure, he’d been thinking about her a lot – too much – but he thought a lot about bacon, too.”
And if Robert Kennedy, Sr. could be made Ambassador to England, and my Grandma could fall 45 years in love with Grandpa, I believe one freckled psychic can fall for a big bad bootlegger. They weren’t all Al Capone.
I love this book! I really enjoyed the couples interactions with one another. I don’t know if the author plans to write anymore beyond the 3rd with Bo & Astrid, but I would love more with Aida & Winter. Even just more Roaring 20s.
Tangent: I’d also recommend Radiance by Grace Driven. The couple in that book give off the same type of chemistry.
ACK! I have to read this book now. Bootlegger with a freckle fetish sounds AWESOME.
I too LOVED this book. I agree, it was a bit questionable, her willingness to marry a mob boss, but at the same time, she had been involved in fringe society herself for a while–this is not, well, me marrying a mob boss, this is someone who is familiar with shady behaviors and lifestyles and such. She is not bad herself, but she is definitely supposed to be aware enough of the really bad people to know where he falls on the scale.
Also, Bitches, will there be a…chart or summary post at the end of all this reading & reviewing with the grades on it?
I was intrigued when I saw this one, and your review has clinched it – I’m buying it!
The sexual attraction between the H&h in this book was hot! Plus the descriptions of the fantastic ’20’s clothes Aida wore left me suddenly wanting to buy a fox fur coat.