Book Review: BITTER SPIRITS by Jenn Bennett

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…

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I haven’t read a paranormal romance in a long time, mainly because I was so burned-out on vampires, shifters, demons, and such. Luckily, BITTER SPIRITS was a nice change from all that, because it featured my favorite paranormal beings – ghosts! Aida Palmer is a “modern” Roaring Twenties gal who values her independence. She supports herself by working as a medium, and yep, she’s the real deal. Not only can she channel spirits of the deceased, she can also banish the troublesome ones haunting this plane.

Aida gets wrapped up with a ruggedly handsome and brooding bootlegger named Winter Magnusson. Someone’s been dabbling in black magic and put a curse on poor Winter. Pesky ghosts are haunting him, and he needs Aida’s help to get rid of them. Winter and Aida have a fiery chemistry between them, even if it does take Winter a while to break down her walls. They’re both bringing some heavy emotional baggage into this relationship, and on top of that they’re trying to figure out the who and why of Winter’s hex.

I enjoyed this fast paced tale of restless spirits, dark magic, and bootlegging in 1920s San Francisco. Aida and Winter had an intriguing mystery to solve, and it all concluded with a nail-biting ending. Great romance, fun read!

Rating: 4 Stars