TBR Challenge Review: Bitter Spirits by Jenn Bennett

Format: mass market
Pub Date: January 2014
Publisher: Berkley Sensation (Penguin Random)
Length: 317 pages
FTC: Received for free at RT15

After last month's outlandishly early scheduling of my TBR Challenge post, I should have known I would fail at being punctual this month. This time, it was me going on vacation and forgetting the darn book at home. Oh well. The theme for the challenge was Lovely RITA, and I was so happy to find one right at the top of the TBR pile from RT back in May.  Bitter Spirits is up for a RITA this month at the RWA conference.

Although this is a paranormal historical romance, I think the "woo woo" stuff would get a pass from some with paranormal fatigue. There are no werewolves or vampires here. There are, as the name hints, some ghosts and spirits. There is also some Chinese mysticism, some seance-y stuff, and other more common paranormal elements. But it is shapeshifter and vamp free.

I've been pretty excited to try this series because it is something fairly outside of the norm in terms of historical romance. It's set in San Francisco which is so very rare. If you can find a US set historical, they're usually New York or Texas. It takes place during Prohibition (yay!) and has all of that jazz age cool going for it. The hero, a bootlegger,  is first generation American from a Swedish family and the heroine is an independent woman making a living as a stage medium. Everything about this book is fresh and appealed to me.

Hump Day Classic Movie: Lady in White (1988)

Forget all of those gory horror flicks—this is the quintessential Halloween movie. Set in the 1960s, Lady in White is spooky, scary, and moving without expensive special effects or bloodbaths. And it remains one of my favorite movies of all time.

Yes, it's early for Halloween, but this gives you plenty of time to put this in your Netflix queue, reserve it at your local DVD rental store (if you still have one) or to buy one online and have it delivered.

This is another one of those movies that tends to fly below the radar. Those who've seen it generally have mad love for it. Those who haven't are skeptical about the appeal.

It has a plethora of character actors (Alex Rocco, Len Cariou) and stars Lukas Haas in what I personally consider his iconic role. The retro setting means this movie is kind of timeless. And although it doesn't take place entirely during Halloween, there is a strong Gothic element throughout. The few special effects are, I admit, badly done and the mystery isn't that hard to figure out. But what makes this movie scary is that it taps into what scares us as children and then shows us what we should really have been worried about.

If you haven't seen it yet, you've been missing out!