Read if you like: diverse rep, mystical realism, fantasy, heavy themes, coping with grief

Usually I finish a book and immediately grab another one. Not the case after finishing this; I was left with so many emotions and feelings that needed to be processed. Ever wondered if a book can feel cozy while also dealing with some intense feelings of grief, finding yourself, acceptance, and loss? Wonder no more, because here it is!
Every character in this story is so well developed, even the minor side characters, and there's someone that I think any reader can relate to and identify with.
The way that loss, mortality, immortality, and grief were explored and handled were so realistic no matter what way the character handled it, and there were different types represented.
This review may be rambling, but the book is still settling in me and processing is still happening. It's one that's going to stick around for awhile.

I received a free copy of this book thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing | MIRA; all opinions expressed are exclusively my own.

This book is the sort of book that shares grief with you alongside a cup of your favorite comforting beverage and the most comfortable blanket in the world. It is simultaneously sad and hopeful, grieving and lighthearted. If you like your cozy fantasies to have a touch of danger, humor, and romance, definitely give this one a read!

For sensitive readers, this book contains depictions of violence, grief, trauma, neglect, child endangerment and loss of autonomy/possession.

I was fascinated since the beginning. It made me think about one my fav series, The Krewe of Hunter, but then it turned into a story that mixes romance/cozy fantasy/lite horror.
Peter, the main character, made me think about the Wandering Jew who's cursed to wander the Earth. Peter is cursed to wander and never go back to Ireland.
There's a lot of tenderness, there's diversity, and a lovely romance that made me cry bucket.
I hope to read other novels featuring Peter and David.
This one touched my heart and made me cry&smile.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to MIRA for this digital copy, all opinions are mine

Rating: 4.5 stars
After angering one o’ them folk, Peter Shaughnessy was cursed and sentenced to exile from his family and Ireland. He mourned their loss and the trauma they endured when he seemingly abandoned them. Peter eventually found solace with his partner, but in his eighties, Peter realized that the curse also made him immortal. He was forced to watch his partner age and die, and he lost his community when they noticed he stopped aging.

Knowing he will never die, Peter now isolates himself to avoid the cost of perpetual loss. Two centuries in, he now finds and passes on ghosts to help people without getting involved, often posing as a nameless groundskeeper that disappears as abruptly as he appears. When Peter overhears a teenager talking about a potentially powerful spirit, he heads to that town.

At the cemetery, Peter senses an anger so intense it seeps into the atmosphere and poisons other ghosts with it. One such ghost is the father of the newly appointed cemetery director, Nevaeh Key-Flores. Peter’s ability to feel spirits’ emotions and witnessing Nevaeh’s unrelenting grief creates an intimate tie to them that pushes against his walls—walls that are further undermined by precocious Samira al-Masri; her long-suffering older brother, Sayid; and charming historian, David Schwertner. Peter slowly falls into their sphere of warmth and the allure of kinship, despite fighting his growing attachment. As the reach and power of the entity grows, so too does Peter’s panic and desire to flee. Will he abandon the bonds he’s created and risk his loved ones’ lives, or will he stay, knowing the pain that comes with the inevitable end?

The Keeper of Lonely Spirits is a compelling portrayal of grief, forgiveness, disconnectedness, and love. While a cozy fantasy, loss is an overarching theme, and there are potentially upsetting events, such as mention of failed suicide attempts and on-page panic attacks. The book is very character-driven, and they are vivid and empathetic, including secondary characters with minimal page time. Each character is drowning and buries their vulnerability under taciturnity, work, responsibility, and recklessness. Peter is terrified of forming relationships, and the barest whiff of connection sends him running. Nevaeh is full of anguish and anger that’s she locked down and has no intention of facing. David lost his husband and hides under his jovial personality and work. Samira and Sayid are dealing with the hospitalization of their beloved grandfather and their parents’ increased absence. Sayid does his best to ignore his worries and take care of Samira, but her confusion and unhappiness cause her to act out, then feel like an unwanted burden. The collective pain and struggles of the family Peter unintentionally builds mirror and unbury his, and their quick attachment to his heartstrings undoes him.

The writing is engaging and wonderfully portrays Peter’s understandable and staunch stand against closeness and his contradictory yearning to belong. Peter’s growing love, his rejection of it, and mounting fear of it is palpable and affecting. The book is a contemplative exploration of living with sorrow and the strength of community. As such, the pace is deliberate and slow to provide space for the emotional development of four major characters. However, the mystery and fantasy elements falter slightly to provide that space. For instance, Peter is desperate to find the spirit, but overlooks something obvious given his century-plus cemetery hopping experience. Thus, the climatic inciting incident explodes in the last 12%, leading to an emotionally resonant, but swift and predictable resolution. The magical elements are also slippery, such as Peter’s ability to speak to plants arising from the curse, but Sayid can too. Are all people inherently magical to some extent? Is that magic different than the ability to see ghosts, which children can do until a certain age?

However, these small details are ignorable in the face of The Keeper of Lonely Spirits lovely heartbreak and mending and its characters, whose deep pain makes me want to wrap them in blanket burritos. If you’re in the mood for a story about the power of love, found family, and emotional bravery, may this delight you as much as it did me.

In The Keeper of Lonely Spirits, E.M. Anderson has created both a heartbreaking and hopeful story about the exploration of grief and loneliness. In a story woven about helping spirits confront their past, Peter has raced away from his own past. But now in Harrington, he must come to terms with his own losses or lose everything he cares for, yet again.
I love the way spirits, ghosts of the past, are used as a way for others to confront their own losses and find a way to move forward. I am also delighted in how Peter progresses into relationships that evolve and he becomes far more attached than he wants to be. But in those attachments he finds strength and hope. While there are moments that are heartbreaking, the ending is beautiful.
If you like stories about love and family, loss and acceptance, The Keeper of Lonely Spirits would be perfect for you. The relationships, friendships and love, are beautifully and authentically written and even the ghosts have heart in this novel about love and loss. The ending is both heartbreaking and hopeful yet perfect even when it brought me to tears.

This was not what I was expecting at all! (In the best way possible!) it’s captivating. I loved the world building, and the story telling and the delightful diverse cast of characters. Highly recommend!

A well written novel that has no shortage of powerful emotions and great prose. This book makes for a great read.

Thank you, Harlequin Trade Publishing, for granting me access to this book for review through NetGalley! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Anderson weaves a cozy and wistful tale of small-town hauntings and lost (and found) family with "The Keeper of Lonely Spirits". The novel reads like a mystery and showcases a colorful and lush writing style. The author does a fantastic job of character development, writing characters you would want to know and befriend in real life, and features a diverse character set.

I enjoyed this novel, and felt the story growing on me the more I progressed with the book. It reminded me of the importance of loving those in your life you may one day lose, because there is beauty in loving again.

This is a book you need to go into blind. I did, and I am SO glad I did. Being a mood reader, it was a little hard for me to get into - but it was definitely a “me” problem. This book deal with grief and loss, and when I tried to pick it up the first time, it was the anniversary of my grandpa’s passing and it was a little too raw for my headspace at the time. However - I am SO grateful that I picked it back up, because… wow. This book made me feel seen. You will not regret picking it up! Thank you so much for the ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts!

This book felt like telling your best friend everything that’s been going on in your life, good and bad, and getting a warm hug from them at the end. It took me through all of the emotions possible, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

The storyline is wonderful, the setting feels real, and the ending wraps everything up so nicely, but the real standout to me was the cast of characters. The groundskeeper makes a great narrator, and the relationships he (reluctantly) builds throughout the book feel genuine and natural. It’s also a delightfully diverse group, without any unnecessary hardships resulting from the casually queer and non-white characters living their lives.

Heavy at times, but a portrayal of grief and growth I think everyone could benefit from.

What a gem of a book! I'm wildly skeptical of most books marketed as cozy. Cozy can so easily be dull and lacking plot. But this book was the perfect blend of cozy and exciting. Our main character, Peter, has been cursed to never die. He can also help ghosts to their next destination, which he sees as his current calling. He definitely does not want to care about the people he meets after taking a job in a small town cemetery. And he certainly doesn't want to fall for the caretaker of the local museum. Lovely, recommended for fans of found family and light ghost stories. It made me cry!

I didn't know what to expect going into this book, but the synopsis intrigued me so I definitely wanted to pick it up. The characters had so much depth and it's obvious the author really took their time crafting them. On the surface level this may sound like a story simply about a man who is essentially immortal who helps find ghosts and move them on, but it's so much more than that. It's a wonderfully woven story about grief, loss and learning to find your place in the world. I found myself taking my time with this story rather than speeding through it so I could truly absorb the story and the characters. It was really atmospheric and cozy and I look forward to reading more from the author.

This book was such a sweet adventure. I loved diving into this mix of found family, grumpy old man and queer love stories. I think as much as I liked the ghosts stories and the mysterious aspect of this book, I would’ve loved to follow more Peter live and childhood. However I still thoroughly enjoyed all the people that came into his life and seing a diversity of characters!!

I received an e-ARC and am giving my honest review!

This was an emotional ride of grief and longing and family, though not always by blood.

The groundskeeper has been cursed, and has been travelling for decades helping ghosts move on (and stop terrorizing the living). He never stays anywhere long, and absolutely never grows any attachments to anyone he meets. After his lover died of old age, while years went on and he never changed, romance has been something of his past. Then, he comes to Harrington, where he's heard of a spirit scaring people. Even though he has vowed to never grow new relationships, new attachments, two local kids, Samira and Sayid, the local museum operator, widower David, the manager of the cemetery Naveah, and the rest of the town slowly inches their way into his heart. With the threat of something rotting and changing spirits with its anger, as well as the predicament the groundskeeper is faced of his new-found "family," he has to battle both his inner wantings as well as the impending threat of this spirit.

This was beautifully written. I have to say, I'm quite annoyed at myself for not having read this earlier as it would've been the perfect addition to my final essay on types of devotion. The groundskeeper is a character I won't be forgetting for a very, very long time. I've grown a love for stories of immortal beings with their mortal loves (This is Not a Vampire Story by Simon Doyle having kicked this off) and this book does that beautifully. The push and pull of the groundskeeper's inner turmoil, desperately wanting to feel at home, to lose that sense of loneliness he's felt the majority of his life and call the people's he's surrounded himself with his newfound family.

Every single character made an impression on me. They were all so real, so flawed in the best way possible. Samira especially, I can't stop thinking about her. As an elementary teacher, I've met a lot of kids like her. On the surface, simply a troublemaker who is constantly going against the rules. But sit down with them once, have a conversation, and almost every time is just a scared little kid who's lost something, whether it be a person or even just attention in general. It broke my heart reading her story and emotions, reminding me of all of the kids I've bonded with, helped them to feel at ease and cared for, only to watch them have to go to a different teacher once the quarter is over, mainly never seeing them again. Never knowing if someone else would take over for me and give them the care they deserve.

I can't forget David. David immediately became my favorite character, I felt like the groundskeeper, whenever I saw his never my face lit up. I loved Isaiah as well, truly their relationship is one to remember forever. I just adored everything about the museum itself. David was the type of character that is like a cup of hot chocolate. You tell yourself you're happy with coffee but you have one sip of hot chocolate and remember how much you love it and everything like it. It's been a while since I've read a character with such a positive influence on the story, with no twist or anything to negate it, and it felt so nice. He kept changing between Burt from Severance and Michael Sheen (when he has crazy hair) when I'd picture him in my mind.

This novel weaved the intricacies of grief, despair, wanting, and even hope so beautifully. I feel lucky to have read it at all, it's the type of book to help you change your view on life for the better.

This book is definitely not my usual preference for either romance or fantasy, but I’m so glad I gave it a shot. The writing was beautiful and so was the story.
I almost wish in some ways it would’ve been longer. I was so intrigued about this version of Peter’s world where he can not only see ghosts and spirits, but also seemed to communicate with Mother Nature as well. It was such a unique and enchanting thought and it sprinkled little bits of magic throughout what was definitely a heavier story. While often melancholy, there was also so much growth and hope. I loved seeing all these characters ultimately accepting help, love, friendship, and family.
Overall, I’d love to see this author maybe expand upon this world, maybe with other characters that can see spirits and commune with nature. I could see them writing such a cozy fantasy book with similar ideas but maybe with less focus on grief. I think they tackled this subject beautifully in this book, I think it just made it a harder read for me personally.

This book surprised me. I anticipated a cozy romance merged with magical realism and ghosts. Although it offers those elements, it ventures into darker themes as it explores grief, loss, anxiety, and trauma experienced by both the living and the departed spirits.

That said, the characters were well-written, diverse, and quirky. I particularly enjoyed Peter, a cemetery groundskeeper who helps angry and unsettled ghosts. Cursed with immortality, Peter has been guarding his own broken heart—it's difficult to constantly watch those you love die—so he’s learned never to get close to the living.

The last part of this book was an emotional shift for me. The touch of romance and the big-hearted community / found family vibes were so heartwarming. It helped to lighten the darkness and sadness that hovered over the story.

Thank you @harpercollins @harlequinbooks @htpbooks and @elizmanderson for a gifted ebook via #NetGalley.

Peter Shaughnessy was cursed to wander eternally with the ability to see ghosts and talk to plants. After losing everyone he's ever loved, he focuses on the dead. After arriving in Harrington, Ohio, Peter is soon drawn into the lives of the townsfolk, and may even be falling in love. The angry ghost he's hunting is causing trouble and is threatening the lives of the people he now cares for.

Peter stopped aging in his 70s, so he often takes on the role of an unassuming groundskeeper for cemeteries and places where he will be unnoticed. He moves from town to town, avoiding attachments, and helping ghosts move on to the afterlife. They get unburdened of their earthly attachments keeping them around and affecting things. Ghosts aren't the transparent ones from movies, mostly the scents, emotions, and memories of the person that's left behind. We see how effective he can be, and then he hears about a strong ghost in Harrington. Once there, he finds it difficult to stay detached from the people around him, and the ghost proves more difficult to track down than usual.

There is so much grief, loss, and talk about family. Gradually, Peter grows to love the children who sneak into the cemetery, the historian, and the cemetery director. As he gets to know them, he tries so hard to break the connections, hurting them as well as himself. It also brings up memories of his own past and his losses. He can't bear to keep grieving, but it's all he does anyway. We see his growth, subtle as it is, and by the end, he accepts the fact that people love and lose, and it's still worth the grief to have the love while it's there.

Ghosts, grief and great diverse characters abound in this latest by a new to me author. I've been looking forward to this book about an Irish, nonbinary, immortal ghost hunter for months and while I liked it a lot, I'm not sure it was truly suited for audio - the format I opted to read it in. That said, it is sure to appeal to fans of authors like TJ Klune and has a lot of heart while still tackling some difficult topics from anxiety and panic attacks, depression and suicidal ideation. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

Ghost Whisperer meets Addie Larue with a mix of queer love and found family. This book is like a warm hug. So fantastic. I loved all the characters who are dealing with grief. I had a wonderful time with the pages of this book. I will be thinking about this book for quite some time.

I had a mix of feelings for this book. I loved the overall eerie but cozy vibe, the slow-burn queer romance, a wealth of diverse characters, the descriptions of the cemetery. The main character's repetitive stubbornness in keeping people at arm's length was frustrating.

Peter has been cursed with immortality and an inability to return to his homeland and family, but gained the ability to see ghosts and communicate with plants.. He's lost everyone he's ever loved, so he spends his years wandering the world hunting agitated ghosts, helping them to move on to the afterlife. His fear of more grief keeps him traveling around without getting attached to anyone else, or letting them get attached to him.

When Peter follows the story of an angry ghost to Harrington, Ohio, he connects with wonderful people who make him want to stay and risk his heart. He is torn between running to protect his heart (and theirs) and staying to protect them from the supernatural force threatening them all.

The pacing of this book made me a little crazy....the long slow first 80% and then the rapid whirlwind of ending events, especially the last few pages. I loved the atmosphere of it though, just very cinematic and lovely even though disturbing! I'm rounding this one up to four stars just for the vibes.

Thank you to Mira and Netgalley for The Keeper of Lonely Spirits by E.M. Anderson!