Lyla Sage gave us a fun, ghosty, rom-com, and I'm not mad at it! Soul Searching follows Collins, a down on her luck photographer who has lost her ability to communicate with the dead, and Brady, a slightly shy and awkward upholsterer. The descriptions of those two characters alone had me SO excited to dive into this one, and I loved how Collins and Brady's relationship started with chaos (pepper spray is no joke) and develops into a relationship with depth, humor, and understanding. While Brady felt a little too one-dimensional at the start, he came around in the end, and I only wished for a little more time in his POV. I just love a dude who is down BAD for his crush, and Brady is that dude. However, as someone who grew up in a middle-of-nowhere town, I'd have to say my favorite part about this book was Sweetwater Peak. I could picture the town immediately, and it's clear through Sage's writing that she has an appreciation for the overlooked small town that holds so many stories. I loved getting to go along with Collins and Brady as they toured Collins's most favorite (and haunted) spots. The ghosty elements made it all the more fun, and I can't wait to come back to Sweetwater Peak for Clarke's story!

I've always been a fan of Lyla Sage's small town romances and Soul Searching was no exception. There is so much originality in this new novel and I was all for the ghost side characters.

Going in I had high hopes since I loved Lyla Sage's entire Rebel Blue Ranch series. The plot was too slow for me. I know she needs to world build but it was just taking a bit to long for me to get to anything worthwhile so this was a DNF at 79%.

Lyla Sage my girl, you have done it again! This was such a fun twist from her last series but still had the heart and soul that I crave in her books. I loved the set up for an interconnected series where it didn't feel like it was distracting from the contents of this book. The mysterious elements were something I am not used to reading in typical romance and she did it SO well. I'm hooked and cannot wait to read the next installment!

I’ve enjoyed Lyla Sage’s work in the past but this story just didn’t feel as cohesive to me. It took awhile to get a good feel for the characters and setting. The supernatural part of the story felt a bit random when it was introduced and didn’t flow for me until the later half of the book. Some parts with her interactions with the ghosts were fun but it didn’t do a lot of heavy lifting. While the romance was really good, the overall dialogue and platonic relationships were lacking. It was a short read, but maybe that is why it also felt rushed. I would recommend it overall but didn’t feel like the storyline, characters, and setting meshed well like her other books.

Overall rating: 2.9/5

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the advanced reader copy.

Lyla Sage does it again! This book is exactly what I needed and more. Lyla does romance so well and I can't wait to buy a physical copy of this beauty!

Soul Searching by Lyla Sage

slow-paced
Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0 star

Unfortunately, I was highly disappointed in this title. I have previously enjoyed some of Lyla Sage's other writings & was really looking forward to reading this one; however, it just wasn't the story for me.

The premise was really cute and promising- I loved the introduction to our main characters, the story featured a creepy/haunted small town with some really interesting paranormal entities, but it quickly fell off. The concept had so much potential, but felt unfinished/underdeveloped. The storyline somehow had too many plots to it, and none at all. It felt disjointed throughout the story. I'd say there were two main conflicts for the leading lady the loss of her ability to commune with ghosts and the threat to her family's properties. The second one was barely mentioned in the beginning of the book (and it was supposed to be a motivating reason for the character to be in Sweetwater), completely abandoned in the middle, and almost randomly brought back up in the end & resolved magically fast and with virtually no pushback. The majority of characters felt underdeveloped and kind of thrown in.

Overall, I expected more from this story. Maybe could still be a fun fall read for the right audience.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House (via Dial Press Trad Paperback) for an eARC of this title in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Ok ok. So I will start off with the bad before I get into the good. The beginning was sort of hard to get into. I found the first 30ish percent to be slow and a bit of a drag. There was too much upholstery talk, too much woe is me, way too much stammering (seriously here and there is fine but it was getting to be too much), and I wish we had more of Brady finding himself to go along with Collins finding herself BUT!!! But after it had started to pick up I ate it up like it was my last meal. I enjoyed the ghosty paranormal aspects a lot. It was fun and different and I can never hate a spooky time. The vibes were immaculate, the love story (once it started unfolding) was so sweet, the characters were lovely. Overall I enjoyed it once I made it past the beginning.

This was very boring and written weirdly.

I feel like not every author needs to branch out in genres because this was not spooky, or creepy in anyway. The writing around the fmc seeing ghost was dump and seemed like lazy writing. It feels like Lyla's writing is getting worse or maybe it was always bad and short small town romances is all she can give us?

Thank you NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I am Lyla’s biggest fan. All my friends know how truly obsessed I am with her. This book was a 3.5 for me.

It’s a 3.5 only because I wanted MORE. There are so many good, compelling plot points and characters in this book, that I wanted more! Too many pieces felt underdeveloped. I couldn’t believe this was 350 pages because I thought it needed 50 more pages.

A hot nerd, a crazy girl who talks to ghosts, a haunted antique shop?!! It has so much potential, but it all felt unfinished. The conflict especially felt so rushed and incomplete. The major conflict climax and resolution felt so rushed. I got to the epilogue, and my husband will testify, I truly said out loud “wait what!?!”. I couldn’t believe it was the end because the arc didn’t feel complete and the resolution was so quick and lackluster.

I love Brady and Collins together, I love the haunted town, I love their ghost hunting adventures, I love Collins wanting to save her parents property, I love the Meadowlark crossover…. I wanted more completed arcs and plot points, especially in the last quarter of the book.

Looking forward to the next book!

This one's for everyone who couldn't wait to leave their hometown, but can't escape the kernel of remorse every time they return. Lyla Sage crafts a charmingly haunted tale that reminds us of the importance of the family you build and the places you raise you... and there's a very hot, slightly awkward new guy in town to help the journey along!

3.5 stars

Having previously read other titles by Lyla Sage, I can say that this met my expectations when it comes to her storytelling and writing. Sage's stories are always emotional stories with humor and her writing is very consumable. I found all of this to be true for Soul Searching.

Fans of Sage's Rebel Blue Ranch series will love this, especially with the callbacks to the Ryder family in Meadowlark. Sage may also draw in new readers with the paranormal aspect that is a large part of the story and the main character's experience.

The story focuses more on Collins and Brady's relationship then the overarching story of the developers trying to buy property in town, however, I can see that the developer storyline will definitely expand into the other books to come in this series.

Overall, this is an easy to read, very consumable romance for readers looking for an emotional but funny quick paranormal romance.

Unfortunately I did not finish this one. I am a big Lyla Sage fan, but I couldn't get into the spooky atmosphere of this story. I was also bothered by typos and grammatical errors, for example writing "weary" when the author meant "wary." Still, I appreciate the review copy.

New small-town and ghosts??? This book was everything I needed at this moment! Brady and Collins were both so easy to love and I loved their love, even though it was a bit of an agonizing slow-burn. I can’t wait to see what else will come from Sweetwater Peak next!
I received an arc of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

3.5 stars! I really enjoyed Lyla Sage’s Rebel Blue Ranch series, so I was especially interested to see what she had in store next with the Sweetwater Peak books. SOUL SEARCHING blends Sage’s western romance roots with paranormal elements. I wasn’t so sure about the ghosts/magical realism aspect of the story at first, but liked how it was woven subtly throughout the story rather than being fully front-and-center. Where the book really shone for me was in the descriptions of the small-town setting (Lyla Sage always does a great job of capturing that sense of place in all of her books!) and in the portrayal of family relationships. Personally, I wish we had gotten to see even more of Collins’s family, especially her dynamic with her twin sister Clarke, but I’m guessing we might in the next book.

I also loved the romance between Collins and Brady! They are definitely the quintessential black cat/golden retriever couple, and balance each other out perfectly. Collins helps bring Brady out of his shell, and he keeps her grounded. It was so sweet seeing them explore Sweetwater Peak and grow closer to each other! I’m probably biased because I tend to prefer single-POV romances, but I wasn’t entirely sure the story needed Brady’s POV? I liked his character a lot, but felt like he was depicted with a little less depth compared to Collins, which stood out to me.

Overall, this was a creative, cozy new installment from Lyla Sage! I would recommend it for readers who loved the Rebel Blue Ranch series or are in search of a small-town romance with a dash of spookiness. I’m looking forward to seeing what the next book has in store! Thank you to NetGalley, Random House, and The Dial Press for the ARC.

3.5⭐️ rounded up.

I was super excited to read this. I love the cover and just the overall vibe of the book & I will say I did read this quick but honestly I felt like there wasn’t much happening. I enjoyed learning about the ghosts and how the twins/family experienced the encounters with them. but idk if maybe my expectations were too high going into this. I didn’t feel a super strong connection between Collins & Brady & I feel like there could’ve been more to the storyline. Regardless, super grateful to read early from one of my favorite publishers & authors!

Thank you to netgalley, random house & Lyla for the early read

Coming off the high of Wild and Wrangled and the end of the Rebel Blue series, Soul Searching was unfortunately a swing and a miss for me. Fun in concept, but boring in execution. It felt like we got half of a paranormal story, and half of a "saving the family business" drama between the FMC and her sister, and neither were very fulfilling. The small town vibes couldn't carry the absolute dearth of anything tangible to hold onto between Collins and Brady.

This one wasn't for me, but I'm still crossing my fingers that the next Lyla Sage title will!

I was so looking forward to more from this author after I devoured her last series. There were definitely elements in this book I really liked, but it felt like it was a bit too long? Or maybe there was just one too many plots? The couple met and had chemistry, but then they spend the middle of the book trotting around the county exploring so many abandoned buildings. I got bored and lost interest. I had to sort of force myself to finish it to be honest. It did manage to pique my interest in the next book, which will presumably be the sister's story. A good book, but not my favorite. My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for access to an e-ARC

Once again a perfect book from lyla sage! i really appreciate that she switched it up from the cowboy romances to create a new series that felt different, You fall in love with her characters almost instantly

I absolutely loved getting to know Sweetwater Peak!

This was such a wonderful introduction to a new series, and it had all the small town charm that Lyla Sage always supplies! I especially loved the two main characters because they were original and memorable.

The connection back to rebel blue ranch was unexpected and so needed! I love that these series are going to exist in the same universe and that there will be some overlap since I loved rebel blue so much! I'm excited to see if the connection continues into the future books. This story did have some similar elements to Swift & Saddled, but there was enough of a spin on it to set the two books apart.

Overall, I loved the setting and I thought the ghostly storyline was unique and compelling. I grew to care about all of the characters, even the less prominent ones. And the ending...I need book #2 immediately!