Simple plot of revenge, adventure and fighting to survive with love and companionship to depend on.
Deep characters. A ghost that struggles with loneliness finds a family of other ghosts who have found their reasons of existence. A vampire with barely any will to live, fighting his maker finds in Senka a reason to live. Any more about these wonderful characters would be a spoiler.

The style of storytelling is rarely seen in western literature and brings a soothing and somber blanket to the heavy subjects the story deals in. There are a lot of triggers from grief to child murder, so the undertones of positivity brought in through the side characters is deeply satisfying and soothing after a heavy doze of loss, gore, death and killing. While their is justice, there also a certain moral ambiguity in a couple places. The various characters scattered around Senka and Silas bring a message of living with love and friendship but the whole 'love' part between Senka and Silas did not sit well with me. It wasn't central to the story, so I would have liked for their bond to keep growing without verbal confirmation. It is a beautiful bond nonetheless.

I expected to read it slowly but the author was a magician of pacing and tension, and pulled me through each page with surprising ease.

It is a ghost adventure in a shell but the pearl inside is the message of moving on with life after the departed has..... departed.

Review TLDR: While this book definitely has its problems, the overall themes of grieving those we’ve lost, accepting death (in all its forms), and overcoming trauma are well-executed and moving. The romance is a bit on the lighter side, so this book probably doesn’t fit as much into the fantasy romance category as much as the publisher’s blurb suggests. It’s still a wonderful story told in a different way that will keep readers interested.

Spice Level: 1/5; Kisses and hugs – no sex depicted. This is a slow burn, people. With the focus being more on falling in love than falling into bed, this book is safe for all readers. That said, I found the build up to the “I love you’s” a bit lacking – they had only traded two kisses by that point and about as many hugs. There wasn’t much flirting before that, either. I think it’s safe to say we can call this a fantasy story with a romance subplot as opposed to a full-on fantasy romance novel. Senka and Silas are very sweet together, though. Healing from trauma is hard; doing it with someone you trust eases the burden significantly.

Pacing/Filler: The book starts off with a big moment – as any murder should be – but then moves into more of a character study for about half the book. It’s only at the 54% mark that the main characters begin actively planning and preparing for their first act of revenge on those who wrong them. I will say I wasn’t bored by the first half; the characters are interesting and the lore the author creates pulls you in. That said, once the plot kicks in it really kicks in.

Character Development: Senka, our FMC whose name is really Sarah Sommers and is absolutely, definitely not Sarah Michelle Gellar-Prinze/Buffy Summers, is an odd duck. On the one hand, I loved that she was initially characterized as a selfish jerk who missed all the red flags her husband was waving in her face because she was too focused on herself to care. But, perplexingly, that changes immediately in the first few chapters as she meets Silas and decides is she not that person anymore. We aren’t given any reason to think she’s changed and she doesn’t offer any explanation on why she wants to be a better person now – her personality isn’t the reason she died, after all. Maybe the years alone in the cabin gave her time for introspection, but it’s not discussed so I’m just guessing. That aside, Senka understandably spends a lot of the book learning how to trust again. Being murdered by someone you trust will do that to you.

Silas is pretty different from the standard romance hero as well. For one thing, he is incredibly trusting of a ghost he just met; he trauma dumps his story on her on their first day together, openly weeping as he describes transition into the undead. Given that his maker is actively sending people to kill him, and that Senka has by this point proven her ability to murder supernatural creatures, I am wary that he is not more wary – would you trust a stranger, knowing that your creator is sending other paranormal beings your way to end you? Not sure I would. His journey is about finding a new reason to carry on, even when times get tough and you feel all alone. Thankfully, now that there’s a pretty ghost hanging around, he isn’t quite so alone anymore.

In a way, however, these two are not really the main characters of the book. We have instead the Storyteller and the boy, Finn, she visits in the hospital to tell her tale – it seems that the Storyteller has made a habit of visiting the very sick, but there’s something special about Finn. The journey that they go on together throughout the narration is easily the most moving aspect of the book and ultimately, I think, what should be a larger selling point for the novel as a whole. The more we learn about these two the more the book feels like it’s coming together, while the revenge arcs Senka and Silas the Storyteller describes just don’t carry as much weight. Given that the publisher tries to sell this book as a romance novel and doesn’t mention Finn at all, that’s a bummer.

World Building: This the confusing aspect of this novel. I want to start with the timeline issues, as it’s nearly impossible to nail down when this story (which takes place on Earth and has Christianity, so likely also uses the same calendar we do) takes place. First, the FMC says that her childhood was in the late 20th century, suggesting she was an adult by the 21st. But then she relays a memory of being four years old and her mother showing her the home that “the dragon who played Toothless” lived in. The film version of How to Train Your Dragon came out in 2010. Which means she was born in the 21st century.

But wait, the author goes out of her way to have Finn read books and watch movies that came out in 2011 – so how can Senka have been an early-thirties adult who died, spent 15 years in a cabin, and had adventures by 2011 if she’s a kindergartner when those books/movies came out? And why does she reference the Captain America movies (the first of which also came out in 2011), or another character tell Silas about The Umbrella Academy TV show (2019), in the story?

Yet, somehow, award-winning actress Senka doesn’t know who Olivia Benson is – further confusing me on the timeline. Law and Order: SVU premiered in 1999. It’s still running as of 2025. The newest media mentioned is 2019, so backing up 15 years gives me the best guess I’ve got for when Senka died: 2004. But Mariska Hargitay was nominated for an Emmy for SVU in 2004 and Senka mentions having gone the Emmys that year…guys, this is killing me. How would Senka have seen the Captain America movies, but not SVU, while stuck in an abandoned cabin, which they supposedly found on Airbnb - which was founded in 2007? She also mentions having heard of Instagram, which was made in 2010. Ugh.

There’s another issue with Senka’s familiarity with her own supposed area of expertise – which is to say, she regularly quotes Shakespeare and Dickens, but is absolutely flabbergasted at the idea of vampires having sex. To this I ask: do Carmilla, Interview with a Vampire, and Twilight not exist in her world? I’m not sure what the author is trying to tell us here, except that perhaps Senka isn’t the sort of actress who does research for her roles or she’s just not very bright and missed literally all of the subtext of vampire media lore. Since Senka specifically cites small details from Dracula, I’m going to guess it’s the second option. The Count has three wives!

Obvious Errors an Author/Editor Should Have Caught: As always with an ARC, there are grammatical issues and some continuity errors that I hope are being worked out. For instance, at one point Senka picks up an axe and attacks someone, but then mentions that she’s never been able to affect objects before. However, barely more than a chapter before, Senka is able to turn a door handle and open a door. Either Senka forgot this, or the author did and the editor didn’t catch it either. Senka’s age when her parents passed away also changes throughout the book.

There are also some very strange word choices made throughout the book. For instance, “pelted” is sometimes used in the UK to mean “ran,” and is used that way in this book, but the author is from California so I’m not sure why she would use British English. Also, an American woman typically would not use the word “posh” to describe something fancy – another instance of British English not vibing with the Californian-born and raised FMC in the story. More than that, there are just some words that are wrongly used in context. People don’t generally “wag” their heads, nor do voices “stritch.” Unless Google has led me astray, even in the UK “stritches” is a cutesy way of describing the petting of an animal, not an adjective describing a tone of voice.

Lastly, this book is heavy on the “tell, not show” aspect of storytelling. This may be intentional, as the main story is being relayed Princess Bride-style to another character (and to us as readers), but I don’t think that’s the case. A lot of the things we are told are exposition dumps that someone hearing a story out loud probably wouldn’t find that interesting, such as the long, drawn-out explanations of vampiric abilities or Senka testing out her new ghostly skills. Stories told out loud tend to be direct and plot heavy, rather than full of world building details like if a vampire likes Brad Paisley songs or not. There are even instances of Finn and the Storyteller recapping what happens during the story, laying out the themes and details just in case the reader didn’t understand the first time. I think this is a case of an author not trusting her audience enough to pick up details unless they are spelled out for us.

Bechdel Test Survivor: Absolutely. Mrs. Wang is a hoot.

Content Warnings: Domestic abuse/murder. Animals eating a carcass. Child abuse is alluded to, but not shown. The death of a child is shown, as are the deaths of animals.

Is the FMC/MMC Unfaithful: Not in the slightest.

This one started out well but lost steam toward the halfway point. The more I think about the frame story, the more questions I have... Initially, I thought it was intriguing (why does Sara hover around oncology wards, why did she pick this kid, what is she going to tell him or do for him and why, etc.). But by the end, it just seemed weird. Finn is more deserving of hearing her story and, therefore, can better appreciate the "gift" she can give him than other ill children? Does she have to tell this entire story of her past and how she came to be a ghost every single time she wants to help a dying kid? I mean, the frame story also gets incredibly repetitive in execution ("do you remember where we left off?" or "so, we left off with So and So about to xyz", "do you want me to come back tomorrow?", "only if you want to come back tomorrow").

There are two revenge stories in Sara's story. Silas's revenge story is more exciting than Sara's; the stuff with Kenny felt dragged out and exhausting. But I just keep coming back to the frame story, where she decides she has to tell this murder story over and over again to dying kids so they understand that she's got some magic for them...which is just that she can make their death painless, not save them or anything. Like, it's just odd the more I think about this book but in a way that does not compel me to reread it.

Thank you NetGalley and the Taylor Street Press for allowing me to read this book early. The opinion in this review is my own.

I requested this book because it sounded interesting but sadly it fell flat for me. The writing style didn't jive with my brain. It felt very strongly like it was telling and not showing. The pacing was off and it was boring at times. The characters were OK but could've used more depth. It wasn't bad per se, and I enjoyed the plot alright but it wasn't something I'm going to think about in the future. I could still see some people enjoying this book but it wasn't for me.

This was an engaging and fun read, each chapter has almost cliff hanger endings that definitely kept me up late into the night reading.
The story telling style is reminiscent of Princess Bride, with the main character telling a tale to a kid and flashing into and out of it in rapid succession. I enjoy this style, especially when the author can wrap it up in a tidy and meaningful way. I think this is definitely the case in A Tale for the Shadows.

The main characters were likable to me, and the villains were easy to hate. Some of the side characters just felt like ethnicity boxes to check for diversity points though.

All in all I do recommend this book, it’s closer to 3.5 stars for me. Be sure to read the trigger warnings beforehand as some of the topics discussed are heavy.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Joyce Sherry, and Taylor St. Press for this digital advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

A Tale for the Shadows by Joyce Sherry is such a good story. I totally recommend everyone to read this book as fast as they can because it's really good and the characters are fantastic.

A sincere thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of A Tale for the Shadows.

This book is such a refreshing and masterfully woven story. Joyce Sherry takes familiar supernatural lore and creates something that feels entirely new. The dynamic between a murdered ghost and a weary vampire is the perfect engine for a story that is equal parts a quest for justice, a dark romance, and a tale of a truly unique found family. The narrative is sharp, witty, and full of heart, avoiding tired tropes and instead giving us characters who feel complex and lived-in, even in their afterlives. And I would be remiss if I didn't mention Luna, a cat who proves to be one of the story's most vital and endearing characters. If you love supernatural stories with genuine emotional weight, compelling mysteries, and characters you will fiercely root for, you need to read this.

So, I picked this book up because I was intrigued by the idea of a vampire/ghost romance, but that's not really what we have here. Instead, it's more of a light meditation on grief with a sprinkle of found family. Ultimately it wasn't for me, but there were some moments that were really sweet. The storytelling scenes with Finn especially were some of the most moving. I think people who love cozy fantasy might have a better time with this, though there are a couple scenes that get quite dark.

I had some problems with the repetitive nature of the story telling, which affected the pacing and ended up boiling the reflections on death down to a couple of platitudes (time dulls the pain of loss, better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all, you know the ones), but my main issue is that this book needed a sensitivity reader. Silas is Native American; this is mentioned several times in the book, and even highlighted in the blurb, but has nothing to do with the story outside of aesthetics and one really strange instance of racism. In fact his character is completely divorced from his heritage, and this is not explored at all. On top of that, many of the non-white characters are identified only by their race with no other descriptors. One character is referred to only as "the Filipina woman" for several chapters. I think the author's intent in calling attention to people's race like that may have been inclusion, but it comes across very othering with heavy reliance on stereotypes.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for this honest review.

A ghost, a vampire and their adorable cat fighting shitty vampires and humans (alongside discussions about grief) is not a book I thought I needed to read but I definitely liked the experience.

I do have to preface it by saying that this is one of those books that you have to suspend your disbelief for and just let the theme of the book get to you. There were parts of the plot that felt a bit too convenient in favour of the main characters but by that point, I was invested in them enough to take it for what it is. It would have been better for the main story being told to have maybe another nuanced subplot or have the two main plot threads interweave a bit more rather than have them solved one after the other.

I did enjoy the characters of Senka and Silas and the overarching plot outside of the story (iykyk). But Luna and Shadow definitely my favourites.

I like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me a read.

I only made it in 20% of the book, but I think I got a grasp on the author's writing. I picked this up because of the comps to Buffy (I'm 37 and Buffy was my jam when it was originally airing). So high praise?

Unfortunately, the writing and the tone of this book was strange. The flow / writing didn't feel polished and everything was moving in a herky-jerky tone. The character did not track as an 'adult' by the way she spoke and the tone / writing the author had.

Overall, I had to bounce from this.

As much as I enjoyed the concept of this book, I don’t think it was for me. The execution felt a little amateur and the pacing was a little all over the place. I didn’t love the frame narrative either, I think the novel would have been stronger without it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book. A gorgeous 4 star read book from me. What an exciting plot, vivid storytelling and relatable, rich characters. I couldn't put this book down – absolutely loved it

A pretty solid read.

A vampire and a ghost help each other get revenge and learn to fall in love.

This book wasn’t really for me, I didn’t enjoy the parallel storytelling and the characters while being well written just didn’t capture my attention

Senka was murdered by the man she loved and trapped as a spirit. Until Silas, a vampire, burned down her cabin and she was freed. They pursue justice - aided by a cat...

A terrific supernatural fantasy. Love the ghost and vampire interwine. It's romantic, dark and magical.
A very refreshing story.

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.

A ghost and a vampire fall in love and the result is one of the most tender, succinct, and heartbreaking explorations of grief in a story that I have ever read. It has been a long time since I last read a book that made me feel so much emotion. A Tale for the Shadows explores the different ways in which grief affects those around us-and how to cope with it. This was an instant 5 star read for me.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishers and author for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

4.5 stars

I loved this story. I was pulled in by the magic realism of the world. The characters were so loveable. The FMC knew her flaws and she changed for the better. She is ghost and she falls in love with a vampire. It's not traditional, but it's a beautiful companionship. He has a cat too. What's not to like?

I enjoyed the adventure they took together, to be together forever. The side characters were well executed also. It gave me Nettle & Bone vibes. So if you're into T. Kingfishers work, you might like this read. An unlikely found family who have each other's backs.

There is no spice in this, but it didn't need it. There was plenty of emotion, especially towards the end. I shed a couple of tears.

This is a story of people getting a second chance after death. It explores grief, death, love and loss. I would say it's focus is more aligned to this, than it is of fantasy. It's worth noting before reading. It is more character driven than plot.

Trigger warnings include but aren't limited to, death, death of a child, gore, blood, terminal illness, murder, gaslighting and grief.

Enjoy