melodicfate's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars.
Dion, the ghost investigating, blue collar hero, made this book with all his kindness and reliability. He was just a nice guy. Plus, I loved all the familial relationships. Vanessa, the heroine, was just too pushy for me. That, along with some issues with the writing, kept me from really loving this. Still, it's a fun small town contemporary with a great hero, and awesome families.
Dion, the ghost investigating, blue collar hero, made this book with all his kindness and reliability. He was just a nice guy. Plus, I loved all the familial relationships. Vanessa, the heroine, was just too pushy for me. That, along with some issues with the writing, kept me from really loving this. Still, it's a fun small town contemporary with a great hero, and awesome families.
rusereviews's review against another edition
5.0
(4.5 rounded up to a 5)
Summoning Up Love is a contemporary romance with paranormal elements by Synithia Williams. The ebook version is 224 pages. We follow our two characters with a third person point-of-view.
After a string of bad luck--including being dumped by her boyfriend and fired from her job in the same day--Vanessa Steel drags herself to her grandmother's beach house to heal and find a new job. There, she realizes that her grandmother has offered to let Dion Livingston and his two brothers investigate some paranormal activity in her house, which she believes is her recently deceased husband trying to tell her something. Vanessa does not believe in ghosts, and demands that the Livingston brothers bring her on some of their other investigations before she'll let them film at her grandmother's house as a pilot for a potential tv series.
Overall this was a really quick and pleasant read! The pacing was pretty good, and even though it wasn't that long of a book we got some good character development. This is my first read from Williams, but she has an extensive back catalogue I'm excited to dip into. I'm also excited to read the next two books in this particular series, which will follow Dion's brothers.
Tropes in this book include: black love, curvy heroine
CW: ghosts
Summoning Up Love is a contemporary romance with paranormal elements by Synithia Williams. The ebook version is 224 pages. We follow our two characters with a third person point-of-view.
After a string of bad luck--including being dumped by her boyfriend and fired from her job in the same day--Vanessa Steel drags herself to her grandmother's beach house to heal and find a new job. There, she realizes that her grandmother has offered to let Dion Livingston and his two brothers investigate some paranormal activity in her house, which she believes is her recently deceased husband trying to tell her something. Vanessa does not believe in ghosts, and demands that the Livingston brothers bring her on some of their other investigations before she'll let them film at her grandmother's house as a pilot for a potential tv series.
Overall this was a really quick and pleasant read! The pacing was pretty good, and even though it wasn't that long of a book we got some good character development. This is my first read from Williams, but she has an extensive back catalogue I'm excited to dip into. I'm also excited to read the next two books in this particular series, which will follow Dion's brothers.
Tropes in this book include: black love, curvy heroine
CW: ghosts
octaviaatlas's review
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
I thoroughly enjoyed this. Dion and Vanessa's relationship moved at a reasonable pace, given the emotional and physical obstacles they faced. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.
nikkiplans99's review
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
4.0
This was a very cute story. Low angst, funny dialog.
brandylyons's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Why was this book so freaking adorable?? I love Vanessa, whose heart is bruised from the one-two punch it just took. She is bound and determined to protect her beloved grandmother from some scammer ghost hunters!! Dion is just the sweetest cinnamon roll ever, but he’s not gonna roll over and let Vanessa dismiss all the good he and his brothers do. Watching them fight and spark and explore was so perfectly lovely, even when I wanted to shake one or the other of them! Loved all of it!!
firewhiskeyreader's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
4.5
Synithia Williams writes a really fantastic category romance and I'm extremely intrigued by this new series. Vanessa heads down from Atlanta after her life sort of implodes to stay in one of her grandmother's rental properties. It's shortly after she arrives that she meets Dion, coming into her grandmother's home to help her grandma deal with her grandfather's ghost. Vanessa is understandably convinced that he's a scam artist, which makes the sparks flying between them just a tad inconvenient. The plot of this book essentially unfolds as Dion and his brothers work to convince Vanessa that ghosts are real and they are actually not scam artists so that Vanessa will stop standing in the way of her grandmother's home being used to film a pilot for a show about the brother's ghost hunting adventures.
But what's going on between Vanessa and Dion and for each of them separately is really what made this book work for me. The two of them have a pretty immediate connection that they resist for their own reasons. Vanessa's life is in flux and Dion is settled into this town. The push pull between them and the things they want gives this book the perfect level of angst to keep you reading to find out what will happen, without ever drifting into gut punch territory. It was a very solid read!
Additionally, one of the things Williams does so well is really establish a full community in all of her books and this one is no exception. I am very much looking forward to the next books in this series!
But what's going on between Vanessa and Dion and for each of them separately is really what made this book work for me. The two of them have a pretty immediate connection that they resist for their own reasons. Vanessa's life is in flux and Dion is settled into this town. The push pull between them and the things they want gives this book the perfect level of angst to keep you reading to find out what will happen, without ever drifting into gut punch territory. It was a very solid read!
Additionally, one of the things Williams does so well is really establish a full community in all of her books and this one is no exception. I am very much looking forward to the next books in this series!
cakt1991's review against another edition
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
4.0
I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.
This is a fun book that really stands out in the Harlequin Special Edition catalog, There’s a great balance of small-town vibes with a subtle infusion of light paranormal, so while it does bend the genre somewhat, it still feels grounded in its genre and setting. I enjoyed the exploration into the ins and outs of a ghost hunting show, and I love that that premise will carry over the series.
Both leads are interesting, with them both being at a crossroads in their lives. I appreciate how figuring out what they want was balanced with the romance to make them more fleshed out, and it felt like a believable transition from a fling to the real thing.
This is a fun book that really stands out in the Harlequin Special Edition catalog, There’s a great balance of small-town vibes with a subtle infusion of light paranormal, so while it does bend the genre somewhat, it still feels grounded in its genre and setting. I enjoyed the exploration into the ins and outs of a ghost hunting show, and I love that that premise will carry over the series.
Both leads are interesting, with them both being at a crossroads in their lives. I appreciate how figuring out what they want was balanced with the romance to make them more fleshed out, and it felt like a believable transition from a fling to the real thing.
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