Rowan Vale is a living museum where some of the residents are ghosts. Shona has lived there all her life but she can only see her Aunt Polly who died in the 40's. There's a lot of question but Polly doesn't want to answer them. Unusual to have a book that's got ghosts but I enjoyed it

I really liked the second book, maybe even a little more than the first. I love this world so much, it's a magical place and the ghost are such captivating characters.

Shona, a fifty-something woman, is running the 1940s themed teashop. Living there is her great-aunt Polly, even do she died in 1948. Max is a newcomer, who is connected to the village in more ways than one. His arrival sends sparks flying, not only for Shona, but for Polly too. He wants to know more about his grandfather, who was a German prisoner of war and was working on the farm in the village. Shona wants to help him uncover the truth, but that might cause more harm than good. Some secrets are better left buried..

While Shona and Max were compelling characters in their own right, I didn't feel connected to them. But, I did feel connected to Polly. I loved her so much. Her story honestly broke my heart. She was murdered and the mystery of the night it happened was woven into the whole book. While I did guess the outcome pretty early on, I still cried when we were told the whole story. But, the end did caught me by suprise.
To me, the ghost are the center of the story and I love hearing their stories.
I did loved the glimpses we got into Callie and Brodie though, I missed them.

This was a great story, we got some insight into the life in Rowan Vale during the war and the heartbreak that followed it. All while the village was getting ready to have a 1940s weekend.
It was slow at times, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The family aspect of this story was truly amazing.

I do hope we get many, many more books. I would love to meet all the ghosts. We still have so many unanswered questions, I can't wait for the next book.

I think I enjoyed the first book in this series a bit more mainly because I felt more invested in the characters. I do think there are a lot of characters in this story and its sometimes hard to follow along with how they are related and remembering what time period they are from, etc. However, I did enjoy reading about Shona and her Aunt Polly.

I think I was a bit more interested in Aunt Polly's past and finding out who murdered her than Shona's story. I do think Shona and Max are great together and have good chemistry, I just didn't feel a connection to them as much as I did Aunt Polly. I wish we would have seen a bit more of Callie and Brodie in this story even though I understand there isn't much else to tell about their story. Thank you to Netgalley, Boldwood Books, and Sharon Booth for an ARC of this book. This review is my own honest opinion.

Ghosts and a mystery with a love story. yes, please. I adored this book. I loved getting to know Shona and her family and her great Aunt Polly who was murdered in 1948. The mystery surrounding her death. I loved getting to know some of the other ghosts. The writing is fantastic and hooks you right away. I wish I could walk the town of Rowan Vale and maybe even see a ghost. I'm hoping there's more to this series because I'm obsessed.

A ghost, a teashop, and a tangled past—this cosy romance blends the supernatural with a vintage twist, all set in a picture-perfect Cotswold village.

Loving Spirits at the Vintage Teashop is a gentle, feel-good read with a unique twist: a ghostly great-aunt, a teashop frozen in time, and secrets buried deep in the village’s past. Set in the beautifully quaint Cotswold village of Rowan Vale—a living museum full of charm and nostalgia—this story blends cosy romance with a supernatural whodunnit.

The real standout for me was the dual-layered mystery: uncovering the truth behind Polly’s decades-old murder, and its unexpected link to Max, a newcomer tracing his German grandfather’s wartime past. That slow unravelling of secrets gave the book its emotional core and kept me turning the pages. Polly the ghost added mischief, warmth, and plenty of unfinished business.

While the pacing felt a little slow in places, the premise was intriguing, the setting was gorgeous, and the ghostly mystery kept me invested.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ – A cosy, paranormal mystery wrapped in 1940s nostalgia. Perfect for fans of warm village fiction with a touch of the unexpected.

My rating; 2.5*

As a millennial who grew up watching Melissa Joan Hart’s Sabrina the Teenage Witch, I’ve always loved cozy, witchy, magical books! So I was super excited to read this one. While there’s nothing wrong with it, it just wasn’t quite for me and didn’t match my personal taste :(

Let’s get into that:
1. I only just realized it’s a sequel, which probably explains why I felt lost and felt like I was missing backstory.
2. It introduced WAY too many character - over two dozen in the first 20%! I couldn’t keep up and felt disconnected from everyone, including the FMCs. Because of the numerous characters, it didn’t give me much chance to feel any emotional connection for… anyone. And that sucks because that’s one of the things I look for in a book - connection to the characters that will ‘pull’ and allow me to immerse in the story.
3. The plot fillers were slow and I thought it didn’t add much to the plot. I got incredibly bored, unfortunately, and skipped a handful of chapters here and there, only to find I missed nothing important.

Overall, definitely in the cozy mystery, feel-good cute-ish category. But because of the overload of characters and the unsatisfying ending (that I will not get into in order not to spoil it), I didn’t enjoy it as much as I hoped. Maybe if I felt more connected with the characters, maybe then I’d have been more invested and generally less bored :( Ugh I really wanted to like this.

***

Big thanks to NetGalley for having this on the platform, and to the Boldwood Books team for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC! Appreciate you guys.

Not the typical ARC I'd choose but I was drawn in due to the cover and some reviews left prior to my reading.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood books for this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review. I found the story interesting. The characters all were well developed the plot was easy to follow along with. In general, the story flowed very well and I was interested from the very beginning. I think I may have liked this a little bit better if I had read the first one in the series. But overall, I would recommend this book to others.

I didn’t read the first book in this series, but I don’t think that affected my read of this delightful story.

Not my usual genre to read, but I’m so glad I chose this one. A bit of mystery, paranormal, made me laugh and really a smashing read. Will look out for the next instalment

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.

Sharon Booth’s Loving Spirits at the Vintage Teashop is a stunning romantic paranormal fantasy masterpiece! I laughed, cried and was speechless at times. It is such a perfect story in so many ways. Without question, I adore this new series set in Rowan Dale! The first book is truly magnificent and I loved it but the second just took me a notch higher! It is incredibly moving, shining with wisdom and bursting with powerful lessons. It conveys boldly the importance of family and the power of forgiveness to set a heart free. Fresh starts, healing of past wounds, recovering from losses and accepting new loves are all beautifully woven into this unique tender tale.

Despite all the initial humour in this novel, there is a serious, complex murder mystery that delves into layers of social issues connected to war. Sharon deals with these topics respectfully and poignantly. Family devotion is at the heart of the plot but Prisoners of War and PTSD are part of the tightly knitted fabric. We get to see what it was like for Germans to be prisoners in a war camp. But also after the war ended, many were detained and forced to help rebuild Britain. This would have been distressing to those who just wanted to go home. The moral dilemma of this action is explored. Also, the conflicts in communities that arose because British citizens did not trust Germans to live among them. For they were seen as the enemy they fought against and who wreaked havoc on their lives. Yet, while these Germans gained more freedom to move within the community, romantic relationships occurred between German men and British women. It was not an easy existence for these couples. With feelings of betrayal and mistrust rampant, they had a lot to overcome. Loving Spirits at the Vintage Teashop explores these possible scenarios in some of the characters which helps us see what it was like to be in these situations.

PTSD, an endless negative by-product of war, is seen through some of the characters’ experiences and the havoc it created. This illness caused individuals to act in ways they never would have previously. It was not understood in the 1940s and many onlookers would have judged unfairly.

The novel has two points of view which are divided between vintage teashop manager Shona and her great - aunt Polly, a ghost. These likeable women take us into their worlds – one of the living with current concerns and the other wondering why she remained in spirit on this earth. Seeing events through their eyes presented some interesting observations and also revealed their similarities and differences. Shona can see her great-aunt but no other ghosts. Yet being able to talk to Polly is very useful, especially when the events of her death are under scrutiny. Polly has harboured secrets to protect certain persons but when Max arrives into town to visit his daughter and find out more about his German grandfather’s time as a prisoner of war, Polly is forced to tell the truth of what she knows to restore one man’s reputation. There are lots of twists and turns in this mystery to uncover the facts of a shooting that occurred in the past.

I loved the various characters, including recurring ones, that kept the plot sailing along. I was truly pinned to the pages! I enjoyed the lighter elements of the 1940s theme with the Vintage Teashop and the special 1940s party. Plus revisiting the more serious aspects of the historic time period such as the lasting effects of war on participants and their descendants.

This is a wonderful novel that I cannot praise enough for its originality, humour, depth, creative plot, fascinating characters of unusual ghost residents dwelling with the living. It is a story about healing, forgiveness, love, family and community. Beautifully delivered, respectfully handled, this divine mix of light and shade, passion and humour is an absolute delight to read. 5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks to Boldwood Books and Netgalley for the ARC.

"Fans of Heidi Swain, Lucy Jane Wood, and the BBC series Ghosts will love this heart-warming, cosy, romantic novel with a magical twist.

The beautiful Cotswold village of Rowan Vale is run as a living museum, allowing tourists to see history in action. But there's more to the place than any visitor would guess...

Fifty-something Shona grew up in the village and now runs its vintage, 1940s-themed teashop. Not everyone knows that the previous manager, her great-aunt Polly, still lives there too...as a ghost!

When newcomer Max arrives, hoping to find out more about the place where his German grandfather was a prisoner of war, both Shona and Polly are unsettled. Shona, because handsome, interesting Max is the first man to catch her eye since her divorce, and Polly, because she must finally confront the terrible truth about her past.

A 1940s-themed weekend planned for the village brings the families' connections to a head and tragic secrets to light.

Can Shona help her ghostly great-aunt to find love and forgiveness once more, while also creating her own happy ever after?

The second in the comforting, feel-good, romantic series with a dash of fantasy that started with Kindred Spirits at Harling Hall."

Aw, ghostly HEAs!

having loved the first book by the author, i quickly accepted the offer of the next instalment.
it didn’t disappoint, it’s still full of ghostly going’s on but also filled with love and families and friends.
this is a hug in a book and my only negative is i’m sad i have finished it!
please tell me there will be more?!