I have been reading a really fun amount of Horror and Ghost stories for Spooky Season (and beyond really, I've been just marinating in the stuff, and I love it.)
When I saw that Lucy Smoke has a new book coming out- Hallowed Bones- a Reverse Harem style novel set in the Salem area, possibly involving witches, I thought to myself - SELF, let's go take a listen to the audio book!
Lucy Smoke's latest release is Married to the Mafia, and I LOVED that novel. It had everything I wanted in a Mafia romance. So I was excited to see what Lucy would do with RH.
.
This is a RH that will satisfy and interest most RH, romantasy readers.
It does fall into and rely on the usual romantasy tropes. Our FMC is a damaged but incredibly strong (and beautiful) woman. She doesn't know her power, so it is going to take a few (also damaged and incredibly strong and beautiful) men to help her along.
There is a lot of "popping of the P" and use of the word "Nope" (so that the characters can Pop the P) but if one disregards this particularly odd microtrope- the book is solid, if predictable. Apologies to any readers who live for the "I popped the P" I have seen this in so many romance books in the past 3 years particularly, that it is incredibly unoriginal, and is sort of like literary fingernails on chalk boards-I'm sure someone does this in real life, but it isn't the cute/sassy that it's intended to be anymore. I admit, if I was giving a star rating it would drop a bit just because of that.
So.... Our main character ends up at a sort of Supernatural college, after she's orphaned and her Aunt is a mean auntie who doesn't want anything to do with her.
Her parents died in a horrific fire. Since then she has been plagued with nightmares, and mental health issues. Upon arrival the Sons of Salem take a keen interest in her. They are of course, a mixed bag of broody, golden retriever, nerdy intellect and fit and sociable. Turns out, they have been waiting for her. She didn't know it and they didn't know it but it's happened!
For me within a few chapters, I could see the plot unrolling and there were very few surprises. I was a bit disappointed in the incredibly slow build up leading to a cliffhanger. I would read the second book. I do think this will please most romantasy readers, as a casual read. I just can not say that I felt it was high on the originality list.
The narration was TOP NOTCH and really brought up my enjoyment of the story. I loved the multiple narrators and felt that the style enhanced my enjoyment of this book! Kudos To Macmillan Audio for an excellent production.
STATS
First Published: 10/06/2026
Pages: 384
Available as an Audio Book : Yes 12.5 hours
Trigger Warnings: Sex, alcohol, supernatural creatures, parental death, mental health, references to child abuse.
(this is not a full list, read responsibly)
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