I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Entities to Lovers by Mallory Marlowe Published by Berkley on October 13 2026
Genres: Adult, Cozy fantasy, Paranormal, Romance
Pages: 368
Format: Finished paperback
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: Ghosts, curses and tarot cards combine in this Halloween-centric cozy paranormal romance.
Entities to Lovers is the perfect cozy/spooky book to read leading up to Halloween, especially since the story itself takes place around the holiday. I loved the characters (especially the ghosts!), and the romance is the nice slow burn kind that leaves plenty of room for other things, like an intriguing mystery, a fun setting and even some “gentle” themes like believing in yourself and facing things that scare you. This is a mostly low stakes story with lots of humor and cute moments, and I really enjoyed the time I spent reading it.
The story alternates between two first person narratives. Rory lives in Boston and works at Ye Olde Spirit Shop with her mother Delia, doing tarot readings and acting as a tour guide for Delia’s ghost tour business. Ever since she was a child, Rory has been able to sense and communicate with ghosts, and this ability makes their business even more popular. Ezra is a fairly new hire and also works as a tour guide, but his day job is teaching history at a local college. Unfortunately, his teacher’s salary is barely enough to cover his expenses in such an expensive city, so his second job helps with that.
Rory is jealous of Ezra’s natural charisma, which seems to make him a more popular tour guide, although as annoyed as she is, she can’t stop staring at him (and his many tattoos!) Erza, on the other hand, has been attracted to Rory since he first met her. Sparks seem to fly whenever the two are together, but not the good kind.
One night, Delia double books them both on the same tour by accident, and Rory and Ezra are forced to do a tour together. One of the stops is a house haunted by a woman named Temperance Talbot, and after an argument, the two manage to knock over and break one of Temperance’s artifacts. After that, both Rory and Ezra begin to experience a string of bad luck: Rory’s alarm clock doesn’t go off and she ruins her favorite stockings; Ezra drops his toothbrush in the toilet and mistakenly sends a group email to his students with an embarrassing typo. But when they are together, their luck changes for the better. Rory soon realizes what’s going on: Temperance has cursed them. As long as they stick together, they’re fine, but when they go their separate ways, bad luck ensues.
Forced into close proximity, they try to figure out how to break the curse. But the more time they spend together, the more they realize they’re starting to like each other…
I thought the back and forth formatting worked great, since it lets the reader see inside both characters’ heads. Not only do we learn how they secretly feel about each other, but we see their flaws as well. Rory is haunted by a spirit who “attached” itself to her when she was young and made her feel terrible about herself. Even though the spirit was exorcized, it still returns during Rory’s darkest moments, ruining her self esteem. Now Rory second guesses everything—her worth as a tour guide and medium, and especially her ability to find a significant other.
Ezra also has some insecurities he’s struggling with. He loves teaching and wants nothing more than to light a spark in his students, but the stodgy curriculum he’s forced to follow doesn’t let him teach outside the box. He hasn’t reached the point where he can confidently move on to another job, so he’s basically miserable. You can see that these two need each other, not only romantically, but to grow into the people they are supposed to be. Not only were there some hysterically funny moments, but their slow burn romance was both sweet and spicy.
I absolutely loved the paranormal elements, which elevate this from just another romance novel. Rory has a polite ghost who lives in her apartment, and there’s also a shop ghost named Clementine (who inhabits a porcelain doll!) who gives you things if she likes you. Even the ghost of Temperance Talbot, who caused all the problems in the first place, turns out to be much more than she first appears.
We also meet two podcasters named Hallie and Hayden who, it turns out, were the romantic couple in Mallory Marlowe’s Love and Other Conspiracies. And now I’m wondering if one or two of the side characters in Entities to Lovers will feature in a future book, perhaps Ezra’s younger brother Micah? I love when authors connect their books in various ways, and now I need to go back and read the author’s previous books!
Rory and Ezra eventually figure out how to break the curse (of course), and I loved that the final resolution gave the characters a chance to be honest with each other—and themselves. Entities to Lovers is the feel-good Halloween romance you didn’t know you needed in your life!
Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
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