I love stories that take place back in Victorian England and a well constructed medium/psychic story with a touch of romance is the best. Gemma Dawson does well with the narration. There were a few times when I personally would have emphasized a sentence in a different place, but only a few. :-) ( )

3.5 stars ( )

This is the tenth book in Paranormal 13, a book with 13 paranormal stories written by various authors.

After gagging a little on the overly polite banter and behavior of the main character Emily, and her sister Celia, I enjoyed this book. I don’t know why but I caught myself giving both Emily and Celia annoyingly high-pitched and pretentious voices while I read. I probably have watched too many movies with women like this like North and South and Pride and Prejudice. I have a hard time taking a woman serious when she cares too much about etiquette and manners and how they appear to polite society or the upper class. Luckily, Emily soon showed that she didn’t really care about any of this.

Emily is a medium in 1880 London. She and her much older sister Celia who must have been in her early 30s make money by having séances and calling the spirits of loved ones for people around London. Their séances have become quite popular in the parlors of many women and widows in the city.

After calling up a ghost who refused to return back to the “Waiting Room”, the place where all spirits go while waiting to be sent to next world, Celia starts chanting something foreign sounding while holding on to her new necklace, an amulet shaped like a start and made of brass that she purchased from a door to door peddler. Celia likes things to look authentic by having Ouija Boards and other superstitious whatnots layed-out even though none of that is really necessary for Emily to call on a spirit so when Emily sees Celia’s new necklace, she doesn’t think much of it. But when Celia starts chanting, a shapeshifting shadow appears and takes the form of a wolf. It tries to bite Emily but then disappears. Emily asks Celia what she had chanted and Celia explains to her that the woman who sold her the amulet told her to say the chant three times if she ever needed to solve something.

When the sisters arrive home, a man is waiting for them by their door. He looks solid unlike other ghosts so Emily didn’t think he was a ghost until she realized her sister couldn’t see him. The ghost, Jacob, tells her that the chant released a dangerous shapeshifting demon and he was sent by the administrators of the Waiting Room to oversee and guide Emily until the demon is caught and sent back to the Other World.

Emily and Jacob embark on a mission to find out who the peddler woman is that sold Celia the amulet and to find out who is responsible for releasing the demon…besides Celia who was just an unfortunate pawn in someone else’s game.

Emily and Jacob start to fall in love with each other which sounds weird but Emily can actually touch and feel him. He isn’t transparent like you would think a ghost would be. But Jacob needs to cross over to find peace, at least, that is what Emily believes. Even if he doesn’t, he will always be young while she ages so a relationship would be difficult.

I liked this book and am glad I read it. I probably would have never picked this book to read for myself because I just never thought about a ghost being tangible enough to be a lover so I am glad that this story was included in Paranormal 13 book. It looks like this story is part of a three-part series called Emily Chambers Spirit Medium Trilogy. I’ll have to finish the series sometime soon.

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Series Info/Source: This is the first book in the Emily Chambers trilogy. I borrowed this audiobook through Audible Escapes.

Story (3/5): This is a pretty typical supernatural historical fantasy. It’s set in London and ghosts and demons are real. I would have liked to learn more about the demons and ghosts and how that all works; but the ghosts we actually get to read about are few and far between and the demon we only see briefly. I did enjoy the mystery behind who enabled the summoning of a shapeshifting demon.

Characters (3/5): The characters all felt a bit vanilla to me, but Jacob and Emily do have good chemistry together. While Emily does occasionally show some pluck, she really lets her sister dominate her most of the time.

Setting (3/5): There wasn’t a lot of work done in world-building here. The setting is pretty typical historical Victorian with some small supernatural elements added.

Writing Style (3/5): The whole thing felt a bit limp and lackluster to me. I felt the same way about Archer’s Glass and Steele series, but decided to give her another chance since this was free to borrow though Audible Escapes. Archer is almost an author I like but I just don’t quite engage with her style.

Summary (3/5): This was an okay book but didn’t really excel at anything. Everything was okay but nothing really grabbed me. I felt the same way about Archer’s Glass and Steele series. I don’t plan on continuing the series. ( )

The Medium
Emily Chambers Spirit Medium Series, Book 1
By: C. J. Archer
Narrated by: Gemma Dawson
This was a great mystery, ghost story, romance, and more! Our gal of the story is a medium in a time when mediums were everywhere and they finding out they were frauds. But our gal is real. As a teen, with only her older sister, they make a living helping people. One day a handsome man comes as a warning, a demon has be set free due to something her sister said while holding a cursed necklace. Of course they didn't know. The young man is a ghost and only she can see him. He is assigned to help with the problem. He is just about her age and died recently but doesn't know how. A wonderful story and so many mysteries to solve. A love story that rips your heart out. So good!
The narrator is so good! The perfect light touch for a ghost story! Loved it all! ( )