Review: Phantom Traces

Phantom Traces by Claire Gem
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ghostly happenings? Check. Library setting? Check. A sweet romance? Check. This book ticks all the boxes for things that interest me; therefore, it should be no surprise to find out I was super eager to jump into this one.

Phantom Traces is a wonderful little read, working as a great introduction to Claire Gem’s work. Without a doubt, it works to ensure I’ll be picking up more of the author’s work. I already have one I plan to dive into as soon as I get the chance, and should it be as fun as it’s promising to be I know I’ll be picking up even more.

Whilst Phantom Traces may sound like a romance in the paranormal world, it is actually much more than that. Yes, there are paranormal elements to be seen; however, it is much more than that. The romance is very much of the contemporary variety, giving us a story dealing with all that you expect from a good romance read: tension, uncertainty, development, and twists. It takes the single aspects of contemporary romance – such as an age gap and hurt from past relationships – and mixes them into a story where more layers are added by the paranormal.

Not that the paranormal aspect is the only thing adding more to this story – oh no. There is plenty of drama to be seen from other characters and the storylines we follow. There is also a slight bit of mystery. Not in the whodunit sense, more in the ‘what happened’ way of thinking. You were left with questions about past events. You were left with questions of how certain things were linked together. Although some of these mystery aspects were glaringly obvious, I found I didn’t mind such a thing at all. I enjoyed the air of mystery around events, watching as characters tried to puzzle things out, even if it wasn’t much of a mystery for me – from my perspective the mystery aspects weren’t the important part, watching how it progressed the story was the significant aspect.

I really don’t want to say too much about this one, as things are interwoven in a beautiful way, so I apologise if what comes next isn’t overly specific. I’ll try to break down the story without ruining it for you.

What we have is a new girl in a small town kind of story going on. This means we’re quickly pulled into all kinds of drama. The fact she has a gothic air about her means people think of her a certain way. Due to her family, people have thoughts about her that are not necessarily a reflection of who she is. With her job at the library, she is pulled into all kinds of drama – it seems she appears to have been pulled into some kind of feud between the college library and the town’s historical library. Then there is the ghost. Is it real or not? What does it want? Not that he takes up all that much of her attention, as her eyes have been pulled to a man who seems to have gripped her heart.

Honestly, the paranormal aspects seemed to take a backseat for quite a bit of the book. We get to follow the beautiful blooming romance, and I came to truly love our main characters. The way in which their story played out was fabulous, and I was addicted throughout. However, I do wish there had been a bit more of the paranormal. I love ghostly happenings, and I had expected a little bit more from the spooks. It wasn’t that it was badly done – far from it – the synopsis merely had me believing the ghost would be a much more central aspect to the story. It was important for the development of the story, yes; but we didn’t get to see as many paranormal events as I would have liked. Such was my only real disappointment with the book.

Due to the fact that the paranormal seemed to take a backseat at times, allowing us to focus upon all of the drama of their characters’ lives, it felt as though the unveiling of information at the end happened much too quickly. It seemed as though all the big paranormal events hit at once. A part of this is a reflection of my reading preferences – I positively adore large amounts of supernatural events – and I’m sure many will be happy with the speed at which the paranormal aspects of the story progressed, but for me I wanted a tiny bit more.

Overall, though, I adored this one. It was a wonderful read, one I’d recommend to any bibliophile who dreams of finding love through their local library.

As a final note, I would like to thank the author for contacting me for a review of Phantom Traces. I appreciate it and cannot wait to jump into more of your work.

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