Entities to Lovers by Mallory Marlowe Review

A connection that’s more than supernatural emerges between two rival tour guides who wish they could ghost each other in this sparkling romantic comedy from USA Today bestselling author Mallory Marlowe.

Paranormal medium Rory Woods spends her days offering psychic readings at Ye Olde Spirit Shop and nights haunting the streets of Boston as a ghost-tour guide. Sure, business could be better, but she’s proud of the shop she runs with her mom.

Enter Ezra adjunct history professor, noted thorn in Rory’s side, and—though she’d only admit it under threat of medieval torture he surely knows too much about—a distractingly handsome, charismatic coworker.

Rory can’t stand Ezra’s know-it-all, show-offy behavior. Ezra loves to tease the gorgeous, brilliant medium at the shop. And when the two are forced to host a tour together? It’s no wonder they end up hexed after disturbing a matchmaking ghost.

Saddled with perpetual bad luck unless they’re physically near each other, Rory and Ezra will try anything, from séances to kissing, to stop the jinx from wreaking havoc on both their lives. But in their quest to appease the spirit, they realize that growing closer might not be the curse they once thought it was.

A kitzy paranormal spirit shop, tarot card readings, light hauntings, and animated competitive ghost tour rivals forced to work together to break a curse of endless bad luck. Entities to Lovers by Mallory Marlowe is a fun and casual paranormal contemporary romance novel featuring an amazing pun of a title that well represents its focal enemies-to-lovers arc. Full of cozy Halloween vibes and a solid slate of narrative elements, this book is a great Fall season read and an overall good book brought down by several small but notable drawbacks. (On Goodreads, 2.5 star rating rounded down.)

Pitched as a paranormal romance novel set around a rivalry between two ghost tour guides, Entities to Lovers is a fun read that mostly lives up to its marketing pitch. While it features a nice slate of staples of paranormal genres, the book keeps them relatively light, which makes this a very accessible read for those curious about the paranormal romance genre. The overall story follows the obvious enemies-to-lovers arc facilitated via forced proximity due to a mysterious otherworldly curse, a simple premise that nonetheless works well.

One of the book’s bestselling points is how Autumn-inspired it is, an appropriate cozy seasonal read perfect for October when it’s set to be published. With decorative items, chilly evening outings, festivities, and an exciting upcoming Halloween-themed event scheduled to take place at Ye Olde Spirit Shop, the Fall vibes in this book are vibing. In addition to the seasonal flavor, another area that this book gets right is that specific kitzy feel of many paranormal-themed ghost history tours and themed spirit shops. From Rory and Ezra’s tour host personas to the mix of history with the occult, questionable puns, and cheeky humor, the focal yet limited ghost tours depicted are well done. Having been on similar tours before with animated (and sometimes a bit too extra) guides, Marlowe nails the energy and general experience.

Another asset of the book is its recurring themes that are connected to both its characters’ development and focal curse. Despite both appearing confident and prideful on the surface, Rory and Ezra are masking their lingering insecurities that color and affect their daily actions and outlook on life. An upsetting past event has led Rory to believe that she’s undesirable, unworthy, and unlovable, which leads to an abrasive and guarded persona that keeps everyone else away. Meanwhile, Ezra suffers from similar feelings of inadequacy and deems himself a failure to launch, incapable of doing anything right. Both characters project and externalize their insecurities externally and towards each other, all while the curse forces them to begrudgingly work together to figure out what is happening.

While this book’s narrative elements and ideas appear strong on paper, the actual execution of them is much more of a mixed bag. While the story has a great hook, premise, and great start, the plot soon starts to drag in places. The hallmark curse occurs surprisingly far into the book, where the characters’ constant bickering starts to get repetitive (more on that shortly) followed by outings or bad luck occurrences that largely feel like filler. At times, it can feel like the book is directionless and as lost as its characters feel. Certain parts that stay on topic with paranormal shenanigans and romantic scenarios are good; noteworthy scenes are when Rory does a read for Ezra, they infiltrate a historic mansion after hours, or their first co-hosted ghost tour. However, the rest of the plot can seem a bit dry, generic, and forgettable when it isn’t utilizing its seasonal setting or supernatural elements.

Another area that some may find weak or unappealing is the chemistry between Rory and Ezra. While their relationship roughly follows the enemies-to-lovers trope, both the enemies and lovers arcs can feel a bit off for different reasons. The biggest issue early on is that Rory’s hate for Ezra can seem thinly constructed and a poor explanation for her intense dislike of him. On one hand, it technically works for the book’s theme of having its characters project their own insecurities externally, but it’s far too obvious early on for the reader where her frustration can feel misplaced. As this book is written with dual POVs, the reader has direct insight into Ezra’s feelings and perspective, and while Rory clearly views him as an enemy, the reverse direction isn’t the same and appears more like a competitive rival. The mismatch in energy, on top of Ezra’s character having far fewer obvious flaws, results in Rory’s character being less appealing and likable for much of the first half of the book. Once cursed and forced to work together, their chemistry improves slightly. My personal belief and takeaway is that if not for the titular pun, this book probably would’ve worked much better if they were set against each other following a rivals-to-lovers trope instead of enemies, especially because their competition towards each other is quite silly; hate for each other because one has better Yelp experience ratings? Perhaps a stronger alternative scenario would be them competing to eventually take over Ye Olde Spirit Shop, earn a promotion as the manager for the ghost tours, or pursue expansion of the business, or any other setup where the stakes are more meaningful.

Unfortunately, the chemistry starts to slip again in the back half during the book’s lovers arc. Scenes meant to be swoony and romantic are often quite awkward, as the characterization for both characters feels noticeably off, almost like they’re completely different people. The book’s dialogue is generally pretty cheeky and sassy, which is completely lost in these chapters, especially Ezra’s energy that walks a fine line between eccentric goth and historical geek; the smooth and swoony approach feels like it flattens his entire character into generic romance MMC material which is noticeably off-brand considering the reader is shown a perfect example of him smooth-talking another woman prior to Rory with far more personality. The same could be said for Rory to a lesser extent. The dirty talking and thirsty flirting also consistently feel unnatural and even a bit bizarre at times, the spicy content being one of the book’s weakest elements. While the plot mechanisms for forced proximity and romantic scenarios are in theory good, the execution of the scenes consistently feels contrived and questionable. This is also before the third-act breakup, which comes off as entirely forced, the base conflict utilizing trite miscommunication and baffling character logic on Ezra’s end. Though the romance is functional and gets the job done, for me it pales in comparison to the paranormal elements, which are already limited in use.

On a more micro level, there are quite a few areas that could be improved with slight tweaks. While Rory’s history with ghost encounters leading to her insecurities is conceptually good, most of it feels quite brief and underdeveloped. Ezra’s day job at the university also seems oddly underused; despite being an adjunct professor, he seemingly is rarely at the university, teaching classes, or having office hours while supposedly being inseparable from Rory. Both of their backstories consist of the reader simply being told what happened and stated their repercussions rather than showing what happened or demonstrating their debilitating effect. Their investigations and interviews with past cursed workers feel far too brief considering how interesting and connected to the book’s premise they are, while the Halloween special and ending chapters similarly feel rushed. There’s a great cameo appearance by Marlowe’s previous protagonists Hallie and Hayden, which are nice but likely could’ve been longer considering how entertaining they are as well as serving as an epilogue of sorts to Love and Other Conspiracies. Ordinarily, these points wouldn’t be that noticeable if not for my struggle to stay invested in the story, which felt slow and long despite this book being a standard length for a contemporary romance novel.

As a casual and light-hearted paranormal romance set in the cozy season, Entities to Lovers is a book that more or less delivers. It follows the marketed enemies-to-lovers trope, has paranormal elements, and has strong October vibes. On paper, this novel looks great, but across the board, the execution leaves something to be desired. It’s by no means a poor book and none of its issues are necessarily deal-breakers, but cumulatively they add up to a book I personally had a difficult time keeping up with. In the author’s acknowledgement section (text in the final published version subject to change), Marlowe mentions that this was the hardest book of her career to write, and unfortunately despite the effort and editing, I fear it shows. I originally got the ARC for this book having Marlowe’s previous novels Love and Other Conspiracies and Love At First Sightings on my to-read list, and though this book isn’t for me, I can still see its potential and am more than willing to give her other books a try. For those looking for a cozy Fall book or contemporary romance readers looking to venture into the paranormal romance genre, Entities to Lovers is a fine pick for a chill afternoon kind of read. For those that are interested in the book’s supernatural premise or fans of Marlowe’s previous books, I’d recommend going in with modest expectations.