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Ghost Glasses
"Heartfelt, haunting, and filled with moments of gentle compassion, Ghost Glasses is the kind of book that will have you contemplating the nature of memory and the traces of love that remain once we are gone. A beautiful story about friendship, healing, and transformation."
-Paulette Kennedy, bestselling author of The Devil and Mrs. Davenport
When a sixty-years-dead lonely ghost meets the spirit of a child, she’s forced to confront the monsters haunting her to provide the child with companionship. Whether by finding others trapped in-between as they are, or contacting the girl’s living father using a smarmy paranormal investigator hunting for fame, she’s determined to succeed in her task.
But the ghost’s memory isn’t what it used to be, and reality fades more by the day. The monsters are growing more resolute. She’ll have to reunite the child with family before she forgets her mission…and herself.
Fans of “The Haunting of Velkwood” by Gwendolyn Kiste, “The Spite House” by Johnny Compton, and “It Rides a Pale Horse” by Andy Marino will enjoy “Ghost Glasses” by Rikki Goodwin.
-Paulette Kennedy, bestselling author of The Devil and Mrs. Davenport
When a sixty-years-dead lonely ghost meets the spirit of a child, she’s forced to confront the monsters haunting her to provide the child with companionship. Whether by finding others trapped in-between as they are, or contacting the girl’s living father using a smarmy paranormal investigator hunting for fame, she’s determined to succeed in her task.
But the ghost’s memory isn’t what it used to be, and reality fades more by the day. The monsters are growing more resolute. She’ll have to reunite the child with family before she forgets her mission…and herself.
Fans of “The Haunting of Velkwood” by Gwendolyn Kiste, “The Spite House” by Johnny Compton, and “It Rides a Pale Horse” by Andy Marino will enjoy “Ghost Glasses” by Rikki Goodwin.
279 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 24, 2026
About the author
Rikki Goodwin
4 books29 followersRikki Goodwin is a horror author and body piercer in North Carolina. She’s on a lifelong quest to recapture the feeling of the sad ghosts descending the stairs in Poltergeist. If that fails, at least she knows she’ll eventually be one.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
December 3, 2025
Oh my goodness. I was lucky enough to get an ARC of this book and I devoured it in less than 24 hours. It was absolutely brilliant from start to finish! A totally different perspective of a "ghost story". The writing flowed so well. The characters are super engaging and pull you in. Warning: it made me cry twice and it takes a lot to break me! Usually I can't stand the "memory loss" trope but the way this was written it hooked me in. Absolutely fantastic; high praise for Rikki Goodwin!
January 28, 2026
This book is so inventive, clever, heartfelt and kind. It is a ghost story that will leave an impression not just through its creepy scenes, which are excellent, but through the human connection and truly beautiful emotion that Goodwin creates. My favorite book of all time is A Fine and Private Place by Peter S. Beagle, and this is the first book since that one that captures the melancholy, the loneliness, the desire for love that we experience in life and can be so well captured through a ghost story.
Poppy, Buddy, Addie, Sharleen, and even August (F that dude for real) will live in my memory, and I will be recommending this to anyone that enjoys a quiet, meditative horror book.
Poppy, Buddy, Addie, Sharleen, and even August (F that dude for real) will live in my memory, and I will be recommending this to anyone that enjoys a quiet, meditative horror book.
November 25, 2025
This was my first Rikki Goodwin book and it was a doozy. This is well outside my normal genres of choice but I took a chance on it because the blurb sounded great and the cover is gorgeous. I really loved how much detail she put in to the ghosts personalities particularly Poppy and Addie! If you like spooky reads, solving mysteries of where these monsters come from, don’t mind a little death, then this needs to be added to your 2026 TBR! Thank you to the author and Rowan Prose Publishing for the arc. I definitely recommend this book!
February 24, 2026
First I want to say thank you to the author and the publisher for the ARC I received!
Now on to the review.
I usually read thriller/horror books with more gore but this book came with a deeply human element that resonated with me. I was able to connect with the MC easily as well as the other characters.
Some things the MC was struggling with understanding, I understood before her but that didn’t bother me. I liked taking the journey with her.
This book is filled with twists and turns, some I didn’t even see coming. I loved every second of it. I can’t wait to read more from this author!
Now on to the review.
I usually read thriller/horror books with more gore but this book came with a deeply human element that resonated with me. I was able to connect with the MC easily as well as the other characters.
Some things the MC was struggling with understanding, I understood before her but that didn’t bother me. I liked taking the journey with her.
This book is filled with twists and turns, some I didn’t even see coming. I loved every second of it. I can’t wait to read more from this author!
Review of advance copy received from Author
Rikki Goodwin has been on my radar and TBR list for a while now. So, when the ARC for Ghost Glasses opened, I jumped at the opportunity!
Ghost Glasses follows the story of a lonely ghost who doesn’t even remember her name. She’s essentially wandering endlessly (in a world of “monsters”), searching for someone to FINALLY see her. Without giving too much away, the MC stumbles upon a spirit of a child and her entire afterlife changes. This book dives into the world of life after death, loneliness, a bit of the "memory loss" trope, plus the mystery of where these monsters came from! (And is it too much of a spoiler if I say we peer into crazy online influencers?!)
Honestly, I had no idea where the story was going. Nothing felt predictable or forced. I even gasped a few times! I also loved Chapter 1. I’m probably the only person to think this, but the full first chapter gave off Studio Ghibli/Spirited Away vibes. I could see every detail animated so vividly in my head!
The MC and her newly found friends, though, truly make this book. Each the characters have such distinct personalities and you either LOVE them or HATE them, which is so great to find in stories today. (RE: HATE- If you've read the book, you know exactly who I'm talking about)
If you’re looking for a quiet, quick read-HIGHLY recommend! Just be prepared to shed a tear or two.
Ghost Glasses follows the story of a lonely ghost who doesn’t even remember her name. She’s essentially wandering endlessly (in a world of “monsters”), searching for someone to FINALLY see her. Without giving too much away, the MC stumbles upon a spirit of a child and her entire afterlife changes. This book dives into the world of life after death, loneliness, a bit of the "memory loss" trope, plus the mystery of where these monsters came from! (And is it too much of a spoiler if I say we peer into crazy online influencers?!)
Honestly, I had no idea where the story was going. Nothing felt predictable or forced. I even gasped a few times! I also loved Chapter 1. I’m probably the only person to think this, but the full first chapter gave off Studio Ghibli/Spirited Away vibes. I could see every detail animated so vividly in my head!
The MC and her newly found friends, though, truly make this book. Each the characters have such distinct personalities and you either LOVE them or HATE them, which is so great to find in stories today. (RE: HATE- If you've read the book, you know exactly who I'm talking about)
If you’re looking for a quiet, quick read-HIGHLY recommend! Just be prepared to shed a tear or two.
October 30, 2025
This is a highly engaging and creatively tackled, albeit not necessarily new as a concept. It is singularly expressive in its approach to its plot and central message. A ghost who is not only self-aware but also grappling with memory loss and the terrifying existence of other, more monstrous spirits she comes across as she travels along on her melancholic journey for connection in an endless existence where 99%, of people can't even see you, and the overarching grief that comes with being dead. Both witty and sarcastic, this story is propelled by the main character on every note of the developing plot and its take on grief as a part of human existence.
The structure is clever, weaving together Poppy's present-day narrative with her notebook entries and excerpts from August Waters' streams and interviews. Though it only happens in singles page increments at the end of chapters, you get to learn a lot of this characters personality and motivations in a most succinct manner that is wholeheartedly appreciated in a market full of bloated and bland stories. This only added to the tight pacing of the whole narrative that pushed the plot along at a nice clip and didn't feel any sort of slow at any point.
The writing itself is fun and detailed, with vivid descriptions that bring both the mundane and the monstrous to life (you see what I did there?). The author's ability to dedicate the proper detail to the scenes of genuine creepy as fuck creatures is where the text shines most in my opinion. The vivid imagery that my mind conjured up whilst reading was fun to consume as much as I side eyed that suspicious looking jacked hanging from the hook on my room door. 👀 The corn field scene was my favorite.
The world building was both subtle and familiar as a Chicago resident, and seeing daily encountered names throughout the journey was a nice ingredient mixed in with the rules of Ghost existence that author created for this book. Woot! Berwyn mentioned!
All around I had a good time with this read and would readily re-read come spooky season next time around.
The structure is clever, weaving together Poppy's present-day narrative with her notebook entries and excerpts from August Waters' streams and interviews. Though it only happens in singles page increments at the end of chapters, you get to learn a lot of this characters personality and motivations in a most succinct manner that is wholeheartedly appreciated in a market full of bloated and bland stories. This only added to the tight pacing of the whole narrative that pushed the plot along at a nice clip and didn't feel any sort of slow at any point.
The writing itself is fun and detailed, with vivid descriptions that bring both the mundane and the monstrous to life (you see what I did there?). The author's ability to dedicate the proper detail to the scenes of genuine creepy as fuck creatures is where the text shines most in my opinion. The vivid imagery that my mind conjured up whilst reading was fun to consume as much as I side eyed that suspicious looking jacked hanging from the hook on my room door. 👀 The corn field scene was my favorite.
The world building was both subtle and familiar as a Chicago resident, and seeing daily encountered names throughout the journey was a nice ingredient mixed in with the rules of Ghost existence that author created for this book. Woot! Berwyn mentioned!
All around I had a good time with this read and would readily re-read come spooky season next time around.
May 13, 2026
"Ghost Glasses" by Rikki Goodwin is at times heartwarming or heartbreaking, but always, at its heart, about family. Not just the one we're born with, but the family we make for ourselves, the people in life (and in this case, in the afterlife) who make us feel needed, important, and above all else, remembered.
At the center of the story is Poppy, the ghost of a young woman killed in the 1960s when she is struck by a garbage truck on her way to work. Since that time, she has wandered the streets of Chicago, completely invisible to everyone around her. Not even her own mother realized Poppy's presence, no matter how desperately Poppy tried to be seen or heard. She can still touch objects, move them around, turn things on and off, but to the casual observer, these things go unnoticed or dismissed as coincidence. When the story opens, it's been 60 years since Poppy's untimely demise. Her mother is long-since dead and her childhood home now inhabited by strangers. Poppy had hoped when her mother died, they'd be reunited in the afterlife, but unfortunately, that didn't happen, and she's found herself as she's been all along: alone.
At least, almost. During her lonely wanderings through the city, Poppy encounters other spirits, hideous and terrifying monsters that frighten and chase her. She does her best to avoid them, but one day, a monster manages to follow as she flees across a subway platform and onto a train. The other passengers are oblivious as it stalks the narrow aisles, searching for Poppy -- until Poppy hears one of them scream, a young man who clearly not only sees the monster among them, but Poppy herself.
She tries to catch up to him as he bolts in terror, but is unable to. She becomes determined to find him again, and her search inadvertently leads her into the company of a long-haul truck driver named Buddy, in whose cab she hitches a ride. He's not a bad traveling companion, even though he has no idea she's tagging along, so she sticks with him a while, eventually ending up at his mother's house with him for the holidays. There, she's stunned to meet another ghost: that of Buddy's young daughter Addie, who was killed along with her mother, Buddy's wife, in a car wreck.
Addie is the one who names Poppy, because in the story, ghosts lose their memories over time, a conundrum Poppy has tried to combat in part by carrying a notebook with her, and writing down events and facts from her life to remind herself. Her name, however, was one thing she could never recall, and she's happy to accept the designation Addie picks for her.
As Addie and Poppy grow closer, she learns no one in the girl's family can see or hear her, either. Sometimes Addie says she has break-through moments with her grandmother, much as Poppy has had with Buddy, brief interludes in which they are heard, or glimpsed. These are all only too fleeting, however, and Poppy longs to find a way for them to communicate better with the living.
She realizes her chance when she discovers the man she'd seen on the Chicago subway is a psychic named August Waters. He's a rising internet celebrity who explores haunted places and tries to capture spectral phenomena to share with his viewers. Although it's a risk, Poppy tries to send him an email using Buddy's phone, explaining who she is, who she is with, and asking for August's help. By nothing short of blind luck, August receives this message, and within no time, he has his army of followers on the hunt to track down Poppy, Buddy, and his family.
From there, things get complicated. For one thing, Buddy doesn't believe in ghosts, and when August shows up at his mother's house, livestreaming, he grows angry and defensive. Even when Buddy begins to believe in Poppy's existence, as well as Addie's, the massive amount of attention August brings to his family and their private tragedy only enrages and alienates him further.
Along the way, Poppy discovers a horrifying truth: the things she considered monsters are really spirits like herself and Addie, ones whose memories have completely eroded away. With no sense of identity, belonging, or their pasts, these poor wayward souls are left twisted and deformed by their own loneliness and sorrow into grotesque caricatures of the people they once were. When a furious Buddy rejects Poppy, demanding that she leaves, she finds herself at risk of slipping into a similar state of despair, and of becoming one of the creatures she's so long feared.
Goodwin's narrative style is warm, comfortable, and engaging. The story goes to some pretty dark places, but she knows how to balance it with touches of lightheartedness and humor. She has a gift for descriptions, providing just the right amount of detail at just the right time for the reader to feel completely immersed in her world and characters. The monsters she's imagined are truly terrifying and unique, and it's gut-wrenching to read Poppy's point of view shifting as she slowly devolves into one, her thoughts slipping into morose, hopeless despair, her memories abandoning her one by one. And while the ending isn't exactly happy, it's definitely something hopeful, a promise that, if only for a short time, our lost loved ones can live again when we choose to remember them.
At the center of the story is Poppy, the ghost of a young woman killed in the 1960s when she is struck by a garbage truck on her way to work. Since that time, she has wandered the streets of Chicago, completely invisible to everyone around her. Not even her own mother realized Poppy's presence, no matter how desperately Poppy tried to be seen or heard. She can still touch objects, move them around, turn things on and off, but to the casual observer, these things go unnoticed or dismissed as coincidence. When the story opens, it's been 60 years since Poppy's untimely demise. Her mother is long-since dead and her childhood home now inhabited by strangers. Poppy had hoped when her mother died, they'd be reunited in the afterlife, but unfortunately, that didn't happen, and she's found herself as she's been all along: alone.
At least, almost. During her lonely wanderings through the city, Poppy encounters other spirits, hideous and terrifying monsters that frighten and chase her. She does her best to avoid them, but one day, a monster manages to follow as she flees across a subway platform and onto a train. The other passengers are oblivious as it stalks the narrow aisles, searching for Poppy -- until Poppy hears one of them scream, a young man who clearly not only sees the monster among them, but Poppy herself.
She tries to catch up to him as he bolts in terror, but is unable to. She becomes determined to find him again, and her search inadvertently leads her into the company of a long-haul truck driver named Buddy, in whose cab she hitches a ride. He's not a bad traveling companion, even though he has no idea she's tagging along, so she sticks with him a while, eventually ending up at his mother's house with him for the holidays. There, she's stunned to meet another ghost: that of Buddy's young daughter Addie, who was killed along with her mother, Buddy's wife, in a car wreck.
Addie is the one who names Poppy, because in the story, ghosts lose their memories over time, a conundrum Poppy has tried to combat in part by carrying a notebook with her, and writing down events and facts from her life to remind herself. Her name, however, was one thing she could never recall, and she's happy to accept the designation Addie picks for her.
As Addie and Poppy grow closer, she learns no one in the girl's family can see or hear her, either. Sometimes Addie says she has break-through moments with her grandmother, much as Poppy has had with Buddy, brief interludes in which they are heard, or glimpsed. These are all only too fleeting, however, and Poppy longs to find a way for them to communicate better with the living.
She realizes her chance when she discovers the man she'd seen on the Chicago subway is a psychic named August Waters. He's a rising internet celebrity who explores haunted places and tries to capture spectral phenomena to share with his viewers. Although it's a risk, Poppy tries to send him an email using Buddy's phone, explaining who she is, who she is with, and asking for August's help. By nothing short of blind luck, August receives this message, and within no time, he has his army of followers on the hunt to track down Poppy, Buddy, and his family.
From there, things get complicated. For one thing, Buddy doesn't believe in ghosts, and when August shows up at his mother's house, livestreaming, he grows angry and defensive. Even when Buddy begins to believe in Poppy's existence, as well as Addie's, the massive amount of attention August brings to his family and their private tragedy only enrages and alienates him further.
Along the way, Poppy discovers a horrifying truth: the things she considered monsters are really spirits like herself and Addie, ones whose memories have completely eroded away. With no sense of identity, belonging, or their pasts, these poor wayward souls are left twisted and deformed by their own loneliness and sorrow into grotesque caricatures of the people they once were. When a furious Buddy rejects Poppy, demanding that she leaves, she finds herself at risk of slipping into a similar state of despair, and of becoming one of the creatures she's so long feared.
Goodwin's narrative style is warm, comfortable, and engaging. The story goes to some pretty dark places, but she knows how to balance it with touches of lightheartedness and humor. She has a gift for descriptions, providing just the right amount of detail at just the right time for the reader to feel completely immersed in her world and characters. The monsters she's imagined are truly terrifying and unique, and it's gut-wrenching to read Poppy's point of view shifting as she slowly devolves into one, her thoughts slipping into morose, hopeless despair, her memories abandoning her one by one. And while the ending isn't exactly happy, it's definitely something hopeful, a promise that, if only for a short time, our lost loved ones can live again when we choose to remember them.
February 27, 2026
This is my first Rikki Goodwin book, and I’m impressed. I knew after I finished the first chapter that this story was going to be awesome. Seriously, chapter one was amazing, so vivid and electrifying. And spooky. And then I knew this book was going to be downright tear-your-heart-out emotional. Our ghost lady has been dead for almost 60 years (but we don’t really know she’s a ghost at first). She is self-aware, but her memory isn’t what it used to be, and the memory she does have fades more every day. She doesn’t even remember her name anymore. What transpires on the train in the first chapter is crazy. The way the author described that creature was terrifying. The screams it made sounded like something from my worst nightmares come to life!
The book is written in first person, and the pace is medium to fast. I’m not going to summarize the book/plot, but rather tell you how the book made me feel. It’s a different kind of ghost story. Thanks to the author’s very genuine, honest, heartfelt words, I felt sympathy/empathy toward our ghost. I thought about our connectedness as human beings and how that would be lost to a ghost, but then the book proved me wrong on another, different level of connectedness. The book had me thinking about memory and its role in my own life, too. Nothing in the book felt forced or fake. All the relationships felt real and genuine. It was so refreshing!
Overall, I loved the book, and I’m giving it 5 stars! If you’re a fan of quiet, contemplative horror that feels real and goes on a journey, this is the book for you! Thank you to @tlcbooktours and the author for the arc copy. All opinions are my own.
The book is written in first person, and the pace is medium to fast. I’m not going to summarize the book/plot, but rather tell you how the book made me feel. It’s a different kind of ghost story. Thanks to the author’s very genuine, honest, heartfelt words, I felt sympathy/empathy toward our ghost. I thought about our connectedness as human beings and how that would be lost to a ghost, but then the book proved me wrong on another, different level of connectedness. The book had me thinking about memory and its role in my own life, too. Nothing in the book felt forced or fake. All the relationships felt real and genuine. It was so refreshing!
Overall, I loved the book, and I’m giving it 5 stars! If you’re a fan of quiet, contemplative horror that feels real and goes on a journey, this is the book for you! Thank you to @tlcbooktours and the author for the arc copy. All opinions are my own.
March 10, 2026
This was my first read of a Goodwin book, but definitely not the last. I believe this was my favorite read of the year so far. It has so much heart and brilliant story-telling. Goodwin takes the reader through all the gears, from heartbreak to terror, so smoothly and captivating in a way you won't want to put it down. It touches on themes about our shared humanity and individual identities through the story of a ghost struggling to hold on to both and not forget who she was (or is). A ghost coming to grips with her own death and yet trying to prevent and ease the trauma of others, including a young ghost of a girl and her family. The story also has some of the most terrifying and imaginative monsters I've read in a while, but somehow also brings a humanity to them and recognizes there are monstrous aspects in all of us. In other words, I highly recommend this story and I'm looking forward to other books from Goodwin, and perhaps a sequel?
February 26, 2026
I wasn't sure what to expect with this story. I found it quite intriguing, a different way to look at ghosts. Poppy tried to hang onto her notebook to keep herself relatively grounded. As we followed her journey, we encountered a truck driver, several monstrosities, a ghost child, a ghost hunter, the selfishness of humanity, and love. I did figure out the monstrosities before Poppy did, and I wished we found out Poppy's real name. Little Addie had my heart and tears, and the ending hint at Buddy and Poppy helping out other ghosts had me rooting for this duo.
I received an ARC through Rowan Prose, and this is my unsolicited review.
I received an ARC through Rowan Prose, and this is my unsolicited review.
March 18, 2026
Rikki Goodwin again sucked me into another amazing story. This one surprisingly is from the POV of the ghost, which made it particularly intriguing!! I loved it from the beginning. I couldn’t wait to see what surprises awaited me at each turn of the page! I loved the characters and the monsters!! I loved the story and this book definitely left me wanting more from this very talented author and her inviting stories!! I would recommend this to everyone because it has a little something for all interests!!
March 9, 2026
4.5 🌟
It is so refreshing to read a book that is unlike anything else you will pick up in a store today! I fell in love with these characters, and the way the scenes are portrayed makes me feel as if I am there in the story too. I did feel as if some scenes of Poppy's journey were a little drawn out for me personally; They did not detract from the story but I felt didn't add to the story either. Overall a really refreshing, beautiful book!
It is so refreshing to read a book that is unlike anything else you will pick up in a store today! I fell in love with these characters, and the way the scenes are portrayed makes me feel as if I am there in the story too. I did feel as if some scenes of Poppy's journey were a little drawn out for me personally; They did not detract from the story but I felt didn't add to the story either. Overall a really refreshing, beautiful book!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 13, 2026
I enjoyed going on the journey with our protagonist. A shame it ended so suddenly; I could have done with at least finding out more about her!
There was one point where I got absolutely walloped in the feels, particularly as I wasn’t expecting it. It’s just dusty in here, okay?
There was one point where I got absolutely walloped in the feels, particularly as I wasn’t expecting it. It’s just dusty in here, okay?
April 1, 2026
Full review to come :)
April 12, 2026
I liked this book more than her first. Interesting storyline and I really liked Poppy, Buddy and Addie.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Rikki Goodwin scares me!
Dread and laughs combine to make this story the ultimate ghost story.
Dread and laughs combine to make this story the ultimate ghost story.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews