Little Haunting By The Sea

by Kate Johnson

He's a mess. She's a mess. That one's a ghost.

Everyone is haunted by past mistakes, although not as literally as Jen. But who is the little Victorian ghost who follows her everywhere, and why didn't she save Jen from the worst thing that ever happened to her?

Quinn always thought being the identical twin of a famous heartthrob was bad, but after the bomb that took his brother and left him an amputee, he's revised his opinion. Now he'd settle for the truth about why his brother died, and Jen seems to be the person who knows.

In the small, strange town of Wirpness-on-Sea, the spirits are stirring, and old secrets are coming to light...

Perfect for fans of Cormoran Strike, Being Human, and weird English seaside resorts

Genres: Romance, Paranormal, Fantasy, Ghosts

457 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 31, 2018

About the author

Kate Johnson lives in rural Essex where she belongs to a pride of cats and puts up with a demon puppy. She did actually do most of her homework, but quickly so as to have more time to stare out of the window thinking about heroes. Stay in school, kids. Kate has done a variety of not-particularly great jobs, ranging from airport check-in to lab assistant, but much prefers writing for a living. For one thing, the hours are better, and no one ever tells her off for not ironing her shirt. In fact, the lack of ironing might be the single greatest advantage to being an author. Kate loves going off at mad tangents, which you’d surely never have guessed, but also enjoys reading romance and fantasy, watching funny stuff on TV, drinking coffee by the gallon and occasionally leaving the house. The Untied Kingdom is her first novel to be published in the UK.

Reviews

[Kiera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haunting. Pun intended.

I'm a long-time fan of Kate Johnson's writing. She is deft with dialogue and has a keen eye for character...and writes heroes I can't help falling for, which always helps.

Little Haunting by the Sea is somehow different. I still fell for Quinn, so melancholy and damaged, but this book is weightier and more solemn than usual. It's also very hard to review without massive spoilers.

LHbtS deals with death, with grief, with coping mechanisms, with mental illness and self-harm, but it's wonderfully intertwined with a difficult love story and a back story which never quite goes where I thought it would.

I recommend this book highly. It's a difficult read and in places had me in actual tears, but ends with hope (to misquote A Knight's Tale).

[Dorris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was very pleasantly surprised by this complexity of this novel. The were many levels to the story and weeks after reading it I find myself still thinking about it. Nothing was quite what it seemed to be on the surface.
Highly recommend it. Also recommend Untied Kingdom by the same author.

[LowBrowReader]

In my excitement of finding a new author whose writing I like, I have actually gone and pre-ordered this book! :D

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing. I had a funny feeling in my chest the whole way through because I knew I’d be sad when it was over. I don’t normally like paranormal stories, but Jen was so matter-of-fact and Alice was so sarcastic that I enjoyed it immensely. And Quinn... swoon. Cormoran Strike with his vulnerabilities split open, and a genuinely good man.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I really loved this book I have one major problem with it. It isn't a 'comedy' – far from it. It deals with some pretty hefty and potentially triggering events and some of those events are not at all funny. In fact I didn't laugh once.

BUT - having said that, this is a stonkingly hefty story with great characters and some brilliant writing. Had it been not been touted as 'comedy' I would have given it five stars, but I do think readers should be warned about some of the dark aspects in this book. (I have put some of them under the spoiler tag.)

Don't let my review put you off reading this book. but don't expect light comedy either. This is a pretty serious novel and I really cared about the characters.


Abusive relationship, violent death, traumatic injury, child rape, child abuse, self-harm.

[Jan Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a clever book. ‘Little Haunting by the Sea’ is a witty, acerbic romantic comedy with underlying dark themes. Kate Johnson’s writing is so spot-on that the settings feel very real and every character (even the dead ones) are sharply and believably alive. The two main characters, especially, grabbed me by the heart and wouldn’t let go. Love, grief, guilt and joy are seamlessly interwoven within the story. Five awed and awesome stars.

[Rhoda Baxter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. This is an unusual and wonderful book.

Jen sees dead people. There's one dead Victorian child, Alice, who is her constant (ghost) companion, but there are others whereever she goes. Her family thought she was mentally ill and took her to see various doctors and sometimes the drugs helped... but in general, she can see ghosts. She's come to accept that.

Quinn is haunted in a different way. He lost his famous twin brother and now he's scarred in more ways that one (he's missing a leg too). He's a grumpy as hell Irish detective. If you like a grumpy hero, he's your man. I really liked Quinn.

Then there's Alice. She's dead, but she's wonderfully sarcastic. There are other ghosts as well, but they're not as fun as Alice.

This is a book about ghosts and mental illness and social stigma, but those are handled well. Overall, it's a great rom com with darker themes as an undercurrent. It's really very good. You should read it.

I received an ARC of this book. I know the author in real life, but I've loved her books since before I met her. So you can be assured that this is my honest opinion.

[Krystyna · Rating 5 out of 5]

A guardian family angel?

Terrific. I really wouldn't call this a comedy although it does have a few lighthearted moments. It is more ghost/mystery/romance wrapped up a plot that will keep you reading until the end. Okay there are a few formatting errors at the start of the book with sentences and paragraphs being repeated but it is a cracking good read. With characters that pull you in with their vulnerabilities until you find that they are stronger than you think.
A plot based on our heroine - able to see ghost from an early age and having paid for that with institutions and drugs as she doesn't fit the image her family wants. Our hero is a twin of a new heartthrob. Add in a pub bombing, unhealthy relationships, self harm, possessions, murder and love. Will she ever find someone to love her warts and all? Will he ever believe her about ghosts?

[Lauren Barclem · Rating 4 out of 5]

If nothing else I learned a ton of British and Irish vocabulary reading this book. I liked that this book had the romance element and some mystery also. It did make me laugh at times but I think I would've found it funnier if I was English. The 3rd act breakup was mercifully short which was good but everyone in this book would benefit from a better help subscription. The paranormal part was fun though!

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great story and so much more than a romantic comedy with ghosts.

Jen has lots of interference in her life most of it from people who don't understand that she can see ghosts! But also from these ghosts.
Quinn doesn't believe in ghosts but this can only change ...

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really good story with some interesting twists I didn’t see coming. Highly recommended, I could hardly put it down.

[Arien · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book but the writing style really made it difficult for me. There is no clear warning for POV changed and the dialogue is difficult to follow. I had to re-read sections several times to figure out who was speaking to whom. The plot was good and the characters were fully developed. The book should come with trigger warnings though as I was not expecting self-harm to feature so heavily in the novel.

[Cole McCormick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was different. I did grow to like like it a lot but I feel like it took a while to get right into it. I liked the story. LOVED the Irish MCC and the visit to Ireland. I feel like the self harm was handled well and it was a realistic need which was discussed… if that makes sense. The spice was like 0.5/5 🌶️. I’d give the actual story and writing about 3/5. Sometimes I didn’t know who the POV was for. Extra snaps for throwing a lot of Irish in. We leave to see it.

[Jack Bates · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is great. Johnson is such a good writer and she pulls of what is apparently quite a tricky thing, genre-wise, by writing something that's both a convincingly tormented and complicated love story and a ghost story too. Like if Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel was more fun and less horrific. Anyway, Jen and Quinn are troubled by something that happened to both of them, and Jen is also troubled by ghosts. Their paths cross unexpectedly and eventually everyone's secrets are exposed. Witty and also touching, this is a proper page-turner.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

I need to sit on this book a while and think on it. I loved it and I couldn't put it down, but now it's over and I feel bereft and I need to see how well it sticks with me before I can rate and review properly. I'll update this in the future, but it was absolutely a 4-5* read. Kate Johnson is really underappreciated in my opinion and deserves more attention and time.

Incredible book, I loved it.

Update: having sat on it for a while now I think it's worth a 5 star rating. I love it.

[Eleanore June · Rating 5 out of 5]

3rd Re-read and still a 5-Star book.
I just love it.

If you are on the fence, do yourself a favor and read it!

[Wendy Miklos · Rating 4 out of 5]

I stayed up way too late reading this book because I couldn’t put it down. I LOVED that I haven’t read anything like this before. I chose this book because I love quirky paranormal books- and romance. I was also pleasantly surprised that I had to check on a few words I had never heard before. Dorky- but this excites me.



***spoilers***


I didn’t like how Quinn handled things when he found out some home truths- and how quickly Jen was to let it go. I guess it touches more on reality than it would be had the author chose to make her characters woke and evolved- I simply didn’t like it because I loved Quinn so much, and didn’t want to be disappointed with him.

I also wish there was so unresolved issues so this could become a series- I thoroughly enjoyed the world, and wish this pair would end up in Ireland setting up a paranormal investigation agency.

[Casey MacKenzie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not a romantic comedy

I put up all the content warnings on StpeyGraph but the short list is: grief, self harm, suicide, forced institutionalisation, gaslighting, sexual violence, PTSD, etc etc etc

This isn’t a cozy romp romcom with ghosts. It’s a story of two very broken people who need help but won’t get it falling in love… And it’s not paranormal enough to make all the CWs bearable. It was too much emotion and grief and turmoil and pain with very little payoff. Don’t let the cutesy cover fool you.

[Traci Otte · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! It has hints of Ghost Whisperer (that TV series with Jennifer Love Hewitt) but doesn't rely on the "gotta help all ghosts move on" trope. There's a good mystery, nice romance, beautiful descriptions of Ireland and Wirpness-on-sea, questionable ghost motives, and lots more! I had all the feels while reading and easily related to both Jen and Quinn (their points-of-view alternated).

There were some unanswered questions about various ghosts, so I hope there will be a sequel! I'd love to read more. In the mean time, I'll have to check out the author's other books!

[KT · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just what I needed to read while having a duvet day. It has depth, sensitivity with difficult topics such as PTSD and other mental health issues and ghosts. It had unexpected turns and the chemistry between Quinn and Jen urged me to carry on reading determined to discover if they got together and how they'll survive the revelations to come

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good and spooky, but read with care

This was darker than I had expected, the two main characters have a lot of trauma in their backgrounds. But I really liked the characters and the plot. I also liked that the history was a bit of a mystery. There were some spooky parts and the romance was good.

[Sarah Kimes · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book needs a trigger warning!

This book was like when you see a movie with a super famous comedy actor, so you put it on thinking it's going to be light-hearted and funny, but it's their ONE serious/depressing movie they have? Do you know what I mean?

There were some very serious concepts such as mental health, family trauma, death/letting go, domestic violence, PTSD, etc

[Eli Isenberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is haunting me

I keep thinking about it after I finished it. I’ve read it twice in two days. It’s good but more than that is just…sticks with you. I think that’s rare and special for a book. Especially from me since I plow through them at a rate of 1-2 books/day. Will def read more from this author.

[SisterMadly3 · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved it but…

…this book is not a romcom and it is honestly bizarre and kind of gross that it has been marketed as such. It is dark and heartbreaking. I’ve given it four stars based on the book it is rather than the book it claims to be. I really did love it and wish to give the author the benefit of the doubt and blame the label on the publisher.

[Hannah Burns · Rating 5 out of 5]

oh. my. god. this was an insanely good book. the pain was palpable, the characters were all so endearing in their own ways (except Charlotte), and the story was captivating. twists and turns galore and the perfect amount of romance and drama. so heartbroken for Alice and little Jen. just spectacular writing

[Trinity Shaffer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a book a could not put down. I really enjoyed it. It was cozy, romantic and also interesting. WARING! There is some parts of self harm in this book so to anyone who is sensitive to that please remember self care and know it's ok to reach out to those you love if you have thoughts or actions❤️ All and all a very good read in my opinion.

[sue bardello · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read

Good characters and story line. The main characters are engaging and compassionate. The author was able to treat some difficult mental health issues with understanding and compassion. Will read more from this author.

[Lisa Elwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Had to keep reading

This story kept me up and it’s been a while since that’s happened, so that’s a good sign. Plenty of story and character development both. Like the song says, “could we just be broken together”.

[Laura Black Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

So hauntingly good

This is heartbreaking and charming and persuasive and a rollicking good story. Characters are so well developed, the haunting is plausible, the love story is so perfection. Two lost souls finding each other, against so many odds. Loved it!

[Gowroo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I genuinely loved this book. I thought it would be another cosy fantasy filler but I was gripped! I thought the balance of paranormal drama and real life mental health was so well balanced. Also tall dark and brooding Irish men! Huzzah! Definitely going to read into the author!