Emery Elward returned to Trinity Creek with no intention of doing anything but repairing the farmhouse he grew up in, starting a business, and tending to the graveyard linked to his family’s property. He has no interest in renewing past friendships. But one old friend is determined to get Emery out from behind the cemetery’s iron gates.
Crafty, delicate Ezra Bell, who tailors his coal-black suits, knits gloves to warm his cold hands, and couldn’t make a plant grow if he tried, isn’t someone Emery can ignore. Ezra was Emery’s best friend all through school, his first crush, and his first kiss. Then Ezra stepped back without ever acknowledging that anything happened between them and Emery left town. But now Ezra is free to tell Emery the secret that kept them apart—the town is steeped in magic, the old families are witches, and some of them, like Ezra, are a little bit more.
Amid gray skies, falling leaves, and the paper cutouts of skeletons that decorate the town in anticipation of Halloween, Ezra is going to woo Emery back to the land of the living. If anyone can convince Emery that he is wanted, that Ezra still loves him, and that magic is real, it’s Ezra. Emery may be stubborn, but he is about to discover that nothing is more certain than Ezra.
I'm R. Cooper, a somewhat absentminded, often distracted, writer of queer romance. I'm probably most known for the Being(s) in Love series and The Suitable 'Verse stories. Also the occasional story about witches or firefighters in love.
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This book takes the art of half sentences or sentences without statements, or sentences that I don't understand, to the extreme. I took a few days to think about this book and decide what I liked or didn't like about it. I can't make up my mind, hence the meaningless three stars, sorry about that. I really like these kinds of stories and their strange narrative style. With this one, unfortunately, the frustration that I barely understood what was actually going on outweighed. There was one point where I thought I had it now, but then the story lapsed back into even more cryptic clues ... Maybe I'm just too stupid for it this week, I don't know. Sometimes it happens that my brain is only working at half power. Well, now that I own the book, maybe the day will come when I'll read it again and maybe then I'll see the light? It's a bit of a shame though, I really like these characters and the dynamic between the former friends as they slowly get closer to each other again and clear up the misunderstandings of the past is really beautiful and also very comprehensible.
“Emery,” Ezra whispered in a slinky, breathless voice, “I don’t object to the graveyard. I only object to the misery. The isolation. If being around death hasn’t made you appreciate the sweetness of life, then I must do what I can.” Ezra turned one hand over to take his. “You should live and live well, with all the love you have to give. Why should headstones and ghosts get all your devotion?” 🥀🥰🥀
Yes, I think I will read it again one day in the distant future.
Reread 2025 I enjoyed this one. I felt for Em as he was made to feel so outside the group Ez tried his best to make either up to him
4 Stars Re Read 2022 I felt for Em here. He felt so left out and on the outside of the group that it shaped him becoming so closed off. Ez makes me want to start getting crafty and making things, every time, him and Pietr do it to me. 4 stars
Re read 2021
I enjoyed this one more on the reread. I still had the same frustrations as previous and felt for ‘Em with how he felt so isolated when he wasn’t included with the kids during high school. It really played to his belief that he wasn’t good enough. Ez still makes me want to get crafty and start making things
Good addition
3.75 ⭐️
I find these books frustrating at times. With the style of writing using half conversations I find I need to read these in a quiet room so I can understand what is going on, and any break in concentration can make me loose the thread of the plot and I have to do a lot of rereading.
That being said even though there is confusion I find myself really enjoying these books and being highly entertained and needing to see where it was going.
I loved Em and it was easy to empathise with him in his feeling of isolation as we were reading from his perspective but at times his denial annoyed me and I wanted him the listen and understand what Ez was trying to say. His respect and care of the grave yard was lovely. Ez was a great character and I loved his quirky character. He makes me want to be more creative.
If you can get past the stop and start conversation style this is a good read. And I hope there is more to come from this universe
3.5 I'm reading R. Cooper since my early days here at GR and while a lot of the books of that time slowly lost their appeal to me, she didn't. Still looking forward to new books by her.
So somehow reading "Nothing More Certain" has this cosy coming-home feeling, home to half sentences full of meaning, to single words replacing a complete dialog and to charmingly weird characters but during the first half of this book there was also this other aspect of coming home: nothing much changed, only a little seasonal decoration and while I still enjoyed it my mood is currently more set for adventure and not so much for comfort.
I got my R. Cooper kind of adventure in the 2nd half when all of Ezra's secrets are revealed. A bit more of that Halloween feeling in the first half and it would have been more than 3.5
Same formatting issues in this one as with the previous two that made following who was speaking difficult to follow at times.
On top of that, I just didn't enjoy this story as much as the previous two. I felt like I was reading this forever, that it felt needlessly long. And I just didn't find Emery as charming a character as I'm used to with R. Cooper's stories.
For such a short book it took those two forever to finally talk things through. :D I will say it was painful to read when Emery was remembering his high school time. No matter the reason, it's so hurtful when the "friends" don't bother to ask you to go with them to parties.
Pleasant and enjoyable, but not one of my favourites by this author. It's nice, but didn't wow me. It does have that lovely soft, warm, cosy tone that R. Cooper is so good at. One of the cool things about this book is that both main characters are Black, which is not something one sees very often in this genre, and it's awesome. I tend to be very hit-and-miss with this author--R. Cooper has written some completely brilliant books that I absolutely love, but also plenty that just didn't do it for me, and sadly, this one is one of the latter. I found the beginning to be a little confusing and it took me a while to get into the story. I loved the first book in this series, but the next two have not particularly excited me. I will continue to read R. Cooper in the hope of finding those rare treasures.
Great autumn read or really any time of year- same world as the first two in the series per usual R. Cooper style but this time it’s black witchy bois! Yay! They aren’t all white 🥳. One of our precious dumb bbs is the angel of death and crafts and is charmingly soft at home and then goes out goth and proper in public (umph #relate boi); also powerful enough to have two familiars nbd. The other refuses to see his charm and power and was raised as a muggle so he is just a little slow on the uptake. Of course they work it out and our charming death god hero is gunna knit it all better, especially that rickety old house by the graveyard. Definitely my favorite of the three stories so far.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Emery has come home to live alone in his big empty house and take care of the cemetery. He's been avoiding his school friend Ezra for a year since he returned. Ezra's waiting for him. This is another R Cooper book I got tied up in and lost sleep over. Her prose is wonderful, sort of emotional and flowing...and this story is very closely tied in to the land and life and death and growing things, which suits it perfectly. Its a lovely read.
These are the stories I read when I am tired and want to wallow in it and then be uplifted. Beautifully written and crafted. The whole series is one I return to often.
This is the slowest slow burn that ever burned. Glowing embers, rather. It was so slow I almost hated it in the middle of the book and wished it stopped running in circles. But as I continued, I got immersed in it, got used to the dancing the characters performed around each other, and started enjoying every second of it. It was sensual, in a way. And overly melodramatic. I loved it.
The chemistry in this was, uhhhhh, very good. I had the same problem with this one as I did with the rest of the series in that I spent a lot of time VERY CONFUSED as to why things were the way they were and that people should just TALK to each other, but you know what. The chemistry, she good.
Definitely the most coherent of the Familiar Spirits stories I've read, though still a bit thin on plot. But as usual, really cool concept, great autumn/witchy vibes, and a sweet second chance romance.
This was such a good book! The first one of the familiar spirits world to have someone outside of the witch world that has a relationship with a witch, this shows all of the complications that brings. It was a bit sad and slow at the start, but that slow burn built into an amazing heat and this astounding relationship!
Emery is not a witch. He does not know of witches or anything supernatural. He grew up in Trinity Creek friend with the 'weird kids' because no one normal wanted to be friends with the kid who lived in the cemetery. Even then, Emery was on the outside of the weird kids, kept out of inside jokes and parties he could never join. His first crush, Ezra, kept him outside too and Emery decided he wouldn't stay. But now he lives in Trinity Creek, still at the cemetery, and Ezra is back and trying to be in his life again. Emery has a lot to learn about the town and its people before he decides if he'll let his first love back in.
This was sort of a second chances story but not quite. It was a second chance for Emery and Ezra, that now as adults Ezra can finally make the decision to tell Emery everything and let him in to what he was always left out of. But at the same time it just feels like an extension of the first chance, that both of them have been waiting to find each other again. Trust is the main thing for both of them. Emery has to build the trust that he won't run again, leaving the town that Ezra will always stay at. Ezra needs to show Emery that he will always be there and will include him, that there is nothing more certain. Building that trust was difficult and beautiful, an amazing story of past hurts and new hurdles. As always this universe astounds with the reminder that love can be the greatest magic there is.
This book hit me so hard, I turned around and started it over again. . R Cooper’s brand is ‘two idiots standing around on fire’ i.e. mutual clueless pining, and this book delivers. It’s a bit different than some of their others: Ezra is certain it’ll happen eventually, but is still delighted at every tiny step they take back toward each other; while Emery has got some abandonment trauma that has him convinced Ezra would never want him enough to stay. . I can see some readers being impatient with Emery, but I wasn’t: every crack in the wall around his heart did something to my own. I want to wrap him up in all the love. (Also, someone get this man some therapy please!) . This is part of a series, of which I’ve only read book 2 and there were no overlapping characters: just a world where witches are a vibrant and semi-secret community. . . The two characters’ places within that world of magic are wonderful to uncover. . So if you like a slow burn, slow reveal, and tender story of two former best friends finding love and support in each other, check this out.
4.44 stars -- I SO want to give it 5, but there are too many places that the editor missed, I just can't -- fix it, please, for the love of your pickiest reader! I was in the world, and then a wrong name or obviously partially corrected line shoved me out of the magic -- gah! I can't even!
Ok, rant done, on to the praise! I adore this whole series. Each one of these stories will be on my re-read shelf for years to come. The stories are gentle poetry, filled with people of integrity and depth, making their careful and courtly way towards peace. I'm reminded of both Practical Magic and Arthurian legends. Poor Emery, who thinks he has no place, no people, no one to value him, all because someone important counted him worth less than others. I want to wrap him up in softness and comfort, just like Ezra wants to do!
I, normally, love the moody feeling R. Cooper's words evoke but not this time. This book is more than 800 pages, which is at least 400 pages too long. I quick swiped through entire chapters and missed nothing.
It felt as though Cooper was struggling to feel their words. By that, I mean it felt as though the author was struggling to put together words that would express with the characters were supposed to be feeling. It felt strained. Also, there were quite a few continuity issues. There's not much else that distracts me as much as trying to piece together the timeline of a couple's relationship and determine if I was confused. But, I wasn't confused. What I read was contradictory.
None of this will keep me from reading other Cooper books, but it will make me wary of any that are this long.
Loved this series so much on Kindle I had to get the paperback set #1-3! (to bad book 4 is only on Kindle as of July 2023) The magic and lore throughout the series is wonderful. All the characters had such engaging personalities. It was cute that Emery and Ezra brought up the characters from the first two books in passing. Making the world/town more lived in. The bits about social media was used well. My only Con was the story ended to quickly for me. Mind you everything is concluded. I just would have liked to read/spend more time with them.
Now I want a backyard full of honeysuckles and to knits some scarves.
It occurred to me that if the people in these books actually spoke in real conversations, and told each other things they that they actually understood when they hear them, there would be zero relationship tension in these stories. Everything comes from some past misunderstanding, and the respective characters' complete inability to discuss that misunderstanding without continuing it/adding to it.
That being said, I still like these stories, although this one wasn't my favorite. I'm planing to try some of Cooper's other work, but if it's as cryptic-to-no-purpose as these, I'll probably give up.
💀 spider 💀 graveyard 💀 mention of people not allowed to be buried on consecrated ground, including victims of suicide 💀 mention of vomiting 💀 parents’ divorce in past 💀 death of mother 💀 alcohol consumption 💀 on page sex 💀 ghost, destruction in graveyard
I’m honestly surprised at how soft this book was. I love how steeped in magic and gothic ideas it is, but it’s also full of domesticity and love. Just, such a wonderful story~
I'm in love with R. Cooper's writing style. It's all elegant hints and descriptions, and the unreliable narrator who, to quote BBC Sherlock, "sees but doesn't observe".
You don't know what exactly is going on, but it doesn't matter because what you can see is rich and gorgeous, powerful and passionate.
Seriously though, I'm going to send links to these to more of my queer witch friends because this whole series is amazing.
Similarly to book 2 in this series, I think this one was good, but not great. The characters were endearing, the writing and setting give off such a cozy vibe perfect for autumn. However, the romance felt dragged out and predictable and I just wanted Emery to get a grip and put us out of our misery.
R Cooper is one of those authors that are a comfort read--You might not understand everything of what you read at first, but before the book ends you understand and are in love with it. This is definitely one of those books. I felt so sorry for both the MCs, but I also wanted to reach through the page and shake them. It was a sweet romance and the ending was wonderful. Recmmend reading.
This one is written beautifully enough to feel like magi, despite the several editing typos in the last two chapters. Their sex scenes were very in keeping with the bygone era feel. But, I think it would have worked better as a shorter story, reducing the angsty passing of time. Regardless, don't miss it if you've enjoyed this series.
Main characters with the same starting letter will be the death of me and my brain. Cute story, although sometimes Emery and Ezra dancing around each other and not getting anywhere was a bit much. The first book is still my favourite, somehow none of the sequels could quite capture that magic for me again.
3.5 stars. Another soft, cozy story from R. Cooper. This is sort of a second chance romance based on a past misunderstanding which is generally a trope I dislike, but I thought it worked well in this case. Their reasons for not talking felt real and not contrived.
A paranormal mm friends-to lovers story. Two guys who've known each other since childhood unintentionally hurt each other when young. They reconcile and move try to move past that, despite some new revelations from one of the guys. Typo: "locs" (of hair) should be locks.
Familiar Spirits is truly a magical series of stories! The weaving of sexual tension is masterful, but the most enchanting part of these stories is the magic! I wish it truly existed!!