Cooking for Ghosts

Secret Spice Cafe Series, Book 1

By: Patricia V. Davis

Narrated by: Ann Marie Gideon

Do hearts broken long ago forever leave a tangible trace?

A Vegas cocktail waitress. An Indian herbalist. A British chemistry professor. An Italian-American widow. Four unique women with one thing in common: Each is haunted by a tragedy from her past.

Cynthia, Rohini, Jane, and Angela meet on a food blogging site and bond over recipes. On impulse, they decide to open The Secret Spice, an elegant cafe on the magnificent ocean liner, the RMS Queen Mary, currently a floating hotel in Long Beach, California. Rich in history and tales of supernatural occurrences, the ship hides her own dark secrets.

The women are surrounded by ghosts long before they step aboard, but once they do, nothing is quite as it seems. Not the people they meet, not their brooding chef's mystic recipes, and not the Queen Mary herself. Yet the spirits they encounter help them discover that there's always a chance to live, as long as one is alive.

©2016 Patricia V. Davis (P)2020 Tantor

The accents tho

This book was a decent background listen. Not very complicated, not very deep, didn’t require a lot of attention overall. Entertaining enough, but the absolute chaos of the accents was grating. A lot of mix and mash to the point of cringe.

A hauntingly good story. Loved it!

This was a very interesting book. I really enjoyed how all the women worked together and fought together like real friends. Cynthia, Rohini, Angela, and Jane complemented each other. As the story moved along, I loved how their histories came to light, how the ghosts played into all of their lives, and how things were resolved. I had tears, smiles, groans, sighs, and moments of "oh no". I look forward to reading more in this series. Ann Marie Gideon did a wonderful job in telling this tale, and she was able to bring the emotions off the page. The accents were well done as well as inflections to keep the characters separate. Thank you Patricia Davis for a great story and thank you Ann Marie Gideon for great narration.

I received a copy of this story through Goddess Fish Promotions, and this is my unsolicited review.

Loved the characters!

I really enjoyed this audiobook! This is the first book I’ve been able to listen to that felt like I was immersed in the same way when I read. I think the narrator for this book is amazing and I’ll listen to her read soup cans!

I stumbled upon this book while on a trip to the queen Mary. I booked a room and have to say it feels haunted! So I was delighted to delve into this haunted story and the author delivered! I look forward to the rest of the series.

A wonderful blend of ingredients

Patricia Davis did a wonderful job of blending fiction, history, romance, and mystery altogether to make a very pleasant story.

The characters felt believable and I was interested in each new piece of their personal backstory as it was revealed. You could see how the main characters came to be friends by the little things that made them similar as well the differences that complimented each other.

The bits and pieces of history about the Queen Mary that were shared in the story never felt dry and boring they flowed well with the whole story.

The narrator Ann Marie Gideon did such a wonderful job bringing the characters to life that when I finished the book I went searching for more books narrated by her.

Mystery, History, Strong females, and ghosts..oh my!

I so enjoyed this story. The narrator brought each character to life. The story was interesting and kept me wanting to read just a little more...

I’m really looking forward to the next book!!