Spackled and Spooked takes place shortly after the first book. Avery, a former New York furniture designer has put that job in the past and is now the designer side of a joint renovation business with her now boyfriend, Derek Ellis. In this book Derek purchases their first house to renovate together. The only hitch is that the house was the site of a grisly family murder ten years ago and there is rumors that the house is haunted. Will they be able to renovate or will the ghosts that supposedly haunt the house get them?

My Thoughts

The cover of the book is adorable! It gives me the mystery vibe as well as the fixer upper vibes. I think that it suites the book well. Since this is the second book in the series I am safe to say that the authors mystery style is slow burn. She is really good at it though. The main character, Avery Baker is fluid from the previous book in being relatable. Although Derek is her boyfriend, Avery really is the star of the show. The book is good with great character development,  world building, and plot.

Avery goes through some insecurities in the book regarding her relationship with Derek because of Melissa, his former wife. She handles with grace and to my complete happiness she actually talks about it with Derek. I like it when authors write their female leads better than whining stereotypical teens. Derek shows reveals his own insecurities when he finds out that Avery’s mother is coming for a visit. Along with their development we also get a few more characters added to the mix and I can’t wait to see if there are any scenes with Irina and Melissa.

In this book we are introduced to a few more locations which gives you a bit more insight for the town. We got a new age pizzeria named Guido’s and Nickerson’s antique shop. Both places I think will be regular hot spots for Avery in future books.

The plot was really good for this book. Avery and Derek get their first house together and it has some baggage. That baggage is a ten year old family murder that was committed in the house. Plus to boot there is a skeleton of a newer body discovered day one of renovating. Avery and Derek work together along with the chief of police to discover what had happened. To make everything just a bit scarier for her she is starting to believe the rumors that the house is haunted because she can hear screams and footsteps in house when no one else is there.

Good news though! No ghosts just some really good theatrics and wiring from the murderer of the skeleton to keep people from entering and buying the house. Sad part is the reason that the person was killed for. I liked that it made sense though. A lot of books will have where the reasoning behind something is basically “nothing”. This was a crime of passion and it was done well. The only downside though is that there was a plot bunny released where Avery is involved in an accident to possibly kill Derek or her? It was strange because it was kind of like the bunny released and it ran away never coming back to the plot burrow. But I would say that was the only downside to this book! It’s a great book. It has great DIY instructions at the end so that you can copy what Derek and her did in the renovations. I give it a 4.5 stars out of five stars and I do recommend you check out this book.