Ahoy there me mateys!  Somewhere I heard this book described as Jane Austen with magic.  So color me curious.  When I wanted a light-hearted fun read, I scooped this one up.  No disappointment here!

The main character, Elizabeth Knight, is a spinster who, of course, is a burden on her family.  When her beloved uncle dies, he leaves her with an unusual gift - his occult library.  Women are not really supposed to do magic.  Brides and babies are the expectation.  And when one of those bequeathed books turns out to have a ghost living in it, it seems that every male is out to steal what is rightfully Elizabeth's.

I loved Elizabeth!  As always it was lovely to have an intelligent female to follow.  It was annoying to watch how stymied her life was by the men in it but also fun to watch the women work around it.  I loved her feisty Aunt, her newfound friendships, and the commentary on society.  I loved that one of the relationships of the book is a married couple who banters and are such excellent friends.  I love that it becomes a story about women gaining agency through their hard work and those friendships.  It was also nice to see Elizabeth's grief being dealt with in the story because she really did love her uncle.

But above all I loved the occult library.  A lot of this book discusses sorting through her uncle's gift.  I found this to be excellent fun, especially when the ghost starts giving her opinions.  So many of the books seemed real and like they would be fun to get a hold of.  And of course who doesn't like a women's secret society set up to read all about the forbidden magic.

The negative for some is that the plot is slow moving and there is not a ton of action.  The focus be on the relationships with a bit of a foray into social commentary.  I was certainly okay with that.  There be a second book out.  I need to track it down.  Arrr!