ARC Review: Queen of the Dead, by Sarah Broadway

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Conversing with the dead is nothing new for Lou. It’s a curse she’s learned to hide from everyone – including herself. After running away from a past that took advantage of those abilities, Lou finally carves out a normal life for herself. Until a mysterious message from a ghost – the Veil is thinning – and a cult of necromancers infesting her small town puts that normal life in jeopardy.

In a race to discover and defeat her foe, Lou learns she’s not alone in the fight. She grudgingly leans on her allies but wonders who to trust. What’s more impossible is suddenly finding herself the romantic interest of a man who somehow isn’t afraid of all the dark, creepy things about her… but even he has secrets for her to
discover.

Time is running out, and reality seems to be slipping away. To save her new life and the people she loves, Lou must learn to accept who she is and embrace her true abilities, no matter where they might take her.

https://angryrobotbooks.com/books/queen-of-the-dead

My Review

I received this ARC from the publisher, I filled in the form at some point and April emailed to say a book was on the way in early October. It’s publishing 25th November 2025 and available for pre-order now from the publisher.

Lou is a stock girl in a Piggly-Wiggly. She also sees ghosts. At 25, she’s finally found herself a place of her own, with a lovely older neighbour who treats her like the daughter he never had. Then she meet a hot policeman named Scott, gets rescued by a stripper named Victoria, helped by a witch named Minerva, saved again by her manager who also stops time, Cliff, and chased by a dead sorcerer called ‘the Lich’, and his earthly minions – a bunch of necromancers and a lovelorn undertaker.

Turns out, Lou isn’t the only weirdo in Magnolia Grove, although she might just be the most powerful person around. She just doesn’t know it. Eventually, with the help of her found family, she discovers her true powers and defeats the monster, and helps lots of ghosts find rest.

I enjoyed this book, it was really sweet. The romance is subtle, not overwhelming, which suits me, since I’ve gone off the whole hot and heavy romance stuff. Lou is a sweet, strong woman who doesn’t know her own worth. She’s been through an abusive childhood and she’s hiding from her exploitative mother, she doesn’t know who her father is, and she’s traumatised from all the stories she has to see and hear from ghosts and gravestones.

The slow accretion of characters who are in her background and who come forward to help her when she thinks she’s alone feels like something I can see reflected in my own life – I’ve slowly accumulated friends who have helped me, some who have always been there. (I can’t see or talk to ghosts and I’m sceptical that they exist.) I think that’s the case for a lot of people, and having close friends is good for you.

The description of life in a small town and the day to day round also felt realistic. Most people have small lives, with occasional excitement, like my upcoming holiday to Brighton for World Fantasy Con! In Lou’s case, the excitement involves a mountain of gravestones and a medieval sorcerer. The climax to this novel worked really well, Broadway obviously knows her craft.

This book might just be classified as ‘cosy’ paranormal romance, but I’m not sure, because I’m not sure. There is a cosiness to the friendships and lives, there is a paranormal element, and a romance, but the stakes are not the small stakes of a typical cosy, what with end of the world being involved. Lou is given the vision of herself as queen of the living and the dead, and turns it down. She frees trapped ghosts and saves the world instead.

Actually, she turns the evil down very easily, with little struggle. I would expect more struggle with temptation, which makes her seem unnaturally good. I found that a little disappointing, although it still fit within the context of the story, if that makes sense.

Anyway, if you want a little bit of a cosy read this winter, with a bit of adventure, ghosts, magic, a chosen family and a little romance, you’ll probably enjoy this book.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sarah Broadway is a digital content producer, who juggles writing stories about meth busts and car wrecks with writing fantasy fiction that features strong women. She has a passion for storytelling in several different genres, but it’ll always be contemporary fantasy and the paranormal that feels the most like home. Sarah lives in Alabama but is an Iowan at heart, much preferring cornfields over cottonfields. When she’s
not writing, Sarah can be found knitting, crocheting, or spending time outdoors surrounded by nature.