Paper Ghosts by Sarah Addison Allen: Review

Choosing our next book can be tough sometimes. You know you want a good one; that’s why reviews are so important.

I picked up this book by a new-to-me author. The overview sounded interesting, and while I’m not a big fantasy reader, a little bit of mystical elements seemed fun. A story about a grandmother and granddaughter called my name. Check out my thoughts on this book below.

affiliate link included
Paper Ghosts by Sarah Addison Allen
Publisher: ‎ St. Martin’s Press
Publication date: ‎ September 1, 2026
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1250283429

OVERVIEW:
Every family has its secrets…The Wester women live inside theirs.

For generations, Wester House has stood as a monument to influence and mystery in a small North Carolina town, and the Wester women have held the community enthralled. People respect them, many fear them, but no one truly understands them. How do they possess such an intimate, unsettling knowledge of those around them? Why is no one ever allowed inside the house? And why is Willamena Wester finally reaching out to the granddaughter she once pushed away?

The Westers have always balanced their need for control with their desire for love, but when that balance is off, disaster happens. To truly understand, you have to meet Willamena fifty years ago. As a young woman trapped in a stifling, picture-perfect life, she gives her heart away and makes a fateful choice that changes her life forever.

Now Willamena’s granddaughter, Bailey, is coming back to a town she tried to outrun, only to realize that the grandmother she feared was actually her fiercest protector. In a world of hidden truths, can a legacy of unhappiness be unmade? And what does it take to finally break a curse? Bailey is about to learn that even the oldest hauntings can be healed by a new spark of hope.

Sarah Addison Allen’s stunning prose will transport you to a place where magic mixes with the mundane, turning shadows into the most beautiful kind of light.

Paper Ghosts by Sarah Addison Allen Review

I have to say I had a really tough time getting into this story. Set in a tiny nowhere town, where everyone knows everybody, and some people know all of your secrets.

The Witches of Wester have been influencing and impacting the community for years. This is a grandmother-and-granddaughter story, since whatever “mystical traits” usually flow through women.

I bounced back and forth between loving the story and feeling ambivalent. The mystical portion was extremely subtle and almost nonexistent.

The cold, unfeeling grandmother characters were difficult to actually like, and several times I was lost in mean-girl syndrome. Most of the time, I felt sorry for our youngest characters. Jack was a breath of fresh air to the story and made the women seem human and have actual feelings.

The story itself is interesting, and once I got past 50 or 60%, it really began to pick up for me.

Paper Ghost is a unique and intriguing story, but also extremely subtle in terms of the mystical leanings. For me, it sounds more like intuition.

This book was written in different time leaps, which can be a little distracting to the reader. It also blends lightness and some darkness, but it is well-balanced and not overly heavy.

Paper Ghosts is a story that will make you think deeper than what is written on paper. For that, Allen wins for getting into your head a bit.

3.5 to 4 STARS!!

Disclaimer: Affiliate links included. When you buy through links on my site, I may earn an affiliate commission at no cost to you. Chris has personally reviewed the product listed above. She has not received any monetary compensation for her review but did receive a free ebook so she could evaluate and use it for this post. Her thoughts & opinions in this review are unbiased & honest and your opinions may differ.