A Dark And Stormy Night - Steffanie Holmes

 

Book Review

Title                A Dark And Stormy Night

Author            Steffanie Holmes

Read Dates        10th January 2026

Rating                4.5 / 5

Format                Paperback

Blurb

Book boyfriends may do it better, but they're more trouble than they're worth.

After being fired from my dream fashion job, I return home to my village under a cloud of failure and take a job at the quaint Nevermore Bookshop. I'm hoping for an easy few months while I get my life together.

But this is no ordinary bookshop.

A mysterious curse on Nevermore brings infamous fictional villains from classic literature to life in the real world.

My "easy" job involves rescuing customers from a 6foot4, grumpy, tattooed Heathcliff, drinking tea and evading the authorities with sophisticated villain Moriarty, and making art with Edgar Allen Poe’s shy, cheeky, raven shifter, Quoth.

As if that isn’t crazy enough, my ex-best friend shows up dead with a knife in her back, and I’m the chief suspect. I’m going to have to Agatha Christie this shiz if I want to clear my name.

Oh, and those three fictional villains?

They like to share…

The Nevermore Bookshop Mysteries are what you get when all your book boyfriends come to life. Join a brooding antihero, a master criminal, a cheeky raven, and a heroine with a big heart (and an even bigger book collection) in this spicy cozy fantasy series by USA Today bestselling author Steffanie Holmes.

• Love interests are famous villains from classic literature
• Magical bookshop
• Disabled rep from a blind author
• Grumpy/sunshine, they fall first
• Raven shifter
• Mysteries to solve
• Morally grey book boyfriends
• Kooky, spooky humour

Review

My first Steffanie Holmes book was Fangs for Nothing, so when I found out there was a whole series before that book, I had to read them.

I quite enjoyed this book. It's an easy read, and in some ways I see a lot of myself in Mina - I spent a lot of my school days in the library or reading, and bookshops are definitely my happy place.

Whilst I was reading this, I was absolutely picturing Heathcliff as Bernard Black, so when Steff made that same reference, you bet, I was giggling and kicking my feet.

Steff's writing had me completely consumed in the story, so consumed, that I read it all in one day. I cannot wait to read the rest of the series. I can see this being a series that I will be devouring very quickly.