The Ghosts of Gwendolyn Montgomery - Review
- TheLittLibrarian
- 9 hours ago
- 3 min read
I received a digital copy from Legacy Lit via Net Galley. All reviews are my own.
After months of sifting through 'okay' reads, I stumbled upon two books that finally broke my reading slump. The first was Plus Size Player, and the second was The Ghosts of Gwendolyn Montgomery. Debut author Clarence A. Haynes weaves a unique blend of paranormal, mystical, and sensuous elements in this one-of-a-kind story about the formidable Gwendolyn Montgomery.
"To be a client of Gwendolyn Montgomery’s—New York’s most powerful publicist at Sublime Creative—is to be infused with a certain oomph, a mysterious glamour. She seems to have created the ideal life with her handsome new boyfriend, the perfect match. But Gwendolyn has a legion of long-buried secrets that could unravel everything.
After a grisly, bizarre incident at the Brooklyn Museum, Gwendolyn begins to realize that something nefarious is happening tied directly to her past, right as Fonsi Harewood comes back into her world. Fonsi is a queer Latinx psychic from the South Bronx who’s caught up in a love triangle with a ghost and his mortal ex. He’s able to communicate with the dead, and he comes with a dire warning for Gwendolyn that the barrier between humans and spirits is weakening.
Gwendolyn would prefer not to have anything to do with ghostly drama. Yet in order to get to the bottom of the spookiness derailing her life and threatening the world, she must face the demons she’d long left behind. The Ghosts of Gwendolyn Montgomery is a sensuous, funny, mystical adventure that will leave you spellbound as you keep the pages turning."
The cover art and title of this book initially caught my attention, but it was the mystery surrounding Gwendolyn and Fonsi's supernatural job that kept me reading. What I liked most about TGOGM was that I was invested in it. For months, everything I read failed to hold my attention. If I was able to get through a book, everything was mid. But when I got my hands on TGOGM, I became enthralled by the mysteries surrounding Gwendolyn, Fonsi, their past, and the In-Between. I wanted to know why Gwendolyn was being targeted by these random entities in the most gruesome and bizarre way possible. Can't we let an Afro-Latina woman shine without all the blood and drama? I also wanted to learn more about Gwendolyn and her past. It was evident that she was running from something, the way she disassociated with everyone and poured into her work. She was the strong character I was missing from the other paranormal books I've read.
Now, when it came to Fonsi, I understood his importance in the story, but his character bothered me at times. We meet Fonsi fresh off of a breakup and not taking it well. From how he was described in the past, he was a well-groomed streetwear professional who walked the spiritual side to help others move on from their loved ones. Now he's depressed, looks homeless, and that air of confidence he had with him is gone. He had to be one of the most well-rounded characters I've met in a while, but I didn't care for him too much because he was heavy on the emotional side. It isn't until unexplained occurrences keep popping up in the human world that Fonsi starts to get back to his old self.
I like how Haynes crafted this story and brought these two characters together. He left enough gaps in the story for us to fill in with our imagination until we reached the explosive ending. If Gwendolyn and Fonsi couldn't work together, the world would have been taken over by spirits of all kinds. And man, you will not guess who's the mastermind of it all!
Overall, I rated this book 4 stars. It was the perfect balance of paranormal elements, thrills, intensity, and forgiveness-seeking that made this story what it is. It's also a quick read! I didn't have to run to the audio to get through the pages, so that's a win for me. I would love to see more from this author (and that may be soon, as I do have the Haynes x Epps Nubia series on my TBR). This book is officially going on my shelf. Thank you for taking me out of the slumps!
The Ghosts of Gwendolyn Montgomery debuts June 17, 2025
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