Let Me Be Your Ghost comes out in 6 days. Early copies have been out with reviewers for a few weeks, which means the reviews have started showing up, which means I have read every single one of them. (Authors who say they don’t read their reviews are either lying or much stronger than I am.)
You’ve heard plenty from me about this book. So today you get what other people are saying about my romantic thriller instead, including the one part a reviewer didn’t love.
One heads up before we start: you have 6 days left to preorder the novel and get my second book free. The deadline is midnight Pacific on Tuesday, November 17, and the how-to is at the bottom of this email.
📚 “One of my favourite books of this year”
That line is from Charlotte, who runs The Hidden Book Nook here on Substack. She’s been vocal about wanting more story-first romance novels, which makes her exactly the kind of reader I wrote this book for. Here’s the Note she posted the day after she finished it:
Here’s what she said about the romance and the thriller sharing one book:
What I loved about this novel was how it threaded the needle between its two key genres.
And here’s what she said about the plot:
Just when you think you’ve cracked the case, another detail sends you in an entirely new direction.
She also compared the clues to pieces in a game of Cluedo, which is what the rest of the world calls Clue, and which I’m taking as a huge compliment. You can read her whole review and our Q&A here.
⭐ Meanwhile, on Goodreads
As I write this, the book has 13 ratings and a 4.29 average on Goodreads. I know this because I have checked more than once.
My favorite review so far is from Edward Eveld, who opens like this:
I already miss Lola Whitman, a memoir ghostwriter leveraged into a double life she fiercely wants to escape, Amy Suto’s gutsy and vulnerable hero in “Let Me Be Your Ghost.”
Lola is my main character. She writes memoirs for powerful people and passes what they confess to the FBI, and the billionaire she’s supposed to turn in next is the one she falls for. Edward goes on:
I savored not only the genre blend here but also Suto’s closely observed prose, enjoying the patience the author sometimes requires. Don’t worry, thrill-seekers: You will be rewarded.
“The patience the author sometimes requires” is the most polite way anyone has ever told me my book is 432 pages. He ends with “Here’s hoping we hear from Lola again,” and Edward, same.
A reviewer named Kelly read it through NetGalley and wrote that it:
hooked me with its unique premise, fast paced action, dangerous secrets, and the tension of a woman falling for the very man she was supposed to turn in.
Megan Guilliams left the most useful kind of review, the kind with notes. She said my characters sometimes “speak in quotes meant for a cool movie trailer.” I was a TV writer before I was a novelist, so, guilty. She also wrote this:
I loved Lola. She felt like a character with real depth and a very human number of flaws.
And then she said the story “would make a great on-screen adaptation with its fast pacing and catchy one-liners.” So the movie-trailer dialogue giveth and the movie-trailer dialogue taketh away.
Courtney Ciandella kept hers short. “It’s very well written,” she wrote, “and the story has so many layers to it that really took me on a ride.”
💌 The ones that never made it to a review site
Back when I was serializing the book here on 💡 Sutoscience, one of my early readers left this comment on a chapter that earns the 18+ label:
I have the utmost respect for authors who can write convincing sex scenes like this. Takes courage.
It did take courage — thank you for noticing. And when another reader got accepted for an ARC, she posted, “Why do I feel like I just won the lottery?”
Then there’s my inbox. One of my beta readers sent me this after finishing the last chapters:
It’s been a long while since I’ve come across descriptive writing like yours. It’s like you’re sketching with charcoal. Deft and beautifully breezy.
Another reader replied to chapter one to say “this one SINGS. The tone is spectacular. The pacing is perfect.” And a third wrote, “I’ll definitely buy one for my sister for Christmas,” which is the review every author is secretly hoping for.
⏳ 6 days left to get the free book
Let Me Be Your Ghost comes out Wednesday, November 18. Until midnight Pacific on Tuesday, November 17, every preorder comes with a second book for free: How to Write a Memoir, the real version of what Lola does in the novel, with everything I’ve learned from ghostwriting memoirs. It has never been for sale, and a preorder is the only way to get it.
Here’s how it works:
Preorder Let Me Be Your Ghost in any format (Kindle, paperback or hardcover) from any retailer.
Upload your receipt on my preorder page.
How to Write a Memoir lands in your inbox in PDF and EPUB, usually within minutes.
Your preorder has to be in by Tuesday night. If you’re busy this week, you can still upload your receipt any time through November 30.
And if you’ve already read an early copy, a few sentences on Goodreads would make my whole week. As you can tell, I will read them.
See you in the story 🌉
-Amy