Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite

Karen Hulene Bartell’s Indigo follows Chicago editor Raluca Olson to Birch Lake, Wisconsin, after an inheritance from great-aunt Winifred Nelson gives her a lakeside cabin from a relative she never knew existed. Raluca plans to sell the property and return to Chicago, but the cabin opens up questions about Winifred’s connection to the Marchand family, whose history runs through the nearby cemetery. Property manager Dylan McCoombs becomes her source of local knowledge as Raluca begins tracing those family links through records left behind at the cabin. A blue-eyed puppy she finds near the cemetery soon joins her, just as strange cries from the woods start giving Birch Lake’s old stories a new relevance. With a possible windigo moving from local folklore into Raluca’s everyday life, the inheritance begins looking far less accidental.

Karen Hulene Bartell’s Indigo is a cleverly written paranormal romance with a massive amount of creativity. Raluca’s voice is fantastic because every strange discovery still sounds like it is happening to the same practical editor who notices wording even when she is scared. That comes through early when she automatically corrects “devil’s chair” to “mourning chair” inside her own thoughts, which I found hilarious. The supernatural material gets even better as the book moves forward, especially when ordinary explanations appear beside increasingly strange evidence. Later, Silas Greene’s lawyerly habit of separating what he knows from what he can establish gives the Marchand history a terrific delivery without taking over the book. Bartell grows the romance with that same sense of character, particularly Raluca’s easy exchanges with Dylan, making their connection feel natural within everything happening around them. And who knew that laying tiles could be so flirty? Readers on the hunt for a great paranormal romance with a dash of family folklore are in for a treat. Very highly recommended.