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I accidentally read Karen White’s series backward.
And honestly? It worked out surprisingly well.
I kept seeing ads for The House on Prytania, part of Karen White’s Royal Street series. Between the cover, the promise of ghosts, and a story set in New Orleans, it kept catching my attention. I love a good ghost story, especially one set in the South, so eventually I read the description and decided I needed to give the series a try.
I started with The Shop on Royal Street, completely unaware that Royal Street was actually a spinoff of Karen White’s Tradd Street series.
Three Royal Street books later, I wasn’t ready to leave this world.
More importantly, I wanted to know the whole story behind Melanie and Jack.
So I went backward and started The House on Tradd Street.
And within a few chapters, I was hooked.
The House That Pulled Me In
Having already read the Royal Street books, I knew just enough about Melanie's life in Charleston to be curious about how her story began—but not enough to know what I was walking into.
Almost immediately, the old house, the Southern atmosphere and the sense that there was much more going on than what you could see pulled me in.
And then there was a ghost swinging in the garden.
That was pretty much it for me.
I was in.
There's something about old Southern houses that makes them the perfect setting for a ghost story. Add Charleston history, family secrets and a woman who can see people who aren't supposed to be there anymore, and this series checks a whole lot of boxes for me.
I've always loved history, particularly Southern history, and Charleston has been on my bucket list for a long time. The architecture and history aren't just background details in these books. They're part of what makes the entire world feel so immersive.
I don't just want to read about these houses.
I want to wander through them.
Preferably during daylight hours.
Cozy Spooky...Until It Isn't
I wouldn't call the Tradd Street books horror, but I also wouldn't put them completely in the “cozy spooky” category.
They're somewhere in between.
Most of the time, I can happily curl up and read about Melanie seeing ghosts without being particularly bothered.
And then there are moments when I'm lying in bed, everyone has already turned the lights off, I'm reading on my Kindle...
…and I decide maybe that's enough Tradd Street for tonight.
The Girl on Legare Street had a few of those moments for me. Without giving away the story, there's a ghost who sometimes appears visibly decayed and as though she has been submerged in water.
The descriptions are incredibly vivid.
Which is great.
Until you're reading them in the dark.
That's probably the best way I can describe the level of scary in this series: cozy enough to be a comfort read, but creepy enough that every once in a while you may reconsider turning off the lights.
Melanie Took a Little Time
Because I read Royal Street first, I already knew Melanie before I met the younger version of her in The House on Tradd Street.
I knew she was a little OCD. I knew she liked control. I knew some of the people who would eventually become important in her life.
What I didn't really understand was why she was the way she was.
And Melanie can be difficult to like at first.
She keeps her guard firmly in place, particularly with Jack, even though it's pretty obvious from the beginning that there's something between them.
The more I learned about her childhood and her parents, though, the more I understood her.
And the more I liked her.
That's something Karen White does particularly well in these books. After spending enough time with these characters, they stop feeling like characters you're reading about and start feeling like people you know.
I find myself laughing with them. Smiling at their conversations. Getting annoyed with them.
And occasionally wanting to yell, “Would you two just get on with it already?”
About Melanie and Jack...
...Let's just say the slow burn is SLOW.
Jack took me a little time to figure out. There were moments early on when I wasn't entirely sure what I thought of him, but it didn't take long before he started growing on me.
And the dynamic between Jack and Melanie?
I'm invested.
I'm also occasionally completely exasperated.
Karen White is very good at creating that just get on with it already feeling. There are plenty of moments when I want to reach into the book and have a conversation with these characters myself.
But here's the thing: I'd still read these books without the romance.
The ghosts, mysteries, history, old houses and characters are more than enough to keep me coming back.
The romantic tension just gives me one more reason to keep turning the pages, even if I occasionally want to yell at everyone involved.
It's More Than the Ghosts
One thing I wasn't expecting to become quite so invested in was Melanie's family.
Her relationships with both of her parents are complicated, and learning more about her family history helped me understand so much about why Melanie is the way she is.
There were definitely moments when I questioned some of the choices her parents had made—especially as a mom myself. But the more I learned about them, the more I realized that these relationships aren't nearly as simple as they first appear.
That's one of the things I've really enjoyed about the series. The family relationships have their own history, hurt, humor and plenty of complicated feelings, and they add so much more to Melanie's story than I expected.
There are moments that are frustrating, moments that are surprisingly sweet and others that made me smile.
I came for the ghosts and the old Charleston houses, but I definitely didn't expect to become this invested in an entire family's story.
Meeting Nola Backward
Nola has also made reading Tradd Street especially interesting for me.
I met the older version of her first in Royal Street, so now I'm getting to see her younger self through other people's eyes, particularly Melanie's.
Rather than spoiling Tradd Street for me, reading Royal Street first has actually given me another perspective on the characters.
If I could do it over again, I'd probably read the books in the intended order simply because that's how the stories were written.
But I don't regret reading them backward.
Both series explain their worlds well enough that I was able to enjoy Royal Street without ever feeling like I'd missed an entire series of required reading.
Three Books in Five Weeks
I've now read the first three Tradd Street books in about five weeks:
The House on Tradd Street
The Girl on Legare Street
The Strangers on Montagu Street
And of the three, Book 3 has probably been my favorite so far.
By that point, relationships are beginning to come together, the characters feel familiar and I feel completely settled into their world.
That's really what keeps bringing me back.
Even the things that occasionally frustrate me are outweighed by how much I enjoy Karen White's writing and how badly I want to know what happens next.
What Does a Tradd Street Book Feel Like?
This might actually be the easiest way for me to describe the series.
Imagine curling up under a blanket in an old Southern house while a thunderstorm rolls in outside.
There's history in the walls. There's probably a mystery nobody has solved in 100 years.
There may or may not be a ghost in the garden.
You've got nowhere you need to be.
You have your book, something good to drink and an entire day to disappear into another world.
That's basically my ideal recharge day.
That's what reading Tradd Street feels like to me.
Just maybe keep a lamp on.
Who I'd Recommend It To
If you like Southern settings, historic houses, family mysteries, ghosts, a little romance and stories about people who can communicate with the dead, I'd absolutely give Tradd Street a try.
If you like your spooky books creepy enough to occasionally make you glance toward the dark corner of your bedroom but not so scary that you're signing up for full-on horror, this might be your sweet spot.
It's definitely mine.
I've only finished the first three books, so I still have plenty of Tradd Street ahead of me—and I'm deliberately avoiding spoilers for what's coming next.
At this point, though, these aren't just characters I'm curious about.
They feel like people I know.
And I'm ready to go back to Charleston and see what happens to them next.
Want the whole series? Find it Here
Interested in The House on Tradd Street (Book 1)? Find it Here
Book 2: The Girl on Legare Street: Find it Here
Book 3: Strangers on Montague Street: Find it Here
Interested in Kindle Unlimited? Check it Out Here
