Haunted Ever After by Jen DeLuca

Haunted Ever After by Jen DeLuca

Series:  Boneyard Key #1

Published by Berkley on August 13, 2034

Genres:  Romance, Paranormal, Contemporary, Fantasy, Halloween, Ghosts, Fiction

Pages:  352

Format:  eARC

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★★★★

🌶/5 spice

It's love at first haunting in a seaside town that raises everyone’s spirits from USA Today bestselling author Jen DeLuca.

Small Florida coastal towns often find themselves scrambling for the tourism dollars that the Orlando theme parks leave behind. And within the town limits of Boneyard Key, the residents decided long ago to lean into its ghostliness. Nick Royer, owner of the Hallowed Grounds coffee shop, embraces the ghost tourism that keeps the local economy afloat, as well as his spectral roommate. At least he doesn’t have to run air-conditioning.

Cassie Rutherford possibly overreacted to all her friends getting married and having kids by leaving Orlando and buying a flipped historic cottage in Boneyard Key. Though there’s something unusual with her new home (her laptop won’t charge in any outlets, and the poetry magnets on her fridge definitely didn’t read “WRONG” and “MY HOUSE” when she put them up), she’s charmed by the colorful history surrounding her. And she's catching a certain vibe from the grumpy coffee shop owner whenever he slips her a free slice of banana bread along with her coffee order.

As Nick takes her on a ghost tour, sharing town gossip that tourists don't get to hear, and they spend nights side-by-side looking into the former owners of her haunted cottage, their connection solidifies into something very real and enticing. But Cassie's worried she’s in too deep with this whole (haunted) home ownership thing… and Nick's afraid to get too close in case Cassie gets scared away for good.

Small town rom com, fun ghosts, grumpy but hot MMC, and a little bit of a mystery! DeLuca gave us a bit of everything in this one book and I adored it!

Cassie leaves Orlando for a fresh start and moves to a small but very quirky coastal town (I've bet you have heard this plot before once or twice.... or a few hundred times if you are a big reader like me). But this tale has a TWIST... the entire town is haunted and has a spooky backstory and possibly evil ghosts! Turns out Cassie (skeptic) not only moved to a haunted town but her house is haunted by a ghost who claims its HER house (and she might of killed her husband...).

Then enters Nick... grumpy but handsome coffee shop owner who deals with his own ghost - but the good kind - that gives him endless business and relationship advice. Cassie and him grow closer as she's forced to use the coffee shop's wifi.

I absolutely ADORED this small, spooky town and it's (living & dead) inhabitants. But I will be honest - I was WAY more intrigued by the ghosts of the town and the mystery of what the ghost in Cassie's house wanted and her history in the town's past. For once, I wanted to skip the romantic scenes to get to the good stuff - THE GHOSTS.

This is a SLOOOOWWWW burn. Expect a whole lot of nothing except for a few brief scenes - but if you don't care about the lack of spice I will say it's worth it. I loved the way the relationship blossomed and how events from their past affected their relationship. The ending was done extremely well and I loved how the characters ended up.

The ending also WRECKED ME due to one thing (iykyk - but not related to MCs). I will never be okay after what DeLuca put me through with that plot twist.

I cannot wait to see what else Boneyard Key has to offer with this seemingly to become a series. I have a feeling who the next books will be about and I hope I am right!

I highly recommend this one for those who love a good ghostly rom com, small town romance and slow burn romance. This would make the perfect book for halloween romance readers!

Big thanks to Jen DeLuca, Berkley and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exhchange for my honest opinons!