Amber Roberts’ second romance starts out with all the strappings of the perfect spooky season read, adds in just the right amount of small town charm, and finishes with the warm-and-fuzzy, feel-good ending of your favorite Christmas movies. Lex’s anxiety, insecurities, and self-doubt bring appealing depth and dimension to the story, and I found myself cheering for her to overcome her own demons. Plus, her relationship with James provided plenty of witty banter and sweet moments. This is an awesome feel-good romance for any time between late September and New Years’ Eve—crossing my fingers for a sequel featuring Natalie and Julian!

Alex, 33, is working at a bookstore and living in the house her grandfather built. She’s terrified of change, struggles with anxiety, and has a fraught relationship with her parents. She is desperately clinging to a store that’s not hers and a house she can’t afford to care for. She meets James pretty early on, and he starts coming by the store to see her. He’s in town working on a documentary about the town’s haunted history. This sets them up for a bit of conflict from the start, because Lex is solidly against developing feelings for anyone that isn’t planning to stay.

The plot was slow. I didn’t understand why Alex felt the need to insert herself into their documentary so much if it made her feel guilt to lie. She was actively pursuing a role and asking to be credited. James didn’t even seem to know she was the person behind the vlog that inspired some of their content until she told him. He was interested in spending time with her prior to that conversation, so Alex had no true need to start faking ghosts for him to get him to hang out with her.

Since Alex was faking the ghosts and everything was from her point of view there was no suspense or spooky vibes. The choice to set this story in December also removed the possibility of Halloween shenanigans in favor of Christmas trees and gift shopping.

Communication was lacking. The situation between Alex and James was weird—they’re jumping in and meeting each other’s parents after a few weeks, but they were still tiptoeing around what to call each other. They had banter and chemistry, but needed to have a conversation about what they were doing and wanted from each other. The third act conflict was underdeveloped. He left, stopped taking her calls, and then just decided to stay in Stowe?

Alex opened up to her family and had some healing conversations with them. I just couldn’t shake the feeling that something was missing. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything particularly romantic or spooky about this book.

3.5⭐️

Amber Roberts truly is the ghostess with the mostess in this spooktacular romcom!

Haunt Your Heart Out is a beautifully written snowy romcom about Lex, whose dream is to own the bookstore she works at in lovely Stowe, VT, and a gorgeous stranger, James, who shows up to film a ghost documentary.

They grow close as she rehashes her past as a vlogger who faked hauntings, but the chemistry and the banter are as real as it gets, even if the ghosts are not. Roberts deals beautifully and gently with Lex’s struggles with anxiety and depression, reminding us that characters who grapple with lows still deserve romance and happiness. Both main characters unpack some of the damage of misunderstandings and childhood, and in the same vein of Roberts’ first book, this is as charming and healing as it is hilarious and full of fun romance moments and steam.

Roberts will make you laugh, and smile, and smirk at those moments, and then walk away a little more at peace with the world than you were when you started reading, and a lot more in need of maple syrup candy, snow, and the state of Vermont in general.

Thank you to NetGalley, Alcove Press, and Amber Roberts for the eARC of this book!