What an absolute delight! DeLuca's latest (the first in a new series that I hope brings us many more books!) is a perfect balance between fun-and-sometimes-spooky-ghost stuff with characters who are ultimately very soft and kind.

Cassie and Nick could be any of us, they just happen to live in a town full of ghosts! I really enjoyed the haunting plot, and was all-in along for the ride as Cassie tried to figure out what the heck was going on in her home. But what REALLY hooked me was the sweet, shy romance between Cassie and Nick, two people who'd become accustomed to loneliness.

I especially loved Cassie's take on adulthood as a woman without children, feeling a bit abandoned by her old friend group. My heart ached every time she tried to interact with the friend text thread -- that is SO real, and so relevant, and her experience deserve more space in romance novels.

DeLuca also manages to tackle some deeper topics like, oh, the PATRIARCHY. But she does it with her classic sass and good humor, so these themes never felt over-bearing.

I also loved how the location felt like another character in the story, and DeLuca's descriptions of the sunsets and breezes had me ready for a trip to the beach!

Haunted Ever After scratches all of my romance itches! DeLuca does an amazing job of building a haunted town and weaves the history in just so. The characters feel real and deal with real emotions. Everything I’ve wanted in a contemporary romance with a super fun paranormal twist!

I was so excited to see a new Jen DeLuca book and her diving into paranormal romance….i was excited. I loved nick’s brooding self so much. It felt like the romance was more sub plot but the story did not lack plot.

This book, Haunted Ever After, didn't quite resonate with me. I found that I was more interested in the ghost story than the romance between the characters. Despite the well-written plot and solid character development, I struggled to fully connect with the story. I did appreciate Cassie as a relatable character and enjoyed the feminist aspect woven into the ghost story. However, I didn't quite buy into the chemistry between Cassie and Nick, who came off as a bit of a jerk at times (even when he wasn’t possessed by a misogynistic ghost). Overall, while the book had its strengths, it just didn't quite click for me.

Reading this book was like going on a first date with someone who you have absolutely zero chemistry with, but they're still a nice person so you feel kind of bad about it. I've read other Jen DeLuca books. In fact, Well Met, is one of my fave rom coms. I want to love every book that she's written since Well Met, but there's always something missing for me.

This book follows Cassie and Nick, who live in a small town in Florida. The catch is that it's a haunted town, and ghosts are very much real. I enjoyed the concept of this book. I liked when Cassie interacted with her ghost. And I found Nick's interactions with the ghosts to be endearing. Simply put, it was campy and cute.

However, the romance between Cassie and Nick was SOOO boring. I didn't think they had any chemistry. I wanted more witty banter or more yearning. I feel like there was a missed opportunity in the romance department. If this book was all about interacting with this haunted small town, I think I would've liked it more. And I rarely ever think that a book could use less romance.

I really wanted to love this book and go on a 2nd date with Jen DeLuca, but I think we're just very different people. It's not you. It's me.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.*

Cassie may have overreacted when all of her friends started getting married and having children while she was still single and about to lose her apartment. This overreaction results in Cassie buying a house in a small Florida town known for being haunted. Cassie doesn’t believe in ghosts but is alarmed when her house, or more accurately something in it, tries to change her mind. Nick is the grumpy owner of a coffee shop who, like all natives of Boneyard Key, knows that ghosts are real. He especially knows this since his roommate is a ghost. As Cassie and Nick investigate the previous owner of Cassie’s house, they get closer to answers about why it’s haunted and closer to each other.

I definitely didn’t intend to read two books about ghosts in a row, but that’s just how it goes sometimes. Between the time that I requested this book and actually being approved, I completely forgot that this was Jen DeLuca’s new book. I adored her Well Met series and was excited to see what she did next. This book does not disappoint. I really appreciated that this book was almost completely different from her first series and yet I still felt like it was her writing. Unlike in the Well Met series, this one has dual narrative and is written in the third person instead of first. The shift really helped me see this book as different. It also made it slightly more mysterious, which helped with the paranormal vibe.

I had a lot of fun with this book. It walked the fine line of being realistic while also including fantastical elements. Cassie doesn’t believe in the ghosts right away, but changing her mind isn’t too drawn out. I also thought it was fun to see the male character as the believer and the female character as the skeptic, since I feel like it’s often the reverse in fiction.

This book does something very cool in that it shows actual sympathy towards the ghosts. It acknowledges that they were once people who had feelings and that those should be taken into account after their death. Often in books, ghosts are just a device to make a character complete an objective. This ironically felt more fleshed out (get it? A ghost is the opposite of fleshed out).

I liked that there was a bit of a mystery in this book with enough clues that you can anticipate where it’s going if you try. In many romance novels, the rest of the plot often feels like an after thought or just in the way, but I actually enjoyed going on the journey with this one.

All around this was an enjoyable book and I’m excited to see what Jen DeLuca does next.

This was the perfect read for spring - I love a haunted/ghost story in the fall. I didn't know I was missing comfy romance ghost stories to get me through the lighter months until reading this book! The characters are so likable and the small town vibe is perfect!

Jen DeLuca's books are always such a delight to read. She creates a world within a small-town setting that I just want to experience for myself.
I love the concept of a haunted house mystery coupled with a sweet rom-com with loveable side characters. I especially liked how the paranormal suspense and the romance was built up and kept me hooked throughout the whole novel. The spirits really stand out to me as characters who propel the story even from behind the shadowy realms. The concept is very unique and Deluca manages to blend two genres that appear to be opposite to make it sweet, funny and heartbreaking all at once.

Thank you Berkley and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book was one of my favorite reads of the year so far! It is a very fun concept of a woman in her 30's starting over by moving to a new town that turns out to be haunted, and the romance that blossoms from that haunting. What's nice about this book is it isn't just about Cassie falling in love with someone else - it's also about her falling in love with herself and her life again, and finding a partner that deserves her.

I'm a big history fan, so I love that the author delved into the history of this town of Boneyard Key in detail. I vividly could imagine this seaside town with its novelty shops, ghost tours and surprise visitors. Cassie's relationship with the town and learning to love her new location was gradual and felt meaningful.

I also really enjoyed the pace of the romance. It felt right for two people in their early 30's beginning to know each other amidst intense feelings and extenuating (ghostly) circumstances. Both Cassie and Nick had their own personal flaws and hang-ups but end up being the perfect fit for each other.

This was my first book from Jen DeLuca, and I'm definitely going to check out her other works. This was a solid 5 star read for me.

Ahhhhh!! First, thanks Berkley and NetGalley for this eARC!

Okay this book has been one of my most anticipated 2024 reads and it DID NOT DISAPPOINT.

I *loved* this. A perfect blend of contemporary and paranormal!

I loved how this really truly was just, boy and girl meet and like each other. I loved that their problems were mostly external, and the way this plot fueled their narrative together.

I loved the way DeLuca built toward the big reveal and allowed it to take root in the story.

I can’t wait for this book to come out now even more!!!!

5 stars. 10 out of 10. No notes. Just happiness.

Jen DeLuca has stepped away from the ren faire to give us a fresh, new setting with a bunch of interesting characters. Haunted Ever After was a slow burn romance with a cozy mystery theme running through it. I loved Boneyard Key and all its inhabitants. It was easy to imagine all of the shops, houses, and landmarks in Boneyard Key. They had a life of their own with their ghostly inhabitants. I loved how everything was centered around the acceptance of the ghosts in town. It made the mystery of the story a lot of fun. I also loved how both the ghosts and the mystery brought Nick and Cassie together. Their romance was the slowest of slow burns and sometimes felt more like a subplot than the main part of the book. These two took their time getting to know each other, falling in love, and solving the mystery. That is probably the biggest complaint I have about this book. The pace was slower than I normally like. The third person narration didn't do the pace any favors either. All in all, it was a fun read.

3.25 stars★

“Good to keep your eyes open for the right one. You never know when it’s going to come into your life.”

So Cassie wanted a change and ended up in Boneyard Key. Turns out, nobody mentioned that Boneyard Key is actually quite unique. Boneyard Key is famous for its ghostly residents, but nobody bothered to mention that Cassie's house is haunted by a grumpy old spirit. At first, Cassie didn't buy it. Her laptop acting up? Must be faulty wiring, right? But the more time she spent in town, the more she started to think that maybe, just maybe, the locals weren't as crazy as she thought. Nick has been living in Boneyard Key his whole life. He owns the coffee shop and he's not even fazed by the ghost of the original owner who sends him text messages. When Cassie arrives, he transforms into her personal ghost tour guide, sharing all the chilling stories and secretly wishing she'll believe him. But deep down, he also hopes that she might decide to stay because he hasn't felt this way about someone in ages. Cassie maybe has the power to break down the walls he's carefully constructed. The more they hang out, the more they uncover the secrets of Cassie's new home and the resident ghost. And there's an unexpected twist that catches everyone off guard. The romance kinda took a backseat in the story, you know? Like, I didn't really care much about what was happening with Nick and Cassie. But man, Elmer and Nan, the ghosts, they were awesome characters! Their personalities just shined through the pages and made the whole thing so much more interesting. Cassie and Sarah's friendship, with their trash Tv marathons, was absolutely hilarious. The whole haunted town thing in the book, with the actual ghosts and everything, was seriously one-of-a-kind. It brought such a unique and captivating element to the story.

Imagine moving to the most haunted town in all of Florida. That is precisely what Cassie does; at first, she thinks it is all just a gimmick to attract tourists. Trying to escape a life she no longer feels welcome in. Cassie bought a beautiful little cottage on the water and couldn't be happier or lonelier. That is until she meets the grumpy cafe owner, Nick Royer. Why does he have to be so cute? Why does he have to make the best coffee in town? And, why does her laptop keep dying at home, forcing her to go to the cafe to mooch their power and Wi-Fi? When Nick tells her the ghosts are real, she scoffs at first until she meets her new ghost in her own home!

Jen DeLuca's Haunted Ever After is the perfect mix of rom-com novel and paranormal mystery. As Cassie sets out to learn about the ghost who occupies her house, you can't help but wonder who the "Mean Mrs. Hawkins" is or why she is still haunting the house. The slow-burn romance between Nick and Cassie is cute and sometimes frustrating (get-together already)! Perfect for romance novel lovers who like just a little spice. I laughed at the ghosts' antics and swooned at the love building between the two main characters.

Disclaimer: While I received a free advanced reader copy of the novel, this review's thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.

I loved the book, a bit of spookyness is necessary eh,?? I loved the characters and their dynamics. I was like shocked when they said that the old owner of store was dead and his ghost was the one talking? Like what…. Until that point I was like oh they like to creat drama there’s no ghost but that… oooh. I loved all the things. I would have liked it better if, the introduction or the meet would have been better. I liked that they bantered at the beginning but it would have been better to have them keep the banter or rather they had a sweet meet. Them meeting was the one flaw that k could n the book. I know the beginnings can be tricky. But I loved the book nonetheless.

I am a huge fan of Jen DeLuca’s Well Met series and this did not disappoint.

I loved the intrigue and mystery of Boneyard Key and The Hawkins Hosue. I honestly want more about the ghosts and the town.

I enjoyed that the story led the book and not just background to a romance. A lot of time I feel authors sacrifice a good plot for spice and this book did not.

As someone who has lived in Florida in the past, the mention of Publix and Pub subs was just a nice, cozy love note.

This is the third or fourth ghost romance I’ve read in the last year–not sure why it’s trending this season–or why they are being published in the springtime, instead of October (where they belong! Not really–Ashley Poston’s brilliant novel The Dead Romantics takes place over a week in April). In Haunted Ever After, the entire coastal town of Boneyard FL, and the descendants of the Founding Fifteen have a knack for communicating with them. Nick has never left town and runs a coffee shop where he runs into a new resident, Cassie, taking up his electricity to charge her laptop because her outlets at home aren’t working.

Their initial cantankerous meeting quickly abates, and Nick learns Cassie is the new owner of Hawkins House, a stop on the local walking ghost tour that his friend Sophie leads. As Cassie is sitting on her dark balcony, she overhears the docent sharing the history of her supposedly-haunted home, and the magnetic poetry words on her refrigerator rearrange themselves to spell out WRONG and MY HOUSE. Cassie sleeps outside on the porch that next, and the next morning, drags Nick home to see the fridge. Nick is less fazed; not only has he grown up with the whole ghost thing, but the former owner of his establishment haunts his home and keeps in touch with “helpful” unsolicited suggestions about the cafe via texts from various unlisted numbers. Nick and Cassie are falling for one another, but it seems like her ghost doesn’t like him, and his is a voyeur/c**kblocker. Nick’s baggage is that his long-time girlfriend left him because he never had dreams beyond their hometown, which is why he only dates tourists; and as soon as he hears Cassie might be thinking about selling and not sticking around, his guard goes up. Will they ever be able to actually get together?

While a contemporary novel, the paranormal element is an offshoot of fantasy, and that requires fantastic world-building. Deluca delivers, in the clever ways the dead find to communicate with the living, in the puns that abound with the names of the various shops and restaurants, and in the character of a Florida town on the water–there is a lovely sincerity to the locals the belies the tourist trap heritage. I did find the relationship development abrupt, and the character development surprisingly shallow. I was worried Cassie and Nick’s initial meet-rough was going to string the reader along in a frenemies to lovers trope, but they actually communicated and resolved things; maybe I just didn’t have a strong sense of the timeline, but the “I love you’s” seemed too soon and not quite warranted. The sinister elements of the haunting touch on the patriarchy and came off a little “on a soap-box preaching to the choir” but I’m also frustrated and mad as hell and get where DeLuca is coming from. Nick’s takeover by a ghost reminded me of another recent read that pulls from an episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and what is it with ghosts loving trash television (both Cassie’s Sarah and Gretchen’s Everett from Sarah Adler’s Happy Medium love reality tv). This was a satisfying read with the mystery solved and the characters hooking up but I didn’t love it on the level of the charming, funny, hot, clever Well Met, and found myself plodding a bit through to the end.

I received a free advanced reader’s review copy of #HauntedEverAfter via #NetGalley, courtesy of Berkley.

4.5 stars. This was a strange but entertaining book. Nick owns a haunted coffee shop and Cassie just moved into a house that seems to have its own ghost in this little Florida town that boasts it's the most haunted place in America. Of course, Nick's ghost is the former owner, who somehow texts him all day with his opinions on recipes and what Nick could be doing better. Cassie's ghost seems more sinister, although the truth may be much more complicated. And what's worse, as Nick and Cassie grow closer, the ghost in her house really seems to dislike Nick. Who can Cassie trust?

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC to review. All opinions are my own.

This was delightful! I love stories with ghosts. Jen DeLuca's creativity knows no bounds. What a unique story, a rarity in the romance genre, I can't wait to see what she comes out with next.

I wanted to love this book. A romance in a ghost town is 100% my kind of thing, but this one missed the mark for me.

I could not bring myself to care about Casie and Nick. They felt 2 dimensional. Like the part where he bought her Publix was sweet but other than that it felt forced and shallow. In my opinion Nick wasn’t a swoon worthy book boyfriend.

Elmer and Nan however were excellent characters. Their personalities shined through the pages. I even liked the friendship Cassie developed with Sarah watching trash TV, that was funny.

Overall, I had trouble sticking with this book. I came close to DNFing because it was just not holding my attention. And honestly, I found the last 3rd of it to be cringey. If the ending had been less obsessed with the patriarchy and more spooky I think it would have been better. And if Nick and Cassie had more personality.

If you like ghosts and don’t mind a slow burn, give it a shot.

Thanks NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book was incredible! I had such an absolute blast reading this book! I could not put it down and I was head over. heels in love with our main characters. The concept was was truly so magical and I cannot wait to pick this book up again for October because it is definitely one of those feel good, Practical Magic, kinda vibes that you want to read during spooky season.

I loved that the romance was a sub plot and very much a slow burn, because the rest of the story and main plot were so interesting and magical that I fell more in love with it than I did the romance. Not to say the romance wasn't good, but the plot was so much more fascinating for me as a reader.

Loved this book so much! Thank you NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.