This was a really lovely book. Nice queer theme and I absolutely love a good ghost story. I really enjoyed all the characters and their different personalities and quirks. The only issue I had with the book was that I think I would’ve liked that the ghosts had a more central role in the story. That was my original impression of the book when I read the synopsis of it so I was a bit disappointed by that. But otherwise a very lovely romance book. And If there will be a book about Allie or Poe, I will totally read it! Love them!

This was a lovely romance that I wish I was reading at Halloween. Spooky rather than scary, the bones are perfect.

It's not so cosy that it's without bite. Jamie's horrendous family and Edgar's anxiety keep the tale firmly rooted in an unfortunate reality.

The romance is tender and lovely.

3.5 stars.
Overall, this was cute and fun and had quite a bit of open door spice. It had great fall vibes and will be perfect for a spooky season read. I liked the main characters, especially Edgar, who I was rooting for the whole time.
I liked this one and my only real reason for a lower rating is that I wanted a bit more paranormal activity. Edgar could see ghosts and felt like he was haunted for his whole life, but I felt like this particular element was a bit under utilized. It was talked about a lot, but I wanted more actual haunting. A few funny ghost interactions could have made this story more fun and interesting.

This had all the elements I usually enjoy—ghosts, humour, and a cute relationship. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really connect with any of the characters, and the writing didn’t quite work for me. It was a bit... repetitive? I’m also not a fan of the insta-love trope, and while their relationship does develop and deepen as the story goes on, it still felt too rushed for me. I also don’t think this story needed quite so much spice, it read more like a cosy novel.
Overall, I did enjoy it, but I found myself a bit bored at times. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3.

The Most Unusual Haunting of Edgar Lovejoy was so stinking cute! I really enjoyed the concept of a haunted house maker falling for someone who is literally haunted haha.

Thank you Sourcebooks and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC. All thoughts are my own.

This was such a lovely book. It’s a paranormal romance, but it’s also so much more than that. It’s about love and death and fear and family and self. There’s a lot of personal journeys going on in this book and they really made this book shine.

I loved Edgar and his family, their weirdness, all the ways they interacted and helped each other and loved each other. Getting to know Allie and Poe was one of my favourite things about this book.

I really liked the way Jamie helped Edgar face and help manage his fears. They were so kind and patient with him, so understanding and supportive. But I also loved that it was something Edgar really had to decide to face properly, on his own. These two were just really sweet together.

"Jamie Wendon-Dale may design haunted houses, but they don't actually believe in ghosts - until they meet Edgar Lovejoy, who is tall, clever, beautiful...and 100% haunted.

A cozy, ghostly LGBTQIA+ Romance. Jamie Wendon-Dale (transmasc they/them) creates haunted houses for a living. Haunting is their life - but nobody working New Orleans' spooky circuit actually believes in ghosts.

Edgar Lovejoy (cis he/him) is 100% haunted. No, really. Ghosts have tormented him since childhood and he's organized his life around attempts to avoid them.

Opposites? Get ready to attract. But while Jamie's biggest concern is that Edgar sometimes seems a bit distracted, Edgar's fears are much greater. Not only is he scared of encountering the dearly departed whenever he leaves the house, but he's terrified of making himself vulnerable to Jamie. After all, how do you tell someone who believes ghosts only exist as smoke and mirrors that you see them everywhere you go? And how can you trust in a happy future when you can't even believe in yourself?

A little spooky, a little magical, and a whole lot cozy: The (Most Unusual) Haunting of Edgar Lovejoy will leave you feeling like you've found a brand new bookish family of your own."

I mean, the only thing worse than living in a haunted house is if you are haunted.

Thank you Sourcebooks Casablanca for this eARC! This book blew me away. I went into it expecting some spooky times and while I did get that I also got an incredible amount of heart. Remarkable communication between two people who at their core are just Good to eachother. And some hot hot bedroom shenanigans that made me blush. What an unbelievable read what a remarkable story of love and family and loss and healing.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.
In this story we met Edgar Lovejoy, who can see ghosts and it frightens him.
We also meet Jamie ( they/them) transgender non-binary haunted house architect. What follows is a mostly cozy story with a few hot tamale spicy scenes. We fall in love with Edgar, who just wants to hide who he is.We follow Jamie as they want to live life so loudly their family has no choice but accept them. Heartwarming..This is a story of love, acceptance, and belonging.. It was an over all delight with 🍆.

Thank you to netgalley and publishers for this ARC!

This was a super cute love story and concept. I loved the growth of the characters and how the story progressed. My only qualm (and the reason it only has 3.5 stars) is that the dialogue to me often felt quite stilted. Everything else was lovely!

Edgar Lovejoy, a gentle giant who works at a cat cafe, can see ghosts, a haunting ability that fills him with anxiety and impedes his life in the very haunted city of New Orleans. Jamie Wendon-Dale moonlights as a burlesque performer in between designing haunted houses. When the two meet at one of Jamie's performances, confident Jamie is drawn to shy Edgar, even though a ghost-induced panic attack causes him to leave early. As the two get to know each other, a romance blossoms, and each begins to make changes in their life that they never expected they could. While this book is about the ghosts, it is really about how debilitating anxiety can change and limit your life. Edgar's anxiety is written with such heartbreaking realism. Jamie, struggling with setting boundaries with their family around their nonbinary identity, discovers a found family in Edgar's offbeat siblings. This book is full of spooks, cats, and love. I absolutely cannot recommend it enough.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced digital copy!

This was pretty good. Relatively light with characters that were generally likeable. Some of the side characters didn't seem like real people whereas some I've seen in my own family. What surprised me the most was how SPICY it was. I did not expect the number of very spicy moments that occurred. So light, reflective, and slightly sexy?

4.5 stars

CW: misgendering, panic attacks, parental neglect, transphobia

I really enjoyed this book! It’s been a while since I’ve gotten to read a new Roan Parrish and I’m so glad that it was so good!

Edgar Lovejoy is an absolute cinnamon roll of a man, though has fairly bad anxiety, based on the fact that he can see ghosts. One of the themes throughout the book is about how ghosts present themselves in different ways for different people, and for Edgar, they are scary and they’ve always been scary. He’s constantly on alert for ghosts when in public and his apartment is his safe refuge.

Jamie Weldon-Dale does burlesque and builds haunted houses. They meet Edgar at a burlesque show and there’s an immediate spark, but then Edgar sees a ghost and has to leave. Jamie has an absolutely awful, transphobic family, and while their sister sort of comes around towards the end, the rest of the interactions are absolutely painful to read.

The story is told from dual POVs, both Edgar and Jamie, and I really appreciated getting to see what they were both thinking. I really liked that Jamie actively questions their own biases and assumptions. They would have a negative thought about something with their relationship with Edgar, and then they would question it, try to see it from Edgar’s view, and it really led to a low angst read, which I really appreciated.

What I also appreciated was that despite finding love, Jamie and Edgar still have their own baggage and own challenges to work through at the end of the book. But together they’re able to support each other and that can make things a little bit easier.

Really loved this book, and liked the links to other Parrish books!

This was SUCH a sweet story. I loved Edgar and the entire Lovejoy family, and was so happy that Jamie was welcomed into the fold with open arms. I think Jamie's complicated relationship with their family will be one many people can relate to, and I really felt for them the entire book. I loved the message behind those struggles and was so glad that their sister finally stood by their side in the end. Edgar's journey with his ability to see ghosts was also really sweet, and for most of the book I just wanted to put him in my pocket and protect him from everything. The way Jamie encouraged him to slowly face his fears, support him through it, and then also offer Edgar a soft place to land afterwards was lovely. My only complaint was that some of the explicit scenes seemed out of place compared to the overall cozy vibe of the book. I didn't mind the scenes themselves, but every time I got to one, they kind of took me out of the story because of how different the tone was.

I need to first say The Most Unusual Haunting of Edgar Lovejoy is a really hard book to rate and review. There is so much love and feeling put into the beautiful work of art, that putting into words how I felt while reading this book is nearly impossible. However I shall endeavor.


This book feels like a cup of apple cider on a fall morning while in the far off distance you can watch kids run around in Halloween costumes in excitement. It's honestly the best way I can explain it. This book is not spooky like I thought it'd be, it's more spoopy. There are some really adorable nods to horror as a genre, but nothing scary (names of a horror writer, a person who makes haunted houses for a living, the ability to see ghosts... nods).

I love Edgar and Jamie. I mean I loooove them. This could be on the level of "I would die for them".... Edgar is so baby boy and Jamie is a bad ass. I think my only complaint is I wish there had been more than just the opening scene for Jamie's burlesque, there were a few mentions after that first scene but that's it and I liked the idea of Jamie performing and what it gave them. I adored how Edgar starts to slowly face his fears and how protective Jamie is of him.

I think what this book does best are the small moments. The sweet loving moments between Edgar and Jamie. The pure love of siblings who have endured trauma and seen the other side of it. The moments of connection between people who just care.

I have a feeling this book will mean so much to so many people. Whether for its outstanding queer and trans representation or for its unwavering devotion to making an anxiety disorder relatable to any reader, this book will succeed in finding loyal readers. I won't be surprised if years from now this book continues to be important to so many people, to find it on people's favorites lists, much like my own.

This was a really lovely cozy queer romance. The characters were loveable and wholesome, and their relationship felt natural.
Jamie is a fantastic portrayal of a trans non-binary character. I appreciated that, while their dysphoria wasn't swept under the rug, it wasn't the main acknowledgement of their trans-ness - that came with how they expressed themself in life and in their relationship. I also really enjoyed their portrayal in intimate scenes - the inclusion of a trans person whose top surgery has left part of their chest numb, prefers to top, and doesn't enjoy vaginal penetration was a really thoughtful, and real, portrayal (Every trans person is different, but a lot of trans-masc media does tend to lean one way). As a transmasculine person, I was very pleased to see that.
I did think Edgar's confession to Jamie about seeing ghosts was a bit lackluster. While the scene itself had plenty of emotional depth, the actual confession was just... accepted, and they moved on. For a book that markets itself as 'opposites attract', with one person seeing ghosts and the other not believing, I expected a little more from the scene. Not necessarily conflict, but maybe a bigger conversation.
Overall, this was a delightful queer romance. It was cozy, lighthearted, but also with an emotional depth that tugged at the heartstrings just a little.

This was a wonderfully cozy and fun spooky read! I'll admit, I was a little skeptical because cozy horror sounded a bit odd to me, but this really was a cozy horror. The characters were delightful, and the growth of all of them was so great. There was just enough gory ghosty scares to keep it in the horror genre, too. If anything, I would've liked a little more background on the paranormal aspects of the story, but I'm just hoping the lack of that means there will be another one!

This is an easy, sweet read with a handful of spicy scenes and some big character growth. As a romance, I went into it expecting the usual format, but it doesn't quite follow it. Jamie and Edgar get together early on and it's relatively smooth sailing for the two of them from there on out. It felt like big things happened randomly throughout the book that could have been part of a denouement. As a result, I felt the course of the book was uneven, and I wasn't sure what it was building up to. Towards the end I was less interested in the romance because it had been so consistent. There were a lot of interesting pieces that I would have liked to hear more about, but they could only be glossed over. I would absolutely read another book all about Poe, though.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

Gosh darn it this was just so freaking cute. Like squish up your face, kick your feet, roll around cute. Roan Parrish takes us back to New Orleans (and if you enjoyed this book but you haven't read Parrish's other part-Maine, part-New Orleans romance The Holiday Trap, don't wait. Go now. The bookstore is calling you.) for a genuinely spooky-at-times romance between Edgar, whose ability to see ghosts has practically turned him into one himself, and the cheerful, charismatic haunted house designer Jamie who is determined to lead Edgar back into the world of the living. Bit of reader be prepared: Jamie's transphobic family are positively vile and the way they treat Jamie is more than a little upsetting to read at times, but it's supposed to be. And it makes it all the better to watch Jamie start to find their way out from under their gross family.

I really, really loved this book. The characters felt so real and fully formed. I believed in them completely, and found myself caring about their journeys more than I expected to. Their individual stories were already strong on their own, but the way they slowly intertwined was done with so much care and tenderness. It all came together in such a satisfying way.

The writing itself is lovely- clean, thoughtful, and easy to fall into. It never tries too hard to be profound, but still manages to land some really beautiful, emotional moments. Nothing felt forced or overwritten, and that made the emotional beats hit even harder for me.

There's something so comforting and bittersweet about the tone of the whole story. I loved watching both characters work through their own situations and slowly find their way to each other (and to some answers). It felt honest, and the ending felt earned in a way that really stuck with me!!!

This one was just special. Quietly moving and unexpectedly hopeful in the best way.