In Haunted Ever After by Jen DeLuca, Cassie and Nick make for a great story: two lost souls who have been left behind in life by family and coworkers, only to find themselves and find their way forward in a haunted Florida tourist town. This was a fun read that can easily be enjoyed by fans of both contemporary romance and paranormal romance. With Casper-friendly ghosts haunting every place from the beach to the bar, this romance was definitely unique and made Haunted Ever After hard to put down. 

The sunsets look so much better with you.

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At two thirty in the morning, Cassie was sound asleep. At two thirty-seven in the morning, three of the magnetic words on her fridge moved an inch and a half to the left.

From the Ren Faire to a literal ghost town in Florida, Jen DeLuca once again pulls readers in and gives plenty of romance and low-angst drama in her first paranormal romance, Haunted Ever After. 

Cassie wanted a break from her life in Orlando, so she set aside her coworker group chat, filled with talks of relationships and babies – neither of which she had, and moved to the Gulf coast tourist town of Boneyard Key. In Boneyard Key, Cassie would discover buildings haunted by ghosts and people haunted by their past. And one person in particular, a gruff cafe owner named Nick, ends up haunting Cassie’s thoughts as well. . . . Even when Cassie and Nick don’t see eye to eye on this whole ghost business, their chemistry is undeniable. But if Cassie doesn’t figure out how to remove a malevolent spirit from her house, she will end up being just another person who left Nick and Boneyard Key behind for good. 

I was so excited when I heard that Jen DeLuca was branching out into the paranormal for her next book, and Haunted Ever After did not disappoint. I loved the idea of a haunted tourist town, and DeLuca crafted a town that was both realistic and believable in its hauntedness. It was easy to visualize life in Boneyard Key, supernatural elements and all. It was this ease of small-town life that made these ghosts just part of the community, more like ordinary neighbors and roommates rather than menaces (at least for the most part). I absolutely loved the creative ways DeLuca came up with for her ghosts to communicate with Nick and Cassie, and would honestly not mind being haunted if I had ghost roommates like these main characters did. 

I really enjoyed Nick and Cassie’s story arcs. Both main characters needed to find their peace after feeling like their coworkers and family had moved on without them. Their stories paralleled the ghosts’ arcs so well; Cassie and Nick couldn’t move on and find happiness with each other until they laid their pasts to rest, and the ghosts couldn’t move on until they did the same. Learning how to move on, no matter how tough or heartbreaking it may be, was a beautiful allegory that just happened to come in the form of ghosts. However, once the ghosts were out of the way, there was plenty of steam between Cassie and Nick. 

Haunted Ever After is a great paranormal gateway book for those who love Jen DeLuca’s previous romances, but maybe aren’t as familiar or comfortable with the paranormal subgenre. Haunted Ever After carries the same ease of reading as the Well Met series, just with some added ghostly elements. And even with that dreaded break up in the plot, I still really enjoyed reading Cassie and Nick’s adventures in Boneyard Key. 

As her barely conscious boyfriend stirred and her friends peered at her inside the remains of a summoning circle, supervised by an octogenarian, Cassie realized that she finally felt at home.

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