Haunted Ever After

After all of her friends have married, had kids, and moved out of Orlando, Cassie relocates to Boneyard Key, FL, a small town that bills itself as Florida’s most haunted place. Cassie thought all the talk about ghosts was pure marketing, but her new house does seem odd. The electricity is dicey, and the magnetic poetry on her fridge rearranges itself and seems to talk directly to her. In search of a laptop charging station, she heads to the local café, where she meets Nick, the shop’s owner. He’s abrasive but agrees to show her around town using the local ghost walk, and soon, prickliness turns to passion. DeLuca’s (Well Traveled) series starter is a spooky yet sweet romance featuring love in this world and the next. Jeannie Sheneman depicts lonely Cassie and brusque Nick as they fall in love, imbuing her narration with gentle humor and affecting depth; it’s breezy but also in tune with the eerie situations Cassie encounters. Though some plot points may require suspense of disbelief, the romance is sizzling.