To be honest, when I picked up A Haunted Love I thought it was a ghost story. From the cover, title, tagline (“Finding someone special has never been so terrifying…”), and description, I was really convinced it was going to be a Halloween story about an evil spirit stalking a widow and her new love. Instead, it’s a steamy romance fraught with guilt and a flesh-and-blood stalker not making it any easier on the couple.

It’s also not really a Halloween story. It’s relevant in that Ash’s husband was lost to cancer around Halloween time three years ago. Every year Ash throws a Halloween party to distract herself and to stop any well-meaning people from randomly stopping by to give their sympathies. It’s at this party that Ash meets Cole, her sister’s new neighbor and a recently retired Navy vet who gets her pulse racing.

The emergence of a stalker who’s not happy to see the widow with a new man also gets her pulse racing (but not in a good way). The author does a good job keeping readers on their toes about the identity of Ash’s deranged stalker and I found myself second-guessing the whole way through. It really keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Overall, while I went into this book expecting a Halloween ghost story romance, I wasn’t disappointed with the sexy romantic thriller that I got.

This is the story of Ash, who lost her husband to cancer a few years earlier. When her sister introduces her to Cole, the first man she has felt attracted to since losing her husband, she’s forced to wrestle with whether she’s ready to move on from her grief and accept these new feelings. But unbeknownst to Ash, another man is waiting in the shadows, determined to claim her for his own.

This book has some good ideas in it. The writing has some really sparkling and pretty moments - there were parts that needed tightening up a little bit, but overall it was readable and engaging. I thought the pacing was quite good, too. I liked that the relationship between Ash and Cole developed realistically, and that Cole was so understanding about Ash’s feelings towards her first husband. The romance in this was sweet and sexy, and there were some really lovely moments between them. Outside of the romance, the subplot had some some creepy and unsettling moments and built to a dramatic conclusion.

Overall, this was a decent book. The romantic element between Cole and Ash was very sweet and lovely to read and I thought the parts focusing on Ash’s grief were quite touching. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book. I voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Content Notes: Death of a partner / spouse, cancer, grief, stalking, violence, gun violence, kidnap, intimidation, misogynistic language, PTSD, on-page sex.

I was a little disappointed in this story. There was too much unrealized potential here. However I loved Cole. His character was complex and I was rooting for him. I found Ash very hard to like. I was sympathetic but that's about it. The mystery of the stalker was great and I really liked the bad guy point of view! I also didn't guess who it was which doesn't happen often. The sex scenes were steamy which I also enjoyed. Overall it was an okay read for me.

I Loved this book! Sex scenes got more heated than I am prudishly comfortable with, but they fit perfectly with the story of how two people fell in love. A woman, Ashley, lost her husband and the love of her life from cancer 3 years ago and believes finding love again would be betraying him but her sister and friends don’t agree. Enter her sister’s new neighbor, Cole. The physical attraction is undeniable but Ashley fights the feeling. Meantime, someone is stalking Ashley and Cole tries to protect her but ends up in danger himself.