this book has:
- strangers to lovers
- grumpy/sunshine
- forced proximity
- paranormal themes

actual rating: 3.5 ☆

gemma, an interior designer who can see ghosts finds herself attracted to the newest one. levi, who spent his life taking care of his sister & ultimately died doing so, gets the chance to help gemma reunited with her own long lost sister in order to get back to his life.

this book had be hooked from the start! it's a super cute romcom with lots of tension and witty banter. gemma and levi both encourage each other to become better versions of themselves. gemma helps levi to find joy in his life, whilst he helps her to establish healthy boundaries within her relationships & learns how to put herself first.

tw: death, strained family relationships, foster care, adoption, grief, child neglect

thank you to netgalley and the author for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is a good book. I enjoyed the flow of the story, it had well rounded robust characters, a good dose of fun and romance and is a all round general good read.

A 3.25 for me.

This is the first one I have read of Therese Beharrie. The title was what enticed me to read this story. This is not the first story I have read where one half of the couple is of paranormal variety but definitely a first with a ghost.

The idea of ghosts becoming corporeal is not that difficult to imagine but the execution may get tricky. Beharrie has done good a job here. The idea and the story kept me entertained throughout.

What I enjoyed thoroughly was the banter between the main characters and how they both grew into the people they were by the end of the book.

Without giving any spoilers, I'd say it was a engaging book with many moments that made me laugh.

Recommended me if you want light romance with a little angst.

Enjoyable, quick easy read - with a tad bit of spice.... I really enjoyed this and flew through it. Dealing with a heavy topic, it was nice to have a lot of comedic action to help balance it all out. I would recommend this as a quick fun read.

Gemma has seen ghosts since the day she turned 18, so when Levi turns up she's not overly surprised, the difference is that she kissed him the night before while out with friends.

Levi is a ghost with a task, he needs to help Gemma sort her life out so he can go back to his own.

There was a lot about this book that I enjoyed! It's got ghosts, a sneaky twist at the end, grumpy/sunshine, one house - the banter between Gemma and Levi was great to start with but quickly became annoying as they both refused to plainly just say what they needed to. It wasn't miscommunication so much as non communication.

I liked the idea of multiverses and ghosts crossing between the worlds and I also liked the guardian ghost Jude who was gender fluid, sometimes appearing as male and other times female.

This book tried to cover a lot, Gemma and Levi carry a lot of baggage feelings and I think the balance between that and their sexual chemistry was a little off kilter. There were elements that were mentioned I wanted more of and didn't seem to flow very well - Gemmas best friends wedding for example but the big one for me was her estranged twin sister.

At the beginning of the book it's a major element- Gemma was adopted and has a twin sister that wasn't, so she has essentially used a PI to find her and then has a couple of really awkward encounters with her - this is early in the book and is then kind of forgotten about until the last 10%.

This is mainly a book about two people connecting and supporting each other to realise they're worth more than how they currently see themselves and behave and that's great to read!

Overall I enjoyed it and will read this author again but I think the sheer amount of stuff to cover in this one did skew my experience.

Good. Nice romantic story. Full of twists and turns. Easy to read. Good characters. Nice book cover.

Thank you to the publisher for my eARC copy of this book. Unfortunately I didn’t love this book and therefore didn’t finish, I just didn’t connect with this one. Not for me, sorry.

The ideas and premise of this book looked great but for me sadly it was not as enjoyable as I’d thought it might be.
I found the writing flow hard to follow, the way the ghosts appear and their ‘rules’ illogical, it seems like a cross between a ghost story and sci-fi.
The romance is sweet but not convincing.
Generally not one for me.
Thank you to Harpers for the widget and thanks to NetGalley.

An enjoyable book with likeable characters and very different from other books I have read. Therese Beharrie can certainly tell a good story and I enjoyed how the story unfolded and Gemma realised how she had spent her life trying to please people while Levi had been living his life for his sister. I did find the beginnings bit slow but once the story took off it was a nice easy read

This is my first book by the author and it won't be the last.

Gemma is familiar with the the mysteries of the universe, or at least some of them, she can see ghosts and she helps them move on.

When she kisses a stranger at a bar she didn't expect to have kissed a ghost and not just a ghost. Levi isn't looking for closer but he is send to help her, which means that people can see him too and the only way to explain his existence is to say they are dating.

Levi is send to help Gemma after his death, he is looking for a second chance by helping Gemma. But he is still grieving the life he left behind and his family that he supported his whole life.

In order to move on Levi and Gemma must face some truths about themselves and the people around them.

Levi is a sweetheart, he is a natural caretaker and I love how he took upon himself to help Gemma in many ways. Gemma is facing a lot of uncertainties in the moment, her relationship with her parents is in turmoil and with her sister non existence. I found her brave because she did things that she was afraid of but that didn't stop her.

This was an unexpected book, the plot is multilayered and I like seeing the way ghosts existence was explained. The writing was very witty and I like that about it.

The romance is beautiful, the book has a lot to do with character development which really made the romance stronger all around.



* I want to thank One More Chapter for sending me an ARC.

Whilst I loved the premise of this book, the dialogue between characters fell a bit flat.

Some characters were almost ignored, or completely forgotten about within 2 or 3 pages.

However, I do completely love the pair and felt they had a magnetic chemistry between them.

A very funny concept and a great read. Gemma can see ghosts. Since her 18th birthday when she saw her recently dead biology teacher, she has been helping ghosts move on. All of a sudden, she meets Levi, a ghost who is there to help her instead of the other way round. She has a secret that she is struggling to deal with and Levi is there to help her. However, it doesn’t help that he is devilishly attractive and has nowhere to stay!

A funny, romantic, sexy novel that’s great to read.

This book is paranormal ghosts meets strangers to lovers with a smidge of spice 🌶

I love Levi and Gemma together - he’s grumpy with everyone except her (*insert me melting on the floor*) - and their banter was cute and funny

The characters had really in depth character development that flowed with the story and you could see how the characters changed overtime and not suddenly in one go

Overall a cute ghosty romcom that was easy to read and almost gives found family vibes and I definitely want to go and read the book about Gemma’s sister now

Thank you for allowing me to review this book, unfortunately it didn't really grab me as I had expected from the blurb. I felt the subject matter was to superficial. Levi didn't appear very ghost like and Gemma came across as uncaring. I also found Jude confusing and had difficulty tracking each character and their place I the storyline.

a ghost love story you say?. a fun easy read that also touches on tricky subjects but balances it out with banter and falling in love

— 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 —

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: A Ghost in Shining Armour
𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬: N/A
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫(𝐬): Therese Beharrie
𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: Fantasy Romcom
𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝: 27th January 2023
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 3/5

A truly funny paranormal romcom that defies any sort of realistic boundary and walks straight through solid doors of practicality.

But, this may sound silly, but Levi just didn’t seem like a ghost to me 😂 he didn’t have any ghostly talents other than ’poofing’ a couple of times, he knew nothing of the afterlife, couldn’t walk through walls or go invisible and haunt people. I’m just thinking how fun that could have been for everyone involved 🥲. I guess I can’t help but want more paranormal with my romance—or perhaps more poltergeist? 😫😂

I really enjoyed the themes of this story though. The author explores adoption, people pleasing (which isn’t talked about ENOUGH), and self-love through self-awareness. The character development was the ‘write’ in shining armour for me as it gave me that warm glow I can only attribute to inner peace and night sweats.

Overall, this book was fun, easy to read and had a quick pacing.

🧚🏻‍♀️

An enjoyable and light hearted book. Can you love a ghost? Can they change not only your life but the ghosts outcome and afterlife?.
If you want to escape into a story that will make you smile. Pick up this book and enjoy

Gemma has been able to see ghosts for years when she sees Levi, who had recently died. She is not aware, however, that he has been sent to help her find her twin sister, with whom she was separated when she was adopted as a very young child. In return he has been promised to save his younger sister who is blaming herself for his accidental death.
To be honest this wasn't what I expected, I was thinking more along the lines of an old light hearted TV series "Randall and Hopkirk deceased". Instead this is much deeper (with an occasional spicy moment) thought provoking romance between two people with some serious issues. Not a light read, but ideal for readers who prefer something deeper, although there are lighter moments to prevent it being too dark.
I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley, however this did not influence my review of the book.

This was a weird and fascinating story which turned into a love story. i was reading it as though I believed in ghosts as an entity and became committed very early on.. It was very well written and I slipped seamlessly into the storyline. There was a wonderful, reasoned, conclusion that will live with me for a long time..

This was a tender romance tackling a lot of difficult subjects, including death, grief, and adoption. Despite that, it was an easy read and I blasted through it within a day, desperate to see what twists and turns were coming up for the main characters - you know it won’t be straightforward when one love interest is a ghost! I enjoyed the spin that Beharrie put on the ghost element of this story - which I won’t reveal because spoilers! - and Jude’s mischievous character who added comedy to this romance as a side character.

I would have liked to see more interaction with the side characters, including Gemma’s friends, her sister and her family, but that balance can be hard to find and it didn’t make or break the book for me. Forced proximity is one of my favourite romance tropes and this certainly had it in spades, making it easy to see how well Gemma and Levi were getting to know each other (despite a few secrets here and there) and how the chemistry was building between the pair. Despite the heaviness of some of the topics in this book, there was also humour and tenderness and lots of love - not just the romantic sort.

It made me very nostalgic for Meg Cabot’s Mediator series, as well, so if you’re a MC fan you’ll want to get your hands on this.

I received a free copy of this book. All views are my own.