Okay….. I REAAAAAAAALLLLLLY wanted to like this book. It reminded me of the movie “Just Like Heaven” with Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo. I was totally into it and on board until the ghostly shmex scenes. That was the first thing that completely lost me. Then there was time travel and alternate dimensions….. I don’t know. I finished it because I felt like I needed to know what happened, but honestly, it was just okay. It had so much potential, but it fell very flat for me. I didn’t like either of the main characters. Daniel was a douchebag and Jillian is an obsessed shy girl with no personality outside of her shyness and liking Star Trek. It lasted way longer than it needed to, and I was pretty disappointed by this book. The narrator Sarah Naughton did a great job with what she was given, though. She’s probably the only reason I finished the book.

I will be the first to say I do not typically consume much contemporary romance, and that which I do is usually by chance. I took a chance on this book and I am so glad I did! I loved Jillian and Daniel's story, and the unique take on "paranormal romance". When a book makes you feel a great range of emotions, makes you audibly say, "awww", cry ugly tears, etc. you know that it has struck a place in your heart. I enjoyed the descriptive language in this book mixed in with the story, the author does a fantastic job of setting the scenes this way, and while some readers might criticize it for being too deep into the sights, smells, sounds....it very much parallels how Daniel interacts with the world and shares it with Jillian.

I thought the narrator, Sarah Naughton did a fantastic job and I am definitely interested in finding more books voiced by her. Her range of character voices was wonderful without being over the top or distracting.

Prior to final publishing I would consider removal of the second epilogue in its entirety. Not because Daniel's point of view is not important, but because it does not make sense. The timeline of events is somewhat tricky in this book and I feel it wraps up nicely and makes the most sense with the first epilogue, I was satisfied, and my brain did not feel like I "missed" anything "physics-wise" shall we say. However, I went on to read the second epilogue and was thoroughly confused, when straight back into re-reading the first two chapters and it still did not make sense to me. I wish I had just stopped at the original epilogue and been happy with my HEA.

I would still recommend this book to anyone looking to listen to a feel-good book with some twists you (may or) may not see coming, and a wonderful narrator. This is a fairly long book and I finished it in about 1.5 days because I kept coming back to it and was hooked!

Thank you NetGallery for providing the opportunity to review an advanced copy. All ratings and opinions are my own.

The FMC narration of this title was exceptional. A bit deceiving to be promoted as dual narration, when the MMC didn't contribute until a second epilogue in what felt like an afterthought and long after interest has waned.

Admittedly, I'm not a Trekkie. And while paranormal romance doesn't top my list of favorite genres, some of the books that top my favorites list fall in the realm of paranormal romance. That said, those facts had little influence on my rating and overall feelings about this title. Ultimately, this was just too long. I almost didn't read the final chapter, epilogue, or second epilogue from Daniel's pov because, by that point, not only did I not care much for either MC I was entirely indifferent to whether or not they ended up together in the end. I actually found myself hoping that Jillian would hit it off with the coffee cart guy just so we could end it there.

The author has a creative writing style with an initially compelling plot, albeit not at all believable. And not only for the paranormal aspect. I expected to be required to suspend belief to an extent, but there was nothing normal left on the page to tether it to. Everything, and I mean everything, was over. the. top. The descriptions, personalities, dialogue, Star Trek references — everything. Somehow Ready achieved excellent character development, even for supporting relationships. Maybe too much so. I didn't need to understand each character so deeply only to have already forgotten their names. I totally related with Daniel's confusion at times. Hayley and Bernardo's sub-story would have made for a great part two and kept this one more enjoyable.

Finally, the romance in this book tipped from cute to cringeworthy and never quite recovered. The ghostly sex scenes were detailed and uncomfortable enough to prevent me from appreciating the real thing when it happened. And although I will likely entertain reading another title by this author, this one may have ruined the paranormal trope for me for a while.

Ghosted is a Paranormal Romance and a beautiful story of Jillian(FMC) who falls in love with a ‘ghost’. Sarah Ready has woven this simple yet complicated premise into a delightful story with her immersive storytelling and bewitching plot twists. I really enjoyed the story, though there are some pitfalls for me. I found it very cringey. I literally skimmed through all the romantic and intimate scenes, because I couldn’t take it. And there was a pet peeve where everyone including Daniel(MMC) and the side characters were constantly praising the FMC, and it was for nothing actually. Yeah, I get it, she is an innocent character who is also very lovely and likable. But I think it could’ve been portrayed some other way like, in a scene where she is doing something ‘lovely and likable’, but not by others saying it out loud. But other than that it is a fun packed cute love story.


The story follows Jillian, who moves into her new apartment which is covered in mirrors from walls to ceiling, discovers that there is a man in the apartment with her. Although she is a relationship and dating columnist, she herself can’t talk to men and if she is put in such a situation , she will simply stare at them or stay silent. But Daniel,who is in the apartment, is an exception. She asks him who he is and questions him about his whereabouts which he can’t remember. That's when she realizes that he isn’t being reflected from the mirrors and he might be a ghost. Even if Daniel claims to know Jillian she is adamant that she has never met him before. From then on Daniel is following her wherever she goes. How does he know Jillian before he dies even if she doesn't recognize him? Why is he following her around even if she tells him to go away?

I also enjoyed the audiobook. The narrator has done an amazing job.

I was immediately drawn in and engrossed in the story. This absolutely reads like a movie.
Emotional, sweet, swoon worthy and totally bingable. 100% an easy read.
Loved the connection to the Space Between (which I also read as an ARC).

Completely loved the narrators, they were perfect.

I also have to note how much I love short chapters so this is an A+ on that front. Short chapters totally add to the binge-worthy aspect.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley for this audiobook. I loved this unusual story from Sarah Ready. The narrator was great. I had no idea where this was going and it was really different from her recent books. A love story with a ghost. Enjoyable.

Thank you NetGalley for providing access to the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Actual rating: 2.5/5. Spoilers incoming

I'm going to start by saying that normally I adore ghost romances and the description of the book looked incredibly promising. However, as the story progressed my intrigued turned into disappointment pretty quickly.

The main issue I had were the characters. As a geek myself and someone who deals with healthy dose of social anxiety, I wish I felt a deeper connection with Jillian. Instead, with every chapter, my dislike for her grew more and more. Had it only been the incredibly painful secondhand embarrassment I felt as she tried to interact with men, maybe the rating wouldn't be so low. However, the stalking aspect of the second half of the book ruined her as a character for me - she might've initially gotten punished for it, yes, only to then try to twist it and normalise it towards the end of the book, which is another negative point on its own - and cheapened the so-called happy ending. The story is written/ narrated from her perspective (and let it be known that I found both narrators brilliant and it pains me that I can't offer the book a higher rating), so I'm unsure why we are having her describe her own lips are 'kissable' and many other aspects as incredibly sexy, when just a few paragraphs before she was describing herself as simple, common, unattractive. It felt incredibly out of place considering the perspective choice, and even though it amused me the first time it happened, as time went on it became less of a funny mistake and more of a question on how the text got edited.

Daniel is still a mystery to me. I found him to be... 'a character'. We had a whole book about him, and yet, I feel the same way about him as I felt on the first page he showed up. Human Daniel felt like a completely different character which in a way made sense, but the switch still felt like too much of a jump compared to the Daniel we had known until that point in time. Regardless, I did not care about him enough to bother analysing further.

The rest of the cast felt like caricatures of sorts, incredibly limited in both depth and interactions with the main characters. Out of all of them, I found her other female work colleague and Michael's mother to be the most interesting.

Still, there were still a few moments that managed to get a chuckle out of me, and a few instances that made me smile due to some incredibly well crafted irony (like Daniel's criticism of a man that ended up being him all along). Way too few to make the experience worth the time invested, but still worth mentioning.

TW: Suicide mention

This novel was tough to rate if i am being quite honest. It started off really solid. I liked Jillian a lot. She was nerdy and she was a writer and she was falling for a ghost (Danny). Really cool premise. There were quite a few issues with this novel, and are the reason I will not be recommending this read. Firstly, there is sort of this allusion to her being plus size. She’s always talking about herself being curvy and honestly even the way she talks about herself, you think… maybe just maybe I am getting some representation here… but that is not the case. Even on the cover she is thin, not even curvy one bit and the novel never really gives a direct answer but more a few hints. That in itself was not a good enough reason for me to give the novel such a poor rating - i know, but just wait.

Jillian is also VERY two dimensional… all she talks about is Star Trek. Seriously, I am a Star Wars, Disney and Marvel girly (including tattoos) and I have OTHER INTERESTS TOO! She was way too simple. I am honestly just baffled that this was published… Also… She refers to herself as a “Trekker” when most people call themselves “Trekkie”. It really pulled me out of the book as someone who grew up in the comic book/sci-fi universe. This is me being nitpicky because this book got on my nerves already.

Before I really get into the hate rant, I did want to mention something I really liked about this novel before I hate on it. I absolutely loved the storyline about Jillian and Michael. It was probably the most real and the most beautiful part of the novel. Jillian looses her best friend Michael to suicide… and how this has affected her is just wow. That aspect was so beautifully written it almost feels like this should have been the primary story of the novel. Not the ghost romance. The emotions were raw and real and relatable. I really felt and understood Jillian here… but only in that instance.

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

So at first they think that Daniel is dead. Which makes a lot of sense because he is a ghost. Then when Daniel’s ghost disappears and Jillian sees him IRL she thinks maybe its him dying in the future and his ghost coming into the past? So here is where they start to loose me. Now science wise suuuuure maybe but even in how the dialogue is presented between Jillian and her Science bestie it is soooo farfetched (even for a paranormal type story) its like they didn’t even try to make it make sense. Now at this point Daniel doesn’t recognize Jillian or the times they spent together (or the ghost sex because… yeah there was ghost sex) because it technically hasn’t happened yet (?). So, like the rational person she is because she “knows him” and “loves him” she starts disrespecting his boundaries and STALKING him like that is a totally normal and justifiable thing because “she fell for him when he was a ghost”.

Oh not part of the main plot or anything, but two co-workers who have never dated, kissed or fucked get married on a whim at the end of the novel and it really just made the whole dumpster fire of a novel so goddamn worst.

Avoid this book. You’re welcome.


***I received this book for free on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review***

I really love Sarah Ready style of writing. Ghosted started off strong and full of potential after the first 50% it started to fall flat for me but I still enjoyed it. Maybe could have been a shorter more resvileved "third act breakup" I did LOVE the second epilogue from Daniels POV definitely made it come full circle

I really didn't know what to expect from this book but I was pleasantly surprised. Ghost book romances are not something I usually go for but this book really did hook me in. Sarah did a great job at keeping a good level of humour in amongst the more serious storyline, i couldnt tell you how many times I laughed out loud. The book was very cleverly written I never knew how it was going to pan out and I really enjoyed the ending. I really liked how Daniel brought Jillian out of her shell and helped her overcome some issues she was dealing with and in turn I felt that she really helped him to grow too. I loved the connection they have. Yes it was a bit insta lovey which isn't usually my jam but it felt more like they were fated to be which I enjoyed in this story. This story was a great page turner and a great read to escape reality with. I really enjoyed the narration of this one. It was really easy listening and kept me engaged.

Wow! Where do I start. I’m not used to listening to Audiobooks so that was a first for me. Ghosted was a little slow for me to get into to start with and I found myself losing concentration at times. It is a little repetitive at times as well. BUT once you get over the bizarre storyline it really turns out to be a great title. I chuckled at times and towards the end of the book I got a little anxious and wanted everything to turn out well for Gillian and Daniel. The characters are fab, I really did enjoy it and highly recommend it, I probably would have preferred to read it though as opposed to audio but that’s just personal choice. Thank you Netgalley and publisher for the opportunity.

The story revolves around Quinn Cooper, a woman with a demanding job and the added stress of her father's diagnosis. She has no room in her life for romance or distractions. However, a twist of fate finds her attending a hockey game featuring The Arctic, a team she didn't plan to watch. To make matters more interesting, she ends up sitting next to a man who piques her interest, even if he's cheering for the opposing team.

Erik Varg, once a rising star in junior hockey, had his dreams shattered overnight. He has largely avoided the sport since then, but he's in town to support his brother, who is now a star forward for The Arctic. Erik didn't anticipate feeling a spark with the woman seated beside him, especially when she appears less than enthusiastic about the game. After all, isn't hockey beloved by most women?

However, when the KISS cam at the game seems determined to capture them sharing a kiss, it might be the push they both need. Lust at first sight is undeniable, even if neither of them sought a relationship. They agree to share one kiss, one night of fun, and then return to their responsibilities—Quinn to her demanding life and Erik to his journey home. No harm, no foul, right?

But as they spend more time together, they discover they have more in common than they initially thought. They might be what each other needs, even if it feels like the right person at the wrong time.

Review:
Stella Stevenson's untitled romance novel, based on the provided synopsis, appears to offer readers a story filled with unexpected connections and sparks flying between Quinn and Erik. The plot promises a blend of romance and sports, with a touch of serendipity as the KISS cam plays its part in their budding relationship.

While the story follows a familiar romance trope, the chemistry between the characters and their shared moments creates a sense of anticipation and intrigue. The book explores the idea of finding love when it's least expected and how timing can sometimes be a crucial factor in relationships.

I read this book in both ARC and ALC, and I am obsessed with it. I am definitely buying the paperback version to annotate.

Readers who enjoy contemporary romance with a sports backdrop and the promise of a passionate connection will likely find this story engaging and heartwarming. Stella Stevenson's storytelling skill, coupled with the elements of surprise and serendipity, may make this book a delightful read for fans of the genre.

Thank you to the publisher and @netgalley for a copy of this romance. It's perfect to read this time of the year if you don't like spooky reads but want something with a ghost. Jillian moves into an apartment and meets a handsome man, Daniel, who is a ghost. The story focuses on their friendship and how Daniel helps Jillian with life. I liked how at the end they explained Daniel as a ghost as well.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book to review! This isn’t my normal storyline I would read, I do like romance and psychological thrillers, so the ghost aspect was interesting. I did enjoy the story, it kept me interested and was fast paced. I wasn’t sure where it was going and towards the end when the storyline changed some, I started to lose interest, not sure why, it continued with the same style and the background for the change was there, I just didn’t enjoy it as much. Overall, this was interesting and was a great read!

I don’t really know what I was expecting from this book. I went in unprepared- I honestly was just so captivated by the cover, that I wanted to read it.

What I found was a book unlike anything I’ve ever read. This book was a frustration and a joy, heartache and elation.

There was so much emotion, so many layers, and such a creatively funny, genuine and heartfelt depth. A series of oddities, woven together to create an incredible story I wish I could read again for the first time.

I loved this one, and I love the love of knowing yourself twice. Of re-claiming your life then losing the lease on it. Of love, for family, for past, for new love and alternate timelines. For Star Trek.

5/5. I’d give it more if I could.

(Thank you to NetGalley for the audiobook. My review was honest and I appreciate you giving me extra time to love this one in advance.)

When you pick up a romance book with the premise that one of the leads is a ghost you prepare yourself to suspend disbelief for a while. However, to enjoy this book you would need to not only suspend disbelief, but suspend the concept that the author did any basic research at all before writing this book.

Non spoiler examples:
• The FMC (Jillian) is able to afford an apartment in NYC within walking blocks of Time Square by herself while not coming from an affluent family.
• Online newspapers that focus on events in NYC that only opened for business less than 10 years ago can afford office space in NYC, only needs to employee 5 full time staff members, and needs a massive wall of TVs that features every news channel in the world playing all at once.
• Locations around NYC. A quick map search online would have fixed this issue.

I have a hard time believing this wasn’t a debut novel from a high school student living in a small town in the middle of nowhere. The writing and the remarks about locations around NYC came off as more of an idealized and romanticized version of NYC. Which is fine to a point, but describing sushi and curry as wildly exotic food while name dropping famous landmarks is hard to take when the character is described as someone who is “from the city”.

The writing was juvenile throughout and the over use of “says” as a dialogue tag was alarming. Several of the chapter transitions were rough and jarring. One chapter would end during X scene then the next chapter would open in the middle of a completely different scene and barely reference where the previous chapter left off.

The author tried so hard to make the Jillian quirky and different that in the end she comes off as manic and unstable. There were several times when I thought for sure the people around her would stop enabling her and have her mentally evaluated. This had nothing to do with her seeing a ghost either. It 100% has to do with how she interacts with others/the world around her and meets Daniel later.

On that note, I did not buy into the love story between the Jillian and Daniel. The first half was all over the place and the second half was entirely too manic. I have a hard time believing a man like Daniel would fall in love with a person acting the way Jillian did in the second half.

Overall, this book was entirely too long. The story did not need to be almost 500 pages (or over 14 hours for the audiobook). The writing is wordy and several times felt like the author was going for word/page count instead of telling the story. The book needed an editor to trim the unneeded wording, diversify the word usage, and strengthen the plot. I am happy to suspend disbelief to understand the why/how of a story like this, but sadly the author never explains why things happened.

Note for the audiobook: there are two narrators listed on the cover and the description. I naively thought this meant the book was dual POV. No. I was wrong. I spent so much time expecting and anticipating the other POV without any reward. The male narrator is only used in the last 1% of the book in the second epilogue. Not to spoil anything, but the second epilogue was obviously added after the fact to try and explain the how of the story. It fails and only manages to add more to my confusion and questions.

Ghosted by Sarah Ready
Narrated by Sarah Naughton and Rob Brinkman

Jillian Nejat is so shy she can't even speak to a man unless she really knows him so she doesn't get to know most men. Yes, she can talk to the guys she works with but they each have their own quirks that make them less scary. Her godmother has sent her on over one hundred blind dates, all of them never getting past that first date. Jillian is happy to go on the dates for her godmother since she feels like she needs to do things to keep her godmother happy.

Just having moved into a mirrored bordello like tiny apartment, Jillian is shocked to see a blue jeaned, shirtless, six-packed hunk in her living room. He says they are friends, he doesn't remember his past, and he's not going to leave Jillian alone. The guy, Daniel, is a ghost, a real ghost, and with the help of Jillian's scientist best friend and Daniel, they decide he must be there to help Julian with something in her life. Thank goodness for scientific mumbo jumbo so none of us has to go farther with trying to figure the ghost thing out since it really is unexplainable.

Luck would have it, the one guy Jillian knows she could love turns out to be dead. That doesn't keep some open door romps from happening (I would have preferred closed door since things get pretty weird). Then something happens and Daniel is gone, poof, no more Daniel. Jillian knew it couldn't last but then life gives her another huge twist and she thinks she has a chance for true love. This is a very long story, almost like two stories in one, so a lot happens and it's best to not think too hard about it all. All but the last chapter is narrated by Sarah Naughton, who does a really good job with Jillian's POV. Then we get a last chapter from Daniel's POV, narrated by Rob Brinkman. I liked that last chapter, a chance to go to the beginning of it all.

Thank you to W. W. Crown, Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Audiobooks, and NetGalley for this ARC.

3.5 stars rounded up!

To say I devoured this book would be an understatement. I had the privilege of receiving the audiobook version of this book as an ARC from NetGalley. The audio was fabulous, the narrators were perfect. It was such a fun read. It hits all the good stuff. We’ve got a little spice, a little comedy, a bit of emotion, and paranormal romance.

I found all the characters to be really likable and funny. I loved them all, except for Buck. Buck sucks.

This was my first Sarah ready read and it certainly will not be my last. If you want a book that’s a bit different than the norm, I’d recommend this one!

The only reason I did not rate this book higher than a 3.5 star is because there were some parts where I was just like….what is actually happening right now cause I don’t know 😂😂

Thank you so much NetGalley, Sarah Ready and the publishers at W. W. Crown, Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Audiobooks

3.75 ⭐️

This was a fun book and almost felt like 2 books in 1 where we follow the FMC in the beginning and the MMC in the second half (though still all through the FMC eyes). While this felt very reminiscent of The Dead Romantics to start, it twisted and evolved and became a completely unique story unlike anything else I have read.

The premise and plot were unique and interesting, the spice (2/5 🌶️) was well written, and I enjoyed the character development.

My only qualm was how long this book was. I feel like it could have been trimmed down to about 75% of the total contents and we wouldn’t have missed anything. The writing and descriptions were well formed and beautiful, and the pacing was consistent, though a little slow due to how wordy it was.

I never wanted to quit the book, but I did feel like I needed to set it down to take a break a few times. The sheer volume of it left me feeling like I had to work at getting through it instead of being able to fully jump in and devour it.

Thanks to NetGalley, W.W. Crown, and Sarah Ready for the ALC.

This one was hard for me because it started out so great! I loved Daniel, the banter was amazing 👏 everything seemed to be going well.

Then there was an almost abrupt ending, no shift into a second part or anything, yet the story was very clearly going in a different direction now.

The same thing happened again, another time.

I loved the beginning and the ending, but there is a whole middle part I honestly could have done without 🤷‍♀️

I did still enjoy the book. The audio is great! I just think this one missed the mark for me.