My thanks for the ARC goes to NetGalley and Dragonblade Publishing. I'm voluntarily leaving a review.

Genre: Paranormal Romance
Spice Level: Varies from steamy open-door to low spice

Three stories are SPICY! (If I remember correctly, the spicy ones are from Meara Platt, Mia Pride, and Elisa Braden but don't quote me.) The others less so.

All of these are ghost oriented, and honestly, they're a lot of fun. I like how the characters are developed in such short stories.

If you love romance and ghosts, I think you'll love this one.

Happy (haunted) reading!

Get your Once Upon A Time on...

I can't tell you how awesome this collection of Once Upon A Time set to the autumnal theme of all things haunted. Highly recommend for an anthology to be read on Halloween weekend. grab the hot cider, a bowl of chocolate candy and get your read on.
Recommend.

As the weather cools into autumn and Halloween approaches, sit by a comfortable fire or snuggle up in a cozy blanket to read this book. Written by some of my favorite romance authors, this is a series of short stories that will warm your heart and bring joy to your days. It's the first book I've seen or read generally set up with an autumn/ghost theme and it's wonderful. Ghosts, mystery, and romance are included the only thing you need is a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows and a cozy place to read it. As I love autumn, I was thrilled to finally see a set of stories for this season. Would love to see more of them! I can smell the sents of pumpkin, cinnamon and sugar floating around as I read each story and now I'm ready for all the holidays to get started. Don't miss this one, I promise it's a winner.

These are all really good stories that I got. I got so many stories in this book it’s nice to see that they put up much different stories from a really big historical romance office, especially Halloween that are Gothic romance. I think my favorite story out of all of them was once upon a haunted garden. Thank you for letting me read these it was a honor! I will be giving this book 5 stars and buying a copy when it is on for buying.

I received this copy from NetGalley.

A wonderful collection of hauntingly romantic stories.

Once Upon a Haunted Cave by Meara Platt...
Lovely, engaging with a little haunted mystery. It's love at first sight for Ruark and Heather.

Once Upon a Haunted Garden by Chasity Bowlin...
An entertaining romance, danger and love lead towards a wonderful forever love. What starts as a marriage of convenience to fulfil an inheritance gives so much more for Douglas and Louisa.

Once Upon an Enchanted Well by Mary Wine...
A quick easy to read whimsical story where Rhona finds her destiny with Peadair and a future filled with happiness and love.

Once Upon a Haunted Haven by Lexi Post...
An enjoyable romance, love at first sight for Noah and Juliet soon follows with help from a past love melds towards their future love.

Once Upon a Haunted Romance by Mary Lancaster...
A lovely romance filled with hope and new beginnings for Francesca and her young son Mark with George. They all have an instant connection. Love blooms and a new family begins a new journey.

Once Upon a Highland Mist by Maeve Greyson...
A soulful medieval Scottish romance. A pure love between Ethne and Wolfe breaks a 200 year old Curse.

Once Upon a Haunted Scottish Cottage by Sofie Darling...
Beautifully written romance, perfectly paced and wonderful characters in Ian and Theodora. A delightful journey and discovery of love with a little help from Aunt Sorcha.

Once Upon a Haunted Knight by Elisa Braden...
Captivating page turning romance, loved the banter between Adeline and Hugh. Their journey to breaking the curse was heart felt, a gorgeous forever love.

Once Upon a Haunted Horn and Hoof by Elizabeth Rose...
A great story to end this collection with a fun medieval romance with a mischievous ghost and crazy Callum Mackenzie. Plus a marriage of convenience for Keithen and Lorna to bring two warring clans together and get rid of a ghost that just wants a little sip of mountain magic.

Of haunting, enchantments, spells and curses, by a collection of best selling authors with tales to entertain, amuse and engage. Love stories full of steam and passion, adventure and laughter. This is a book to read again and again, specially around the haunting month.

I received an ARC from Netgalley and leaving my review voluntarily.

I loved these short stories so much! They were the perfect amount of Halloween vibes with the sweetest and swooniest romances.

I was so excited when I saw there would be another Halloween collection of stories from Dragonblade. And in a rare occurrence, I found that I really enjoyed every story in the collection. Usually in a collection such as this I find that there is usually at least one that I don't really like that much, but I did not find that with this collection. There were not any super creepy stories as there have been in past Halloween collections, but I was fine with that. Now just a few thoughts on each story:

Once Upon a Haunted Cave (M. Platt) - A little bit ghost story, a little bit mystery, a little bit romance. Heather and Ruarke make for a good team - both romantically and in their investigation of the ghost. There were only two things I felt were missing: some sort of comeuppance for her family member who threw her out of her house and just to know for sure if the Barclays knew what their ancestor had done (it's suggested but never overtly stated).

Once Upon a Haunted Garden (C. Bowlin) - This somewhat ties into the author's "Hellion Club" series. A marriage that starts as an unusual arrangement but quickly turns into a real marriage. With a little ghost intervention to avenge her own death and save Louisa from a similar fate. I would have liked to have known the butler also got the boot for his part in some of the more recent events, but other than that no complaints here.

Once Upon an Enchanted Well (M. Wine) - Not so much a ghost story, but a good tale about a woman left completely alone who finds her happiness. And it makes a little bit of a fool of the man who was trying to take control of her life. I would have liked just a little more about why her half-brother took the actions he did.

Once Upon a Haunted Haven (L. Post) - A matchmaking ghost who helps guide her chosen couple even before they meet. I liked that this was also about Juliet moving on from her past by exploring new opportunities and embracing her new life. Luckily for her she had a ghost to keep her from making the terrible mistake of letting Noah get away.

Once Upon a Haunted Romance (M. Lancaster) - If you've read this author's "The Duel Series" and always wanted to know what happened with George/Sir Arthur, this is the story for you! It was so nice to see how he has come into his own now that he has been freed and made some true friends.

Once Upon a Highland Mist (M. Greyson) - This was kind of a Beauty and the Beast type of story - with a more malevolent twist. A selfish laird is punished by a woman he scorned (even though he was 100% right to do so) and turned into a "beast" and is then saved by the love of the village's outcast. The thing I felt was missing here was a big confrontation with the evil witch - her destruction is a little anti-climactic.

Once Upon a Haunted Scottish Cottage (S. Darling) - A story about a matchmaker who continues that matchmaking even after her death. Her means aren't always kind, but they get the job done. It also helps that they had (unknowingly on Theodora's part at the time) been corresponding for months because it was not as though they were complete strangers.

Once Upon a Haunted Hillfort (M. Pride) - If you have read the author's "Pict by Time" series you will recognize some of the characters and events mentioned here. Based on how the story starts you can kind of guess where the events are going but it's still interesting to see how everything with the women's souls works out.

Once Upon a Haunted Knight (E. Braden) - This story centers around a haunted/cursed painting rather than a ghost. I liked that this romance unfolds over the course of a year because it made the romance between the characters more believable. I loved Addy's determination to break the curse even when it is clear the curse is also coming for her.

Once Upon a Haunted Horn & Hoof (E. Rose) - If you have read this author's "Highland Outcasts" series you will recognize this characters. This is by far the most humorous of this collection and the perfect way to wrap up the collection. There is a somewhat vengeful ghost, but most of it is played for laughs rather than for scares.

Once Upon a Haunted Knight - Elisa Braden
3.5 stars
Quick read, I loved the storyline - I was very invested in how things would turn out. However, the story suffers from the novella syndrome: lack of depth and chemistry between the main characters.

Once Upon a Haunted Scottish Cottage - Sofie Darling
3.75 stars
My first story by this author. Overall a fun read. Captures the attraction between the main characters and gives them a history which made me believe in them. Somewhat better than the previous novella, so a 3.75 stars as compared.

Once Upon a Haunted Garden - Chastity Bowlin
2.5 stars
Idk, I skimmed a lot. More plot focused than romance focused.

_______

I think that will be all for me, for now. I will come back to the rest of the novellas in time.
Overall I'd give a 3.5 rating, based on what I have read.

Thank you to the publisher for the ARC via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

I absolutely loved everything about this book. All of the stories were super amazing and I enjoyed every single one of them. Perfect spooky reads for Halloween.