Haunt Your Heart Out felt like a Hallmark story set in a mix of Halloween and Christmas. By including two cult classic seasons, this story really enthralled me into the spirit of the seasons and felt so cozy. Though the pacing was a little slow at times, the two protagonists certainly made up for it with their witty banter and romantic chemistry. The small-town vibes really added to the coziness of the story, every time I started a new chapter I wanted either hot apple cider or peppermint hot cocoa. This was such a fun book to kick off the holiday seasons and I cannot wait for my friends to read it too!

Super cute small town romance! Cute banter, great tension. Side characters are fun and help with the vibe of the book. The background of the characters are developed it's a little close to the instalove but I think the book spans a month? It's a Christmasy book with some Halloween vibes. It's just a fun quarky book if you want a light read with some spice I would give it a 2ish.
Thank you NetGalley and Alcove Press for the opportunity to read this e-arc.

Haunt Your Heart Out is the perfect October read! This book takes place in the charming town of Stowe Vermont where a hometown bookseller and documentary filmmaker cross paths. Will they be in high spirits or will someone ghost? Read the book to find out!

I wasn’t expecting to get so emotional and cry with this book.

This is such a unique and fun story about ghosts hauntings, small towns, book lovers and family trauma.

Our main character, Lex is working at a bookstore battling to get her ideas heard to make the business a success whilst living in an old, always need fixing house that belonged to her grandpa. Despite this being a romance, the book is very much about family, family trauma and expectations. I adored the main characters and little lulu and felt all the pain of the characters. The only thing is I sometimes felt like the haunting transcripts took me out of the story a little and felt they either needed to be more frequent or better placed. That and the epilogue felt rushed and I felt like it could have added more detail.

But yeah, really enjoyed this didn’t expect to be so moved by the characters emotions

I never like to give a "bad" review, because reading is such a personal experience and I have pretty much endless respect for all authors, but I have to say that this book just wasn't for me. I had trouble connecting with the characters and I felt stressed out by the whole premise that the male main character, James, is making a documentary based on local ghosts in Stowe, VT, most of which were made up years earlier my the female main character Lex for her YouTube vlog channel. The writing style here was also very, I'm not sure the best way to describe it, maybe expository? It felt like a lot of telling rather than showing. I did like Roberts's plotting overall so I would definitely try her again, but this didn't work for me generally.

I absolutely adored this book. This is my first time reading this author and I am now an Amber Roberts stan.

HAUNT YOUR HEART OUT is the perfect holiday season (including spooky season!) cozy read. I want to take a wintry holiday to Vermont just to visit Stowe (and maybe find a few ghosts along the way!)

Give me allll the spooky fall rom-coms please! Haunt Your Heart Out follows Lex, a thirty something woman who lives in a small town and works at the local bookstore. After dropping out of college due to struggling with her mental health Lex thinks she’s content with her life, and never leaving her small town (so she's actively trying to only date people who are permanent fixatures in her town) - until James, the paranormal documentary filmmaker, comes stumbling into town. He's there to investigate the ghost stories, but ends up wearing Lex down into thinking their might be life outside after all.

In conclusion, Haunt Your Heart Out by Amber Roberts is a beautifully crafted novel that will appeal to fans of both romance and the supernatural. With its rich atmosphere, engaging characters, and a plot that keeps you engaged, it’s a hauntingly good read that lingers long after the last page is turned.

I have such mixed feelings about this book! I thought the beginning was really slow and lacked plot and conflict, but the last 35% of the book was so heartfelt and emotional. I would have loved to give this book 4 stars if it hadn't been for the slow start.

Aside from the glacial pace the first half of this book moved at, my other biggest issue was the negative viewpoint of the main character. Lex was constantly complaining about her parents and her sister, and while these relationships were strained, Lex barely let her family speak before she totally shut them down. The end of the book there was progress made on this, but it did feel unnaturally fast. She went from being close to hating them to acting like they were super close and happy. I wish there was a little more empathy on her part and the pace of the relationships was better and more consistent.

I loved the relationship between Lex and James and I thought their banter was solid from the beginning. The spice didn't seem to play much of a role in the development of their relationship and seemed to be there just to be there. I like it when the intimacy plays a deeper role in the couple's relationship.

The whole premise of ghost hunting was cool to read and the picturesque setting of the small winter town was so lovely to read about. I would have loved to see a little bit more involvement with the rest of the town members because it's mentioned a few times that they're so supportive of Lex, but we don't really get to see that ourselves.

Overall, a really nice read. The end made me cry and I wish the first half met the pace and emotion of the second half!

I really enjoyed the banter in this book. At first I thought James was a little arrogant (especially with the lock/door moment) but I quickly realized how much I adored him. The characters were really relatable, especially Lex and Natalie. I was a little too understanding of Lex’s relationship with her family. At some points I wanted to throw my kindle with how they talked to her, but I guess all relationships are a little complicated which makes it feel real. I connected to the authors writing style and plan on reading her other books now. Over all, this was a cute and charming story!

This was a cute and spooky romcom and I liked it, for the most part. I really liked the relationship between Alex and James. They had great chemistry and banter and worked well together. We also can’t forget about Lulu, who is the most adorable and lovable in this trio. I liked Alex’s character development in this book, although sometimes she did annoy me with her choices, mainly about the ghosts. I feel like there were so many opportunities to come clean from both parties and the further it went on the more annoyed I got, especially if Alex wanted to stay with James. It did all work out in the end and we have an hea, but I was so annoyed with the lies and miscommunication and hiding the truth about the hauntings.

Overall, I did like this book and the relationship but was annoyed but the lying.

If I'm being totally honest, I only really felt invested in this book for the last 30% or so, when all the drama started coming out. Prior to that, I found myself thinking, "I don't really know who these people are beyond their abandonment issues or commitment to home issues." I also couldn't fathom why this woman, who for years has held fast to her no-dating-tourists rule, threw it out the window SO QUICKLY for this rando. Yes, said rando was hot and they shared a connection and obviously he played a bigger role in her life later on. But she didn't know that when she decided to make an exception for this stranger that she believed would be gone in a few days anyway. I just didn't see the logic. The end made up for a lot of the questions I had about James, though—like why Dog-Eared, and why Lex, because that seemed like a lot of unnecessary initial commitment to me. It was mostly just a pacing issue for me. It was cute though, and very hallmark-y. It'll be a cute read for many for both October and December.

A charming blend of Christmas and Halloween. Haunt Your Heart Out is a fun book. I really enjoyed it.

I really liked the main character Lex. I found her struggles to be relatable and believable. I liked seeing how she navigated her problems and finding love too.

The romance here is sugary sweet. I liked that Lex & James bonded over their family issues and loneliness. It helped build the foundation for a meaningful relationship between the two. It felt realistic. They had a lot of chemistry too. I couldn't get enough of their banter!

I enjoyed the small town setting. It felt very Hallmark inspired. I immensely enjoyed the ghost stories subplot. I thought it added a uniqueness to the story and gave it some flair.

Overall, an enjoyable read that will surely charm readers.

I was super excited to read this and I thought by the cover it was going to be a spooky romance…. I was very wrong.

I wanted to love this so badly, I just can’t deal with insta type love and diving in heads first. Then it went completely flat and I was bored out of my mind. I was expecting a bit more ghosts.

Lex, I’m sorry to say but I did not like you, girl.
She was such a pick-me girl. You are 33 and so self-absorbed it’s embarrassing. She annoyed me so much and the way she treated her family??? Who the hell do you think you are? She might be one of my most hated characters and I read horror novels. Also, her whole relationship is based on lies.


Thank you to Netgalley for my arc.

Perfect Halloween read!!! Such a fun ride the whole way! I loved the banter between them and absolutely fire relationship

4 ⭐️ 2 🌶️

Read As An Arc

👻 Halloween
👻 Small Town
👻 Cozy Read
👻 3rd Act Break-up
👻 Stars Hollow Vibes
👻 Hope & Healing
👻 HEA
👻 Family Tension
👻 Death Of Grandparent
👻 Mental Health



OK, so just a start… An owner of a bookstore and a ghost hunter? But this truly is my vibe right here, a perfection in the making? I can say this is not as paranormal, as I would've loved it to be, but it's a cute Halloween romcom.

Lex and James, as characters pull out the steps and each other, bringing the feels when discussing lack of family support, something that I think Lex holds onto more. They without a doubt have the chemistry obviously. The characters bring in an LGBTQ+ aspect, which is great to see – I'll leave that out for y'all to find out.

The read was a bit slow, and what felt like great building and communication between Lex and James, slowly diminished towards the end of the book. – It felt different, and not their true characters comparing the rest of the chapters.

I really related to Lex with mental health and lack of advocating for herself. It's great when I can connect to the characters, it brings me more into the storyline.

I love this book, not as much as a 5⭐️ but I still love this! This is the perfect read in the fall, and I feel like that timeline matches the setting of this book, and would've made all the difference for me.




* Thank you to NetGalley for the arc!


** this will be posted on Goodreads on October 3 @ https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/170879374-bee?shelf=read

This book was cute and had small town charm. The characters were likable enough but didn’t seem to have much chemistry. I enjoyed the Christmas time setting while dealing with haunting and more traditionally Halloween based books.

I enjoyed this one a lot. It had great banter and a good amount of spice, and I related to Lex a lot with her love for the bookstore where she worked. James and Lex were so great together and I appreciated how well they supported each other and communicated so well. The caveat though, is that because I enjoyed how well they communicated with each other, is that once the conflict happened, their lack of communication was odd. Not to get too spoilery, but they argued, didn't talk for a little while, and then everything was magically better. Sure, apologies were made, but the resolution to the conflict felt rushed, with no room to breathe. Otherwise, I felt like this was a fun, ghostly Christmastime romance that gives you all the vibes of the holidays in New England.

Unfortunately, this was a big miss.
Nothing about their relationship, the story, or the "haunted" aspect was engaging.
There was at best a lukewarm chemistry between the two, nothing particularly amazing or of note.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I could not get into this book. The continually awkward encounters made the first quarter too cringe. I don’t love first person present as it is, and I found the main character annoying and whiny. This is not a good book for me. I will not be reviewing elsewhere.