This was a surprisingly cute spooky romance read for the season. Even for a spooky(ish) Christmas read. Since it takes place during December in Vermont.

Although, I wish there were more spooky aspects. Especially if you’re going to fake hauntings to make a podcast and documentary. At least they could have been more realistic and scary(ish). The bridge scene had promise. Could have done so much more with it.

I love the concept of collecting books with little messages in them. I will now be looking in every used book I see. I think I may even start writing a little message in books I gift.
And the little notes Lex’s grandfather left inside the walls of the house for his wife. How romantic.

All in all I did enjoy this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for this gifted egalley in exchange for my honest review.

Heat Factor: Jalapeño poppers

Character Chemistry: The banter doesn’t quite hit

Plot: Ghost stuff, bookstore stuff, family stuff

Overall: This book is all over the place

First thing’s first: this is more of a Christmas special than a Halloween one. In fact, I would call this a Hallmark Movie Romance, except from the point of view of the local instead of the Big City Girl Who Needs to Learn About Community. (In this case, the Local Girl already has community, but doesn’t quite realize how big it is.) So if you’re reading for ghosts because it’s October, this might not be it. It’s more about ghost stories than actual ghosts. And there’s just as much time spent on Christmas with the family as there is on the ghost story conflict.

Second thing’s second: I almost DNFed this one, about a quarter of the way in. It’s written in that contemporary first-person narrative voice that I find exceptionally irritating. (See my review of Four Weekends and a Funeral for more details.) The heroine is severely lacking in self-awareness and suffers from anxiety, and while I empathize with her struggles, I did not enjoy sharing a headspace with her. Plus, the hero has smirk energy. Also the heroine is like, “Let me recommend this obscure book to you, stranger in my used book store,” and gives the hero…Slaughterhouse Five. Pretty sure everyone read that in high school.

But then I decided to read one more chapter and was suddenly just invested enough in all the conflicts to read the rest.

However, just because I persevered does not mean I’d recommend this one. It felt like a book with a bit of an identity crisis—plus the main character made too many wild leaps of logic for my taste.

Details, you say? Yes, I’d be happy to share some.

Lex is the manager of a used bookstore in a small town in Vermont. She loves her home and the store, but also carries a ton of resentment toward every single person who leaves: her older sister and parents, her boss (who snowbirds in Florida), and every single tourist who comes to ski. And, of course, her love interest, who has an out-of-state license plate and is therefore not here to stay. Before I continue, I want to highlight Lex’s resentment of the tourists, because it is VERY present in the book. As she narrates, she frequently makes offhand comments about the people who are just there to ski and…is she aware that she lives in a tourist town? That maybe there might not be the infrastructure for all of these people to stay permanently? That even if they’re not buying used books, they are supporting all the other local businesses? It’s not even that the book delves into issues that plague vacation towns, like lack of affordable housing or service workers who commute in or overburdened infrastructure. Lex is just mad that they come and then leave. (This whole thing is probably meant to be an offshoot symptom of her abandonment issues with her parents, but it was mainly distracting.)

James is part of a team in town to film a documentary about local ghosts. They came to this particular small town because of an old vlog about hauntings…that Lex ran when she was in high school. The catch? Lex made up all the ghosts.

If you think that this potential conflict sounds like a big ole nothingburger, you would be right. And also wrong. Because it SHOULD be a big ole nothingburger, but in Lex’s mind it isn’t. It’s like she’s not even paying attention when—on their very first date—James pops into the back of a ghost tour being filmed for the documentary, pretends to see a ghost to rile up the crowd, and then goes about his day. Or when James tells her that they’re not there to debunk whether ghosts are real but to explore what ghost stories mean to people. So Lex gets her friends to help her stage elaborate hauntings to convince James and his team that the ghosts Lex talked about were actually real.

Just. Why?

Given that there is plenty of real conflict—Lex is having financial troubles, Lex wants to buy the bookshop where she works, Lex has a fraught relationship with her family, Lex knows that James isn’t in town for the long haul—there was no reason to add this extra layer of manufactured conflict. It honestly just makes Lex seem clueless and self-absorbed.

(Sidenote: maybe she’s meant to be clueless and self-absorbed, because many of her interactions indicate that this might be the case. Oh really, you had no idea that your best friend was thinking of leaving town? You literally tell the reader, the first time you introduce your best friend, that she feels trapped in this small town.)

Maybe the issue was not so much that Lex made wild leaps of logic. Maybe it’s that she’s an unreliable narrator, and the things that seem illogical to me are really her being unaware / lying to herself / going through an anxiety spiral. However, because I’m not primed for an unreliable narrator when I pick up a romance novel, the end result felt clumsy.

And it’s hard to get over a hero with smirk energy.

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. We disclose this in accordance with 16 CFR §255.

This review is also available at The Smut Report.

Another cute rom com with some nice fall/autumn/cozy aesthetics. I liked the idea of a romance between a book seller and a ghost hunter, though there wasn't anything that really blew me away and the conflicts of her crafting hauntings to keep him in town felt pretty manipulative when there were plenty of other things that could have been a conflict. It definitely feels like a Hallmark Christmas film in formula and romance progression, which isn't a bad thing by any means. If you are looking to round out your seasonal reading and are looking for something fluffy and charming, add it to your list!

I really wanted to love this book but I couldn't get past how unlikeable I found Lex. She was convinced she would only be happy if she lived in her home town and ran the bookstore in a specific building. Because of that she manipulated James to get what she wanted even after they had been romantically involved and she learned more about the stakes for him. As someone who also deals with anxiety I understand how difficult it can be to feel like the things that will make you happy aren't possible but I don't think that excused bad behavior.

I did think the idea of setting a ghost book in a wintery small town was fun. It felt like a good November book when you aren't quire ready for christmas but not quite done with halloween. I am the type of person who doesn't enjoy a book where I don't like the main characters. If that isn't you I think this one would be a fun read.

I thought this was incredibly cute and heartwarming and kind of a perfect combination of Halloween and Christmas vibes, I would definitely recommend adding this to your December/holiday TBR

REVIEW: Haunt Your Heart Out

I was excited to dig into this as a fun and spooky romance for the fall season.

I enjoyed the premise of Haunt Your Heart Out, as it was unique. It is set in a small town in Vermont with spooky ghost stories. The main characters include Lex, a small-town local who works at a used bookstore and hopes to own it, and James, who travels around the country to make a ghost documentary with his friend Julien.

Both James and Lex have complicated family relationships that affect them. They are also trying to find themselves and where they belong in different ways. This book is also a great representation of anxiety and mental health and the effects they can have on a person. James and Lex had some steamy and fun chemistry together. There were so many moments of fun banter between them that would turn into something much more.

I enjoyed some fun history and ghost stories throughout Haunt Your Heart Out, but I wish they had given a little more. Many stories were barely touched, and a book like this should have more.

Besides wanting more ghosty elements in the story, a few other things didn’t quite do it for me. The tropes of insta-love and miscommunication are not my favorite. Also, if this story took place during October for Halloween rather than winter and Christmas, it would add more to the spooky factor. It felt odd that this felt like a Christmas book, but there were also hauntings.

Overall, I enjoyed Haunt Your Heart. It was a fun read with spooky stories and sometimes a pretty steamy romance.

Thank you, Netgalley and Alcove Press, for the free advanced copy for my honest review!

4.5 stars!! this was such a cosy spooky read!! definitely surpassed my expectations & loved how heart warming the ending was!

we follow lex, a small town bookseller who is trying to essentially do everything on her own (while everything is going in a downward spiral). and then there’s james, an charming out of towner who is literally the definition of a golden retriever, making a ‘ghost encounter’ documentary. essentially they can’t avoid one another and they can’t untangle themselves from each other.

this book isn’t just about the romance or the ghost documentary but about tension filled familial ties, knowing when to ask for help & being there for one another.

i was smiling so big towards the ending, it felt like finding a big, red bow tie on a present that you’d find under the tree on christmas morning!

this book is perfect for those that love:
- small town romance
- book seller fmc
- halloween/christmas setting
- cosy vibes

I thought this was an adorable story about a girl who used to fake ghost stories and a boy who saw those ghost stories and decided to make his own haunted documentary in the same town.

I love our main character, Lex. She works at the local bookstore (my dream), and while she has some heavy baggage with her own family, I loved her relationship with her best friend and her family. James is our love interest, and I love what brought him into town, and his adorable doggy Lucy in the sky with diamonds (how cute is that name!)

While I would have loved more ghostly stuff, I did enjoy their romance, and how they were there for each other when some stuff goes down with their parents. We did have kind of a miscommunication moment which I didn't realize was a miscommunication, because they had a discussion early on that I though tackled the issue, but I guess I read more into it then James did.

I loved how it all resolved, and their happily-ever-after moment. I will definitely be reading more by Amber Roberts in the future.

Thank you Netgalley for this Arc. All thoughts are my own.

The synopsis sounded cute and right up my alley, but I feel that the synopsis and the cute af Halloween cover were eluding.
This story did not commence around Halloween, but Christmas. And the only mention of ghosts was in the ghost hunting.
From the main character's perspective, the writing style felt immature. She was supposed to be in her 30s, yet she read like a teenager having a tantrum.
I also felt the relationship between our two mains was rushed and didn't build as I had hoped.

I had high hopes for this book going in but I was sadly let down.

This was a perfect book to read between Halloween and Christmas. The characters have well rounded development, deep personalities, but also amazing banter with each other. Gives me Nightmares Before Christmas meets RomCom vibes in the best way

very cute story about a ghosthunter and the woman who, in the past, faked those ghosts that he's hunting for. it will make you go AWW

I was pleasantly surprised by this RomCom. Romance isn't my genre and I find myself to be a bit more critical and skeptical when I read them. Which makes it all the more delightful when I find one I don't hate!

I am a New England girl through and through, and was able to easily relate to the goals of the FMC. Bookstores, coffee shops, spooky historical locations...I was hooked.

Fair warning for those who like a spice free experience, there are 2 open door explicit scenes in the first half, which honestly took away from it being fully for me. But the second half was fine.

This was a complimentary advanced copy by Alcove books via netgalley. All opinions expressed in my review are mine.

HAUNT YOUR HEART OUT starts off looking like a classic small town romance. You've got a cozy town popular with tourists, a quirky independent bookstore, and a small town girl who's attached to her home. Then a hot stranger shows up, and sparks fly! A familiar formula, right?

But the further you get into the book, the more complicated the characters get. Our narrator, Lex, is attached to her town not just out of sentiment, but because she's built a life that can accommodate her anxiety. This is great anxiety representation, by the way: Lex has learned to manage her anxiety with the help of therapy, but the condition will never go away, and true love doesn't cure it. Over the course of the book, it becomes clear that Lex's home and her job are both tools she uses to manage her condition. This is something I don't think I've seen before in romance, at least not to this degree.

Be warned that toxic family relationships take center stage in the second half of the book. Both Lex and James have painful histories with their families of origin. Both leads experience on-page controlling, criticizing, and emotionally abusive behavior, which may be triggering for some readers. (Personally, I'd like to kick James' dad.)

For a romance about ghost hunters, the vibes are surprisingly not as spooky as I expected. Instead, this is a holiday romance with some ghost hunting on the side. In other words, more a Christmas book than a Halloween read. But I enjoyed it, and I think lots of other readers will, too.

THIS WAS SO CUTE!!
Any book that can make me cry just because of a moment of tension between the main characters is an automatic 5 star for me.
I loved these two. Lex has popular YouTube videos of ghostly hauntings in her town that she completely fabricated— but they are based on real legends. The vlog inspires ghost hunters/videographers James and Julian to explore her hometown of Stowe, VT.
So you’ve got the ghost hunter and the girl who created them.
I loved the small town romance and the paranormal aspects to it. James was all in from the get go, but Lex was, understandably, hesitant. Here was a guy she could see herself easily falling for, and who knew how long he was in town for. A few weeks maybe until filming wraps?
Everybody always leaves her.
This book explored a lot of relationships— familial, professional, romantic— and how easily feelings and sentiments can be misconstrued if not communicated properly.

Thank you TBR and Beyond Tours for having me on the tour! I immensely enjoyed this read.
Be sure to check out their site for the rest of the tour!

Thank you to Netgalley and Alcove Press for an advance copy.

DNF at 15%. Her abandonment issues are very strong and she doesn’t want to keep doing things to move herself forward. Her boss doesn’t like her suggestions to improve the bookstore she works in so she just stops making them and continues working there for the next 12 years.

There weren’t any sparks between Lex and James for at least the first several times they met. I just wasn’t feeling it at all.

𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁: Not what I expected, but I enjoyed this one. It’s has very relatable characters with real life problems. I loved seeing both MCs dealing with parental pressure and fighting for what they want. This is about more than romance, it has great: spooky, cozy, fall to winter vibes!

Lex lives in a small cozy town of Stowe, Vermont. She lives in a falling apart house, her grandpa left her and works for the local bookstore she hopes to one day own. She grew up here and it’s where she feels grounded. Her family has since moved away to CA and left her behind. They didn’t understand why she wanted to stay, and like to question her decisions with the direction of her life. But the town loves and supports her, this is her home.

James is a working on a film project with his best friend Julian, to capture the local ghosts lure that surrounds Stowe. Little did he know he would stumble into Alex who was the ghost whisper herself. But thanks to lulu his dog and his NY Yankee baseball hat their paths would cross.

Lex acts as James guide to help his team capture the ghost legends. As these two work together their is no denying their is a magnetic pull and we’ll see these two go from strangers to lovers. The only issue is they both having a lot riding on this project’s success, but for two very different reasons and their secrets could destroy everything.

Sometimes believing in the ghost stories and embracing the unknown can change you forever. Be sure to check this one out.

𝑳𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒍𝒍 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅:

* Strangers to Lovers
* Small Bookstore Worker x Ghost Documentary Director
* Staged Hauntings
* Anxiety Rep
* Small Town Vermont
* Difficult Parents
* Steamy 🌶️
* Single POV

👻✨📚👻✨📚👻✨📚👻✨📚👻✨📚👻

Thanks #NetGalley for the advanced copy of #HauntYourHeartOut by Amber Roberts in exchange for an honest review.

Honestly, I struggled with this book. Overall, I enjoyed the premise and James was a wonderful golden retriever MMC. Lex (aka Just Alex), on the other hand, came across as immature and whiney. I know a lot of that was supposed to be her anxiety but it wasn't presented well and it came across as annoying. She was way too hard on her parents (don't get me wrong, they were awful at times but she was overly awful to them and sometimes it was uncalled for and that also annoyed me). I never really understood why she was keeping her secret from him and why she got mad at him when it came out and then it was just all wrapped up a little too easily. I'm just not sure I bought the HEA in this story.

A nice rom-com that I enjoyed and made me root for the characters. Well plotted, entertaining.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Haunt Your Heart Out by Amber Roberts is a pleasant mix of Halloween and Christmas fun. This is a sweet contemporary romance full of emotions. Don't let the title fool you, this is not a paranormal romance. The romance is honestly adorable. Their chemistry has me hooked from the very beginning. I also liked the focus on Lex's family and their relationships. If you're looking for a cute, cozy fall romance then you should definitely give this a try.

Thank you to the publishers and netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Haunt Your Heart Out by Amber Roberts is a charming, cute and cozy small town romance.
The perfect blend for the holiday season!
I was sucked in to this paranormal romance between a struggling bookstore manager and a town hopping ghost hunt documentary director.
I really enjoyed the writing, these characters are engaging and the story was phenomenal.

Thank You NetGalley and Alcove Press for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!