♡ Spooky Vibes
♡ Funeral Home
♡ Angst with a Happy Ending

Went into this knowing nothing about it, and wow, it was so good. I loved the characters, the spooky atmosphere, and the plot. The trans rep was also fantastic and really enjoyable to read.

I loved this book so much! The characters were well thought out and the friendships were so wholesome. Ezra and Johnathan were so precious and I was rooting for them the whole time. And I loved the line: “You don't have to make up for needing to be loved.” (- Johnnathan; Chapter 35, Page 277 of the ebook edition) it was so powerful in that moment.

Overall this is a story about a trans dude who can see dead people and falls in love along the way which I mean if that doesn’t convince you then note there is a very adorable dog in this book as well.

Thank you to the author, Random House Publishing, Dell Imprint, and NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️(2/5)
Angst Level: 💧💧 (2/5)
POV: Third Person
Release Date: 20, August 2024
Rep: Bisexual Transmasc (Main Character), Transfem (Side Character), Asexual (Side Character), LGBTQIA+ (Main and Side Characters)

⚠️ Content Warnings:
Graphic: Cursing, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Sexual content, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Dysphoria, and Alcohol
Minor: Car accident and Transphobia

An insightful family drama with a bit of romance, a bit of chaos, and a whole lot of ghosts!

To save his family's failing funeral home - and his own chance at a queer love story - a reluctant clairvoyant must embrace the gift he long ignored.

This was an interesting read! I think I struggled at times, because I thought it was would be a romance more than anything else and it wasn't. However, it has a great premise and foundation. I enjoyed our MMC, Ezra. Outside of his queerness, he was relatable and kind and a perfect mess. And him being trans felt fully realized and I enjoyed exploring that journey alongside him. This also felt like a love letter to Jewish culture and I loved learning about the different holidays, traditions, rituals, and expectations. This book is inclusivity personified and I loved it!

My biggest hang up with this one was the amount of subplots. There is A LOT going on. Ezra's many jobs. Ezra's new living situation. Ezra's parents' marriage. Ezra's siblings and their dynamic. Jonathan. Ezra seeing ghost including his beloved grandfather and Jonathan's husband. The funeral home and it's viability. So much happening! I felt like there wasn't much focus one major plot except Ezra being at the center of it, so it was hard to get invested or care about any of it. The writing style, which is very exposition heavy or wordy, also lends to kind of feeling boggled down a bit in characters, plots, and details.

Overall, a read that felt like a hug in that people aren't perfect and grief can be hard, but wow, how lucky we are to have lived and to have been loved whether we're of the living or the dead.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for my free electronic advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest review.

Emoji Book Review: 😍😍🥺😍

⏰Short Summary: Ezra’s family owns and operates a Jewish funeral home. In the aftermath of his mother’s major bombshell, Ezra struggles to maintain expectations put on him by both himself and others. At the same time, major love is brewing with a new neighbor. Oh did I mention, he also sees ghosts and recently one of the new neighbors dearly departeds has been visiting him. This is a story about family, community, knowing your worth, love, grief, life and death.

⚡Thoughts: This is my first read by this author and it was everything I wanted it to be and more. It was charming, it was witty, it was just all the things. I truly felt like I was eavesdropping on this beautiful story in all the best ways. I absolutely fell in love with Ezra, even when I found myself screaming through the pages at him. He was perfect and a MC I definitely wanted to know more about.

The story was captivating and compelling and I cannot wait to see what this author writes next! Definitely pick this up if you want a sweet, charming, irresistible love story with all the elements of figuring out life in between.

📚Genre: Romance, Fantasy, LGTBQ

📅Publish Date: August 20, 2024

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I found myself smiling at the end of this book. Beautifully written, it's about family; both family of origin and the one we create.

I love the MC in all his angst and warmed to the rest.

A lovely debut

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC. This is my honest review.

I feel like this was a truly excellent debut. The writing was what really pulled me in, but what made me stay was the discussions of death, grief, identity, among many others. I especially loved seeing Jewish death culture (something I'd honestly had no idea about) represented on page. There's a definite care the way the author writes and I appreciated seeing this tender, empathetic look at both life and death.

That being said, I will say that there was a lot going on. I saw someone on another website classify this book as a "dramedy" and I'd say that's pretty accurate. There's a LOT of drama going on and at times it felt a bit too much. While I appreciate the way it was handled, I think that taking out a few bits of drama would've narrowed the focus and allowed for expanding the relationships between the characters. Again, I still think I liked the way this was done, but I did want just a bit more. Especially in regards to Ezra and Jonathan's relationship. I feel like I didn't quite get enough of Jonathan as a character on his own outside of his relationship with Ezra. It would've expanded and deepened their relationship just a bit more, I think.

Still, this was a really solid debut and I look forward to seeing what the author writes next.

I enjoyed that all of these characters felt so real! They weren’t perfect and you could relate to them. Poor Ezra, dealing with a move, a temporary job change, his mom coming out of the closet, and a new significant other! And none of that is including the ghosts that only he can see!

Review of the Rules for Ghosting by Shelly Jay Shore

This novel was a funny, heartfelt, and sincere read. It focuses on both the family you are chosen and the one you are born into. The protagonist is part of a Jewish family that owns a funeral home. Ezra, a young trans man, is a doula and yoga instructor by trade. He moves into an apartment with queer friends and a cute new neighbor. Then things take a turn with him being furloughed. In the meantime, Ezra jumps reluctantly into the family business, only to be confronted with some literal and metaphorical (nonthreatening) ghosts. Ezra and his family must deal with some things left unsaid. Transitions, whether medical or metaphorical, also are a significant theme. Relationships, community, change, growth, and love run throughout the story. This is a heartwarming read and one I recommend not to ghost!

What a great read! Ezra is navigating moving into a new apartment not only with roommates but with his ex! While also dealing with his mom coming out, having feelings for someone new and seeing ghosts!? And this is just the tip of the iceberg! I seriously cannot wait until it comes out so that I can buy myself a copy!

This book was a precious exploration of many themes. When I started this, I wasn’t quite sure how a book could pull off being paranormal, romance, friendship, religion and identity. And somehow, it works better than I even could’ve imagined.m!

At its heart, this is a book about identity, finding your value, connection, family (and the mess it can be), friendships, community, relationships, and love. Shelly covered and blew each of these themes out of the water seamlessly with a story that gives goosebumps and teary eyes!

Following Jonathan and Ezra’s love story and each of them finding life within each other was beautiful. Their relationship spoke to the beauty in brokenness, how people can heal one another, and see beauty through the mess.

Each of the characters in this book are special with a dash of humor and relatability, including new friendships that quickly become part of Ezra’s family, pushing him to come into his own, and realize what he deserves, how valuable he is and that he is worthy.

I loved the way Ezra’s character finds life and beauty through work in his adulthood after a childhood filled with loss and death.

This was such a fantastic debut with many great messages at its core. This sweet story will sit with me for a while! The closing chapter, acknowledgements, and letter at the end to readers was executed perfectly and thoughtfully.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rules for Ghosting is so endearing, hilarious and fun. It's incredible that this is a debut novel because the characters are so fun and intricate. I am so in love with Ezra and I will read anything Shelly writes after enjoying this so much.

What a loving exploration of identity and family through the lens of a paranormal romance. Shelly Jay Shore should be extremely proud of this book.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Dell, and NetGalley for providing an eARC for a honest review.

This is the trans, gay, Jewish, meet-cute book about a person that sees ghosts that I didn't know I had to read. Now I have and I'm so happy I did! Ezra didn't want to have the ability to see ghosts, but he can and maybe it's because his family owns a funeral home or maybe it's just because it's him. He loves his family, his dog, being a yoga instructor and a doula. He has fun, fantastic roommates and there's a cute guy on the first floor who locked himself out of the house. Then his mom drops a bomb and one of the ghosts not only starts talking to him but can also move from place to place, which none of them have done before. It's a wild ride filled with Jewish sayings and rituals I'd never known before now. So, if you like a good gay Jewish meet-cute with some ghosts then I highly recommend this book.

Ezra Friedman started seeing ghosts when his Zayde died. Prior to that, Ezra enjoyed spending time in his family-run funeral home that served the local Jewish community. After seeing Zayde, Ezra does everything possible to avoid the funeral home as much as he can. Ezra teaches yoga at the local QCC and is also a doula, so his career path took his as far from death as possible. When the building that houses the QCC must undergo huge renovations, Ezra finds himself in a difficult position since he just moved into a new place (with a hot new downstairs neighbor). However, things take an even stranger turn when his mother drops a bomb at the family Seder and leaves his father after thirty years of marriage. Ezra agrees to help out doing his mom's job at the funeral home and finds more ghosts coming around, including the ghost of the husband of his new neighbor. A very sweet love story, including love of family and friends and romantic love.

Rules For Ghosting is about Ezra, a Jewish trans man, as he steps into his mom's old position at his family's funeral home. The only thing is that Ezra can see ghosts. Ultimately, Rules For Ghosting is about navigating life, grief and loss, connection, and what it means to truly allow yourself to be happy.
I am not Jewish, though the importance of that representation was not lost on me. And it was an added bonus for me to get an opportunity to learn more about the culture.
I read this book as I processed my own grief and boy, did it help. It also gave me a chance to rethink how I've interacted with others, how I will never interact with some people again and the myriad of reasons why that might be.
My only complaints are that the pacing seems slow at times and some of the characters seem a bit underdeveloped. Aside from that, I have no qualms with this story. It is beautifully written and absolutely amazing as a debut novel!

3.5/5

This book has such a cool premise to it: Ezra (whose family owns a funeral home) can see ghosts. And with Ezra being queer, some of the older ghosts are a bit judge-y, while other can be quite chill companions.

This is definitely not your average ghost story, so if you like a spooky time but are looking for a unique experience, I would definitely recommend. I probably would’ve enjoyed this more if I read it during spooky season (even though it takes place in the spring time).

Seeing so many of the big events in this book happen around very Jewish things was really cool for me as a Jewish person. You NEVER see that in books. Like Ezra’s mom spilling the biggest beans at Passover? That’s hilarious. We Jews love a big dramatic moment to chat about later.

It felt like it took quite a bit of time for the main plot of the book to begin. And there seemed to be quite a bit of exposition that wasn’t really necessary to the story. The writing was so classically romantic, but could also get a bit repetitive at times. But this was still such a quick and easy read while still giving you so much depth of emotion (it takes place at a funeral home after all).

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review! My review on Goodreads is already up and my review on TikTok will be up with my monthly wrap-up at the end of May.

3.5 stars, rounded up. There was a lot I enjoyed about this book, but it was much more about grief than I expected from the cute cover.

Ezra is a trans man whose family owns a traditional Jewish funeral home, and he also can see ghosts. I found it interesting that so much of his identity as a trans man was explored - how he felt about his relationships to his family members and how they’d changed, how he felt about his own body, and how he related to others. There was also a lot of discussion about traditional Jewish funerals, what the rituals meant and why they’re important. However the fact that Ezra can see ghosts is just kind of there, there’s no explanation or exposition. He’s kept it a secret from everyone his whole life, but late in the book he decides to tell everyone and they’re all just like “oh wow” and move on.

The other hero is Jonathan, a recently widowed man who lives downstairs from Ezra’s new apartment. Jonathan’s dead husband Ben appears to Ezra, and breaks the “rules for ghosting” that Ezra has developed. He talks to Ezra and follows him around, which makes it super awkward when Ezra develops feelings for Jonathan.

A whole bunch of stuff happens with the family funeral home - turns out Ezra’s mom has been cheating on his dad for years with Ben’s mom, and they run away together leaving Ezra needing to step into the family business. There’s a lot of exploration of family relationships and pressure, and meanwhile Ezra and Jonathan are falling in love.

I enjoyed the book overall, but it was definitely more about grief and changing family relationships than romance. Very touching and sad at times, but with a hopeful and satisfying ending.

5.0

Setting: Rhode Island
Rep: bisexual trans Jewish protagonist; gay Jewish love interest

I cannot fault this book. It is pure joy and heart and packed with emotion. It is so brilliantly queer and unabashedly Jewish and filled with love and tenderness and family and loveable characters. It packs a punch, too! There are a lot of hard moments in this book - Ezra is dealing with a lot, as is Jonathan, and of course the theme of death is a heavily prevalent one, as well as family roles and pressures. It is so worth it, though. I absolutely adore Ezra and Jonathan and I love how their story played out, and how their actions and reactions didn't fall into cliche pits. Absolutely loved this book, and I can't wait for more people to read it. Shelly is a writer to watch out for and I can't wait to see what she writes next!

I think I like the idea of this book more than I enjoyed the actual story itself. There’s so much beauty in the representation and the setting of the story, I loved the aspects of family being so important and the conversations on grief. What I wasn’t a giant fan of is the pacing of the story and the over explaining of everything. It got incredibly tedious and I couldn’t slip into the story and get lost. The prose is lacking for me.

Rules for Ghosting hooked me from the very beginning. First of all, I loved that we were given a story about a trans person that wasn’t centered around him being trans and although it’s been brought up that he’s been misgendered before, the acceptance of his friends and family in the book brought me so much joy. I resonated with Ezra as an “eldest daughter” (Ezra was still brought up as that before he came out) and needing to be the family fixer. The romance between Jonathan and Ezra felt so natural and although I wanted to shake Ezra at times for being avoidant, it was beautiful to see their healthy queer relationship.
The foil of death and birth was intertwined so beautifully in the story, as was Ezra’s Jewish heritage. I would absolutely recommend this book!

This is such a heartwarming story that touches on family dynamics, lgbtqia representation, and the struggles of life. Ezra is our trans main character who now has to try and run the family business. All while also seeing ghosts all around him, and realizing the true term of ghosting.

This is witty but also so raw and emotional. For a debut novel, this author knocked it out of the park.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the eARC!