Ghost Business by Jen DeLuca

Tracy’s Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Series: Boneyard Key, #2

Release Date: September 9, 2025

As a long-time resident of Boneyard Key, Florida, Sophie Horvath is no stranger to the paranormal, in fact she runs a Ghost Tour for tourists, where she shares the stories of the ghosts of Boneyard Key to preserve the past and for a bit of extra income. Alone since her aunt passed away, Sophie spends time with her friends and has pretty much given up on finding a HEA for herself. But a random meeting with Tristan Martin, at The Haunt, a local spot, has her re-thinking that idea – that is until she realizes the super-hot guy she met has come to town to start his own Ghost Tour and shut down her business! Game on! There is an advantage to being a local in a tourist town and Sophie isn’t about to give up her business to an out of towner who is making up stories about her town! But when their tours meet and words are exchanged, a viral video changes everything. A winner takes all bet is made and a truce is called. And as much as she wants to hate him, Sophie finds herself falling for Tristan, but fears that he will be like everyone else in her life and leave.

Tristan Martin is the co-owner of Ghouls Night Out, a Ghost Tour business he founded with his best-friend, Eric. They have tours in several major cities and Boneyard Key was supposed to be the crown jewel, the tour that would put their business firmly in the black by his father’s October 1st deadline, thus proving to his father once and for all that he can run a business, because the alternative is unthinkable – closing down his tours and working for his dad. Tristan is shocked to learn that there is another Ghost Tour in town – run by the cute girl he met at The Haunt. He knows the town isn’t big enough for two tours – even though they are very different – because she seems to think ghosts are real! But he can’t give up and when a video of their argument goes viral – he is even more determined to make it work, even when things don’t go as planned and he finds himself falling for the girl he can’t have.

I really enjoyed this cute story by a new to me author! Sophie and Tristan were great characters who were easy to like and relatable. Their slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers romance was paced nicely, and I loved the “locals” for first sticking up for Sophie and then eventually accepting Tristan as one of their own. That said there were a couple of things that didn’t hit right, one was the lack of ghosts – yes, there were some, but for a romantasy, it was pretty light on the “fantasy”, the second thing was Tristan’s sexuality, it didn’t feel genuine, it felt like a box that had to get checked off and that made it feel gratuitous – it could have been done better. Overall, this was a fun read filled with witty banter, emotion, hurricanes, warm love scenes, wonderful secondary characters, healing and finally a sweet happy ending. I have not read the previous book, but I will definitely be checking that out, as well as keeping my eyes open for future Boneyard Key books!

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher/author. All opinions in this review are my own. *