Category: Romantasy

Hopelessly Teavoted by Audrey Goldberg Ruoff

On By TracyIn Check Content Warning/Triggers, Contemporary, New To Me Author, Paranormal / Fantasy, Romantasy, Standalone Title, Tracy's ReviewsLeave a comment

Hopelessly TeavotedHopelessly Teavoted by Audrey Goldberg Ruoff

Tracy’s Rating: 2/2.5 of 5 stars

Series: Standalone

Release Date: September 16, 2025

Victoria “Vicki” Starnberger has a gift, she can communicate with the dead via personal items they left behind and items that burn up when she contacts the ghost. She wasn’t born with the gift; it came to her when her parents made a deal with a demon. For years she has used the gift to help her parents build an empire, while attending college. But after 8 years, she still hasn’t graduated, and she has returns to Hallowcross with a plan. She wants to buy the tea shop that was owned by the deceased parents of her childhood friend and secret crush, Azreal “Az” Hart. Her parents are opposed to this and threaten to cut her off if she goes through with the sale. But it isn’t until she is disowned that she learns that she is beholden to the lesser devil Olexandre for the balance of 3 souls due on the contract by Halloween. She also learns that until she fulfills that contract, anything (or anyone) with a sentimental connection to a spirit will be incinerated by her touch.

Enter Az, who has finally returned to Hallowcross after a failed screenwriting career in California. This is the first time he has been home since his parents passed away during the COVID-19 pandemic. Az and his family are witches and have magical powers, but even that wasn’t enough to save his parents, and he is drowning in guilt and grief for not being able to be with them at the end. To make matters worse, he learns that Vicki is back and has bought his parent’s tea shop. He hasn’t seen Vicki since an “incident” 6 years ago when he went to visit her in college and tried to move out of the “friend zone”. Thanks to his parent’s spirits, he has a second chance, but nothing worth having is easy.

After reading the blurb, I was super excited for this book, but unfortunately it just didn’t work for me. There were just too many things that didn’t make sense and were never explained to my satisfaction, for example, the magic system, or why Vicki was responsible for a contract made by her parents, and most especially the “incident”. The story dragged and at times felt like a YA fantasy, but with lots of F-bombs and love scenes and if it is important to you, it did have LBGTQ+ representation, as both the main characters and several secondary characters identified as such. Overall, the story had good bones but lacked the depth and cohesiveness necessary to hold my attention. I do believe this author has promise and would consider reading future 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. *

Ghost Business by Jen DeLuca

On By TracyIn Contemporary, New To Me Author, Paranormal / Fantasy, Part of a Series, Rom Com, Romantasy, Tracy's ReviewsLeave a comment

Ghost Business (Boneyard Key, #2)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. *