I received this book via Audible, the publisher Berkley, Penguin Audio. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of this review.
Ghost Business by Jen DeLuca Narrator: Jeannie Sheneman
Series: Boneyard Key #2
Published by Berkley, Penguin Audio on 2025-09-09
Length: 368 pages
Length: 11 hours and 44 minutes
Listening Speed: 2x
Reviewing Audiobook, eARC from Audible, the publisher Berkley, Penguin Audio
Rating:
Reading Challenges: #NGEW2025, 2025 Audiobook Challenge, 2025 New Release Challenge
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"You get a long, hot summer full of the most delectable kind of pining."--The New York Times
Clashing ghost tours lead to a sizzling romantic rivalry in the second romance in the new series from USA Today bestselling author Jen DeLuca.
Boneyard Key, Florida, is the only home Sophie has ever known. Her love for its supernatural history has flourished into a career, as she guides the one and only ghost tour through the town’s can’t-miss haunted spots. And while her bank account isn’t full by any means, her heart is. Or at least, it was.
But there's a newcomer in town. The son of a Fortune 500 businessman, former theater kid Tristan has grown his tours from a fraternity fundraiser to a multicity ghost tour conglomerate. It’s doing well, but not well enough—if he can’t prove that he’s solidly in the black by the fall, Dad’s going to pull his funding, spelling the end of his career. Boneyard Key, with its haunted reputation, seems like the perfect place to boost his bottom line.
When the two ghost tours clash, Sophie’s expletive-filled rant goes viral, and the rivals strike up a deal. Whoever has the most successful business by summer’s end stays, while the loser must ghost. But the more Tristan comes to appreciate Boneyard Key, the more Sophie comes to appreciate Tristan, and what starts as begrudging respect becomes something spicier. Can they put their feuding businesses aside to make room for a chance at love, or is Boneyard Key too small for two ghost tours?
Ghost Business by Jen DeLuca is the second book in her paranormal, contemporary romance set in Boneyard Key, Florida where some of the residents never left after death. Sophie is a lifelong resident and lover of the town. She’s built a life sharing the true stories of the ghostly residents through her weekend walking ghost tour. She’s happy, or so she thinks, until an out of towner shows up and starts his own ghost tour.
I really wanted to like this one more than I did. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed it, and it’s worth the read. However, it was missing the paranormal, ghosty elements I loved from book one. This story focuses mostly on Sophie’s ghost tour, the accuracy of it, and how Tristan is going to put her out of business with his over-the-top, gimmicky ghost tour.
Sophie was one of my favorite side characters from book one, so I was excited to see that we were getting a story for her. Sophie’s life is comfortable. She inherited her great-aunt’s condo when she passed a few years ago, and she has no intentions of ever leaving it. She’s happy, albeit lonely in a way she didn’t realize. Sophie has an active social life with her friends, but no one to go home to and her family has passed away. She’s alone and that aloneness is starting to get to her.
Enter Tristan. Tristan is a former theater kid turned businessman with one shot at proving to his father that his idea (owning a multi-town ghost tour) can work. He picks Boneyard Key because of its history and how the town already leans into the paranormal. Not seeing a website for another ghost tour, he knows this is the perfect spot. That is, it was the perfect spot until on his first night of scoping out the scenery and planning the tour he runs into Sophie and her tour. Thinking she is new in town like him, Tristan isn’t going to back down. He only has until October to prove to his dad this can work, or he’ll be out of business. And if Tristan has anything to say about it, he won’t be the one out of business.
I liked the banter between Sophie and Tristan. The two have a lot in common, but are also very different in how they think. This brings tension to the story as well as a lot of back and forth of “will they or won’t they.” I personally didn’t like the bargain they come up with because I don’t see how you can develop a relationship off of that. Speaking of, that relationship is fueled by lust instead of love….lost of instalust here 😂
Overall, I liked Ghost Business, but not nearly as much as Haunted Ever After, which was disappointing. Tristan and Sophie were hard to root for as they were pitted against each other for most of the book. If you enjoy contemporary romance with a tiny bit of a spooky atmosphere, I say give it a go as it is a fun read in the end.
About Jen DeLuca
Jen DeLuca was born and raised near Richmond, Virginia, but now lives in Arizona with her husband and a houseful of rescue pets. She loves latte-flavored lattes, Hokies football, and the Oxford comma. Well Met was her first novel, inspired by her time volunteering as a pub wench with her local Renaissance Faire.
Oh that’s a bummer. I think another review said some of the same. That the paranormal part of the story was hardly there. I still need to read the first book and I guess depending on how that goes this one will remain a maybe. Glad you still enjoyed it to some degree but I already know I might need more ghosts and spooky time than what’s likely provided. Nice review all the same! 🙂