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Swinging hinges and creaky doorways may just elicit fear and a bit of love in the best haunted house romance books.
Sure, your house is haunted, but any haunted house can be fixed, exorcised, or cured with enough time, attention, and persistence. Much like a good relationship, sometimes someone comes around who is willing to pay enough attention to make things work. Including making a haunted house a cozy home.
Maybe the pandemic kept us all indoors for too long and we started to personify the home into a living, breathing thing. Maybe it’s our way of unpacking our frustration with rising home prices. After all, everyone loves a deal—even if it comes with a ghost or two. Whatever the appeal is, there are a surprising number of haunted house romances hitting the shelves recently.
In light of this haunted development, it is my obligation to share the best haunted house romance books. For the sake of this list, a haunted house is an umbrella term for a house with ghosts, a sentient house, a cursed house, or a house people believe is haunted. Quite a few are specifically haunted Scottish castles. I will warn you no one’s love interest is a house in any of these books; however, I will, in fact, read that romance if it exists.
Get ready to fall in love and solve some haunted house mysteries in the best haunted house romance books.
Frightfully Lovely Haunted House Romance Books
Looking for Love in All the Haunted Places by Claire Kann
When Lucky Hart gets hired to live in a haunted house for 30 days on reality TV with famed paranormal investigator Maverick, she knows she has one chance to prove this is what she is meant to do. Lucky’s always been able to read people’s core personalities, so she knows being a parapsychologist is right for her even though it’s isolated her from friends and family. Lucky will stop at nothing to uncover her new home’s secrets alongside the daytime film crew who are starting to feel like family. Especially since she cannot get Maverick and his wonderful daughter Rebel off her mind. She just hopes that her ESP, asexuality, and haunted house will not scare them off first.
Do Your Worst by Rosie Danan
You know it’s bad when workplace arguments between the professional curse breaker and disgraced archeologist are tense enough to tempt a cursed Scottish castle to retaliate. American curse breaker Riley Rhodes has a matrilineal talent she is looking to professionalize. Breaking an infamous curse will put her on the map—as long as the stubbornly rational and attractive archeologist, Clark Edgeware, doesn’t get in her way. Clark needs this job to go well if he ever wants to redeem his doomed career and he won’t let a charlatan ruin it. But as increasingly dangerous accidents occur on the property, the two realize they might just have to get along if they want to survive long enough to finish their jobs.
The Tenant by Katrina Jackson
Noel Delisle is a recently fired 26-year-old with more debt than he knows what to do with. So, when his aunt leaves him a home in her will, Noel jumps at the chance to start a new life in Louisiana. But when he arrives, the creaky cold Victorian is more haunted than expected. Ruby has been haunting the place since 1930 and she’s determined to keep the latest Delisle out of her home after what they did to her—even if he is distractingly handsome. As Noel realizes he inherited more than just a property, both he and Ruby will have to negotiate their past, their future, and their cohabitation, if they want to move forward.
Rules for Ghosting by Shelly Jay Shore
The trans son of a Jewish funeral home director, Ezra Friedman has done his best to hide the fact that he can see ghosts. He ran to the opposite end of the lifecycle by becoming a doula. But when his mother reveals her affair with the rabbi’s wife at the Passover seder, Ezra is compelled to help his family and take her place at the funeral home. Now he’s running into more ghosts than ever. It doesn’t help that the apartment he moved into also comes with a cute Jewish roommate, Jonathan…and the ghost of his recently deceased husband. Ezra will have to learn how to manage his relationships with the living and the dead if he ever wants to find peace in his haunted life.
If I Stopped Haunting You by Colby Wilkens
What’s a horror writer’s retreat without a haunted Scottish castle and a bit of argument? A Native author-on-author scandal occurred when Penelope Skinner threw a book at bestseller Neil Storm months ago. Now that the publishing world doesn’t want anything to do with her, Penelope needs this writing retreat to save her career. Neil could also use this retreat to regain confidence, but when he runs into Penelope, all hope is lost. Worst still, the ghosts in this haunted castle appear to be real enough to chase them. Neil and Penelope may not like each other—even if they are wildly attracted to each other—but they can at least agree to get along while haunted. Who’s to say if it ends up developing into something more?
The Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller
In 1875 New York, widow Alva Webster is happy to be done with running from her abusive husband. Her new Hyde Park mansion is dilapidated and possibly haunted but Alva is determined to restart her life, no matter the challenges. When the smart yet eccentric professor, Samuel Moore, appears with a solution to her haunted home, she initially turns him down. However, as problems continue to arise, Alva cannot help but accept Sam’s persistent, attractive kindness. Learning to make a haunted house into a happy home is a difficult task, but Sam and Alva are more than willing to put in the hard work.
A Stitch in Time by Kelley Armstrong
After her husband’s death, Bronwyn decides to take a sabbatical and return to the haunted Scottish manor she inherited. Summers growing up were full of free days at the manor, playing with her best friend and first love William Thorne, a young boy her age born 200 years ago. When she returns, Bronwyn meets her all-too-real childhood fantasy once more. Now, William has problems of his own, but as the two spend more time together in their haunted manor, they fall back in love and begin to realize there is a slim chance they might be able to solve both their issues together this time around.
Summoning Up Love by Synithia Williams
Vanessa Steele was not expecting to find a striking paranormal investigator when she decided to visit her grandmother’s beach house after losing her job and fiancé. She was planning on recuperating in peace, not chasing away Dion Livingston and his brothers who she suspects are taking advantage of an old woman. When Vanessa sees something paranormal herself, she admits that they need Dion’s help. As the two begin to work together, they cannot deny the sparks building between them or the increasing paranormal problem at her grandmother’s doorstep.
Haunted Ever After by Jen DeLuca
Florida is known for its hot, tourist-friendly weather and beaches, but Boneyard Key tempts visitors with its ghosts. Haunted Grounds coffee shop owner, Nick Royer is happy to play into the town’s myths. He does have a ghostly roommate after all. Cassie Rutherford is a new house flipper in town whose property has a few unusual ghostly problems, but she is far more interested in the stern coffee shop owner in town. Who wouldn’t fall for a man who gave you free banana bread, took you on ghost tours, and offered you a real hand in an unusual town? This haunted house flipper may just get more than she bargained for.
Things might go bump in the night in these homes, but haunted house romance books always contain enough of a happy ending to make up for a small fright. These may be the best haunted house romance books right now, but I for one, welcome more books to come. If you are interested in other romance recommendations, try these Queer Historical Romance Books, these Books like Funny Story, and these New Romance Audiobooks.