Edgar has been haunted by ghosts – literally – for most of his life. When he meets Jamie, a professional haunter (creating major haunted houses in New Orleans, specifically), he really likes them – but how can he tell anyone, much less someone who creates scares for a living – that he believes in ghosts?

AFAB transmasc nonbinary gay person who tops/doms and does queer burlesque in addition to creating haunted houses? Um, yes please. Cis gay man with severe anxiety, a sub dynamic and praise kink, a dysfunctional family where the siblings have banded together, and a cat cafe that he runs? YES. And that’s just the setup. Love doesn’t conquer all. Family isn’t perfect. Queer stories can be hard even when you’re confident in who you are and fully out. Sometimes things go better than you can imagine. Sometimes, they’re worse. Even if you lose fear of one thing, you gain fears of others. Anxiety is a disorder, even if the root of your anxiety is real. Sometimes, the people who are supposed to support you will come around, and sometimes they won’t. Cats make everything better. Find yourself a partner who will not only help/support you, but will look out for their own boundaries, require you to look out for yours, and who knows you well enough to understand the things you may not understand (or can’t yet verbalize) about yourself.

This book is already an early contender for favorites of 2026. It was so good. I don’t think there’s a single thing I would change. It does come with a few TWs though, so check a site like StoryGraph before diving in.

Performance: Audio is read by André Santana and Dani Martineck, who both did a good job.