Flipping (Haunted Hearts, #1) by R. Lee Fryar

#mmromance #netgalley #ghostsex 

I happened to request this on netgalley just from reading the blurb alone. Ghost romance? Oh sign me up!

And I am glad that I did. This was about Charley, a man who died from food poisoning when he was homeless a long time ago. He lives his afterlife in a house filled with other ghosts and this house is run by Levi, a child who was killed back in the olden days. In this world, haunted houses are alive and take care of the ghosts and the ghosts take care of the house. But the house is falling apart and they have found out that when you repair it, it causes the "real" ghost house to be damaged. The woman who owned the house and lover of Robert, the newest ghost, dies and leaves the house to her nephew Austin.

Austin is a house flipper and shows up with his boyfriend Walter, a rich friend who finances everything and is a ghost hunter. Keep Walter in mind when my rant comes at the end of this review. Austin can see and hear ghosts but hides it, as his mother tried to kill that part of him. He has had a rough life, having been to prison and his only friend has been Walter.

The ghosts try everything to get Austin and Walter to leave. None of it works and in a desperate act, Charley tries to kill Austin, which did not kill him but it did really hurt him.

Sorry I tried to kill you. But you didn’t die, so no hard feelings, right? Can I interest you in leaving this house and letting us live here rent-free until the house rots? We can ? Oh, that’s swell. Knew you were a good guy. Hot too. Like amazingly fuckable. You should give up on that jerk who doesn’t treat you right. You can do so much better.

During the time from when Austin showed up until he was almost killed, Charley was falling in love with him. He even watched the couple be intimate many times, so he knew they were together and he was jealous. I mean, it is a romance so Charley and Austin got their happily ever after. I think this book could have used a second POV. It would have been so much better to see what Austin was thinking, feeling, and seeing. I did not feel the attachment between these two very much because it seems like Austin was a side note. There also could have been more details on what happened to Charley when he and Antonio were caught and more on Austin's back story. While most things got an overly detailed description, these things did not. And I honestly don't know what either of them really looked like. I know that Austin had dark skin.

Now onto my rant, this romance had cheating in it. When Austin and Charlie first kiss and start sharing emotions, Austin is still with Walter. The whole back and forth of this relationship is done while Austin is taken. Is Walter a good guy? I dunno, I don't think he was suppose to be but he was still a person and deserved to be told his partner was falling for someone else. If you are reading this on netgalley, you will need to go to goodreads as I spoilered what is below.

While I hate cheating in my romances, I really loved the world these ghosts live in. I want to know why they have a house who takes care of them. I want to know why it does this and how many other houses are around? I hope since this is titled with a #1 that it will be a series. 

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