Ghost Romance Books That Will Haunt Your TBR (Dark & Spicy)
Vampires get the big comebacks and werewolves get the fated mates, but ghosts have been slowly creeping in as love interests in romances for years now. A ghost love interest comes with a built-in problem. They’re dead. Somebody has unfinished business, somebody has a curse to break, and the whole book becomes a countdown to a goodbye you hope never comes.
I split these ghost romance books by who’s doing the haunting. In the first half, one of the couple is the ghost. In the second, they’re both alive and the ghost is the one stirring things up. The new 2026 releases and my favorites are marked, so you know where I’d start.
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Ghost romance books where one of them is the ghost
These are the true ghost love stories where one of them is already dead and they have to figure out how to make that work for a happily ever after.
Dark and spicy ghost romance books
Phantasma by Kaylie Smith
This is one of my favorites on this whole list. Ophelia enters Phantasma, a deadly game inside a haunted manor, to save her sister. Nine trials, demons and monsters, and a dangerous stranger offering her a deal she should probably refuse. It’s dark and a bit macabre, but action packed and with one of the best heroes around.
The Impossible Julian Strande by Kathryn Ann Kingsley
This one is gothic and twisty. Alice takes a caretaker job at the Strande Estate, a house with 192 rooms, and finds she’s sharing it with her strange employer and the ghost of Julian Strande, a magician who was never above a trick when he was alive and hasn’t changed since. And if you want dark and twisty and haven’t read this author, you’re really missing out. She’s quickly becoming a favorite of mine.
Dark Needs at Night’s Edge by Kresley Cole
This is a spicy classic from the Immortals After Dark series. Conrad is a vampire on the edge of madness, locked up in a haunted mansion with Néomi, a ballerina whose ghost has been stuck in that house since 1927. When it comes to spicy paranormal romance, nobody does it better than Kresley Cole.
Deeper by Megan Hart
This book is a wild emotional ride. Bess goes back to the beach where she fell for Nick twenty years ago, the summer he disappeared, and suddenly he’s there again, exactly as she remembers him. Fair warning, this one doesn’t promise a happy ending, per se, so go in knowing that. But it’s one of the contemporaries from Megan Hart that takes you on a journey that you won’t want to miss.
Four Psychos by Kristy Cunning
This one is from my TBR. Kristy Cunning is a pen name of S.T. Abby and somehow I’ve never read this series. The heroine is a ghost who has been haunting four roommates for five years with no memory of who she was or who killed her, and the four of them turn out to be guardians of the Underworld. It’s a why choose with a slow burn and a dark sense of humor.
Cozy and swoony ghost romance books
Two of the new 2026 releases are here, plus some cozier books I’ve heard amazing things about from friends and the Discord community.
You’re the One That I Haunt by Katie Jung
One of the two 2026 releases. This is the book for anyone who has ever pined after their best friend. Libby is secretly in love with Carter, Carter just got engaged, and then his dead cousin Trip starts haunting her. Trip needs help crossing over before the Coldwell family curse reaches Carter, so Libby agrees to help and falls for the ghost instead.
You’ll Be the Death of Me by Holly Michelle
A 2026 new book releases. This one I’m so excited to read. Dell is the ghost. A week before her wedding, an entry level clerk at the Afterlife Administration reaps her soul by mistake. How fun! I mean, not the part where her soul was reaped by mistake but the Afterlife Administration! Cole is the only one who can see her now and the longer she watches her own life from the outside, the less sure she is that she wants it back.
The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston
Florence is a ghostwriter who stopped believing in love. She goes home for her dad’s funeral right as her new editor dies, and his ghost follows her to the family funeral home.
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Good Spirits by B.K. Borison
This is a Christmas Carol retelling, which makes it perfect timing for right after Halloween. Harriet is a people pleaser with no idea why she’s being haunted, and Nolan has been the Ghost of Christmas Past for almost a century and would really like to move on. It’s the first book in Borison’s Ghosted series, so there’s more waiting if you love it. Also, Irish ghost.
Ghostly by Kate Serzenta
Gabriel Vane is hiding from a scandal in a rundown Victorian house he ends up sharing with Ida, an anxious ghost who makes a deal with him so she can finally pass on.
Ghost Walk by Cassandra Gannon
If you want a little history with your ghost, then this is the time-bending one to pick up. Grace is a no-nonsense crime scene investigator who suddenly starts seeing ghosts, including Jamie, a pirate wrongly accused of murder back in 1789, and she ends up working a centuries-old case to clear his name.
Haunted romances where they’re both alive
If a ghost love interest isn’t for you, start here. The couple is very much alive and the ghost is the one causing all the trouble.
Entities to Lovers by Mallory Marlowe
Rory is a Boston medium who runs ghost tours, Ezra is the history professor she can’t stand, and when the two of them disturb a matchmaking ghost, they get cursed with bad luck unless they stay close to each other. Yes, there’s one bed.
The other three are all favorites and all historical.
The Darkest Waltz by Ashley R. King
This is the dark one, set in 1927. A bootlegger queen agrees to marry a mysterious man who needs a wife to secure his inheritance, moves to his isolated island, and finds a haunted mansion full of secrets. This has enough haunting and mystery but lovable characters and the perfect gothic atmosphere in a setting that isn’t the usual for these stories.
The Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller
Alva Webster is trying to restore a crumbling mansion and her reputation at the same time, when the house turns out to be haunted. Sam Moore, an eccentric inventor, is thrilled about that. Alva is not. I fell in love with this historical right away. From the characters to the ghost haunting with Sam’s new invention.
The Orphan of Cemetery Hill by Hester Fox
This one is set in 1840s Boston. Tabby can talk to the dead, and when grave robbers start working her city, that gift pulls her into something a lot more dangerous than ghosts. I am always a fan of Hester Fox and the eerie atmosphere she brings to her stories.
Ghost romance books FAQ
What is a ghost romance?
A romance where one of the leads is a ghost, or where a haunting is what brings the couple together. Some have a ghost love interest, like The Dead Romantics or Good Spirits, and some have two living people falling for each other while a ghost causes trouble, like Entities to Lovers.
How do ghost romances get a happy ending?
Every book handles it differently, and that’s half the fun. Curses get broken, ghosts come back to life, or the afterlife turns out to have a loophole. If the happy ending matters to you, check before you start, because a few ghost love stories, like Deeper, don’t promise one.
Are ghost romance books scary?
Most of them aren’t. The cozy ones read like a romcom with a haunted house in it. If you want an actual chill, start with the dark and spicy picks, especially Phantasma.
Are there spicy ghost romance books?
Yes. Dark Needs at Night’s Edge and Phantasma are the spiciest on this list.
Still in the mood for a haunting?
If it’s the creepy old house you’re after more than the ghost, I have a whole list of haunted house romance books for that. For moodier reads with a mystery in the attic, my gothic romance books list is the next stop. And if you’re playing Romanceopoly this year, every book here counts for the Phantom Wing prompt in Paranormal Studies.
So tell me, do you want your ghosts cozy or do you want them a little dangerous?
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I spy a couple that had not made my radar yet and they look good. Thanks for the list of suggestions.
yay! Somehow ghosts never seem to be as popular, don’t know why. Hope you give one of them a try. 🙂