Well Versed

Well Versed- Jen DeLuca

Berkley

Release Date: September 22, 2026

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Caitlin Parker was a teenager when she fell out of love with the magic of the Willow Creek Renaissance Faire—the site of her first real heartbreak. But now, twenty-four and unemployed, she finds herself in her childhood bedroom and her childhood lady-in-waiting costume, assisting a rotating cast of substitute queens for the season. The very last person she wants to see is Alexander Wright—the sword-fighting, Shakespeare-spouting young man who won and broke her teenage heart. Yet there he is, older, annoyingly hotter, and back on stage at her Faire.

When Alex broke things off with Caitlin five years ago, he thought he was just ending a summer fling. He didn't realize how much he’d fallen for her until he let her go, and he certainly didn't know he’d tarnished her memories of her cherished Faire and worse, shattered her view on love and relationships. His need to right that wrong this summer brings them together again and again, and the four-year age difference that kept them apart years ago isn’t a big deal now. This time, it won’t be so easy to let go of this summer fling.

But as summer winds down, real life is catching up to both of them. Caitlin’s always thought that being an adult with adult responsibilities means leaving whimsy behind. Alex, with a life full of stage combat, songs, and sonnets, doesn’t know how to live any other way. Can they go after their dreams and find a future together where they can still say “huzzah”?

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I've been in love with Jen DeLuca's Ren Faire romance series since the first page of Well Met, so course I enjoyed returning to the world of the Willow Creek Renaissance Faire in the final book of the series, Well Versed. This time, it's Caitlin's turn to need the magic and romance of the Ren Faire. 

We first met Caitlin as a teen in Well Met, dragging her aunt Emily into the world of the Faire. Now Caitlin has had her young heart broken and lost her love for the Faire. She's back in Willow Creek after being laid off at a job and agreed to help with the Faire for the summer- but is sure she won't enjoy it. Her memories are now connected to her first love breaking up with her by text at the end of a Faire summer. But Alex is there too and goes from clueless that he's broken her heart and taken away her love of all things Faire to determined to help her get that back. And Caitlin doesn't really stand a chance.

Caitlin likes plans. Goals. Destinations. Without those things she isn't sure who she is or what she's doing. So being part of a massive layoff and having to move home throws her for a loop. She spends the summer trying to figure out what it is she wants-starting off sure of one thing and slowly coming around to seeing something else. It's a journey that all of DeLuca's characters have had to take: yes, you can work crazy hours in competitive, soulless jobs or you can find smaller jobs that are not what your career counselor taught you to think of and be happy. What is it you want out of life? What makes you happy, not what are you supposed to want?

There are times Caitlin seems very young, trying to find paths and decide on love that maybe she isn't ready for. Then as the book progresses you see that she is ready, she just has to believe in herself. The back and forth with Alex was a little slow at times, but sweet. Alex was so careful on not messing up with his second chance that it seems like he really learned his lesson.  Which makes it all the more emotional when he does mess it up. 

You don't need to have read the rest of the series to enjoy Well Versed, but honestly, you should. The books are great. We get lots of cameos from other characters here and they are fun, checking in on how everyone is doing. A lovely mix of light humor and emotion, heat and the magic of the Renaissance Faire, this was a solid ending to a series that is going to remain a favorite of mine. 

Ghost Business

Ghost Business (Boneyard Key #2)- Jen DeLuca

Berkley Publishing

Release Date: September 9, 2025

Rating: 📚📚📚

Synopsis: 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?

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Welcome back to Boneyard Key, Florida! It's the most haunted town in Florida and Sophie has been running ghost tours for almost 6 years. She's working hard to make it an interesting mix of town history and homage to the local ghosts and telling everyone's stories correctly is important to her. Which is why when Tristan Martin blows into town and sets up a rival ghost tour, using stories that have nothing to do with local history,  she's not happy. They agree to a deal: whoever has the most successful business at the end of summer keeps the tours. But in a small town you can't avoid anyone, and outside of work hours, Sophie and Tristan find they might enjoy each other's company more than they want to admit.

I wasn't too sure about Tristan at first. He was the brach, cocky newcomer who spoke without thinking, proposing a challenge to Sophie and thinking only of himself. But the more time we spend in his head and the more vulnerable we get to see him, the more I warmed up to him. He doesn't have it easy with a dad who can't wait to pull funding and crush his start-up business, who looks at numbers instead of people or circumstances. Tristan loves dealing with people, he loves acting, and is deeply sensitive and hurt by his father's rejections. So he's prepared to do anything to prove his father wrong. But he picked the wrong town to keep pretending ghosts aren't real and some of the locals are prepared to let him know they aren't thrilled he's getting the stories wrong! Watching him discover that ghosts are real was a lot of fun, both the shock and then the awe.

Sophie is a fun and relatable character I enjoyed getting to spend more time with after Haunted Every After. Her devotion to getting the stories she tells right really hit a note for me. This is her home and she wants to share it andher love for it with the tourists who visit. So her reaction to Tristan coming in to profit on the town's reputation is pretty understandable. I also liked seeing more of Libby and Cassie and meeting a few more locals- especially seeing everyone come together when they need to.

The pace ran medium to slow in some spots and while I enjoyed the characters, their relationship was a little on and off for me. The spark and chemistry is there right at the beginning  and all the yearning and grappling with an enemies to lovers aspect worked, but I wish they'd talked more. Their problems didn't get sorted until the very last second. I did like how they made things work, but they weren't working together to solve problems the way you would in a relationship. I won't spoil the ending here, because they do obviously make it work, but it just felt like they weren't on the same page for the important stuff, figuring it out together. And that would have made it stronger I think.

Not as strong as Haunted Ever After or the Well Met series, but a fun return to Boneyard Key. Plenty of funny lines and lots of good friendships. A good, fun read.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Haunted Ever After

 Haunted Ever After- Jen DeLuca

Berkley

Release Date: August 13, 2024

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Small Florida coastal towns often find themselves scrambling for the tourism dollars that the Orlando theme parks leave behind. And within the town limits of Boneyard Key, the residents decided long ago to lean into its ghostliness. Nick Royer, owner of the Hallowed Grounds coffee shop, embraces the ghost tourism that keeps the local economy afloat, as well as his spectral roommate. At least he doesn’t have to run air-conditioning. 

Cassie Rutherford possibly overreacted to all her friends getting married and having kids by leaving Orlando and buying a flipped historic cottage in Boneyard Key. Though there’s something unusual with her new home (her laptop won’t charge in any outlets, and the poetry magnets on her fridge definitely didn’t read “WRONG” and “MY HOUSE” when she put them up), she’s charmed by the colorful history surrounding her. And she's catching a certain vibe from the grumpy coffee shop owner whenever he slips her a free slice of banana bread along with her coffee order. 

As Nick takes her on a ghost tour, sharing town gossip that tourists don't get to hear, and they spend nights side-by-side looking into the former owners of her haunted cottage, their connection solidifies into something very real and enticing. But Cassie's worried she’s in too deep with this whole (haunted) home ownership thing… and Nick's afraid to get too close in case Cassie gets scared away for good.

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When Cassie decides to leave Orlando and buy her own house after years of rentals, a historic cottage in the costal town of Boneyard Key seems like a great idea. Granted, the town leans a little hard on the touristy haunted vibe, but as a Florida native, she understands how tourist dollars make decisions. Things get a little weird when her laptop refuses to charge- even though other electronics are just fine- meaning she has to go down the street to the local coffee shop to get any work done. The bright side of that is the coffee and banana bread are great and the shop owner may be a little phone obsessed and rough around the edges, but he's pretty cute too. When the magnetic poetry words on her fridge start moving without her help and coffee shop owner Nick confirms that the haunted vibe is more than just a tourist thing, Cassie has to question whether she's cut out for living in Boneyard Key. 

I absolutely love Jen DeLuca's Well Met series (Renaissance Faire romcom!) so as soon as she announced she was doing a new book (beach town ghosts) I was there. And Haunted Ever After doesn't disappoint. Cassie is a big city girl trying to start a new chapter in a tiny town and has more to get used to than learning that you can only get pizza delivery on days when the owner feels like working. DeLuca made her someone I could connect to and like right away, and I was pulling for her to make the adjustments she needed to make to handle living in a permanently haunted town.

Cassie's chemistry with Nick was there from the beginning, and he was a fun person to introduce us to the town. The only one in his family to love Boneyard Key, poor Nick has some abandonement issues to work through, which might be why his closest friend is a texting ghost. On the surface he seems to roll with everything life hands his way, but he isn't fooling anyone- except maybe himself. He settles for casual because he's afraid to get close to anyone. Is Cassie going to be the next person to disappoint him, or be the one he can risk it all for?

Jen DeLuca's relaxed and humorous writing style, witty character banter, and delightful characters all stand out in Haunted Ever After. The quirky small town of Boneyard Key is a character all its own and I'm hoping for several more books to take place here so I don't have to leave it any time soon. 

A definite must read for Jen DeLuca fans and all romcom fans!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

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Well Traveled

 Well Traveled- Jen DeLuca

Berkley

Release Date: December 6, 2022

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: A high-powered attorney from a success-oriented family, Louisa "Lulu" Malone lives to work, and everything seems to be going right, until the day she realizes it’s all wrong. Lulu’s cousin Mitch introduced her to the world of Renaissance Faires, and when she spies one at a time just when she needs an escape, she leaps into the welcoming environment of turkey legs, taverns, and tarot readers. The only drawback? Dex MacLean: a guitarist with a killer smile, the Casanova of the Faire… and her traveling companion for the summer.

Dex has never had to work for much in his life, and why should he? Touring with his brothers as The Dueling Kilts is going great, and he always finds a woman at every Faire. But when Lulu proves indifferent to his many plaid charms and a shake-up threatens the fate of the band, Dex must confront something he never has before: his future.
 
Forced to spend days and nights together on the road, Lulu’s interest in the kilted bad boy grows as he shows her a side of himself no one else has seen. The stresses of her old lifestyle fade away as she learns to trust her intuition and follow her heart instead of her head. But when her time on the road is over, will Lulu go with her gut, or are she and Dex destined for separate paths?

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Louisa "Lulu" Malone comes from a family of overachievers and has been working so hard to get ahead in her high powered law firm that she longer remembers what its like to enjoy, let alone have, a life. One Saturday the boss pushes too far and she realizes just how ridiculous it all is. Her phone winds up a tub of water and she's having a minor meltdown in the middle of a Renaissance Faire. Fortunately, Stacey (Well Played) and the Dueling Kilts are there and offer her a ride since they're headed to Willow Creek, where Lulu's cousin Mitch (Well Matched) lives. With no job and no electronics, Lulu is forced to unplug and take stock of her life. Which includes not only admitting she hasn't relaxed in five or six years, but includes noticing her traveling companions- like hot guitar player Dex MacLean.

Everyone says Dex is only out for a good time, the Lothario with a girl at every Faire. And at first he flirts outrageously with Lulu, exactly like his reputation. But as she ignores his ridiculous flirting, Dex becomes more like the rest of the band, a casual friend. Eventually, she sees something in him that his family seems to have overlooked. That maybe there's more to Dex than just a good time. 

At first I wasn't sure about this pairing. How was Dex going to become someone we could properly swoon over when readers of the series knew him as a good time guy who is pretty much allergic to relationships? But the answer is to never doubt Jen DeLuca. By bringing in Lulu she gives Dex someone who doesn't know him or his reputation ahead of time, someone both willing to accept what she sees and to see behind the front to the person he's becoming. Dex is adorable as he confusedly discovers he might want a relationship after all and I had to hand it to him- he made far fewer mistakes than many guys make. I loved Lulu as the strong, take-charge-take-names person she is who can also be vulnerable, and discover a softer, mystic side to herself. This was a lovely people-can-change book; not necessarily because of love, but because of opening themselves up to new things, new opportunities, new people, and discovering what does make them happy instead of what they think should make them happy (or make others happy).  

Jen DeLuca is back and she brought the whole Faire with her! What's not to like about a strong woman doubting herself, finding herself (and love), thanks to the magic that is the Renaissance Faire? Nothing, that's what. Huzzah and rejoice and the latest Jen DeLuca romance-Well Traveled is not just a beautiful cover!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Well Matched

 

Well Matched (Ran Faire #3)- Jen DeLuca

Berkley/Penguin Group

Release Date: October 19, 2021

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Single mother April Parker has lived in Willow Creek for twelve years with a wall around her heart. On the verge of being an empty nester, she’s decided to move on from her quaint little town, and asks her friend Mitch for his help with some home improvement projects to get her house ready to sell. 

Mitch Malone is known for being the life of every party, but mostly for the attire he wears to the local Renaissance Faire—a kilt (and not much else) that shows off his muscled form to perfection. While he agrees to help April, he needs a favor too: she'll pretend to be his girlfriend at an upcoming family dinner, so that he can avoid the lectures about settling down and having a more “serious” career than high school coach and gym teacher. April reluctantly agrees, but when dinner turns into a weekend trip, it becomes hard to tell what's real and what's been just for show. But when the weekend ends, so must their fake relationship. 

As summer begins, Faire returns to Willow Creek, and April volunteers for the first time. When Mitch's family shows up unexpectedly, April pretends to be Mitch's girlfriend again...and it doesn't feel so fake anymore. Despite their obvious connection, April insists they’ve just been putting on an act. But when there’s the chance for something real, she has to decide whether to change her plans—and open her heart—for the kilt-wearing hunk who might just be the love of her life.

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Another year, another Faire, and perhaps the pairing that Jen DeLuca fans have all been waiting for. Emily's (Well Met) sister April is getting her house ready to sell and their friend Mitch offers to help. Best known as a popular gym teacher and kilted Scotsman during Ren Faire, Mitch is easy-going and the life of every party. He and April have always been more frenemies than friends, but they discover they can help each other out: she needs another set of hands for home renovations, he needs a pretend girlfriend for a family dinner to get his family to take him more seriously. One stained deck turns into multiple projects, one family dinner turns into a family weekend. April and Mitch discover things about each other, the most important being how well they work together. But April has been hurt badly before and is used to doing everything for herself and not letting her walls down for anyone. Can the Faire do its magic and match Mitch and April?

You can virtually guarantee that when two people who don't really like each other are forced to spend time together, they discover a completely different person beneath that annoying surface facade.  Mitch's facade has been the happy-go-lucky jock since day one, the player who's dated every woman in town. Readers have guessed there's more to him than that, and we've all been waiting to see it. Well Matched takes its time peeling back his layers since we see him from April's point of view but even if this is your first book in the series you know instantly that Mitch has more going on than he lets us see. What I liked was that so does April, and Deluca does a skillful job of showing April and Mitch mirror each other's insecurities. The difference is that we seen April having her internal meltdowns while looking (mostly) calm on the outside, we can only guess at the mental dialogue going on in Mitch's brain. They are both the swan looking calm while paddling madly below the water line and hoping nobody sees.  

I loved April and really related to her. She's a loner, perhaps by personality, definitely helped by the emotional and psychological blows dealt to her by her husband divorcing her while she was pregnant.  She panics around people or when she becomes the center of attention, and pretty much just wants to move to a city because there you are almost expected to be anonymous.  That has always been her plan so why change now? She's always defined herself as a mom and never thought about what would make her happy for herself. Now that Mitch is making her question her plans and comfort zones, April has to decide if happiness is worth facing her fears. 

Well Matched contains some lovely scenes between April and Caitlin as Caitlin reaches graduation that would make any parent tear up (I did and I'm not even a parent!); some delightfully sizzling encounters between April and Mitch; wonderful girl time with April, Stacey, and Emily; Ren Faire magic; and hot guys in kilts. Something for everyone to enjoy! Jen DeLuca once again entrances with a lovely romance story readers won't be able to put down. Huzzah!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Well Played

Well Played (Well Met #2)- Jen DeLuca

Berkley Publishing

Release Date: September 22, 2020

Rating:

📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Stacey is jolted when her friends Simon and Emily get engaged. She knew she was putting her life on hold when she stayed in Willow Creek to care for her sick mother, but it's been years now, and even though Stacey loves spending her summers pouring drinks and flirting with patrons at the local Renaissance Faire, she wants more out of life. Stacey vows to have her life figured out by the time her friends get hitched at Faire next summer. Maybe she'll even find The One.

When Stacey imagined "The One," it never occurred to her that her summertime Faire fling, Dex MacLean, might fit the bill. While Dex is easy on the eyes onstage with his band The Dueling Kilts, Stacey has never felt an emotional connection with him. So when she receives a tender email from the typically monosyllabic hunk, she's not sure what to make of it.
 
Faire returns to Willow Creek, and Stacey comes face-to-face with the man with whom she’s exchanged hundreds of online messages over the past nine months. To Stacey's shock, it isn't Dex—she's been falling in love with a man she barely knows.

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For those of us who have been impatiently waiting since we read the fantastic Well Met last year, the wait is over. In Well Played we get to know Stacey, Emily's friend/wench mentor from Well Met.  When her friends Simon and Emily get engaged, Stacey's jolted to the realization that she wants a change in her life.  She's lonely, hoping for a new connection, and in a drunken moment, messages Dex MacLean, a Faire hookup who performs in the Dueling Kilts.  The two start emailing, then texting, and becoming closer as time passes.  But when Faire season comes again Stacey learns 'Dex' isn't who she's been falling in love with.  It's his cousin, band manager Daniel MacLean.  How many lies are between them and are they willing to fight for a chance at love and happiness?

Stacey was a great person to get to know, and a perfect example of the masks that people wear in their everyday lives.  She loves Faire and those few weeks of summer when she gets to put on a corset and become Beatrice.  But outside of that, her life is in a rut and she feels hemmed in by both insecurities and what she thinks other people expect from her. She feels like all her friends on social media are moving on and having great, grown-up lives, and she's not only not doing that, she's not sure what she wants anymore out of life. It's the insecurities that most of us face at least a few times in life and was well done. Stacey's also a kind and caring person, maybe a little too forgiving.  When she figures out that 'Dex' is really Daniel, she's willing to forgive him pretty quickly because of how close they've become through their emails.  He knows her better than anyone and she's more than half in love with him already.  Jen DeLuca does a great job showing how close two people can become through only the written word.  Sometimes you find yourself telling the other person things that might take years to say face to face (and as might happen face to face, the communication doesn't go as well as through the written word here)- so Stacey forgiving Daniel is no surprise, and worked for me.  Daniel himself is a little tougher to get, and he never quite does it for me.  He has romantic moments, and we get hints of his insecurities and always feeling second best to Dex.  But he doesn't jump off the page on his own.  He messes up and is willing to walk away instead of trying to fight for his relationship with Stacey.  Stacey finds herself ready to apologize for things that really, Daniel should be apologizing for.  That disappointed me. I wanted Daniel to fight to fix what he needed to fix, instead of assuming one problem means the end of everything and giving up easily. 

Once again, Jen DeLuca's writing is full of sparkling humor, emotional tugs of the heartstrings, and this time we get a pretty cute cat too.  The Faire moments are some of the best, DeLuca's love of all things Renaissance Faire come through perfectly and you wish you could step through the pages and walk down the lanes with the characters.  Her descriptions make you feel the heat, taste the dust, and hear the fiddles.  Some people might not like how much Emily and Simon show up in this book, but personally, I loved it.  I liked Well Met better than Well Played, so having Emily and Simon and the subplot of their wedding throughout this book really helped me. 

While Well Played could be read on its own, it will definitely be better if you read Well Met first- here we get Emily and Simon's wedding, see more of April and Mitch, and overall get to revisit old friends as well as make new ones this Faire season.   

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Well Met

Well Met- Jen DeLuca
Berkley/Penguin Group
Release Date: September 3, 2019

Rating:
📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Emily knew there would be strings attached when she relocated to the small town of Willow Creek, Maryland, for the summer to help her sister recover from an accident, but who could anticipate getting roped into volunteering for the local Renaissance Faire alongside her teenaged niece? Or that the irritating and inscrutable schoolteacher in charge of the volunteers would be so annoying that she finds it impossible to stop thinking about him?

The faire is Simon's family legacy and from the start he makes clear he doesn't have time for Emily's lighthearted approach to life, her oddball Shakespeare conspiracy theories, or her endless suggestions for new acts to shake things up. Yet on the faire grounds he becomes a different person, flirting freely with Emily when she's in her revealing wench's costume. But is this attraction real, or just part of the characters they're portraying?  

This summer was only ever supposed to be a pit stop on the way to somewhere else for Emily, but soon she can't seem to shake the fantasy of establishing something more with Simon or a permanent home of her own in Willow Creek.

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Emily was in a rough place in her life and completely ready to drop everything and move to a small town in Maryland to help her older sister when she had a car accident that put her out of commission for a few months.  Driving to appointments, chauffeuring her teenage niece Caite around, no problem. Emily (like so many of us) is way more comfortable fixing someone else's life than her own.  Then she gets roped into volunteering with Caite at the town's annual Renaissance Faire and meets English teacher Simon.  Simon sees the Faire as his brother's legacy and believes he's the only one who can run things the way they need to go.  So Emily's relaxed approach to life and wenching don't go over well with him- which reminds her too much of her jerk ex-fiancé.  They seem to clash every time they meet: until the Faire is on.  Because Simon's sexy pirate and Emily's tavern wench hit things off a lot better than their mundane counterparts.  Can Faire and real life mix into a happily ever after or is this a well met summer fling that will end when summer is over?

Debut author Jen DeLuca gives readers a romance that is both familiar and fresh.  Emily and Simon can't seem to get along, always say the wrong things, and poor first impressions make it look like it's going to be a long summer for them both.  Using the Renaissance Faire as the way for the two to get to know each other in new ways is a great twist and tons of fun.  DeLuca's own Faire experiences come through loud and clear and whisks readers into a weekend world where suddenly far more is possible than in mundane life.  Emily, who has always felt like an outsider, slowly becomes a part of the Faire world and through the Faire she becomes a part of small Willow Creek town life.  She's friendly and caring, always willing to do what she can to help others, always putting others first.  At the same time she feels like the odd one out, who others let do things for them but forget as soon as she isn't needed.  Her jerk ex-fiancé used her and left her wondering if she deserves to come first in anyone's life- from family to friends to herself.  It's wonderful watching Em begin to regain the confidence she must have once had and grow into herself over the course of the book.  

Simon is a little harder to get to know because Well Met is told through Emily's point of view, so we only see him through her eyes.  But she's not too proud to admit when she starts to see beneath Simon's surface and who he could be if he gives himself the chance. Simon has lived in his older brother's shadow all his life and now Sean is gone and Simon has to figure out what happens next for him.  Like Em, the reader can't help but be attracted to Simon's pirate alter-ego during the Faire, and you can't help but be thrilled when she gives the growing chemistry between them a chance. 

Deluca thrills is this wonderful romantic debut, full of sparkling, snarky dialogue; delightful, laugh out loud  humor; delicious chemistry; and two main characters you're cheering for each step of the way as they find themselves behind the shadows of uncertainty and the expectations of others.  Well Met is a definite must read for fans of romantic comedy like Christina Lauren and Janet Evanovich and is a book that's probably going to become one of my staple, feel good rereads. DeLuca has set a high bar for her future books- I can't wait to see what she brings us next! 

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review