Rules for Ghosting
A Novel
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4.3 • 7 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • To save his family's failing funeral home—and his own chance at a queer love story—a reluctant clairvoyant must embrace the gift he long ignored in this poignant and warmhearted debut.
“For top-notch drama, this year’s medal goes to Rules for Ghosting. . . . Here, actual ghosts haunt the quiet and tender moments, and it’s the scenes at family holidays that leave you rattled and gasping.”—The New York Times Book Review (“One of the Best Romance Novels of 2024”)
Ezra Friedman sees ghosts, which made growing up in a funeral home complicated. It might have been easier if his grandfather’s ghost didn’t give him scathing looks of disapproval as he went through a second, HRT-induced puberty, or if he didn’t have the pressure of all those relatives—living and dead—judging every choice he makes. It’s no wonder that Ezra runs as far away from the family business as humanly possible.
But when the floor of his dream job drops out from under him and his mother uses the family Passover seder to tell everyone she’s running off with the rabbi’s wife, Ezra finds himself back in the thick of it. With his parents’ marriage imploding and the Friedman Family Memorial Chapel on the brink of financial ruin, Ezra agrees to step into his mother’s shoes and help out . . . which means long days surrounded by ghosts that no one else can see.
And then there’s his unfortunate crush on Jonathan, the handsome funeral home volunteer . . . who just happens to live downstairs from Ezra’s new apartment . . . and the appearance of the ghost of Jonathan’s gone-too-soon husband, Ben, who is breaking every spectral rule that Ezra knows.
Because Ben can speak. He can move. And as Ezra tries to keep his family together and his heart from getting broken, he realizes that there’s more than one way to be haunted—and more than one way to become a ghost.
Customer Reviews
A Novel About Family, Found Family, and Ghosts
“Rules for Ghosting” is the first novel by Shelly Jay Shore. It is a work of fantasy, as the ghosts in the title are not scary. It was published in 2024. It’s a very different novel, because other than the ghosts that only the protagonist can see, there seem to be no further supernatural elements.
Ezra is that protagonist, and we soon learn that he’s a young trans-man that comes from a very Jewish family that runs a funeral business. It’s a messy family with lots of drama, just like Ezra. His problem though is that since he was a child, he could see ghosts. Since no one else could see these spirits of the departed, everyone assumed he was imagining them. After he had been scolded enough for having imaginary friends, he learned to keep these to himself.
He’s trying to get himself together, and get away from the family business. The latter makes sense given the seeing ghosts and all. He’s become a yoga instructor, and a birth doula. He then moves into an apartment across town, where his ex lives with a group of queer friends. These people become his found family, and one guy who lives there becomes much more.
This is a really good story about family, found family, romance, loss, and life changes. It really didn’t initially appeal to me based on its description, but I’m very glad I read it. I’m now looking forward to seeing more from this new author!