Rules for Ghosting

I quite enjoyed Rules for Ghosting. I cry a lot but I don't normally cry at books--however, this one got me, several times. This is a romance/drama sort of book, if genre is important to you. Despite being about ghosts, they're honestly quite cozy and this isn't a horror book.

The protagonist of this book is Ezra, a Jewish trans man who has left his family's funeral business because he can see ghosts. Quickly on, Ezra develops a thing for his new housemate Jonathan, but unfortunately the ghost of Jonathan's dead husband starts speaking to him.

What's funny to me about this book is that the supernatural elements are not the most plot critical. This book is bursting (almost to its detriment) with family drama and trauma and relationship issues and other plot points. Ezra eventually does come out to his siblings about his psychic nature, and their reaction is (affectionately and realistically) along the lines of "ok thanks for sharing, but let's get back to all the bigger problems".

Rather than taking over the story, the supernatural elements are there like a little sprinkling of ghost drama to exacerbate Ezra's preexisting problem-solving tendencies and give him another secret that he has to come out about. (And, it's thankfully a story with multiple trans people in it that's not about coming about as trans. Just about being psychic.)

It's sweet. It's messy. It's queer. It's a warm hug of community and family. I loved it.