e-Audio, 10:05:23
Narrated by: Jonathan Van Ness & Jeremy Arthur
Release Date: May 20, 2025
Published by: HarperCollins
Read from: May 22-23, 2025
Stand-alone
Source: Netgalley (I received a free e-ALC from the publisher and Netgalley. This did nothing to influence my review.)
Content Warning: Homophobia, Transphobia, Forced Institutionalization, Biphobia, Bullying
For Readers Interested In: 2sLGBTQ+, Audio, Sparkly Covers, LOL, Most Anticipated, Paranormal (Ghosts), Romance, Dual Narrators, YAFrom Emmy Award winner Jonathan Van Ness of Queer Eye and #1 New York Times bestselling author Julie Murphy comes a bighearted story about friendship, love—and discovering the secrets and beauty of your own hometown.
Sully is ready to get out of Hearst, Pennsylvania. With a fashion internship secured, the gender-nonconforming eighteen-year-old is trading in their stifling small town for the big city. Sully even sells their beloved car, to Bread—er, Brad—the most boring (and maybe only other) gay kid in town.
When Sully’s internship goes up in smoke, they’re trapped in Hearst with no cash—and no car. Desperate, they go to the thrift store, their personal sanctuary. There, they discover a vintage bag—like “put this baby in an airtight case at the MET” vintage. If Sully can authenticate it, the resale value would be enough for a new life in the city.
But when they begin to investigate, Sully finds themself haunted. Literally. With the ghost of Rufus, a drag performer from the fifties with no memory of how he died standing—no, floating—in their bedroom, Sully’s summer has a new 1) help this ghostly honey unlock his past and move on and 2) make bank—after all, the Real Real doesn’t take poltergeist purses.
With Rufus in tow, and Brad—who’s looking pretty scrumptious these days—playing chauffeur, Sully delves into the history of the town they’re so desperate to escape. Only to discover that there might be more to Hearst than they ever knew.
*MY THOUGHTS*
I had no idea what to expect from this book after seeing the cover lol But I knew that I loved Van Ness and Murphy and I wanted to see what they could do together. And it should come as a shock to no one……….. I LOVED EVERY SINGLE WORD OF THIS BOOK lol
Ok so the synopsis of this is so vague. I had no idea what this book was actually about lol But I think I liked it better this way. There were no spoilers and I was hooked until the end because I needed to know what happened. I had so much in my mind but none of it was right. And I know it’s weird, but I loved that. it’s rare that I’m surprised by a book anymore, so this cool. And seeing all the things that they figured out and uncovered with this ghost was so freaking cool. I don’t think I EVER could have come up with something like this. This was so good!
The romance in this was a little different. And no it wasn’t with the ghost lol This is not a paranormal romance story lol The romance is a bit of a spoiler so I don’t want to say who it’s with, but omg it was cute. I knew it was going to be them as soon as they were introduced because of the way he treated him lmao It was so cute but also not. I know that people always group like people together in small towns so I felt for them in that regard, but I also liked the idea of them lol
The pacing in this book was a little slow tho. It took forever to get to the real meat that’s not mentioned in the synopsis. There is a mystery, but with no red herrings and no other real info about it, we were finding out at the same time as them and it just felt like it dragged on. Don’t get me wrong, the whole thing together was cute, but it did take a long time to get to the real point.
The characters were what made this book tho. I LOVED Sully. They were so hilarious! I kept remembering when they found out about the Rufus. I laughed more than I have in a long time with this book and I was so thankful for that. If you know me you know I’ve been reading a bunch of sad stuff lately and I needed something to make me laugh. This came at the exact right time!
This book had some of everything that I loved. I can’t really explain how much I needed this book at this time. Even the harder parts of this were a little softer to digest because of the writing style that Van Ness and Murphy had. This book was so good and so much fun. I really hope this isn’t the end for the two of them writing together.
Overall, I give this
