There’s a Ghost Girl in My House Review: Is It Worth Reading?

Verdict: A short, cozy ghost story with a warm nonbinary lead and some of the most relatable anxiety writing I’ve seen in a paranormal romance, let down by thin editing and a final act that rushes past its own best ideas.

Best for: Readers who want a low-heat Halloween novella they can finish in an evening, who care more about comfort and representation than about a tight plot, and who can forgive typos in a small-press release.

Heat level: ★★☆☆☆ (1.5/5: fade to black, with one implied intimate scene)

Rating: ★★★★☆ (3.6/5: a 4.09 Goodreads average built almost entirely on advance copies, with editing and pacing as the repeat complaints)

Tropes: Ghost roommate, haunted apartment, amnesiac love interest, grumpy-sunshine, opposites attract, slow burn, necromancer villain, underworld quest, agoraphobic lead, nonbinary main character.

There’s a Ghost Girl in My House by Sophie Mutiara Nova is a standalone paranormal sapphic romance novella from Saphly Books, released on 1 October 2026 as part of the publisher’s Halloween romance collection, in which Kai, an agoraphobic nonbinary writer who almost never leaves their apartment, discovers that the place comes with a dead girl attached, and that she can’t remember who she was.

It sits at a 4.09 average across 36 Goodreads ratings and 4.33 across 9 ratings on Saphly’s own store, which looks strong until you read who wrote those reviews: 28 of the 30 visible Goodreads reviews say they got an advance or free copy. That doesn’t make them wrong, but it does mean the real reader verdict is still forming. Both the warmth and the complaints are worth knowing before you start.

What Is There’s a Ghost Girl in My House About?

This is a cozy ghost story first and a romance second, though the romance is the thread everything hangs on. It’s an adult book (Saphly files it under New Adult, and Kai is a grown-up living alone on a housing contract and a remote job), not YA. The setting is one apartment for most of the page count, which suits a lead who can’t easily leave it. Expect gentle humor, a spooky-but-never-scary tone and a plot that turns into a small supernatural quest in the second half. The publisher’s own pitch compares it to Casper and Hocus Pocus, and that’s about right for the vibe.

Kai uses they/them pronouns. They write commercial copy from home, live with severe anxiety and agoraphobia, and have built a life around deliveries and closed doors. The ghost, who Kai nicknames GG (sometimes Gigi), uses she/her. She’s stuck in the apartment and has lost her memories, including her own name. The book is built around Kai’s anxious head, which is why the anxiety writing lands, and also, by a few readers’ accounts, why GG stays a little hazy as a person.

What Makes This Cozy Sapphic Ghost Story Work

• The anxiety and agoraphobia rep: This is the most praised thing in the reviews by a distance. Reader after reader says Kai’s anxiety felt familiar from the inside, and one points out that Kai isn’t magically “fixed” by the end, which several people clearly appreciated.
• A nonbinary lead written without fuss: Readers single out Kai’s identity as handled naturally, and the they/them pronouns are part of the texture rather than a lesson.
• The ghost mechanics: GG is bound to the apartment and can’t remember her past. That gives the slow burn a built-in limit: two people who can’t leave the same few rooms, for completely different reasons.
• Kai’s humor: The voice is self-deprecating and quick. Several readers call the book funny, and one calls it a “very fun and silly novella” in the best sense.
• A campy villain: The online necromancer who drives the second half is played for laughs more than menace, which keeps the tone cozy even when the plot heads somewhere darker.

Book Synopsis

Kai has arranged life so that the outside world mostly arrives in boxes. Groceries come to the door, work comes through a laptop, and the new apartment is supposed to be the safe place they don’t have to leave. Then it turns out the housing contract had a clause nobody read closely enough. Someone else already lives here, and she isn’t alive.

The ghost doesn’t know her name or who she used to be, and she can’t leave the apartment. Kai, who finds living people hard work, discovers that a roommate who can’t go anywhere either is oddly easy company. They give her a nickname, GG, and start trying to piece together who she used to be. The apartment slowly becomes something closer to a home, with birds to feed and a shower that won’t stop leaking and the uneasy feeling that something is watching from the vents.

Then a stranger who claims to practice necromancy reaches out online with an offer. There’s a ritual, a list of ingredients and a promise that GG can get her memories back. It would also mean Kai going places they’ve spent years avoiding, and digging into a past relationship they’d rather keep buried. The question is whether finding out who GG was is worth what it might cost them both.

My Review

The best thing about this book is how it treats Kai’s anxiety. It’s not a quirk and it’s not a problem the plot exists to solve. It’s the weather of the whole book. Kai’s internal voice spirals, jokes, catastrophizes and talks itself down, and that rhythm felt true to me. It’s also what makes the ghost premise work: a person who can’t leave the house and a ghost who can’t leave the house is a neat pairing, and Nova gets real tenderness out of it.

The second strength is tone. It’s cozy in the true sense: short, warm, funny, spooky without being frightening. Kai’s narration has a light comic edge that keeps the heavier material (the ex, the loneliness, a stretch of real danger late on) from sinking the mood. If you want something for a dark October evening that won’t keep you up, it fits.

Where it struggles is polish, and that’s not my private gripe. It’s the most repeated complaint in the reviews. Four of the 30 visible Goodreads reviewers name spelling, grammar or proofreading errors outright, and three more flag repeated sentences, a continuity slip or inconsistent writing. One reader stopped at 31% because the repetition got to them. Some of this may be ARC-only, and one reviewer says so, but it’s a pattern. The second theme is structure. Four readers call the pacing odd or rushed, and the jump from the apartment into the underworld section feels abrupt to at least two of them. The third is length. At 159 Kindle pages, the book barely has room for its ideas, and a good number of readers wanted more: more romance, more payoff on Kai’s ex, a slower ending.

One expectation to reset. The cover and title sell a ghost romance, and the romance is there, but it’s softer and more secondary than “romance” usually suggests. At least one reviewer says outright they wanted more of it. This is a comfort read about a person learning to live alongside their fear, with a love story inside it. If you came for a slow-burn sapphic romance, calibrate. If you came for a cozy ghost story with heart, you’re in the right place.

My honest note: A lovely idea and a lead worth spending time with, delivered in a draft that needed one more editor. If typos and a rushed last act pull you out, this will frustrate you. If you mostly want warmth, Kai and GG deliver it.

Element	In There’s a Ghost Girl in My House
Central relationship	Kai (nonbinary, they/them, agoraphobic writer) and GG (she/her, the amnesiac ghost who haunts their apartment)
Core tropes	Ghost roommate, haunted apartment, amnesia, grumpy-sunshine, opposites attract, slow burn, underworld quest
Setting	A US apartment for most of the book, then a supernatural trip to the underworld
Heat level	1.5/5: fade to black, one implied intimate scene
Series	Standalone novella. Happy ending with an epilogue; no sequel announced
Content notes	Severe anxiety and agoraphobia, a past toxic relationship, death, violence and danger late in the book, necromancy

How Spicy Is There’s a Ghost Girl in My House?

Barely. I found no romance.io entry for the book, which is common for small-press novellas, so the number comes from two other places. I Heart Sapphfic’s listing tags it “fade to black” and notes that the sex is mostly implied and described in euphemism. Readers agree: one gives it a 1/5 spice rating, another calls it only “slightly spicy,” and our own upcoming sapphic books list filed it as low heat before release. There’s one intimate scene late in the book, and nobody describes it as explicit.

The only thing worth flagging is placement. At least one reader felt that intimate moment was a bit out of place given everything else happening around it. No reviewer flags anything beyond that. If you want comparable heat, Legends & Lattes and Gideon the Ninth both sit at 1/5, and our closed-door sapphic romance list has more.

Who Should Read This Book?

You’ll likely love it if: you want a cozy Halloween read you can finish in one sitting, you’re looking for anxiety or agoraphobia written from the inside, you want a nonbinary lead in a sapphic story, and you’re fine with low heat.

You may want to skip it if: typos and repeated lines pull you out of a book, you want a fully developed romance with real page time, you need tight pacing and clear supernatural rules, or short books that end quickly leave you feeling shortchanged.

In short: big heart, small book, rough edges.

What Readers Are Actually Saying (October 2026)

The book is three weeks old, so the discourse is mostly the launch campaign. Nearly every review I found came from an advance copy sent through NetGalley, BookSirens, a blog tour or the author directly. I found no Reddit threads, no organic BookTok moment and no trade reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly or the sapphic review blogs. That’s normal for a small-press novella and it’s worth saying plainly, because a 4.09 built on ARC readers isn’t the same as a 4.09 built on strangers who paid for it. Discovery right now is happening through Saphly’s own storefront and Halloween collection, and through listings like I Heart Sapphfic’s. I couldn’t find an audiobook edition anywhere.

Why readers love it (according to the discourse): The anxiety rep comes first, and “relatable” is the recurring word. Several readers with anxiety or agoraphobia say they saw themselves in Kai, and one valued that Kai isn’t cured by the last page. The nonbinary rep is praised just as often. After that, readers name the cozy, funny tone, Kai’s humor and the comic necromancer. One reviewer says it “reads like a trippy and queer Star Trek episode,” which I’d take as a compliment to how weird the second half gets. A long, thoughtful four-star review on Goodreads praises the way the book handles consent, fear and intimacy between a living person and a ghost, which is the most serious reading of it I found.

What readers argue about and complain about: Editing, above everything. Seven of the 30 visible reviews raise typos, grammar, repeated sentences or continuity errors, and one reader did not finish because of it. The second theme is pacing: the slow start bothers one reader, the rushed close bothers several, and the move from apartment to underworld feels rough to at least two. Third: length. Readers keep saying they wanted more, of the romance, of GG as a character and of the ending. On GG specifically, one reader found her hard to picture and another wanted the rules of the ghost physics spelled out. The one sharp dissent comes from a 1.25-star review that found the anxiety rep weak and objected to how the book uses “butch” and “masc.” That’s one voice against a large majority who felt the opposite, so it reads as taste rather than consensus, but it’s there.

The standalone question worth asking first: It resolves. Readers describe a happy ending for Kai and GG and an epilogue that shows Kai’s life going on, good days and bad days included. A few readers asked for a sequel, but none is announced. If you finish it wanting more from the author, Sophie Mutiara Nova (who uses they/them) also has Phoning Faust, a loose retelling of Goethe’s Faust with NineStar Press. I couldn’t find enough ratings on it to compare the two.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is There’s a Ghost Girl in My House spicy?

No. It’s fade to black, with one implied intimate scene late in the book. Readers rate the spice at around 1 out of 5, and I’d put it at 1.5/5.

What pronouns does Kai use in There’s a Ghost Girl in My House?

Kai is nonbinary and uses they/them. The ghost, GG, uses she/her, so the romance is between a nonbinary lead and a woman.

Does There’s a Ghost Girl in My House have a happy ending?

Yes. Readers describe a happy ending for Kai and GG, followed by an epilogue showing Kai’s ongoing life. Several wished the final act had more room.

Is There’s a Ghost Girl in My House part of a series?

No. It’s a standalone novella from Saphly’s Halloween romance collection. Some readers have asked for a sequel, but none is announced.

How long is There’s a Ghost Girl in My House?

Short. Goodreads lists the Kindle edition at 159 pages and Bookshop.org lists the paperback at 198, so most readers will finish it in a sitting or two.

Is There’s a Ghost Girl in My House YA?

No. It’s an adult novella, filed as New Adult by its publisher. Kai lives alone, works remotely and is dealing with a past adult relationship.

If You Loved There’s a Ghost Girl in My House, Read These Next

For the same cozy, low-stakes comfort at the same low heat, Legends & Lattes is the obvious next stop. If the necromancy and the dead-girl humor were your favorite part, Gideon the Ninth takes both much further, with a lot more plot and bones. For witchy small-town magic with more romance on the page and a bit more heat, try Payback’s a Witch. For more, browse our paranormal and fantasy lesbian romance guide or the full Book Reviews archive.

The Bottom Line

There’s a Ghost Girl in My House wants to be a cozy ghost story about two people stuck in the same rooms who end up saving each other, and a lot of it works. Kai’s anxiety is written with real care, the nonbinary rep is natural and the tone stays warm and funny even when the plot goes to the underworld. What doesn’t work is the polish, the pacing of the last act and the space the book gives its own romance. It’s worth it for readers who want comfort and representation in a short October read and can forgive a rough edit. Check There’s a Ghost Girl in My House on Amazon →

The Eikna Overall Ranking

On the Eikna scale, There’s a Ghost Girl in My House ranks as a cozy small-press sapphic ghost novella. Its anxiety and nonbinary rep are the draw, held back by a rough edit and a hurried final act. Read it for comfort and company, not for a big romance or a tight plot.

The Evidence Scorecard

Overall ★★★★☆ 3.6/5

• ✓ 4.09 average across 36 Goodreads ratings
• ✓ 4.33 across 9 ratings on Saphly
• ✓ Anxiety and nonbinary rep carry it
• ✓ 28 of 30 visible reviews from free copies

Romance ★★★★☆ 3.5/5

• ✓ Nonbinary lead and a she/her ghost
• ✓ Shared confinement drives the slow burn
• ✓ Readers call the chemistry playful and sweet
• ✓ Several readers wanted more romance on page

Characters ★★★★☆ 3.9/5

• ✓ Kai’s anxious, funny voice widely praised
• ✓ Kai isn’t “fixed” by the end
• ✓ Necromancer villain played for comedy
• ✓ GG hard to picture for some readers

Writing ★★★☆☆ 3.1/5

• ✓ Light comic narration keeps it cozy
• ✓ One reader praises vivid scene-painting
• ✓ Seven of 30 reviews flag errors or repetition
• ✓ One reader stopped at 31% over editing

Emotional Impact ★★★★☆ 3.8/5

• ✓ Anxiety readers repeatedly saw themselves in Kai
• ✓ Late danger and loss land for some
• ✓ Thoughtful handling of fear and intimacy
• ✓ Compressed final act limits the payoff

Heat Level ★★☆☆☆ 1.5/5

• ✓ Fade to black per I Heart Sapphfic
• ✓ One reader rates spice 1 out of 5
• ✓ No romance.io entry found
• ✓ One intimate scene felt out of place

Ending ★★★☆☆ 3.4/5

• ✓ Happy ending for Kai and GG
• ✓ Epilogue shows Kai’s life going on
• ✓ Standalone, nothing left on a cliffhanger
• ✓ Several readers found the close rushed

Re-read Value ★★★☆☆ 3.3/5

• ✓ 159 Kindle pages, an easy one-sitting reread
• ✓ Fits a yearly Halloween comfort slot
• ✓ No audiobook edition found for a second pass
• ✓ Editing slips show more the second time

Genre at a glance: Ghost story (an amnesiac ghost bound to Kai’s apartment, plus a necromancy quest into the underworld). Sapphic relationship: central to the story, though lighter than in most romances. Age category: adult (New Adult per the publisher). Ending: happy ending with an epilogue; standalone, no sequel announced.

Find more like it: this book is on our list of sapphic ghost stories.