How (Not) to Renovate a Haunted House by Jenny L. Howe is a sweet, fat positive YA paranormal romance. I reviewed three of Howe’s previous books, all adult fat-positive contemporary romances (On the Plus Side; The Make-Up Test; and How to Get a Life in Ten Dates) and I enjoyed this one as well!
As Amity is hanging out with her best friend Taylor in the summer before college, planning an epic taco truck tour, her Mom drops a bomb–instead of Amity being able to go to college for free at the nearby coastal California school where her mom works–they are moving to Massachusetts in two weeks. She’ll still get to go to school for free where her Mom works, but her entire life is upended. She’s not upset about never seeing her father, as they have a text-only relationship, but Taylor is her rock.
But, as she wants to go into library science and become an archivist, going to such an old part of the country is a little intriguing. As they drive cross-country and Amity starts researching, she comes across social media videos of a teenage boy who claims to be a ghost hunter in the town where they’re going. Much to her surprise, when they get to their destination, she finds out that her Mom has bought a locally infamous haunted house. Amity and her mother don’t believe in ghosts, but strange things keep happening.
And it turns out Ghost Boy is Theo, whose father is a local renovation contractor whose videos helped Amity and her Mom figure out how to do some DIY work before it becomes clear that the things needed at the house are beyond their capability. Amity starts seeing Theo often with all of the work they are doing. At first, it’s a competition for Amity to prove that the house isn’t haunted, and Theo obviously knowing that it is.
It’s very cute, with a few intense scenes. I loved that Amity is a crocheter! She makes Great Women of History amigurumi and is completely a history nerd, researching in the library microfiche. She has some social anxiety, but really seems to work through it as she gets to know people in their new town. Theo is a sweet character, with a bittersweet backstory of why he’s so interested in and invested in ghosts being real.
Amity’s fatness doesn’t seem to affect her and Theo’s relationship development, which is how it should be! It’s part of her own backstory, though, and how she was treated as a teen because she was fat was the source of some of her own social anxiety.
Reading While Fat 