Some Kind of Haunted | Musings of the Monster Librarian

Some Kind of Haunted by Hazel Beck

Mira, 2026

ISBN-13‏: ‎ 978-0369775672

Available: Papeback, audiobook, ebook edition

Identical twins Lexi and Logan Darling grew up in New York City. Now, thanks to an inheritance from a grandmother they never met, they need to settle her estate: a house and knitting store in rural Midas, Iowa.

Lexi, a high-maintenance textile designer, has hallucinations, night terrors, and anxiety. She sleepwalks, is easily overwhelmed, needs consistent routines, and depends on Logan to smooth her way through decision-making and coping with, what for other people, would be everyday stressors. While most people who see under her mask think Lexi is mentally ill, Logan always believes and supports her. Lexi is the point-of-view character, making the reader as uncertain about the reality of what’s going on as she is.

Midas immediately creeps her out, and not just because it doesn’t have cell service. There is an ominous feeling in the shadows, in the dark, and from the giant clock tower in town. As Lexi tries to talk herself into believing she’s dreaming while she sleepwalks, instead of losing her mind, she finally gets validation for her visions and dreams from the people around her. She is the “harbinger”, a member of one of the founding families of Midas, who heralds the beginning of the Feed, a night where demons attack the city that occurs once in a generation, as part of a deal the founders made for the town’s safety (it’s unclear why they made this deal, even to her fellow Scoobies). For the first time she has people in her life who see her problems not as an illness but as a gift.

Some Kind of Haunted is billed as a horror romance and Beck definitely knows how to create a spooky and ominous atmosphere. The romance is a little awkward, though. Lexi and Jack Bellamy, another descendant of a founding family, have an instant connection, but what Lexi interprets as attraction, Jack reacts to with immediate hostility. It takes awhile for them to untwist that and act on their feelings, and things go from zero to one hundred fast once they do.

If you don’t think too much about the plot, but are looking for small-town spooky atmosphere, with creepy antiques, romance in the air, and demons in the shadows, Some Kind of Haunted is a great choice. Recommended.

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski