Horny: A Novel

by Lucy Lehane

Paranormal roommates discover that there's a thin line between love and hate in this steamy opposites-attract romantic comedy by Lucy Lehane.

Rachel's death is going about as well as her life. Welcoming a poltergeist to share her body had its challenges, but she's mostly figured those she's got good friends, a room in a gorgeous apartment, and she's well on her way to regaining the career her death derailed. What she doesn't need is a strange, inhumanly beautiful new roommate - a unicorn - with a million odd questions about the human world - especially one who can peer into Rachel's soul and see each of her dark, dirty secrets.

Isolde has been tempted by the human world for longer than she can remember. The land of the unicorns was beautiful, pristine...and as boring as watching moss grow. But taking on human form comes with more complications than she expected. Like a roommate who’s possessed, opinionated, argumentative... and distractingly alluring.

Getting into a magical grudge match with your roommate is a bad idea. Hooking up with your roommate when they're a virgin from another dimension is an even worse one. But since when did the voluntarily haunted make good choices?

Genres: Romance, Fantasy, LGBT, Paranormal, Paranormal Romance, Queer, Lesbian

400 pages, Paperback

Expected publication December 1, 2026

About the author

Lucy Lehane writes love stories about terrible people. Her interests include binge-watching, cheese, and game nights with friends. Exactly no one in her life was surprised to learn that she had written a romance novel. By day she is an attorney, and by night, after her son is asleep, and after otherwise procrastinating for as long as humanly possible, she sometimes writes.

Pronouns: She/her

Also writes under Liz Bowery

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating~ 2.5 rounded up

This story follows Isolde, a unicorn who can take human form, as she travels to the human plane to gather more information about humanity’s convergence with the unicorn world. That premise alone was a little confusing to me. Are we talking about cultural influence, or something else?

While trying to complete her mission, she becomes roommates with Rachel, who is undead and possessed by a poltergeist. I really enjoyed their dynamic. As Isolde learns more about humans, she’s exposed to sexuality and emotional connections she’s never experienced before. Her friends really rally around her and support her throughout her journey of self discovery. I loved the openness and the fun, judgment free embrace of learning about your own body.

That said, I found Isolde to be a bit dry overall. The scenes themselves were interesting, but her emotional range felt very limited. There weren’t many emotional highs or lows.

Rachel, on the other hand, was very emotionally dynamic and easy to connect with. She wasn’t quick to pursue anything with Isolde initially, and I really enjoyed watching all of her friends trying to set Isolde up.

Once they decided to explore their connection, it felt genuine and had real emotional depth. I also appreciated the LGBTQ+ representation and the diversity throughout the book.

By the end, I felt like I understood the general premise of Isolde’s mission a little better, but I was still left wondering what exactly she was supposed to report back. Maybe that’s on me, but I felt that aspect of the story remained a little too vague.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press publishing for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Brittney · Rating 2 out of 5]

Horny • Lucy Lehane

One phrase: possessed woman meets unicorn roommate 🦄👻

Well, this sounds unhinged in the exact way paranormal romcoms should be.

Horny follows Rachel, whose death is going about as smoothly as her life did. She is sharing her body with a poltergeist, trying to rebuild the career her death interrupted, and living in a gorgeous apartment with friends.

Honestly, for being dead, she is managing.

Then her new roommate arrives.

Isolde is inhumanly beautiful, deeply curious about the human world, and also a unicorn who has taken human form because the land of unicorns was apparently gorgeous, pristine, and painfully boring.

Iconic motivation, honestly.

Rachel does not need a strange new roommate who can peer into her soul and see every dark, dirty secret she has. Isolde does not expect the human world to come with a possessed, argumentative, opinionated roommate who is also very distracting.

Naturally, they start a magical grudge match.

Naturally, that seems like a terrible idea.

And naturally, I am seated.

I love when paranormal romance leans fully into the absurdity of its premise. A voluntarily haunted woman. A unicorn from another dimension. Roommate tension. Opposites attract. Love and hate sitting way too close together. This sounds chaotic, queer, steamy, and deeply unserious in the best way.

✨ Tropes and vibes:
🦄 unicorn roommate
👻 possessed FMC
💞 queer paranormal romance
🔥 opposites attract
🏠 roommates
😈 love hate tension
✨ magical grudge match
🌈 sapphic romance
🖤 dark secrets
😂 chaotic romcom energy
🌙 otherworldly love interest
💋 steamy paranormal vibes

📚 Read this if you like:
Queer paranormal romcoms, magical roommates, opposites attract romance, weird girl energy, chaotic supernatural setups, sapphic tension, and books that sound like they fully commit to the bit.

This sounds strange, spicy, funny, and like the kind of paranormal romance that knows exactly how ridiculous it is.

#Horny #LucyLehane #ParanormalRomance #QueerRomance #BookReview

[hannah ⊹ ࣪ ˖ · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was just… odd? And not at all what I was expecting given the description? I really wanted this one to work for me because the premise sounds super fun on paper. I mean, paranormal roommate/rom-com chaos? That should have been an instant hit for me. And to be fair, there were things I liked such as the paranormal-meets-normal-life setup was entertaining, the roommate banter had its moments, and I could definitely see the chemistry and potential between the characters. But overall, this ended up being one of those books where the concept was much stronger than the execution.

My biggest issue was the pacing. It felt like the story spent a long time meandering through side plots and scenes that didn’t add much, only to rush through the actual main plot and ending once things finally got interesting. I also struggled to connect with Rachel and Isolde as characters, which made the romance hard to fully invest in. Rachel’s situation felt like it could have been explored in a much more interesting way, and Isolde’s characterization leaned a little too naive and underdeveloped for me. On top of that, the tone wasn’t quite what I expected. Horny sounds like it’s going to be a ridiculous, campy, super smutty paranormal romance, but this felt much more subdued and serious than the title and cover suggest.

In the end, this wasn’t a bad book so much as an underwhelming one. There were flashes of a really fun, quirky romance here, but the uneven pacing, lack of character depth, and rushed finale kept it from ever fully coming together for me. I didn’t hate it, but I also don’t think it delivered on the version of this story I was hoping to read.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for this eARC!

[Kimi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!!!
Unfortunately, this one just wasn't for me.

The premise sounded really interesting, but I found myself struggling with the execution. The writing never fully clicked for me, and some of the dialogue felt weird. I also had a hard time connecting with most of the characters, so a lot of what was happening didn't leave much of an impact. I mainly felt annoyed.
My biggest issue was the pacing. There were multiple moments where I felt like the story was dragging, and several chapters felt unnecessary. By the time things finally started picking up, I was already losing interest.

I wanted to love this one because the concept had so much potential, but I ultimately finished it feeling underwhelmed.
If you aren’t as picky with books like me, I think you should give this a go.
pit. (read it and you will understand) :p

[Teya Freads · Rating 3 out of 5]

ARC received from NetGalley

2.5⭐️

This book had a lot of potential. I went chapters really enjoying the characters and the roommate dynamics. I think there was just too much going on and the pacing was very all over the place. A bunch of the side storylines could have been cut and we could have had a delightful, reasonable length, story about a pure unicorn falling for her haunted roommate. I would have devoured that book.
I enjoyed a lot of the banter. The side characters. Isolde maki sense of the human realm. All very good. I just needed less of everything else. Most notably the random coup? That happened and was abandoned as a plot all in one chapter.
I do think I would read future work by this author - I just think this book wasn’t the book for me.

Spice 🌶️🌶️/5
Tears💧/5
Giggles ✨✨/5
Slow burn quality ❤️‍🔥/5

[Courtney Rae · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the basic idea of the book. I liked the world in which the paranormal lived with humans and had normal jobs. I liked the chemistry between the 2 FMC’s. I did feel the pacing was a little off and it was slow at times and then the last couple chapters just sped through to the ending. I feel like the actual plot was just at the end of the book with a lot of nothing at the beginning. I was expecting a lot more smut in this book based off of the cover and the name of it. Overall the book was not bad but I do not think I will reread it.

[Gina Malanga · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this because the concept sounded so different and interesting. I love a paranormal romcom, especially involving a unicorn and someone who is not quite dead and spews ectoplasm when they get overwhelmed. However, this book was just not it. It took forever to get anywhere and there were these long meandering pages about philosophical thoughts on life. It was all very strange and I found myself skipping pages because I was trying to get to something interesting. I was really bummed I wanted to really like this.

[Becca Myers · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was excited to this because I thought it sounded interesting and unique. However, I struggled with them. It just did not come together and click for me. This was my first unicorn book and I don’t think it will be my last. I want to say thank you for introducing me to unicorn books. I do feel I will eventually attempt to reread this again at a later time in hopes I connect better the second time.

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sapphic/unicorn/ghost romance in a paranormal/queer normative world! This was my first unicorn romance, and it was an interesting premise. (A unicorn sent to the human world to gather intelligence, who falls for their roommate)

It took me a while to get into with the pacing, but then I was hooked by the characters. I do wish there was a bit more world building within this novel.

thank you for the ARC Net Galley!

[Tammy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m a sucker for a good unicorn story! 3.5 ⭐️ The pacing was on the slowish end. The premise was interesting and fun. Enjoyed the banter in the group texts.


Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[D Dyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun big hearted queer romance with plenty of whimsy and slightly slow pacing. Opinions all mine. ARC received through Netgalley.