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williamabookworm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Grief, Car accident, and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Suicide
awkwardimagination's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I had quite a few issues with it actually, characters being vague is only part of it, but I did still enjoy this book.
Moderate: Child death, Death, and Murder
Minor: Homophobia, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, and Lesbophobia
bookcaptivated's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Car accident, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Blood, and Grief
Minor: Addiction, Cancer, Cursing, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, and Classism
amazelan's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
1.0
j'ai trouvé l'écriture banale, vraiment pas incroyable. en fait c'est très YA dans le sens cliché du terme, même si j'arriverais pas à exprimer précisément pourquoi.
et surtout, surtout, la romance m'a fait ni chaud ni froid. c'est trop rapide, irréaliste, et si niais?? trop pour moi en tout cas. le fait que ça soit l'élément central du livre explique pourquoi je l'ai si peu aimé. en +, les personnages sont complètement définies par la romance, j'ai pas réussi à m'y attacher ou à ressentir quoique ce soit quand il leur arrivait des trucs. et du coup les personnages secondaires sont pas du tout creusé.es, ce qui est carrément dommage vu qu'au moins elleux auraient pas été défini.es par l'amour.
c'est dommage parce que le début vend du suspense, un univers intéressant. mais au final l'univers est pas du tout exploré, on apprend rien dessus. et après le début on doit attendre 100 pages (sur 289 pour l'ebook) pour qu'il y ait un tout petit peu d'action. couvert, toujours, sous le rose bonbon de la romance.
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Suicide and Terminal illness
friendofdorothea's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Car accident, and Murder
thebookishnerd_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Death and Violence
mxdegroot's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Byrne's writing style is distinctive in many ways, all of them positive; we follow the main character, Ash, a teenager, in a first person perspective, and it reads exactly like that.
Generally, I am not the biggest fan of love at first sight stories, but the way Ash and Poppy's relationship developed compensated for that.
As the story went on, especially from the point that
Something that I feel that needs to be mentioned is the character development of Ashana's mother. She was raised to have a negative opinion against homosexuality and, even when Ash comes out as a lesbian, she finds it hard to accept it, staying mostly (uncomfortably) silent. A few months later, however, when
Did this story have a lot of character development in the sense of the characters making mistakes and growing as they learn from them? No. Because it was not necessary. The story is about first (true) love, grief, acceptance, closure and goodbyes. The book is meant to be a cute read that will still leave you in tears when you finish it and that, it did perfectly.
If you are a lover of cute, useless lesbians, books you will need some time to recover from once you've finished it, and/or magic realism? Afterlove is definitely a book you should pick up.
To close off, the clear foreshadowing to Ash dying (which was possible because it is the main event of the book)? Ouch. /pos.
Rep: lesbian MC, MCOC, South-American MC, muslim character.
January 25th, 2023 - February 2nd, 2023.
"Maybe we'll burn bright for a few weeks then collapse in on ourselves, but Mr. Moreno says that's how galaxies are made anyways." - Before, chapter 5.
"[...] as we head under the bridge, I know that I'd follow her to the edge of the fucking world." - Before, hapter 6.
"I feel like I've loved you for a really long time, but it still isn't enough." - After, chapter 27.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Blood, and Car accident
Moderate: Homophobia, Violence, Islamophobia, Grief, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Body horror, Suicide, and Murder
kaitlyng's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Moderate: Death and Car accident
Minor: Sexual content, Violence, and Lesbophobia
asparagusisreading's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Trigger and Content Warnings: discussion and descriptions of death, homophobia, car accident and stabbing scenes,
AFTERLOVE by TANYA BYRNE is a young adult romance following two girls, Poppy and Ash, as they are navigating their love before and after death. Randomly during a field trip, Poppy and Ash meet, having an instant connection. They continue meeting up, quickly and heavily falling for each other. Just as they start making plans for a future together, their future is whisked away when Ash dies in a car accident. However, she doesn't just die, she comes back as the next year's grim reaper. She's unable to talk to anyone that she previously knew unless they are nearing their death... that is until she sees and speaks with Poppy. Now with limited time together, Poppy and Ash are forced to grapple with what their new future could look like. The story is told in two labeled sections: before and after Ash's death. I didn't notice this until later into reading when I was checking the percent read. Formatting the story this way allowed for readers to spend time falling in love with Poppy and Ash while they fell in love with each other. It also felt natural to the story to show the progression of the beginning to the relationship up until their current point. I found myself rooting for Ash and wanting things to work out in the end for her, even if it meant being happy and at peace without Poppy. It was emotional, tense, exciting, and heartbreaking all at the same time.
I would have loved to learn more about the grim reaper system. How does it work? What are the loop holes? Why are all the grim reapers women? Why did the reapers keep so many secrets and keep changing what could happen to the reapers in their future? Also, I would have liked to see more grief of Ash's family. Her family played a massive part in the first chunk of the story, it felt a little odd to me that she basically forgot about them in the second half. In fact, Ash seemed a little flat in terms of emotion, or at least lacking some of her emotions, in the second half. I felt like she was more passionate in the "before" than she was in the "after."
Overall, I enjoyed the premise of the book and watching the main characters fall so deeply in love (it was giving uhaul lesbians), being messy, questioning and figuring out their relationship. I am giving this 4 stars and highly recommend to others that are interested. However, please look into trigger warnings and be prepared for the continuous discussion of death through the book.
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Violence, and Car accident
anniereads221's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide, Transphobia, and Vomit