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cavallonee'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? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Death and Death of parent
Moderate: Bullying
Minor: Child death, Infidelity, and Sexual content
boba_nbooks'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? Yes
5.0
A ghostwriter who sees ghosts? Sign me up!
After a terrible breakup with the partner she thought was the one, Florence Day truly believes that love is dead. And that's a problem since Florence is the ghostwriter for a hugely popular romance author and is late on her deadline. Even her new, and quite handsome, editor won't give her another extension. Out of nowhere, Florence's father dies, and she leaves behind her writing to bury her dad at her family's funeral home. Florence hasn't been back to her small hometown in 10 years, but she now has to face both her figurative and literal ghosts as she is introduced to a new one--a certain handsome editor who is just as confused to be at the funeral home as Florence is to see him.
As with the Seven Year Slip, Ashley Poston merges magical realism with our contemporary reality to create a beautiful story focused on healing from grief, accepting yourself, and love, of course. The fact that Poston created a female main character is a ghostwriter who can see ghosts is just so brilliantly clever and hilarious.
Even though Florence has a vendetta against love, her romance with Benji just may be among my favorites. I loved seeing how two people could fall in love without even touching, and their story shows how souls can be truly tied together.
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Bullying, Sexual content, and Car accident
Minor: Child death, Cursing, Infidelity, and Murder
bookishlucy'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? Yes
5.0
It beautifully showed the love of Florence and her family while they grieved for her father. This book touched me in a way I wasn't expecting. It made me feel all the feelings. I cried and laughed, sometimes at the same time. While this was a love story between Florence and Benji, this was also a story of love. Love for family, friends, yourself, life and even death. It was messy, it was heartbreaking but mostly, it was beautiful.
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Toxic relationship and Car accident
Minor: Bullying, Child death, Infidelity, Murder, and Alcohol
corrieroe's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Infidelity and Sexual content
lucyatoz'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? It's complicated
4.0
Following a break-up from Lee Marlow, who used her as a muse to write a novel, she checks in with her new editor, Benji Andor, who thinks she is an assistant to, rather than the ghost writer of, Ann Nichols, famous romantic novelist...but only if she can find her own happily ever after to submit the final book in her contract.
The death of her Dad sees her returning to the small town where she grew up after 10 years in New York, and to the family run funeral home where she is startled by the ghost of Benji Andor! Confused, she helps to organise her Dad's memorial, which must include 1000 wildflowers, grouped by colour, and Elvis singing at the grave whilst Benji follows her around as she grieves. Can she find her "happily ever after" in the mist of her sadness?
I borrowed a copy of this book from Taunton Library and listened to it on BorrowBox. I read this for prompt 21, written by a ghostwriter, for the 52 Book Club Reading Challenge 2024.
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Infidelity, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcohol
bookish_leslie's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.5
- Dealing with death and grief
- Ghosts
- Lack of self-belief
- Writerās block
- Immature and juvenile (adult) FMC
- āI have to do everything alone and canāt ask for or accept helpā
- Family dynamics
- Insta-love
Spice: 2š¶ļø
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My Thoughts:
Iām bummed because I loved Ashley Postonās book The Seven Year Slip; it was a 5-star read, and I was hoping this book would be the same, but sadly, The Dead Romantics was a miss for me. It was the ending that really pulled down my rating, but I honestly had problems with the entire book.
Plot: The plot was somewhat interesting, though I felt it tried to take on too many different storylines or topics - ghosts, death, romance, career stuff, family dynamics, an eccentric funeral... It was a lot, and because there was so much breadth, it was lacking the depth I wanted in both the grief/death storyline, as well as in the romance storyline.
But it was going along okay(ish) until I got closer to the end. The ending was happy, but so, so bad. Pretty much everything that happened after
Iām all for happy endings, but I hate insta-love, and that ending was too much, too fast and ended up feeling so forced, rushed, and cringey.
Characters: I wasn't really a fan of any of the characters, if I'm honest.
28-year-old Florence was the FMC, and she was juvenile and unlikeable. She whined about the same things over and over again. She insisted on doing everything for her father's funeral herself because she was the oldest (but didnāt actually do much of anything???), and then felt resentful about it. God forbid she ask for or accept proffered help. And she had a bad habit of getting up and walking away any time someone tried to have a conversation with her. For most of the book, we basically followed her around as she moaned about her failure as a writer, walked away from people (mostly Ben), opened her laptop to write (but didnāt), and pounded back the rum and cokes or her āzoom zoom juiceā (more on that below).
Ben, the MMC, had no discernible personality, other than being tall, having great forearms and being organized.
The side characters, like Florenceās best friend and family, were mostly flat and caricature-like, and while Iām all about having representation, the LGBTQ rep (in particular, the non-binary character) felt forced, rather than organic or integrated.
Writing: The writing was a bit all over the place for me. Sometimes it was really good. There were many beautifully worded sentences throughout, as well as touching emotional moments or scenes, like, for example, when Florence found out her father had passed away (thatās not a spoiler).
āāThey couldnāt - he was gone. He was gone by the time we got there - by - he wasā¦heās gone, darling.ā
Gone.
The word was so quiet, I barely heard it. Or maybe my heart, thundering in my ears, was too loud. But whatever it was, the word didnāt register, not really, not for a long, long moment. And then, like the cold wind, it burrowed deep into my bones, and I could feel my heart beginning to crack. Right down the center, breaking off all the pieces of me that were my father, all of the memoriesā¦ā
I loved parts like that. But in addition to these better-written sentences and scenes, there were also many things that irked me. Many of them were small things, I know, but they still felt grating when taken together. Things like: spelling errors, corny puns, inconsistencies, choppy and confusing dialogue, repetition, or the way Florence referred to coffee as āzoom zoom juice," "battery fuel," or ābattery acid.ā Need I remind you that she was 28? Plus, the book was sometimes just a little too meta for me in its conversations about writing, publishing, and scene-making.
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Sexual content, and Alcohol
Minor: Infidelity, Car accident, and Murder
amateur_bookworm'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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Car accident
Minor: Infidelity and Gaslighting
kassidyreads'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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Grief and Death of parent
Moderate: Death and Toxic relationship
Minor: Bullying and Infidelity
burnourhistory's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Toxic relationship
Minor: Infidelity, Violence, and Gaslighting
ghoulishshark's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Sexual content and Car accident
Minor: Bullying and Infidelity