Reviews

Afterlove by Tanya Byrne

princessnata's review against another edition

3.0

What I liked

• Not a verbatim quote but something Esen said to the effect of “ you found each other in life and death. Maybe you’ll find each other in whatever comes next”
• The imagery of Charon taking souls to the great beyond symbolized by the horizon of an open sea
• Esen. Even though we didn’t get her POV, I found her to be one of the most compelling characters. She is tough love, sometimes bitter and hiding her own pain but also very loyal and perceptive  

What I didn’t like:

• Poppy in her last scene at the beach. Felt so out of character for her and just made me mad for Ash. Her attitude was pissing me off after everything Ash was doing for her
• But in the same vain Ash risking Poppy’s safety knowing full well what would happen if Poppy saw her
• That we never got any resolution to how Ash’s family took the news of her death
• The way the reaper system works. Why would people be able to see them at all? Sorry but they should be ghosts, not corporeal at all . I would imagine situations like Poppy must have happened a thousand times over, who decided this system!? Lol
• I think the structure of the book spends too much time in the before when the whole premise is about the love after death. I expected Ash to die much sooner and to get the beginning of their love story through more flashbacks 

vanagtheleen's review against another edition

4.0

Such a beautiful story. Loved the main characters and really loved the descriptions of people!! All the feels

elphabala's review against another edition

The author tries to describe everything to build this sense of tragedy, after all, the girl is dead. But the writing does not evoke that.
The book is slow and not engaging. Perhaps I'm not the target audience.

a_sleepy_berry's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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

I was going to give it 4.5 stars because the plot at the beginning was kind of slow but I was so captivated by the plot twists and storyline that I can forgive it for being slower at the beginning. I can't wait to be able to reread this book.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Murder

rebecca2004's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

3starzard_jake's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

julelaurine's review against another edition

4.0

Mehr Gedanken zur Unterrepräsentation von wlw im Allgemeinen in dieser Rezi but anyways here we go


Afterlove ist zunächst mal eine Story mit wlw which we absolutely love! Ich persönlich habe die Chemie zwischen den Beiden absolut gespürt, obwohl ich viele Rezis gelesen habe, dass diese ihnen wohl gefehlt haben. An dieser Stelle will ich vllt mal kurz einwerfen, dass wlw immer noch etwas unterrepräsentiert ist in der allgemeinen Medienkultur, seien es Bücher oder Serien (viele Serien mit lesbischen Beziehungen wurden in letzter Zeit auch von Netflix genommen) und ich persönlich habe manchmal das Gefühl, dass die „Chemie“ nicht zu spüren ist, weil Mädchenfreundschaften schon oft sehr eng dargestellt werden und diese Norm so sehr in den Köpfen verankert ist, dass eine Lovestory, die nicht Enemies to Lovers ist, manchmal in die Kategorie „keine Chemie“ fällt.

Ich hab’s schon sehr gefühlt, ich hab dieses „wir finden uns immer“ geliebt und bisschen geweint am Schluss und ich fand’s Sweet wie sie sich kennengelernt haben.

Leider ging es mir aber im „After“ zu schnell, hier hätte ich mir einfach ein wenig mehr reaping gewünscht, denn was vollkommen untergegangen ist, ist für mich die Beziehung zu Esen und Dev. Plötzlich waren alle so „We are family“ und ich so „oh????“

Ansonsten mega Sweetes Buch, nicht super deep aber ich mochte die Protagonistin definitiv gerne und die Musik in dem Buch war top

gigigigigi13's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.75

lucy_books's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• 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

5.0

jjustdylaan's review against another edition

2.0

2.5 stars.

cool premise. gave me absolutely nothing.
sickly sweet and bland.