A review by haileylouise
Afterlove by Tanya Byrne

adventurous challenging emotional funny slow-paced
  • 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

3.5

I really enjoyed this book! I loved getting to read about a queer Guyanese MC and seeing how Ash navigates her life after meeting Poppy. It's definitely wholesome to see these two grow closer and grow to love each other throughout the fall and winter. In short, this is a lovely story about grief and love. 

I do wish that there was more of a fantasy element regarding the afterlife and the reapers. Ash is sort of just thrown in and does what she's told, mostly accepting the fact that she is a reaper and reaps whenever Deborah assigns someone to her. There is a lot of hush-hush talk about Deborah having some sort of authority and an even higher authority above her that created this reaping system. And it's very much a case of 'just don't do this or else' when Ash questions what would happen if she broke the rules. 

I also wish Deborah played a bigger role in this story! She did take on a sort of mother-like figure for the reaper girls but didn't do much beyond assignments and keeping up her guard around Ash.
I wish she did find out about Ash and Poppy because it would have caused a lot more tension and revealed a different part of her that we wouldn't have seen before. And it would let us explore more of the afterlife, seeing purgatory, where all of the souls go after traveling with Charon, etc.


Although the story was a bit slower-paced, the pacing really helped with the relationships being developed with Poppy, Dev, and Essen. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a sapphic romance with a lot of love and grief!
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