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A review by asparagusisreading
Afterlove by Tanya Byrne
emotional
medium-paced
- 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
Thank you to NetGalley, Hodder Children's Books, the FierceReads team, and Tanya Byrne for gifting me this e-arc in exchange for a review.
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Violence, and Car accident