The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: June 28, 2022
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Magical Realism
Book Review
Florence Day has always been able to see ghosts. Now working as a ghostwriter for a very famous romance author, Florence is anxious to leave that part of her life behind. But when her father dies unexpectedly, she returns home to South Carolina to the funeral home run by generations of her family. Florence hopes she will see her dead father, but instead finds the ghost of the editor of her latest book. Unsure of how he got there, Florence must help Benji sort out his unfinished business and finish her book before he disappears forever.
To be honest, I didn’t know if I would like this book when I first started it. Magical realism can be so hit or miss for me. Plus, stories involving ghosts can be handled so poorly. I’m happy to report that this is not the case with The Dead Romantics. I devoured it in a few days. It left me with that special kind of cozy feeling that only a good book is capable of.
The Dead Romantics is told entirely from Florence’s perspective in the first person. I loved Florence. She’s such an authentic character. I also loved her family, especially her dead father. The eclectic list of demands he leaves for her family for his funeral is completely priceless! It includes 1000 wildflowers and Elvis. Florence is tasked with sorting out the details and hunting down his list of demands and it becomes almost a scavenger hunt.
If you like emotional family stories with romance and a ton of magical realism, this one is for you!
Thank you to Berkley and Netgalley for the review copy! All opinions are my own.
Synopsis from Goodreads
Florence Day is the ghostwriter for one of the most prolific romance authors in the industry, and she has a problem—after a terrible breakup, she no longer believes in love. It’s as good as dead.
When her new editor, a too-handsome mountain of a man, won’t give her an extension on her book deadline, Florence prepares to kiss her career goodbye. But then she gets a phone call she never wanted to receive, and she must return home for the first time in a decade to help her family bury her beloved father.
For ten years, she’s run from the town that never understood her, and even though she misses the sound of a warm Southern night and her eccentric, loving family and their funeral parlor, she can’t bring herself to stay. Even with her father gone, it feels like nothing in this town has changed. And she hates it.
Until she finds a ghost standing at the funeral parlor’s front door, just as broad and infuriatingly handsome as ever, and he’s just as confused about why he’s there as she is.
Romance is most certainly dead . . . but so is her new editor, and his unfinished business will have her second-guessing everything she’s ever known about love stories.
About the Author
Ashley Poston loves dread pirates, moving castles, and starry night skies.
Ashley graduated from the University of South Carolina with a BA in English. She has worked at Kodansha USA and Bloomsbury Publishing as a social media coordinator and marketing designer respectively. Currently, she offers her work to freelance clients and writes full-time. Her books have appeared on the Indie Next List multiple times, and have been featured in Teen Vogue, Seventeen, Entertainment Weekly, Hypable, Buzzfeed, and in the Goodreads Choice Awards. Her critically-acclaimed sci-fi duology, Heart of Iron, was named on 2019’s Rainbow List.
When not writing, she plays Dungeons and Dragons and reads fanfic. She lives in South Carolina with her bossy cat, and they are firm believers that we’re all a bunch of weirdos looking at other weirdos, asking for their username.
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Erin Evelyn Reads 