Book Tour Review: The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston

I’m delighted to be on the book tour today for The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston! Ashley Poston moves effortlessly through so many genres, and has firmly cemented herself as one of my favorite authors.

About the Book:

Title: The Dead Romantics

Author: Ashley Poston

Page Length: 368

Publication Date: June 28, 2022

Publisher: Berkley

Synopsis:A disillusioned millennial ghostwriter who, quite literally, has some ghosts of her own, has to find her way back home in this sparkling adult debut from national bestselling author Ashley Poston.

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. 

LINKS:   Goodreads   |    Amazon

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, including Amazon, and I may earn a small commission, at no cost to you, if you purchase through my links.

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My Review:

I love this story! It’s fun and funny, heart-warming and heart-breaking, and so touching. The story follows Florence, a ghostwriter for a bestselling romance novelist who no longer believes in love. When she receives tragic news, Florence returns home to her family, their funeral home, and the town who ridiculed her as a child for talking to ghosts. Surprisingly, while home Florence sees the ghost of her handsome new editor, a man she shred one electrifying kiss with. Florence helps her editor with his unfinished business while facing family wounds, loss, love, and more.

Florence is such a compelling protagonist. A ghostwriter who sees ghosts, Florence doesn’t believe in love and has a big case of writer’s block. As her deadline looms, she can’t find the ending her book deserves. Though going back to the place where she grew up to bury her father isn’t the respite she wants, Florence ends up exactly where she needs to be, with the help of a surprising friend. A layered and dynamic character, Florence’s growth throughout the story is fantastic, and I love that she learns so much about herself, her relationships, and what is important to her. She also learns a lot about love.

Returning home to her family is difficult for Florence, as she wasn’t treated well by the townspeople after helping to solve a murder when she was a teen. Being back brings up a lot of unresolved feelings for her and her family. However, it’s also very cathartic for her, and by facing the past, she slowly learns more about herself and what she wants her life to look like. I like that the story explores complicated family relationships and how differently people are affected by them.

Much of the story focuses on death – how people are affected by it, how we approach it, and how we grieve for those we love and lose. I think a lot of what she feels as she prepares for her father’s funeral is relatable. My mother died twelve years ago, and Florence’s feelings still resonate with me. But as much as it’s about death, it’s also about love. It’s about connection and how deeply we love.

“Grief…wasn’t the absence of everything you lost-it was the culmination of it all, your love, your happiness, your bittersweets, wounds tight like a knotted ball of yarn.”

How beautiful is that? The story definitely made me think about death and loss in a different way.

I also love the relationship Florence develops with Ben. They had such a great spark at the start of the story, and I was shocked when something very unexpected happens, and their paths end up crossing when she goes home. They form such a wonderful connection, though their future appears finite. I love their banter and flirtations, and their chemistry is off the charts!

I adored this moving and layered story. It is bittersweet and sometimes sad, but it also has so much hope, warmth, and happiness. Plus, the romance!!! It’s the kind of story that makes you laugh and cry and think, and I can’t recommend it enough. Special thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Books for providing me with a copy of the book. All thoughts are my own.

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Rating:

Favorite Parts:

• Florence.

• The romance.

• The writing.

Favorite Lines:

If our pasts sang in the wind, our present was in the touch of his hands on my waist, the way his fingers trailed across my body, the breathless kisses he planted against my mouth, as if he wanted to write me into his memory-burn it there.

Love wasn’t a whisper in the quiet night. It was a yelp into the void, screaming that you were here.