The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston – beautiful and ghostly paranormal contemporary

The Dead Romantics is emotive, touching, heartwarming, beautiful and ghostly paranormal contemporary with many layers and amazing quirky characters.

Disclaimer – Many thanks to Berkley for eARC via NetGalley.
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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. 

Review

beautiful and ghostly paranormal contemporary

The Dead Romantics is beautiful and emotive paranormal contemporary that follows Florence Day, a ghostwriter for a bestselling romance author, who no longer believes in romance or happily ever after and was having very bad day –
New editor, Ben, refused to give her extension of deadline for the last book she is ghostwriting for the author;
Her ex’s new book is coming out that is actually her story he stole;
and she receives news of her father’s death that makes her return to her hometown that chased her away a decade ago.
To make it worse when she returns home she finds ghost of Ben at her family’s funeral parlor.

It was interesting to see how she will deal with loss, ghost of new editor, family wounds, her past with the town, and the deadline of the book.

The story is about grief, loss, death, betrayal, unresolved past, self-belief, confidence, friendship, acceptance, and learning the meaning of love.

This is fourth book I read in which main character can see ghost and after reading this I’m officially fan of books that deals with death. I absolutely loved this concept and author has written this beautifully, it touched my heart and soul. I couldn’t exactly say where things are going and how it will end which makes it different from all other books I read with this concept.

I loved all characters especially Florence. She is quirky and timid, who didn’t like confrontations. She could see ghosts but didn’t want this gift as it troubled her childhood but she shared this gift with her father which bonded them more than anyone else in family. She is easy to root for. I could feel her pain and loss. She couldn’t see her own worth, how amazing writer she is and how kind and selfless she is. I wanted to punch her ex for making her feel like she deserved what happened to her. Like her friend and her sister I too wanted to fight with people for her.

I so much loved her growth and development. It was amazing to see how being with Ben’s ghost and helping with her father’s funeral arrangement made her come out of shell, accept her gift, regain confidence and strength to deal with unresolved issues, face her bully, and most of belive in romance and love once again.

I didn’t understand Ben‘s reaction in first chapter that made me confuse about his first impression but as story progressed we see how kind, lovely, and vulnerable he is. He too had past baggage and like Florence he too needed to believe what happened wasn’t his fault. There is more to him than I thought and he brings many interesting surprises in the climax.

I loved Florence’s family. Her father, Xavier Day, who owned Days Gone Funeral Home and was undertaker and funeral director. The family and their funeral home gave them Addams family vibe. We know more about Florence’s father through their memory and during his funeral arrangement. Every time he was mentioned he brought huge smile. His odd requests showed how quirky, lively, and interesting person he was who made his own funeral look like party and occasion to celebrate. I liked Florence’s relationship with her siblings, Carver and Alice. Carver is fun and lively middle child who gelled the siblings together while Alice is organized and protective youngest sibling who loved very hard and only sibling who was always interested in family business. It was lovely to read about Florence’s parents’ love for each other that inspired Florence and made her believe in romance.

Romance between Florence and Ben is lovely and almost clean. The connection between them, banter, and conversations is amazing. It felt very real and I loved how they found each other again and again.

The best part is the setting of Days Gone Funeral Home and Mairmont, its community, characters and most of all how death, loss, and grief is dealt in the story. There is so much depth with this topic and it was beautiful the way the author represented it, how every person deals with their loss, and I loved how Day family chose to deal with it. Even though the theme of the book is serious and emotive, it doesn’t feel too poignant. There is equal amount of love, happiness, and comfort.

Climax is poignant, emotive, and filled with revelations. I had an idea but still wasn’t sure about why Ben was haunting Florence. His secret is really interesting and it made sense. That twist after the funeral is surprising. Honestly, by this point, I wasn’t expecting it but I loved that part and that long-awaited punch just made my day. I liked author took time with Florence’s happily ever after with everything that happened and it made the end more realistic and lovely.

Overall, The Dead Romantics is poignant, touching, heartwarming, beautiful and ghostly paranormal contemporary with many layers and amazing quirky characters.

I highly recommend this if you like,
The Addams family vibe
Ghost stories
Romance with ghost
Almost clean romance
Amazing family dynamic
Beautifully written story
Theme of death, loss, and grief
Small town romance
Main character is writer
Quirky and diverse characters
Poignant but heartwarming story
Unpredictable and emotive climax

Book Links

Goodreads | Storygraph | Amazon.in | Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

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