Hi friends! I have been sitting on this review for so long, mainly because I wanted to post it in the month of love. I had high hopes for The Dead Romantics. Unfortunately, those hopes were dashed. Let’s get into my slightly ranty review of The Dead Romantics!
{You might also like – The Best Romance Books for Adults}
Quick 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.
About The Dead Romantics
Title: The Dead Romantics
Author: Ashley Poston
Rating: 2.5 Stars
Genre: Romance, Contemporary, Paranormal
Content Warnings: Parental death, bullying.
Pages: 368
Age Range: 17+
Publisher: Berkley
Date Published: June 28, 2022
Goodreads Description: 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.
I received a review copy from Jonathan Ball Publishers. All opinions are my own.
Purchase Links
Purchase The Dead Romantics here!
The Dead Romantics Review
I wanted to love this book. I really did. It seemed like the perfect read for me, Ali Hazelwood even blurbed it. Everyone and their mother said it was perfect, emotional, funny, and heartwarming. Objectively it probably was. Subjectively though, I didn’t enjoy it.
I felt zero connection to the characters’ personalities or the romance between them. The writing was surprisingly dense, and the author kept repeating herself over and over again. I found myself skipping over large parts of the descriptions and just reading the dialogue.
Ben isn’t fleshed out enough as a love interest, apart from the fact that he’s supposed to be super big and a hard-ass editor (which he really isn’t). Florence just fell flat, and I really didn’t buy into their romance at all. And for those who were wondering, The Dead Romantics isn’t really spicy.
There are parts of the book I enjoyed, such as the paranormal elements and the Addams family vibes. Everyone grieves in their own way, and I think this was a neutral, yet hopeful portrayal.
Obviously, there are a lot of people who enjoyed this book, so here is a more positive review for you to read!
Books Similar to The Dead Romantics – Recommendations
Similarities: Paranormal elements, some romance, a mystery to solve.
Similarities: Paranormal romance younger readers can also enjoy.
Similarities:
Romance, also based on Reylo fanfiction.
Chat with me about The Dead Romantics
Did you enjoy The Dead Romantics?
If you enjoy my content, please consider supporting me by buying me a coffee!
Pin This!
I agree! He was there the whole time but felt so flat that I didn’t feel like it was a romance.
Okay…it wasn’t just me. I’ve been waiting to post because I was hoping my copy from Fairyloot would arrive soon, but it hasn’t.
The family and the paranormal parts were my favorite as well. I kept hoping dad would show up. 😭
The romance itself was just okay. It was not as developed as I hoped it would be. Honestly, I would have been okay without.