The Dead Romantics: The perfect laugh-out-loud rom-com from the New York Times bestseller!
£7.90£8.50 (-7%)
The Seven Year Slip, the magical new rom-com from Ashley Poston is available to pre-order now!
*The New York Times and USA Today bestseller!*
‘I LOVED this book! Funny, hopeful and dreamy’ Ali Hazelwood
‘An absolute delight’ Christina Lauren
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Florence Day is a ghost-writer with one big problem. She’s supposed to be penning swoon-worthy novels for a famous romance author but, after a bad break-up, Florence no longer believes in love. And when her strict (but undeniably hot) new editor, Benji Andor, won’t give her an extension on her book deadline, Florence prepares to kiss her career goodbye.
Although when tragedy strikes and Florence has to head home, the last thing she expects to see is a ghost at her front door. Not just any ghost, however, but the stern form of her still very hot – yet now unquestionably dead – new editor.
As sparks start to fly between them, Florence tells herself she can’t be falling for a ghost – even an infuriatingly sexy one. But can Benji help Florence to realise love isn’t dead, after all?
If you fell in love with Beach Read, The Love Hypothesis and The Hating Game, this laugh-out-loud romance packed with sizzling chemistry will give you all the feels!
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Readers LOVE The Dead Romantics:
‘The perfect rom-com, especially if you like your book editors as sexy as Benji Andor’ Red
‘Smart, quick, delicious’ Emma Straub
‘Fresh, fun, thoroughly modern… truly a rom-com to die for!’ Rachel Hawkins
‘Made me fall in love, broke my heart then reassembled it, and left me swooning. Romantic, hilarious, heart-warming’ Gwenda Bond
‘A refreshing rom-com about love, loss, and hope… the sparkling dialogue makes the characters come alive’ Publishers Weekly
‘This book made me sob, wow.It made me feel so many feelings… Please prepare to have nonstop tears running down your face.’ Netgalley, 5 stars
‘This book destroyed my life but in a hot way… I haven’t cried this much because of a book in probably two years.’ Netgalley, 5 stars
‘Adorably romantic and an absolute pleasure to read.’ Netgalley, 5 stars
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Additional information
| Publisher | HQ, 1st edition (29 Sept. 2022) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 368 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 0008566569 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0008566562 |
| Dimensions | 12.9 x 2.34 x 19.8 cm |
by studentnurse_sam_x
Well. What can I say. Ashley Poston has done it again – I’m not sure I was ready for a book with a squatty potty reference ???? – but I’m here for it (it’s good for the digestion!).
I am a huge fan of Ashley’s YA Geekerella series which uses fandom as a backdrop to her romances. Now with this foray into adult fiction we have publishing as our backdrop but with some additional supernatural goings on. This makes this a perfect spooky season read.
This is the second book recently I’ve read where I can reference Ghost Whisperer as a comparison (see my review of middle grade book The Whisperling) and I’m not at all mad about that – what with it being one of my favourite shows.
Florence Day has grown up around death – literally. Her family run Days Gone Funeral Home (excellent name) and both her father and her see dead people walking around like regular people! Hounded out of her small town because of this gift, Florence headed to the big smoke and tried to turn her love of writing smutty X-Files fan fic into a career in romance fiction. After her first novel doesn’t take off in quite the way she’d hoped she ends up ghostwriting (lol) for a hugely successful romance writer. We meet her as the last book on that contract is due – but the thing is she has writer’s block. How can you write romance when you’ve had your heart smashed?
Florence’s ex is a despicable piece of work who deserves much worse than he gets in my opinion. Seriously he makes my blood boil.
Pulled back to her home after a family tragedy she finds a ghost on the doorstep of her family home but this ghost is very out of place and unwelcome. After all he didn’t give her an extension on her novel! Rude. It’s her very hot editor Benji Andor who on first meeting him the words “climb him” were screamed by her inner voice – although sadly that turns out not to be possible when you can’t touch a ghost. But is it possible for the spirit of romance to be reignited? No spoilers here but I was satisfied with the journey Florence went on.
I will say that this was perhaps a slightly slower start than we’ve grown used to but the payoff makes it worth it and Ashley’s writing is easy to read and comforting.
This mixes the best echoes of Christmas Hallmark movies (but with Halloween vibes in April – and not Christmas), Sweet Home Alabama and A million funerals and a wedding! I loved this exploration of complex family relationships, small town gossip and an incorporeal romance. Poston brings her humour and pop culture references naturally across into the adult sphere where she can be a little more spicy (although only in small doses – we don’t actually get any of the X-Files smut on the page! More’s the pity).
The small town of Mairmont with its doggie Mayor (this needs to become a thing – the world would be so much kinder) becomes a character itself and I fell in love with it too. I loved the incidental non binary and queer characters because there was no negative focus on this – they just were and this is what the world should be.
If the Reader Discussion questions are anything to go by keep your fingers crossed for a sequel and more Mairmont. I’d equally be happy with other books following some of our side characters.
Although grief is a big theme in this story the book itself is hopeful and not macabre and focuses very much on death as part of life. In the author’s note Ashley Poston talks about her fear of death which I very much share – so to write such a book must have been a therapy session as much as it was reading it.
A huge thank you to Ashley for this piece of magic and to HQ Stories for the gifted copy for the purposes of an honest review. Do check out what everyone else on the tour thought.
by Becky Crook
Florence Day no long believes in love. The only problem, she is the ghost writer for one of the most prolific romance writers out there and she is long overdue on her latest book. When she goes to meet her new editor to ask for a deadline he refuses and Florence is stuck wondering how she can write this happily ever after when she no longer believes in them. But then the unthinkable happens, she receives a phone call saying her father has died. Returning to the town that she felt ran her out isn’t something she’s looking forward too, made all the more awkward when she finds a ghost standing at the front door of her family’s funeral home, and not just any ghost, but the ghost of her editor, Benji, and he’s understandably just as confused by his appearance as she is. Romance my be dead, but so is her infuriatingly hot editor and his unfinished business will have Florence questioning things about herself, her job and love. Maybe, just maybe, happily ever afters do exist after all.
I’ll admit, I went into this book with a fair idea of how it would go, but boy did I get it wrong. The Dead Romantics tells the story of Florence Day, a character I instantly fell in love with. She’s the kind of quirky romance lead I love, but through her, Poston also deals with some hard hitting topics such as death and grief. We start the story with Florence absolutely sure that true love doesn’t exists, but through the book she starts to realise that love can come from the strangest of places and may just appear when you least expect it. She really grows as a character through this book, and thanks to a friend gets to delve more into her relationships both romantic and not, and she gets a better perspective on life and what’s truly important.
Understandably, this story deals, in large part, with death and the grief that follows. Poston shows the different ways in which people grieve, the different ways in which they come to accept loss. It was an incredibly realistic view, and I couldn’t help but empathise with Florence, with her need to take up the mantel of eldest sibling, to take on impossible jobs determined not to ask for help, to not show weakness. Poston shows that grief isn’t the end of love, but rather the celebration of it, we grieve the time we spent with someone, all the small moments that we will never get to experience again, but will always be a huge part of who we are.
I loved the romance arc in this book, and this was the part of the story I thought I had nailed down, but Poston managed to absolutely floor me with her ending. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Florence open up to Ben about so many things she feels are a weakness, but in fact are things that so many people experience. They teach each other new things, bring about new experiences and Ben slowly but surely gets Florence to believe that love might just be in the cards for her. It’s hard to talk about them fully without giving away spoilers, but it’s safe to say that I adored the ending and was so happy it ended the way it did.
This story was bittersweet, heartwarming, sad in parts, but also filled with so much hope. Poston has a knack for writing characters that you instantly fall in love with, and this story was no different. It’s definitely a quirky read, but I adored reading Florence’s story and seeing her slowly open up to the people that love her and come to realise that she doesn’t have to carry the weight of the world alone. An easy 4/5 stars.
by studentnurse_sam_x
I honestly cannot get over this book and how much I enjoyed it! ???? – was it perfect no, were there a few things I didn’t quite get or like, yes. But my reading experience was top notch and I had such a great time with it, it gave me all the feels and that’s what counts.
I also read this along with the audio book on Scribd, the narrator did a fantastic job and I think this added to my reading experience all the more.
↳ ???????????????????????????????? is a ghostwriter for a very successful romance author and shares a unique talent, if you would call it that, with her father they can both see ghosts! I loved her character and reading through her grief and the troubles from her last made her feel really relatable.
↳ ???????????????????? is the ghost who appears before Florence and they are both just as confused as to why he is there. I LOOOOVED him! He was a pure delight and gave Florence the emotional support she needed through what was a hard time for her.
???????????? ???????????????????????????????? ???????????????????? ???????????? ???????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????? ???????????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????????????? ???????????? ???????????????? ????????????????｡
I love that this book was more than just a typical romance and I loved some of the scenes between Florence and Benji! It covered grief so very well, there was a perfect amount of humour and I loved reading as Florence went on a path to self discovery, reconnecting with her family after so many years living away from home – it was also a real tearjerker in places!!
???????????????? ???????????????? : a prequel of Florence growing up with what she went through before she left town would make for an amazing read too!! ????