TL;DR: Everything about this resonated and it was wonderful. I think I’ve discovered another new favourite this year! I’m an emotional reader as it is but I love when a book can reel me in and get me so deeply in my feelings. I don’t know if it’s the things that have been going on with me personally over the last year (plus+), but the discussions of loss, grief and healing, finding hope, and rediscovering love, just hit me so hard and I found myself constantly crying, laughing, and swooning as I read. I also loved the honest and heartfelt romance—it was swoony and heartwarming and I enjoyed reading about Florence and Ben together! Long story short, I’m so glad I read this and I highly recommend it.

Holy granola, when my bookish friends told me they thought I would like this book, I don’t think they could’ve even anticipated just how emotional it would make me and just how much I would fall in love with the words, characters, and romance. I can’t even apologise for how messy this review is gonna be (because you know the drill when it comes to books I love to bits)!

I really enjoyed Poston’s writing. The combination of wit, humour, and heartfelt made for an enjoyable, albeit very emotional, read that had me speeding through the pages because I was invested in our MC’s character growth and the steady, swoontastic romance. To be honest, I don’t even know if I would classify this strictly as a romance because although it was a big part of Florence’s character arc, it felt rather “minor” in comparison to the themes of loss, grief and healing. Clearly, that didn’t make me love this book any less but for those who pick this up expecting a typical contemporary romance, you might be disappointed to not find it so straightforward here. Though that’s definitely not to say that the romance wasn’t wonderful because it absolutely was and I ship these two so hard! 😍

I loved Florence. She’s a bit messy but completely relatable, although that didn’t mean that there weren’t times that I wanted to give her a good long shake. But I loved how well Poston wrote about her growth. She’s been through a lot, especially in the heartbreak department courtesy of the latest douchecanoe she dated over a year ago. She no longer believes in love despite being a ghostwriter for a prolific romance author and now in addition to the stress of being unable to write happy endings, she also has to deal with the devasting passing of her father. The loss and grief were palpable and hit like a sledgehammer to the chest but because of that, I also found it more uplifting and hopeful as she goes through the healing journey and starts to bring down her walls and learn to let people back in again. Again, the emotions really hit me hard with this one and I felt for her so much!

Benji Andor was an intriguing MMC who gave me strong 2005 Mr Darcy/Lee Pace vibes and I was entirely here for it. He’s Florence’s new editor who is stoic and formal but has a soft hopeless romantic heart. I absolutely adored him. He was incredibly swoony and some of the moments between them really had me MELTING—squealing in “it was so good”! 🤣 Despite their romance being pretty unconventional, what with him being a ghost and her being very much alive, I liked that it gave them the space to be more vulnerable with each other and gave them room to grow. Their attraction is pretty insta and although they’ve known each other for a short time, their connection felt very genuine, and the more time they spent getting to know each other, the stronger their chemistry became. I loved the heightened romantic tension and mutual pining! I loved how they both were avid romance readers and appreciators (even despite Florence’s “romance is dead” stance at the beginning) and I thought their opposites attract/chaotic romance ghostwriter x refined romance editor vibe was perfect. It was also a matter of simply accepting each other as they are and that always melts my heart! Their romance was so soft and sweet and incredibly wholesome. Ah, I loved it (if you can’t tell, lol)!

I can honestly go on about how much I loved this book and how it so unexpectedly got me in my feels but I’ll stop while I’m ahead and just say READ IT! 😍

Have you read The Dead Romantics or is it on your TBR?

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