A tender, puntastic romcom about a ghostwriter who falls for her editor. I really enjoyed this adult debut from Ashley Poston that sees Florence returning home when her father dies only to start seeing the ghost of her new editor Ben. Disillusioned with love, Ben helps her find her way again and her voice to start writing her own happily ever afters. Highly recommended for fans of The Kindred spirits supper club. This was a closed door romance but I didn't mind a bit. If you love books about books and writing and the sweetest of cinnamon roll heroes, you don't want to miss this one! Much thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for my advance review copy!

That was my first book by Ashley Poston and it did not disappoint. I was interested in this for awhile, but then I learned that it was going to be one of B&N's monthly picks (which is where I work) so I decided I was DEFINITELY going to read it. I read it in a single day. It was such a sweet exploration of grief and discovering one's self.

This book was perfection for me from start to finish in a way that I was totally not expecting.

I want to start this out with a trigger warning. The death of a parent is a very strong central part of this story. The main character is very much in the beginning grieving stages of losing her dad. So please keep that in mind if that may be triggering for you.

Florence Day is the ghostwriter for one of the most well-known romance authors in the industry. But after a terrible breakup, she no longer believes in love, making finishing up the last book in her contract impossible. When her new editor, who also happens to be extremely good looking, refuses another extension on her manuscript, she knows her career is over. But sadly, that takes the back burner when she receives a phone call that changes her life. With her father gone, she has enough on her plate. It just gets more complicated when the ghost of her new editor turns up at the funeral parlor’s front door.

This is the most beautiful book in only the way a book set in a funeral home, with “I see dead people vibes” and all I could think about was how in the world am I falling for a ghost could be. One of the things I loved so much was that this was so different but in such a refreshing way. I pretty much read this in one sitting. The way the author wrapped up this story was *chef’s kiss*. The mention of SO many current well-known authors was such a treat. Plus, they eat breakfast at the Awful Waffle (Waffle House). They are definitely my people. This one was delightful in every kind of unexpected way.

Pick this up if you like:
-“I see Ghosts” stories
-Coming back home
-A delicious cast of supporting characters. I loved every single one of Florence’s family members
-A story that you are not 100% sure how it’s going to wrap up
-Fantastic and relatable family dynamics
-A raw portrayal of the overwhelming grief that losing a family member can bring
-A little bit of a dark sense of humor. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea. But I loved it

This was the summer ghost story I didn’t know I was missing!

This is an absolutely transcendent debut from Ashley Poston. I likely would not have picked this book up on my own since “paranormal romance” definitely isn’t my thing. But I am so so glad I did because it is easily one of my favorite reads of the year so far. And it made me cry, multiple times.

This book is full of such lovely reflections on life and love, death and grief. Florence’s family and the scenes of them together were my absolute favorite. It’s so rare to get a full and nuanced view of death and grief, but Poston nails it. The dynamics between Florence and Ben were also excellent. The snark and loving sarcasm, mixed with hilarious puns and dad jokes - these two spoke each other’s language and their connection was effortless.

I cannot wait to see what else Poston writes. Her style and voice are so unique!

Content warnings: References to death by heart attack and car accident; bullying.

Thanks to Berkley for the gifted copy. All opinions are my own.

I adored The Dead Romantics! It’s fun and funny, heart-warming and heart-breaking, and so touching. Ashley Poston moves effortlessly through so many genres, and has firmly cemented herself as one of my favorite authors.

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 is all, your love3, 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 connection 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.

The Dead Romantics was a charming and light-hearted story about healing and self-discovery wrapped in a cozy paranormal with romance woven throughout. Florence is a ghostwriter who sees ghosts - and when she sees the ghost of her new editor on the steps of her family's funeral home after her father's unexpected passing and her recent struggles to finish her most recent novel - small town antics and family squabbles ensue. Lots of great banter - not only between Florence and Ben, but the Day family as a whole. And plenty of puns, sarcasm, and gallows humor to make you laugh out loud. While the writing was definitely engaging and I finished the entire book in just a few hours, I didn't really feel for the character dynamics or relationships in the story. While I could easily believe the history there with Florence's family, the romance with Ben and her friendship with Rose was lacking for me.

I received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

This book was EVERYTHING. It is an absolute delight! A book lover's dream, The Dead Romantics is quirky, angsty, and full of heart. The small town setting combined with the funeral parlor mansion was simply kismet. I adored all the name drops of romance novels and authors as well. I loved this book so much!

Florence Day is a ghostwriter for an immensely popular romance author who has to deal with some ghosts of her own, both figurative and literal. After a betrayal by her lover, Florence no longer believes in romance and is having trouble finishing her current romance, the last in her contract, despite a number of contract extensions.

When she meets Benji Andor who is her new editor after the previous editor's retirement, she is told that there will be no more extensions and the book is due almost immediately. However, a phone call from her mother telling her that her beloved father has died from a sudden heart attack, sends her rushing back home to the town she fled right after high school graduation. She's stayed away for ten years.

Dealing with her own grief and that of her mother, brother and sister would be hard enough, but then the ghost of Benji Andor appears with issues of his own. Florence has seen ghosts since she was a child. In fact, seeing ghosts and helping one find his killer when she was thirteen and the harassment and bullying that followed, were the main reasons she left home never to return.

This was an engaging story about grief which was also a romance. The love between her parents and their love for their children infuse this book. I enjoyed watching Florence's attitude about love and romance evolve through the course of this story.

People looking for a unique sort of romance with wonderful, quirky characters will greatly enjoy this book.

Full review posted to links after embargo date.

There’s a lot of things going on here plot-wise that have the opportunity to turn the book into a real downer, but it’s honestly a delight - Florence’s family finds a real balance in enjoying the Addams Family-ness of it all and respecting the honor of being someone’s final caretaker, and the book achieves the same sort of levity. It all feels very… earnest, somehow, without being twee.

Because there’s a lot of elements to this, not everything feels entirely fulfilled. I think we could have excised some of the smaller pieces and have been left with a stronger book. But it’s such a lovely, thoughtful, funny read that it’s hard to complain. So fun and cozy, and just a great time.

Oh my heck.

This book.

I mean ... really ... this book.

From the very beginning I fell in love with poor disillusioned Florence and I felt her feelings from deep within my very soul. By the time I hit 19% I had already filled two pages of my reading journal with quotes and began to question if I would ever be able to come close to doing it justice with just the beginning and one other blurb. I started debating said blurbs as early as 6%.

*** It'd been a year since The Breakup -- everyone has at least one in their lives. You know the one, right? The kind of breakup from a love you thought would last your entire lifetime, only to find your heart ripped out with a spork by your former lover and placed on a silver platter with FUCK YOU written in ketchup. ***

I was so tempted to use that. But, really, I was only 6% in and there was still 94% of options left to go. So I kept going. And going. And almost didn't sleep. And definitely didn't eat. And even thought about calling in for a mental health night at work ... especially after the 12% option almost killed me.

*** Love was a high for a moment that left you hollow when it left, and you spent the rest of your life chasing that feeling. A false memory, too good to be true, and I'd been fooling myself for far too long, believing in Grand Romantic Gestures and Happily Ever Afters. ***

Still too early and probably too depressing and still 88% left. And, really, it isn't a depressing book at all. Well, not entirely. I could blurb some of the moments that made me snort my coffee. I could fill an entire collage box with puns or gallows humor or Elvis or the multi-term mayor, Fetch, who just happens to be a golden retriever. I could go on for days about the multitudes of moments that ended up feeling like a rib-cracking hug from her dad. Her entirely family, really. Or her ghost.

I'm opting for the ghost and one not-so-short blurb from 43%.

The rest you'll have to just read for yourself.

Full teaser post (with "winning blurb") at https://wellreadpiratequeen.blogspot.com/2022/06/the-dead-romantics-by-ashley-poston.html

Thank you Penguin Random House for my e-ARC in exchange for the honest review.

Florence is the ghostwriter for one of the most prolific romance authors in the industry. But after a terrible breakup she no longer believes in love. She works in a publishing where every story has a happy ever after. And she was suggesting to have a different ending, like a book who doesn’t have a “happy ever after” but Ben says that their business had happy ever afters.

Lee was an asshole. See used Florence to make his own book. He make a story about Florence secret. And he’s going to say was “you can still write your romance” like what the f Lee.

The Dead Romantics--being a paranormal romance--was a bit outside my contemporary romance loving comfort zone, but after hearing the author talk about her story, I knew I had to give it a try. Ultimately, this ended up being story that tugged at my heartstrings (making my eyes a little teary while on the elliptical at the gym oops), and one I enjoyed immensely. Reminiscent of Emily Henry's works or The Invisible Husband of Frick Island, but with a ghostly twist, the story follows romance ghost writer Florence. Turns out in addition to be a ghost writer, Florence can also talk... to... ghosts. But when she returns home for her father's funeral the last ghost she expects to see is that of her hunky editor Ben.

This book addresses some deep topics (while avoiding others, when it comes to death, entirely) and manages to come full circle as a romance novel without being too tragic. I think this book leaned into the kind of "sweeping forbidden romance" theme, when it could have just as easily gone into a more humorous, secret-hiding Bewitched direction. Because ultimately, the book is deathly serious, aside from a few puns (see what I did there?), but somehow manages to conjure the HEA that seems impossible so much of the book.

Thanks to Berkley for my eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

5 stars - 8/10

Short Review: Addams Family meets Ghost meets The Sixth Sense. A ghosty delight. This book will have you laughing and also reaching for the tissues.

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

Long Review: This has got to be one of the quirkiest books I've ever read. It's packaged as a rom com, but damn it packs a punch. Overcoming grief and loss of a loved one are huge themes and at times, they overshadow the romance. I teared up multiple times.

There are a lot of various tropes mixed together, like enemies to lovers, ex revenge, stuck together, and character miscommunication/misunderstanding. All of these are, for the most part, are wrapped up nicely in the end.

Read this one, if you are looking for some weird, quirky , fun!

Before starting with the review I want to thank PRH International for sending me an e-arc!
Okay, I loved this book, so please go read it! I liked the way the author has written it a lot, she has managed to capture the feelings of the characters in a way that I could also feel the same as them. I fell completely in love with everything, I loved Florence and her family, especially her dad, Ben, EVERYONE!
It's been a long time since a book made me feel so many emotions, I laughed a lot, it was a very entertaining read and very, very cute!
PS: Ben represents me, I LOVE romance novels too!!

Thank you NetGalley, Berkley, and Ashley Poston for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review! This is a cute book that focuses on Florence as she travels back to her hometown after her father dies. It talks about the town, which is super cute, and her life as a ghostwriter and how her family owns a funeral home. Speaking of, she can also see ghosts, and begins to see her former editor Benji.

I really enjoyed the premise of this novel and certain parts. I loved the descriptions of her hometown and how she and her family began to bond. However, I thought that some parts of the story were a little too much. Some things fit together too well and I could predict the ending and twists easily. However, it is really cute, and I think people will enjoy it.

This reminds me of a version of The Haunting of Hill House that’s romantic and funny instead of scary. It has a cute romance, great family relationships, and a unique town. 3 stars!

This book has to be my favorite read of the year. I was so excited to read it because I knew the book would be at the store I work at and I wanted to have an opinion when it came out, and oh my god I cannot wait to passionately rant to customers about this. The story is about Florence, a ghostwriter who can see ghosts. While trying to recover after her father's death, she realizes the ghost of her previous editor, Ben, is attached to her. Florence attempts to finish her manuscript even though she believes love is dead. I have no complaints. I was blushing, giggling, and smiling this whole read. The plot is so unique and the main character is complex. Ben is adorable and an amazing character with so much depth. I think the grieving in this book was accurately portrayed and the way death (and moving on) was described is beautiful. I cannot recommend this book enough.

I'm such a fan of Poston's YA work, and it was a total joy to see how her voice translated to an adult story and readership. The Dead Romantics braids a heartfelt, emotional tale of grief with a sweet, budding romance and a conflicted personal artistic journey. As deftly woven in Poston's hands, we see how grief, love, and art intersect, all within a world that seems ready for a Wes Anderson film adaptation. Everyone's a little quirky, as is the setting, and although the opening chapters set us up for a trope-y rom-com, the central action revolves around fulfilling a list of unusual requests for a funeral (a singing Elvis, an unwieldy number of flowers to collect, a murder of crows in attendance, a secret letter to be read.) Meanwhile, there's a past-deadline novel to finish, a ghost to usher into a peaceful afterlife, family bonds to strengthen, and old wounds to tend to. I loved the humour and the fun Poston had with finding a comedic side to death, even while telling a tale of the tremendous, lasting impact a major loss can have on one's life. Perfect for readers looking for something unique in the romance space, those who enjoy a bit of black humour, and those on their own journeys to understand the inextricable links between love and death.

This is not an easy book to review, because there were some aspects of The Dead Romantics I truly enjoyed, and other aspects that really didn't work for me. The premise-- a ghostwriter who can actually see ghosts falls for her hot editor who actually is a ghost-- grabbed me immediately. I enjoyed the insider's view of the publishing industry, sympathized with Florence's dilemma of trying to write a romance novel after having her own heart broken. When her beloved father, owner of a funeral home in North Carolina, died suddenly, I was interested in the direction the story would take.
Unfortunately, when Florence arrived back home, the sweetness and heart of the story were overwhelmed by over the top quirkiness of her family, her madly-in-love-parents who met at a furry con, the small Southern town with a dog for a mayor, an Elvis impersonator performing at Dad's funeral, etc. A little of this would have been charming. Taken all together, it was like the cloying scent of a hundred funeral flowers. Just too much. Several times, I almost bailed on the book.
And then...there was the twist I never saw coming. One that (almost) redeemed the story and made me glad I continued reading. So while I didn't love it, I didn't hate it, and give the author credit for taking an intriguing romance idea and making it (mostly) work.

So I know early readers seem to be loooving this one, and I don’t hate it, but I’m also not dead
-over-heels for it (yes, pun intended). There seem to be three separate book/plot setups in the first 1/3 and not enough attention dedicated to any of them to indicate a main thread.

The secondary characters and locations felt like they had a checklist of a few characteristics, that are repeatedly mentioned, but there’s no depth to them. Okay, the locales do get some good descriptions here and there but it still felt, not cliché exactly, but not not cliché.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some fascinating setups but I wanted the author to lean more into them. Play up the ghosties! Play up the drama! Play up any kind of vengeance on the ex boyfriend! Instead I felt like I was just in a limbo of grief and familial emotions that didn’t really peak.

And that might even be fine except that I wasn’t sold on the lukewarm romance. We don’t get enough equality of development for Benji and then between Ben and Flo. It’s such a great idea too which is why I think I’m being so critical. I had higher hopes.

But again, other people have loved it way more so maybe it’s just me. Overall, I’m glad I read it but it wasn’t spectacular.

Florence Day is a romance ghostwriter that doesn’t believe in love. Well, she did but not anymore. It’s not like she doesn’t believe love is real, it’s just that it's probably not going to happen to her again. After a bad breakup she finds impossible to write more romance books. There is no way she can write a happy ending when her happy ending was a failure. But is that so?

Love can be unexpected. But what if you fell in love with your editor while… you know, he’s just dead? Funny, right?

This book explores so many important subjects about grief, hope and love. Saying goodbye to someone you love is hard. Knowing you’ll never see that person again is probably one of the worst feelings on earth.

But Florence can see dead people. It’s a gift she inherited from her dad. He’s not here anymore and she struggles to find stability between her emotional, familiar and working life. However, amidst the chaos, a familiar shadow appears at her house in Mairmont. Yes, her editor. As I said, he’s dead. Why is he there? Florence needed to finish the book and maybe that was it. But life is hard and writing is not a priority. Not even love. However, as the time goes by, conversations arise and suddenly there are so many things from the past that connects their souls.

As the story unravels, love finds its way in another type of reality. Between a dead and pretty much alive body. I was indeed surprised how warm and funny this love story was. An Addams Family moment with a lot of smiles and challenges. At the end, my heart was healed. It was the happy ending you needed after saying goodbye. I believe that romance readers (but not only) will find this book special and enjoyable.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for this eARC.