I’m always a sucker for a contemporary romance with a sprinkle of magic, and this book was just that! Delphie is a loner who has found that it’s easier for her to keep her guard up and so she lives on her own, without really any friends. But they all changes when she dies alone - and wakes up in a part of the Afterlife called Evermore. There she meets a handsome stranger, Jonah, who’s not actually dead but just unconscious - and feels an instant connection. But he gets sent back very quickly and Delphie makes a deal that if she can find him and have him kiss her in 10 days, she can stay alive.
So Delphie returns, and shenanigans ensue. Aided by her grumpy neighbor Cooper, she begins her search for Jonah and begins to collect friends along the way. And as the days go by, she realizes that it’s not just the thought of Jonah that keeps her going, but all the connections and love she’s found that has been there all along, only by making an effort to connect. And that while her life before was empty, she’s now found one truly worth fighting for.
This book was funny and silly and sweet and heartfelt, Delphie’s friendships and connections are truly the highlight - from her elderly and talented neighbor, Mr, Yoon, to the lovely librarian, Aled, and her spirited coworkers Jan and Leanne, everyone was so wonderfully fun and real. If I had to describe this book in one word, I’d say it was effervescent. I loved it!

This book got me out of the reading slump trenches.

The Love of My Afterlife is such a unique & comforting book. It reminded me a lot of the tv show The Good Place but set in London.

I liked the setting of the Afterlife. It was very warm and comforting. It felt like what we wish the afterlife would be like. I also loved the found family trope here. I’m a sucker for it when it’s done well & the author definitely tugged at my heart strings with this one. The love story itself was also extremely well executed. I mean I was crying!!! It was so beautiful to see Delphie get the happiness and love she craved.

This book has everything a reader could want. Definitely 💯 recommend!!!

A delightful, heartwarming romance that’s both an homage to the genre featuring plenty of tropes and a ghost story with a liberal serving of magical realism.

After an adolescence full of bullying by her peers (including her former best friend) and neglect and abandonment by both of her parents post-divorce, Delphie (age 27) purposely made her life small, avoiding any relationships (platonic or otherwise) for fear of letting in love which would further harm her. So, when she dies after choking on a hamburger, there’s little she regrets leaving behind. When she is awakened by Merritt, her quirky Afterlife Therapist, she finds herself in a launderette, a version of heaven called Evermore. When a handsome new arrival appears, there’s an instant attraction, but realizing that he’s just sedated not dead, Merritt zaps him back to Earth, leaving Delphie feeling like she’s lost a potential soulmate. Due to a clause in the Evermore Handbook, which hopeless romantic Merritt makes unsanctioned use of to satisfy her craving for a real-time epic love story, she allows Delphine to return home for 10 days to find him and get a kiss so she can stay.

What follows is a series of missed opportunities, zany adventures that pull Delphie far out of her comfort zone, and startling revelations concerning her colleagues and neighbors (especially the grumpy, handsome womanizer Cooper and the elderly, mute Mr. Yoon). Although it’s mostly lighthearted, there are some tearful moments related to grieving the death of a loved one, but it’s ultimately a redemptive story of Delphie’s breaking the chains of the trauma that left her in a joyless, loveless, self-imposed prison. The pacing is perfect, the angst is minimal, the characters are all fully formed, and it’s set in my favorite city, London. I highly recommend this hidden gem, and hope it finds a large readership in the U.S. market. Highly recommend to fans of Ashley Poston, Katherine Center, and Sarah Ready.

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Berkley through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Recently deceased Delphie meets a captivating man in the afterlife waiting room and is given a second chance at life and love if she can find him on earth within 10 days. Embarrassed by her undignified death and eager for a fresh start, Delphie embarks on a heartwarming and magical quest in a bustling city, guided by her heart and the unexpected help she receives along the way.

Kirsty Greenwood is one of my favorite romance authors and I was thrilled to see her picked up by Berkley! The premise of The Love of My After Life sounded intriguing and I loved that it contained magical realism. The Love of My After Life deserves all the stars! Kirsty’s writing is filled with love, laughter, and moments that pull at my heartstrings; it's like a hug in a book. I absolutely loved the banter, the insane situations Delphie gets herself into, and all the quirky supporting characters. I also loved the ode to wonderful romance authors sprinkled throughout the story. There were some insightful quotes that I adored. The afterlife elements were cozy and sweet, though tinged with sadness. Overall, the book was hopeful and uplifting. I also appreciated the exclusive content that Berkley and Kirsty provided. It was such an immersive reading experience and gaining more insight from Kirsty on specific scenes made me appreciate the book even more. Definitely recommend picking this one up if you like romance with fantasy elements and quirky side characters!

“People truly lose their minds when their hearts get broken.” 🥺

Delphie is dead. Dead from choking on a microwaveable hamburger whilst wondering if it is even real meat. Ugh. But when she bumps into “the one” in the afterlife waiting room, she is given a second chance at life, and love, if she can find him within ten days back in the land of the living.

Oh my did this book grab my heart. Delphie is one of the most endearing characters I’ve read in a long time. She’s emotionally scarred and therefore has isolated herself to protect her already beaten heart. But death gives her a fresh new perspective on life…a life that she has been missing. And her journey of self discovery is beautiful. And funny. And endearing. I just loved to root for her!

Thank you to Netgalley, Berkley Publishing, and the author for the ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

A twenty-seven-year-old woman finally starts living in Kirsty Greenwood’s The Love of My Afterlife.

It’s just too bad that she had to die first.

“Here lies Delphie Denise Bookham.
She died just as she lived: alone, perplexed, wearing something a bit sh[**].”

You would think that’s the end of the story, right?

It’s a good thing that Delphie’s Afterlife Specialist just so happens to be an avid romance reader, who loves a good, ole HEA.

When Delphie has a meet-cute with a handsome stranger in that launderette-themed waiting room for her afterlife, and it turns out that stranger was sent there by mistake, her Afterlife Specialist gives Delphie the chance to return to the land of the living to find him.

There’s a catch, of course: she has to find him AND he has to kiss her within the next ten days.

(Alexa, play “Kiss the Girl”.)

If Delphie succeeds, she gets to stay on Earth. If she doesn’t? Well, she’s back to being dead.

As the story progresses and she begins interacting more with the people around her, Delphie learns that maybe she’s not the only person that needs to (at least metaphorically) start living again.

This book delivers that perfect balance of humor and emotion. I laughed out loud. I was in my feels. I swooned. I got that wrapped-in-a-warm-hug feeling.

I just adored it.

I received an advance copy of the book from Berkley and NetGalley. All review opinions are my own.

What a cute romance!! I loved all the tropes thrown in one, and the ultimate messages around found family were really beautiful. This felt very much like a Sophie Kinsella book which was fun to read, but it felt like it was missing a little bit of depth. Otherwise I still really enjoyed it!

🌈Queer rep: none

Delphie is given a second chance at life after choking to death alone in her apartment. She's met the man of her dreams in the afterlife but he didn't actually die, so she's sent back with 10 days to find him. She wades through millions of people in London to find true loves first kiss to stay alive.

This novel focuses on finding love when you least expect it. Her friends and neighbors added such fun elements to the story. This love story is unique and quirky.

Thank you Berkley Publishing Group | Berkley

This is one of those new releases that just jumped out at me with its original storyline and instantly snagged a spot on my list of most anticipated romance books of 2024. It was my first book by Greenwood and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Delphie unexpectedly finds herself in the afterlife after choking on a burger and meets Merritt an Afterlife Therapist who’s a bit quirky herself and ends up sending Delphie back to earth to find her soulmate who she met at the pearly gates but who was also sent back to earth.

It’s not necessarily out of the goodness of her heart but because Merritt’s bored and would like Delphie to live out a romance book trope or two and give her a real life happily ever after story to watch unfold. It’s a super cute premise with Merritt voicing her frustration with Delphie at certain moments and trying to “help” her along since Delphie is 27-year-old who's never dated, never had a relationship and is still a virgin.

I love authors who create such unique stories with amazing characters who you love seeing get their happily ever after.

This story revolves around Delphie but both main characters are dealing with some major life issues that they end up working through given their forced proximity situation given Delphie’s timeline to find her soulmate.

Unfortunately or fortunately, it took choking on a microwavable burger for Delphie to realize what has been missing in her life and it may be too late. She is someone who has lived a very insular life and so her world became quite small. She was bullied as a teen, pretty much abandoned by her parents and since then has kept people at arms-length, never letting anyone in.
But in doing so her life consisted only of the job she went to across the street and the mute neighbor she would visit for breakfast every morning. Her brush with death and the timeline to change her fate ended up showing her what life could be like if she just opened herself up to others.

All of the quirky people she ended up befriending and letting in were a joy to read about too – her coworkers, the librarian, a random person she meets out and about. All of them were such great additions to her life and this story.

This actually becomes a bit of an enemies to lovers story that keeps drawing the main characters together. Their snark with one another was hilarious and yet it was super cute to see how their feelings changed due to a bit of forced proximity.

It’s hard to discuss this book for fear of giving away any potential spoilers so you just have to trust me when I say you should go into this blind and enjoy the ride.

Not only do you get a fun love story but I loved how Greenwood gave a nod to the romcom genre, name dropping so many favorite authors and titles of books, many which are my own personal favorites too. It was just fun to see another author fangirl over others which was a real treat.

If you love romcoms with unique storylines and characters who are just fun to root for, then be sure to add The Love of My Afterlife to your TBR list!

*Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

This is my first experience reading a novel by Kirsty Greenwood and now I want to go back and read her others. It's been a couple months since I read The Love of My After Life, but I am still swooning from it!

I loved everything about this book, including London's nod to Marie's Crisis Cafe. The characters were really quirky and interesting and the premise was clever and so much fun. There was a nice balance of humor, as well as handling sensitive topics such as grief. It reminded me why I love the chick lit, rom-com genre so much.

I was able to guess at a couple of parts of the story, but everything else was a complete surprise and I enjoyed being along for the ride.

The Love of My After Life is such a delightful story and an absolutely perfect rom com! It's impossible NOT to fall in love with this novel! Add it to your beach bag next week and don't plan to do any swimming once you pick it up.

(Trigger warnings below)

Movie casting suggestions:
Delphie: Rose Leslie
Jonah: Richard Madden
Cooper: Jai Courtney
Merritt: Samara Weaving
Frida: Claudia Jessie
Aled: Jamie Demetriou
Leanne: Mallory Jansen

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TW: bullying, death of sibling

Thank you Berkley Pub Berkley Romance for the free book and thank you PRH Audio for my #gifted listening copy of The Love of my Afterlife! #PRHAInfluencer #PRHAudioPartner #BerkleyBookstagram #berkleypub #BerkleyIG #berkley #berkleyromance

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐎𝐟 𝐌𝐲 𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: 𝐊𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐲 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐰𝐨𝐨𝐝
𝐍𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫: 𝐒𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐚 𝐎𝐱𝐞𝐧𝐡𝐚𝐦
𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟐. 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒

𝟰.𝟱★

I LOVED this book! It was my first book by Kirsty Greenwood but it will not be my last. I love books with magical realism and this one was just perfect! The writing was both hilarious and heartwarming and I absolution loved the main character, Delphie. This one is a must read for anyone who loves magical realism and rom-coms!

After Delphie dies by choking on a burger, she meets ’the one’ in the afterlife waiting room. Except he’s not dead and she’s being given ten days back on earth to find him to get a second chance at life and love. In a city of millions, can she find her soulmate?

🎧I alternated between the physical book and the audiobook, narrated by Sofia Oxenham. I loved my time listening to Oxenham bring Delphie and her story to life. She nailed this one and I cannot recommend this one on audio enough! You are in for a real treat with this one on audio! This was my first time listening to Oxenham as a narrator and I will definitely be looking for my audiobooks with her as the narrator! Highly recommend!

Absolutely spectacular! ⭐️ I laughed so much and cried at the end! This book surprised me and I loved every moment of reading it! 🫶

OH EM GEE! WHAT A CUTE BOOK & A DEFINITE MUST READ.

After choking on a burger alone in her flat, Delphie winds up at Evermore in her "shine like a star" nightie. She is met by her Afterlife therapist, Merritt, who informs Delphie she has just died. At first she is in disbelief and walks away and bumps in Jonah, who she finds dreamy. They share a handshake, which causes Delphie to feel sparks but Jonah is sent back to Earth after someone yells that there's been a mistake.
Merritt tells Delphie that Jonah was one of her five soulmates; and she will let Delphie live if she finds Jonah and has him kiss her. Only thing is, Delphie has 10 days to do so. Delphie is not the friendliest person and has always kept to herself (putting up an iron guard. Her only friend is her neighbor Mr.Yoon). Now Delphie must spend the next 10 days looking for this mystery man to save her life.

Soooo, I actually gave this book a 4.3 but rounded down. But this was such a cute read that actually had me smiling the entire time.
I did not like Delphie at first. She was rude, obnoxious and just plain bitchy. HOWEVER, I enjoyed her character development. She went from being a character I could not stand to a character I would have loved to be friends with.
This book has every romcom trope imaginable.. but it all works so wonderfully. There's romance, a bit of suspense (not thriller suspense but it's just suspenseful lol) and a magical realism aspect. I definitely did like the magical realism aspect because it was enough to be believable.

Overall, I definitely recommend this book.
This is one of the cutest reads I have ever read and makes me want to keep reading romcoms (& I am NOT a romcom person! Anyone who knows me knows that I despise romcoms so saying I absolutely adored this means that it is a definite MUST READ)

A cute and fun read, my first book by Kirsty Greenwood. Delphie choked on a microwaveable burger and died. She meets her soulmate in the after life. She is sent back to her earthly life for 10 days to find this perfect stranger. With the help from her friend Cooper, they search for a guy named Jonah. In 10 days if she doesn't find Jonah, she has to leave earth and return to Evermore.

This book is fun, touching, and quirky at times. Full of entertainment!

Charming, Pure Joy, and Happiness! 3.5 stars!
Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy! This booked will be released 7/2/24.

What a pleasant surprise! I thought this was just going to be an easy breezy funny story but it had so much depth. Very enjoyable! Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for this copy for read and review

DNF @ 60%

I don’t know if I can explain this well, but I’ll give it a shot. This was written incredibly well- so well, in fact, that I physically could not read it due to my levels of secondhand embarrassment on the main characters behalf. I think this story will resonate extremely well with millennials and find a hugely supportive audience. I look forward to reading this author’s next work!

Delphie is sent to the afterlife after a choking incident but is given the chance to go back to earth and stay if she finds and gets her mystery man/ soulmate to kiss her. As she searches for this man, she begins to come out of her shell, learns some important life lessons and forms friendships she never thought she’d have.

I cannot explain the feelings I had when I was reading this. My heart felt so full, especially with the amazing cast of side characters, and the humor was unexpected and laugh out loud funny. I absolutely loved Delphie’s quirky character, her compassion for those around her, and her self discovery. There were references to popular romance tropes along with book and author mentions that made it fun to connect with as a big reader. Plus, the themes of finding love when you least expect it and living your life to the fullest always resonate with me. I listened to some chapters on audio because I could not put the book down, and thought the narrator did an amazing job with Delphie’s character.

Read if you like: Magic realism, London setting, Grumpy x grumpy, He falls first, Only one bed , The Good Place, Ashley Poston books

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

DNF 41%

This may be a it's not you, it's me situation. I was really excited for this book because it had such an interesting premise, but I guess I wasn't jiving with the execution.

The storyline itself is not what I expected it to be. It's very clearing pointing in a different direction the whole time, which makes the primary part of the storyline actually seem a little annoying. And the secondary storyline, for me, isn't being developed enough either, so I really wasn't connecting with much.

And the characters were 50/50. There were a couple banter moments and one liners that really made me laugh, but for the most part everyone in this book just seemed EXTRA and unrealistic.

Haven't DNF'ed in awhile so I figured I was due for one soon 😟

When Delphie wakes up in what seems to be a bright pink laundromat after choking on her microwave burger, it takes a moment to realize she literally choked *to death.* To make matters worse, she's in her most embarrassing pajamas in front of the man of her dreams, who seems equally into her--despite the awkward nightgown. When he's sent back to Earth--his time not yet there--her afterlife therapist gives her another chance: go back, find him, and get him to kiss her in ten days, and she can stay on Earth. But Delphie is the definition of a virgin who can't drive and more reclusive that any hot redheaded 27 yo should be, so it's easier said than done. But maybe she can learn more in her ten days on Earth than how to land a man.

This book is just so much fun. Perfect for fans of The Good Place and The Dead Romantics, this book manages to tackle death in such a light-hearted way. Delphie is a fascinating character, the epitome of someone who isn't really living until they're dead. I loved seeing her journey to having friends, hobbies, and potentially a relationship, compared to her admittedly sad life pre-burger-choking. This book really took me through the gauntlet of emotions, making me both chuckle and tear up. It was such a wonderful path, and I can't recommend it enough.

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

5 stars - 10/10

REVIEW: The Love of My Afterlife ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 (4.5)

This was my first book from Kristy Greenwood, but it won’t be my last. I went into The Love of My Afterlife with little information, and I really enjoyed it a lot.

The Love of My Afterlife combines romance, magical realism, science fiction, and some paranormal. Kristy does a great job balancing these genres and allowing them to work together.

The premise of the story is unique. Delphie dies from choking and ends up in Evermore, where people who die go. She meets a guy there, and she instantly feels that he is her soulmate; however, he isn’t supposed to be dead because he is just unconscious, so he is sent back. Dephie makes a deal that if she can get him to kiss him within ten days, she can live again. With his memory wiped and only having his first name, Delphie gets to work.

The Love of My Afterlife is filled with twists and turns, making it a fascinating read. You can tell that Kristy Greenwood is a romance book fan because the story includes many book references, titles, and romance tropes. There were a few emotional moments, many that made me laugh out loud, and also slow-burn spiciness that paid off. It was an outstanding balance of feelings. I also liked how the book discussed soulmates and whether or not they are true.

The characters in this book were fabulous. Dephie was quirky in the best way. I could strongly connect with not only the main characters but also the side characters. Kristy Greenwood gave each character so much heart, personality, and backstories that you care so much about them. Even the connections between the characters had great chemistry and strong friendships.

Overall, I enjoyed reading The Love of My Afterlife very much. It snuck up on me and surprised me. This book is perfect for anyone who loves romance stories with magical elements and lots of laughter.

Thank you, Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group, for the free advanced copy for my honest review!

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