4.5 stars


Years ago, I read and loved The Vintage Guide to Love and Romance by Kirsty Greenwood, so I was very excited to have a chance to read her latest book, The Love of My Afterlife. I love romance books with a paranormal twist and was intrigued by the premise. I thought it was unique and fun. Love of My Afterlife did not disappoint. It lived up to all my expectations. It was such a meaningful story of one woman finding herself and finding love. I highly recommend this book!

The blurb for The Love of My Afterlife drew me in immediately because I love plots that have a fun and quirky "afterlife" setting. Add in the fact that romantic comedies are my jam during summer months and this was sure to be a pick for me. I found this book to be hilarious the entire way through and it was fast paced so it kept my attention. Some of the situations seems a little over the top but it kept me engaged so I didn't mind! The main character, Delphie, was someone to root for and also someone I could relate to.
My only complaint about this book was that I thought the ending (the VERY end, meaning the last 10 pages) was a tad too over-the-top cheesy for me. I gave this a 4.5 star rating on the bookish socials!

This was EXACTLY the serotonin boost I was looking for! I adored this story! It’s magical realism, romance and was full of great references like Clueless, Game of Thrones, Will Smith, a ton of famous romance writers, and more. Some references won’t work for every age group, but it worked for me and it just gave me alllll of the happy & heartfelt emotions. This was so funny and had me grinning from ear to ear from the first page!

I loved the story, but I didn’t totally vibe with the main character. Just like her, I was also severely bullied as a kid but I thought she was unrealistically rude. However, I can’t fault her for her behavior and actions due to not having the kind of support I had during my hard times.

There was a twist or two at the end of the book that actually surprised me (I love when books can do that) and I loved how self-aware this romance was. We have all of our favorite tropes done in such a fresh and unique way that this is truly one of my all time new faves!

I can’t gush enough about this book. It was well written, had a whole lot of heart, was super funny, and also the chemistry between the love interests was amazing. This is more of a *cracked* door romance, not totally closed but also not totally open, either.

At the end of the day, if you want a refreshing romcom that’ll remind you of some of your old favorites and leave you smiling like an idiot this is the one!!!

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Romance for the ARC of this title. 🫶🏻

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗠𝘆 𝗔𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗯𝘆 𝗞𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁𝘆 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻𝘄𝗼𝗼𝗱

This book was so cute and fun! I loved Delphie’s narration and found her to be pretty funny, even though she was very closed off. I didn’t read the synopsis before I started, so I don’t want to give too much away, including tropes. You’ll just have to see what happens… but it was such a great romcom and I loved seeing Delphie grow as a person and find her place in the world, even though she was rapidly running out of time on Earth due to Merritt’s guidelines.
I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a light and enjoyable romcom with chance encounters and a lovable cast of characters. It was cute, upbeat, and the romance was so much fun to watch unfold.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Wow. I truly loved this found family, enemies to lovers, magical realism(ish) romance novel! This is all about letting your walls down, letting people in, and allowing yourself to feel things. I loved this so much.

"A recently deceased woman meets “the one” in the afterlife waiting room, scoring a second chance at life (and love!) if she can find him on earth before ten days are up." This book has everything you could want. It's funny, poignant and has a heroine that you root for.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley. This in no way affects my opinion of this book.

“Life is too short to wait around on a good idea.”

I started this one on the plane ride back from probably the best vacation I have ever had! It immediately grabbed my attention and definitely softened the blow of having to come home.
I met Delphine in an afterlife laundromat and was immediately hooked. To be honest the start of this story hooked me quicker than any other I have read in some time. Merritt was so weird but also a hilarious character. I also really love magical realism and this was the perfect blend of sweet and serious.

This book needs to be in your beach bag this summer. Its bingey and funny and will make your heart happy! Definitely need to get my hands on more @kristy_greenwood books!

I adored this book so much I stayed up until 2am to finish it. It’s got romance tropes, found family, and hope beyond belief that we can create a life we love if we’re willing to get out there and try. I will recommend this one till the cows come home. Its perfect.

I swoon! This was one of the most original and clever romcoms I’ve read in forever and I couldn’t put it down. Imagine being alone in your apartment when you choke on a fast food burger 🍔 and die - with no friends in the world or anyone who would even find you for days? Only to go to the after life and meet your SOUL MATE who wasn’t actually dead and came back to earth.

And then being given the chance to find him and kiss him in order to have a chance to return to life? Who wouldn’t go for that?

This one has every single romance trope you can imagine in it plus the added element of found family. I enthusiastically give it all the stars.

The Good Place Meets the Little Mermaid!

I went into this book with ZERO knowledge of what it was about and I’m so happy about that! This book was fun and different. I thought I knew where the story was going and it went the completely other direction in the best way possible.

The Love of My Afterlife was an absolute delight! 💫 From the first chapter, this quirky, magical, and charming book had me hooked.

Daphne's wild journey begins after she chokes on a microwave hamburger and gets a chance to return to Earth to find her dream man. If she can get him to kiss her within 10 days, she can stay! 💋🕒

The story is filled with wonderfully fun characters: an overeager librarian, an elderly neighbor, an annoyingly cute neighbor, co-workers, new friends and of course her afterlife therapist who set her on this quest.

This story was so fun from start to finish, with a fun romance packed with all the best tropes! 💕✨

Whimsical, Heartwarming, Romantic

Delphie dies a stupid, regrettable death, and wakes up in a laundromat. Her afterlife therapist greets her and then gives her the most depressing version of "This is Your Life," scrolling through all her moments of being bullied, alone, ignored... and then a handsome stranger arrives. They have a Moment, but then he goes back to Earth where he belonged, since he only had a near-death experience, and that's all. Delphie learns that he's one of her five soul mates on Earth, and what terrible luck that she only caught his first name. Her therapist decides to send Delphie on a mission, to find and kiss her soul mate, but she's only got ten days... What follows is Delphie learning more about herself after death than she ever did while she was alive, and finding a group of amazing people around her that she gets to call friends... A long as she doesn't die again.

What a fun and sweet book. You can totally see the romance of it all from a mile away, and it's so well written, it develops exactly right for them. But more than just the romance, Delphie gets to finally start experiencing things in her life that she just hadn't bothered to do before. And she finds the parts of herself that she's let fall to the wayside as she settled into the grind of life, bringing a joy back to herself that had been missing. I love that she finds people for herself that are willing and able to become the new friends she needed.

I received an Advanced Reader Copy via NetGalley in return for sharing my thoughts on this book. Thanks to the author and publisher for this opportunity!

This was super cute! Initially it wasn’t what I expected but I ended up liking it a lot and saw where it was going. But there were still a few fun surprises. A fun, sweet read with a romance but also found family!

Delphie is a young woman with so much life to live when she suddenly chokes on a microwave burger and dies. She wakes up in the afterlife wearing her most embarrassing pair of pajamas and meets the love of her life, only he isn’t actually dead and goes back to the real world. She’s given 10 days back with the living and can stay there if she tracks down this man and gets him to kiss her. But her time in the real world doesn’t go as planned.

Okay, hear me out, this premise is bonkers, but this story was so much fun. I loved how this story was all about finding love in surprising places and living life to the fullest. The side characters stole the show and were a highlight of this quirky story. I wasn’t sure what to expect here, but I went along for the ride and thoroughly enjoyed it. This unique story needs to be on your radar.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing and NetGalley for the advance copy.

this was so beautiful. it was heartbreaking, hopeful, funny, hot, and everything I could have wanted in a book.

delphie’s story was such a delight. her transformation from lone wolf to a loving community gal was everything. seeing her light up made me so incredibly happy, and seeing her develop such a loving relationship with [redacted] made me so giddy. the banter, tension, and a race against the clock made this such an impeccable story.

magical realism romances stay being that girl!!!!

As I read this witty novel, I kept thinking: this one is going to go over big with readers who love:

1. Second Chance at love tropes.
2. Misunderstandings
3. Star-Crossed Lovers
4. Love Triangles
5. Discussions of the above tropes by the main character as she tries to untangle her messed-up life, and
6. The usual "Impossible Obstacles" to overcome and Herculean hurdles to literally leap while on the path to true love.

I haven't been able to read a romance genre novel for more than a year now, but the second chance at life and love premise of this novel highly intrigued me (as per the blurb: the heroine dies and is sent back to the earthly realm, and then finds herself in a race against merciless time to find her true soulmate!)

Highly recommended! (To say more would be to create too many spoilers, so take my advice and just read this often hilarious romp!)

My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

A recently deceased woman meets “the one” in the afterlife waiting room, scoring a second chance at life (and love!) if she can find him on earth before ten days are up. The premise and implementation of this one are so entertaining as is the London setting, and the shoutouts to other romance authors and novels added to my enjoyment. For fans of stories with a little magical realism and a clever plot.

3.5 Stars

Delphie Bookham thought her life couldn’t get any worse when she died choking on a microwaved hamburger. But when she’s given a second chance in the afterlife - find her soulmate and get him to kiss her within ten days - Delphie finds herself back on Earth and being tested like never before. From unplanned social interactions, befriending her coworkers, and becoming more than friends with her stoic, grumpy downstairs neighbor, Delphie will have to make the ultimate decision before her ten days are up: accept the love she’s found, or give it all up for the love she’s supposed to find.

I thought The Love of My After Life was a cute contemporary romance that had just enough fantasy/paranormal vibes to keep it unique. The whole plot ended up being a solid read for me; while not being anything I’d likely pick up for a reread, Delphie and Cooper were definitely entertaining and I loved to see the growth that our FMC went through, even as she knew her time was counting down.

Delphie was definitely a loner. She spent her adolescence being bullied, and has spent her adult years being ignored or forgotten about by everyone, including her own mother. I felt for Delphie; her second chance was enough to send any introvert to an early grave (again). However, no matter what Delphie was up to, she still fell a bit flat for me. Even the moments that should have been the big, life-altering realizations came off a bit lackluster. As a character, Delphie was more two-dimensional, heavily relying on her coworkers and neighbors to keep her story interesting.

The Love of My After Life had an interesting premise and a colorful cast of supporting characters. I enjoyed Delphie’s journey and her character arc without really enjoying the character herself. The shenanigans she got up to, as well as the characters she grew closer to along the way, kept this story light and entertaining and helped make up for where the character development fell short.

3.5 - 4 Stars

This was cute, charming, and fun, with a delightful premise. Although entirely predictable, that’s not necessarily the worst thing in a romance book. I enjoyed the concept SO much - it was perhaps the most unique part of the book. The secondary characters, although lovable, were kind of a mad libs of quirky, offbeat secondary characters, so they didn’t feel entirely new. The romance was charming, and the final twists weren’t entirely unexpected. I had a good time with this though, and read it in two sittings. I definitely plan to read more from Greenwood!

Thank you to Berkley Publishing and NetGalley for my complimentary eARC of The Love of my Afterlife. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This made my heart so happy. I read this one in a day.

This one was a true love story. Kirsty is a genius!
I adored how she gave a shoutout to many of the great romance authors and tropes. All the characters are genuine and I am still thinking about them today.

Delphie is given a second chance at life with one caveat. She must find her soulmate and he must kiss her willingly. Obstacles rear up with increasing frequency and with her (new) future in doubt, Delphie has to make some important decisions.