The Dead Romantics

 

TITLE: The Dead ROmantics

AUTHOR: Ashley Poston

PUBLISHER: Berkley

PUBLISHING DATE: June 28, 2022

PAGES: 368

SOURCE: Library

FROM GOODREADS: Florence Day is the ghostwriter for one of the most prolific romance authors in the industry, and she has a problem—after a terrible breakup, she no longer believes in love. It’s as good as dead.

When her new editor, a too-handsome mountain of a man, won’t give her an extension on her book deadline, Florence prepares to kiss her career goodbye. But then she gets a phone call she never wanted to receive, and she must return home for the first time in a decade to help her family bury her beloved father.

For ten years, she’s run from the town that never understood her, and even though she misses the sound of a warm Southern night and her eccentric, loving family and their funeral parlor, she can’t bring herself to stay. Even with her father gone, it feels like nothing in this town has changed. And she hates it.

Until she finds a ghost standing at the funeral parlor’s front door, just as broad and infuriatingly handsome as ever, and he’s just as confused about why he’s there as she is. 

Romance is most certainly dead... but so is her new editor, and his unfinished business will have her second-guessing everything she’s ever known about love stories.

MY THOUGHTS: I feel like I can't gush enough about this book. Honestly, it completely have me Addams Family set in Stars Hollow vibes.  Florence is a ghost writer for a famous romance novelist.  She is about to miss a deadline because she can't finish the last book of her contract because thanks to a bad relationship, she doesn't believe in love or happy endings anymore.  She is suddenly called back home when her father dies and not only does she has to deal with ghosts from her past, but she also has to deal with a new one - her editor, who was very much alive the last time she saw him.

This book was such a wonderful read.  I really adored Florence, who has the ability to communicate with ghosts when they seek her out, and the rest of her quirky family.  While some might think this book could be a tad depressing due to key plot elements, I would say it's more a celebration of life and an testament that it truly takes all kinds of people to make the world go around.  And did I mention, the Mayor is a DOG!!!!!  I wish my Mayor was a dog - the city would be in much better shape probably.

I would love to go on and on about this book but don't want to ruin it.  If you enjoy romance novels, but are looking for something a little odd then The Dead Romantics is definitely for you.   It was the feel-good novel I needed when I wasn't aware I needed one.  

RATING: 5 PAWS