Reviews with content warning for Blood - Afterlove

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Afterlove by Tanya Byrne

23 reviews

mel_j's review

dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This was cute, but nothing special. It had some lovely quotes, but the relationship was too insta-lovey for me. They felt too focused on each other – I thought Ash was going to mourn the loss of her family more, but all she could think of was Poppy.

I did like the illustrations – the roses! The moths! – and I loved Esen and Dev.
Maybe I'm too old now for YA, though.

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martereadsbooks's review against another edition

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funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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williamabookworm's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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bookcaptivated's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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amazelan's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

1.0

ça m'a pas plu, et en vrai jsuis un peu déçu que ça m'ait pas plu. surtout, j'arrive pas à trouver de points positifs à ce livre hormis la représentation diverse.
j'ai trouvé l'écriture banale, vraiment pas incroyable. en fait c'est très YA dans le sens cliché du terme, même si j'arriverais pas à exprimer précisément pourquoi.
et surtout, surtout, la romance m'a fait ni chaud ni froid. c'est trop rapide, irréaliste, et si niais?? trop pour moi en tout cas. le fait que ça soit l'élément central du livre explique pourquoi je l'ai si peu aimé. en +, les personnages sont complètement définies par la romance, j'ai pas réussi à m'y attacher ou à ressentir quoique ce soit quand il leur arrivait des trucs. et du coup les personnages secondaires sont pas du tout creusé.es, ce qui est carrément dommage vu qu'au moins elleux auraient pas été défini.es par l'amour.
c'est dommage parce que le début vend du suspense, un univers intéressant. mais au final l'univers est pas du tout exploré, on apprend rien dessus. et après le début on doit attendre 100 pages (sur 289 pour l'ebook) pour qu'il y ait un tout petit peu d'action. couvert, toujours, sous le rose bonbon de la romance.

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abbys's review

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3.5

Afterlove is a beautiful story of love, life, death and grief. It weaves threads of what we do with our lives when we are living, what we believe behind when we die and how we can learn to do more when we are alive to help the world and the people in it. Whether that is so amend for any harm caused, tell somebody that you love them or help your community through charity work or even by just smiling at somebody or chatting to a staff member in a shop or restaurant. The message that Tanya Bryne creates in this book is that life can fly by and you may forget to actually live before death comes for you, that you shouldn't waste time or worrying about what others think or want you to do and instead do what you want to do for yourself. Death is inevitable but you can enjoy your life by doing what you love and surrounding yourself with people who you love and who love your wholeheartedly and unconditionally. Although I wasn't expecting, the ending actually made me tear up, although not in a sad way but in a happy and hopeful way, it was the perfect way to end a thought provoking and sweet novel.

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dazzle_spider_reader_1212's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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modernathos's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This was such a unique read, I simultaneously have so much and absolutely nothing to say. The premise of the story was unique and mysterious and risky. There is a lot that could have gone wrong with this story in its development, especially to the end, and it didn't. Byrne knew exactly what she was doing and where she was going.

Byrne's writing style is distinctive in many ways, all of them positive; we follow the main character, Ash, a teenager, in a first person perspective, and it reads exactly like that.

Generally, I am not the biggest fan of love at first sight stories, but the way Ash and Poppy's relationship developed compensated for that.

Ashana has a crush on Poppy from the start, but both the characters and Byrne let it develop naturally so that it doesn't feel forced,

something I unfortunately see a lot in (especially YA) books where the story developes around a relationship.

As the story went on, especially from the point that

Poppy recognized Ash and it was confirmed that this meant that this meant that she would die

, I got quite scared that the story was going to have big plot twist in which Ash could come back to life or

Poppy could avoid her fate or was a special case that could see reapers and live

. Luckily, this didn't happen and the ending was exactly what I hoped it to be;

Ash and Poppy had the chance to say goodbye to each other and the small plot twist/reveal that, on New Years Eve, Ash could possibly get the chance to go with Charon to the afterlife was perfect and just what the story needed.

Something that I feel that needs to be mentioned is the character development of Ashana's mother. She was raised to have a negative opinion against homosexuality and, even when Ash comes out as a lesbian, she finds it hard to accept it, staying mostly (uncomfortably) silent. A few months later, however, when

Ash tells her about her relationship with Poppy, we see that she has put effort into changing her views and accepting Ash as she is, and is even willing to help her introduce Poppy to her father and sister

. I found this little sidestory beautiful and had to shed a bit of light on it, as I almost never see anyone talk about it in their reviews.

Did this story have a lot of character development in the sense of the characters making mistakes and growing as they learn from them? No. Because it was not necessary. The story is about first (true) love, grief, acceptance, closure and goodbyes. The book is meant to be a cute read that will still leave you in tears when you finish it and that, it did perfectly.

If you are a lover of cute, useless lesbians, books you will need some time to recover from once you've finished it, and/or magic realism? Afterlove is definitely a book you should pick up.

To close off, the clear foreshadowing to Ash dying (which was possible because it is the main event of the book)? Ouch. /pos.

Rep: lesbian MC, MCOC, South-American MC, muslim character.
January 25th, 2023 - February 2nd, 2023.

"Maybe we'll burn bright for a few weeks then collapse in on ourselves, but Mr. Moreno says that's how galaxies are made anyways." - Before, chapter 5.

"[...] as we head under the bridge, I know that I'd follow her to the edge of the fucking world." - Before, hapter 6.

"I feel like I've loved you for a really long time, but it still isn't enough." - After, chapter 27.

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anniereads221's review

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adventurous dark medium-paced

3.0

Could have done without the throwaway transphobic line

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jazminnnnnnn's review

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challenging hopeful sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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