A review by piratenami
The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston

emotional funny reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I really wanted to love this, since I enjoyed some of the author's previous YA novels. But there were things I really liked, and things I really didn't. The book itself was very quick and readable and written well enough. I liked the main storyline of Florence and her family and returning home to the hometown she ran away from
and her dealing with her grief over her father's death
. 

Her family, who run a funeral home in their small hometown, sounded a little bit Addams family, which was fun, and I liked all of them. The quirky small town was a little too quirky at times (did you know they have a golden retriever for a mayor? If you didn't, she'll remind you at least once a chapter) but the emotional core of Florence's family story was solid and moving. 

Unfortunately, it felt like the romance storyline was crammed in to an already full story. Because there was only the POV of Florence, it felt like the love interest, Ben, had very little personality or character beyond "he's hot" and "he's a workaholic". I didn't entirely buy the romance, and I thought the ending fell very flat. Some weird choices in the story left me feeling cold also.
Primarily the alleyway make out scene in the beginning of the book between Florence and Ben, before the main family plot kicks off. She's feeling rattled by seeing her ex-boyfriend, Lee, and just grabs Ben and starts kissing him. Like, lack of consent much? And speaking of Lee, I would have liked Florence to get a little more closure with him. He basically stole the stories she told him about her life as fodder for his ~artsy literary novel~. While she does punch him in the face at the end of the book, I would've like to see her stand up to him a little more.


Overall, the good moments and occasionally clever writing weren't quite enough to raise this above "just OK" for me.
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