A review by fuchsiarascal
The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston

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

3.5

Okay, I'm gonna say it: this isn't a romance book. If you're looking for a fluffy romance, this probably isn't it. There's romance in it, sure, but that's not really the focus. But what it is is great: a story about a woman coming to terms with her father's death, as well as her unique skills that have brought her a lot of trouble in her life, as she's going through a tumultuous year and rethinking everything she thought she knew (can we say Saturn return?). And yes, as someone who has Dead Dad Issues (tm), the focus on her father's death, and all the feelings that come along with that, made me tear up a lot. Even the good moments.

There are plenty of things that don't make sense and are just "quirky", sure. Like this town "ran her out" because she was a teenager who helped solve a murder and said a ghost helped her... but then that same town has a freaking dog as a mayor? (And really, it just seems like it was the "popular kids" who had an issue with it, but... teenagers are awful, no reason to say the whole town ran you out.) Towns that elect dogs, three elections running, as mayor are way more likely to be accepting of someone talking to ghosts, in my opinion.

There's romance. It's not light, it's not fluffy, it's with a ghost who is leaving this world behind faster than most, faster than she'd like. It's romance in the old tragic tales, and it's beautiful.

(And here be spoilers.)
And on that note... honestly, I'd been spoiled on the twist, but I was pretty disappointed with the actual ending. The ending at 84%, when Benji leaves for the last time, was beautiful and tragic and wonderful. It hit all the right notes of those tragic romance Merthur fanfics I used to read. It's probably just me, but I would've liked the story better if the author had committed to Benji being dead and not just in a coma that he woke up from. Even in the context of the character's development, Benji being dead but her believing in love again because of him and their ghostly connection would've made a ton of sense. But romances need their happy endings, I guess. (I definitely read very different fanfic lol.)


Even aside from that, the last couple chapters
when she goes home for her brother's wedding
run the problem of continuing after the story was done, wanting to tie everything up with a nice little bow. I was listening to the audiobook and thought the book was over a couple times before it actually ended. They weren't terrible chapters, but they were extremely superfluous and left nothing to the readers' imagination about the future. They weren't even labeled as an epilogue, I could've seen that (although still unnecessary), but... yeah, I think the book should've ended before it did.

Still, it was a very enjoyable read, it hit a lot of emotions for me, and I'd recommend it as long as people aren't expecting a fluffy romance.
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