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ndvdv 's review for:
The Dead Romantics
by Ashley Poston
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
“I'd always written how grief was hollow. How it was a vast cavern of nothing. But I was wrong. Grief was the exact opposite. It was full and heavy and drowning because it wasn't the absence of everything you lost - it was the combination of it all, your love, your happiness, your bittersweets, wound tight like a knotted ball of yarn.”
This book was special. Ashley Poston seamlessly integrated two plots, with an endearing romance and an incredibly profound message of grief. I honestly can’t decide what kept me turning the pages: the tenderness between Benji and Florence or the family dynamics and their grief that pulls them back together.
Florence was a character that is easily relatable. Life has knocked her down leaving her stagnant - unable to find success in the career she loves and struggling to believe in the magic of happily ever afters. This book is about prioritizing and putting things into perspective: living for the here and now, following your own heart.
“There is no happy ending, theres just. . .happily living. As best you can.”
The romance in “The Dead Romantics” was so gentle and vulnerable. Both Benji and Florence are facing life-shattering challenges, and the way they show up for each other is achingly pure.
“I knew you once,” he said so ardently, it made my heart flutter.
“I think you still do,” I whispered.
This book will linger with me fondly for a long time, until I find myself returning to the first page once more.
“Everything died, but pieces of it remained. Dad was in the wind because he breathed the same air that I breathed. Dad was a mark in history because he existed. He was part of my future because I still carried on.”