Review: The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston

Title: The Dead Romantics
Author: Ashley Poston
Publication Date: June 8, 2022
Publisher:  Berkley
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Paranormal
Find It: Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, Bookshop
Source: Library
Rating: 3 stars – stick to your bedtime

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.

Florence Day is the ghostwriter for the hottest romance writer in town. The only problem is, after a bad breakup, Florence no longer believes in love. When her hot new editor refuses to extend her deadline, Florence must figure out a way to believe in love again in order to save her career. However, she is suddenly called back to her hometown and is confronted with the past that she so desperately tried leave behind. Will she be able to put her ghosts to rest or will they be the key to her own happily ever after?

I had pretty high expectations for The Dead Romantics. I’d been seeing it everywhere on social media and friends I trusted really loved it. The premise of the novel is a unique one. Florence is a ghostwriter who can actually see ghosts. She has gone through most of her life trying to run away from her otherworldly abilities in favor of a more mundane life. Unfortunately, she can’t ignore the ghost of her extremely attractive editor, Benji, who shows up in her hometown when she is called back there after a family tragedy.

I enjoyed the small town aspects of the novel with its quirky characters and local landmarks and traditions. Having lost a parent, I could relate to Florence’s feelings of grief. I liked Florence though it felt like she was lacking some common sense sometimes. Benji is a bit of a lost soul (literally), his ghost-like state making him take a hard look at himself. Unfortunately, the romance between Ben and Florence was the weakest part of the book for me. Romance is usually my favorite part of a book but I did not feel much chemistry between the two and their interactions sometimes felt flat because of it.

Overall, The Dead Romantics was a cute read but I am glad that I borrowed it from the library. I know a lot of people who loved this book though so it might just not have been for me. I would still give it a chance if you’re interested in a small town romance with a paranormal twist.