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The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston – Blog Tour Book Review
About the Book
Florence Day is a ghost-writer with one big problem. She’s supposed to be penning swoon-worthy novels for a famous romance author but, after a bad break-up, Florence no longer believes in love. And when her strict (but undeniably hot) new editor, Benji Andor, won’t give her an extension on her book deadline, Florence prepares to kiss her career goodbye.
Although when tragedy strikes and Florence has to head home, the last thing she expects to see is a ghost at her front door. Not just any ghost, however, but the stern form of her still very hot – yet now unquestionably dead – new editor.
As sparks start to fly between them, Florence tells herself she can’t be falling for a ghost – even an infuriatingly sexy one.
But can Benji help Florence to realise love isn’t dead, after all?
About the Author
Ashley Poston writes stories about love and friendship and ever after a. A native to South Carolina, she now lives in a small grey house with her sassy cat and too many books. You can find her on the internet, somewhere, watching cat videos and reading fan fiction.
AshPoston.com
Facebook and Instagram- HeyAshPoston
Twitter – AshPoston
What I Thought
Well. What can I say. Ashley Poston has done it again – I’m not sure I was ready for a book with a squatty potty reference 😂 – but I’m here for it (it’s good for the digestion!).
I am a huge fan of Ashley’s YA Geekerella series which uses fandom as a backdrop to her romances. Now with this foray into adult fiction we have publishing as our backdrop but with some additional supernatural goings on. This makes this a perfect spooky season read.
This is the second book recently I’ve read where I can reference Ghost Whisperer as a comparison (see my review of middle grade book The Whisperling) and I’m not at all mad about that – what with it being one of my favourite shows.
Florence Day has grown up around death – literally. Her family run Days Gone Funeral Home (excellent name) and both her father and her see dead people walking around like regular people! Hounded out of her small town because of this gift, Florence headed to the big smoke and tried to turn her love of writing smutty X-Files fan fic into a career in romance fiction. After her first novel doesn’t take off in quite the way she’d hoped she ends up ghostwriting (lol) for a hugely successful romance writer. We meet her as the last book on that contract is due – but the thing is she has writer’s block. How can you write romance when you’ve had your heart smashed?
Florence’s ex is a despicable piece of work who deserves much worse than he gets in my opinion. Seriously he makes my blood boil.
Pulled back to her home after a family tragedy she finds a ghost on the doorstep of her family home but this ghost is very out of place and unwelcome. After all he didn’t give her an extension on her novel! Rude. It’s her very hot editor Benji Andor who on first meeting him the words “climb him” were screamed by her inner voice – although sadly that turns out not to be possible when you can’t touch a ghost. But is it possible for the spirit of romance to be reignited? No spoilers here but I was satisfied with the journey Florence went on.
I will say that this was perhaps a slightly slower start than we’ve grown used to but the payoff makes it worth it and Ashley’s writing is easy to read and comforting.
This mixes the best echoes of Christmas Hallmark movies (but with Halloween vibes in April – and not Christmas), Sweet Home Alabama and A million funerals and a wedding! I loved this exploration of complex family relationships, small town gossip and an incorporeal romance. Poston brings her humour and pop culture references naturally across into the adult sphere where she can be a little more spicy (although only in small doses – we don’t actually get any of the X-Files smut on the page! More’s the pity).
The small town of Mairmont with its doggie Mayor (this needs to become a thing – the world would be so much kinder) becomes a character itself and I fell in love with it too. I loved the incidental non binary and queer characters because there was no negative focus on this – they just were and this is what the world should be.
If the Reader Discussion questions are anything to go by keep your fingers crossed for a sequel and more Mairmont. I’d equally be happy with other books following some of our side characters.
Although grief is a big theme in this story the book itself is hopeful and not macabre and focuses very much on death as part of life. In the author’s note Ashley Poston talks about her fear of death which I very much share – so to write such a book must have been a therapy session as much as it was reading it.
A huge thank you to Ashley for this piece of magic and to HQ Stories for the gifted copy for the purposes of an honest review. Do check out what everyone else on the tour thought.
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The Change by Kristin Miller – Blog Tour Book Review
About the Book
A roar of rage, a pacy page-turner, I loved it with all my broken heart. Read it. You’ll love it’ Marian Keyes
‘I loved this wild mystery about a group of midlife women who have just about had enough. I couldn’t put it down’ Erin Kelly
‘A feminist thriller for our times’ Nina Pottell, Prima
‘An addictive, fast-paced crime novel like nothing you’ve ever read before’ Red magazine
* * *
Nessa: The Seeker
Jo: The Protector
Harriett: The Punisher
With newfound powers the time has come to take matters into their own hands…
After Nessa is widowed and her daughters leave for college, she’s left alone in her house near the ocean. In the quiet hours, she hears voices belonging to the dead – who will only speak to her.
On the cusp of fifty Harriett’s marriage and career imploded, and she hasn’t left her house in months. But her life is far from over – in fact, she’s undergone a stunning metamorphosis.
Jo spent thirty years at war with her body. The rage that arrived with menopause felt like the last straw – until she discovers she’s able to channel it.
Guided by voices only Nessa can hear, the trio discover the abandoned body of a teenage girl. The police have written off the victim. But the women have not. Their own investigations lead them to more bodies and a world of wealth where the rules don’t apply – and the realisation that laws are designed to protect villains, not the vulnerable.
So it’s up to these three women to avenge the innocent, and punish the guilty…
The time has come to embrace The Change.
* * *
‘Fast paced and original. I couldn’t stop reading’ Sarah Morgan
‘A revenge fantasy and feminist fist-pump – and a balm for trying times’ Grazia
‘Part crime thriller, part extended howl of pure rage, The Change takes a scalpel to the cancer of misogyny that infects every cell of western culture, with biting wit and a burning, righteous anger that never lets up. Powerful and original’
Tammy Cohen
About the Author
Kirsten Miller is an outstanding feminist author in the YA and children’s space, who spent twenty-five years as a strategist in the advertising industry.The Change is her first adult novel.
What I Thought
This was pitched as a menopause thriller and our three main protagonists are ladies of a certain age. And boy do they change from meek and mild to badassery, although there isn’t really that much discussion of the actual menopause aspect it is very much an exploration of how women at that age claim their power and place in a society that deems them replaceable and invisible.
This quote from near the end of the book sums up its tone of rage. But I enjoyed how from our three main characters it came from that place of protection. Of making sure future generations don’t suffer the same way.
“Our lives are designed to have three parts. The first is education. The second, creation. And in part three, we put our experience to use to protect those who are weaker. This third stage, which you have entered, can be one of incredible power.”
“Can be?”
“There have always been those who want to deny women power. And there are also women who refuse to accept it. Some, who’ve mastered the games men play, choose to betray their own kind. These women are our most dangerous enemies. But many women are simply too frightened to see things as they really are – or to accept that the world men have made must be destroyed.”
This is a really pacy thriller with hard hitting content so please do check the content warnings (sexual assault, rape, paedophilia, kidnapping, revenge, gore, misogyny).
I’ve seen some reviewers say that the book is too angry and man hating but I’d say that considering what the men in this book get up to the character’s anger is pretty justified. There are some male characters who are presented in a more positive light too although their place in upholding discrimination is rightly pointed out. This is righteous anger against the system of patriarchy and capitalism, not all men!!!
The relationship between the three main female characters was joyful and it’s good to see what happens when women lift each other up. Their power in this case is very real and there’s a hefty dose of magical realism and witchy energy included. I think there are some similarities between this and When Women Were Dragons which I’ve also just started reading so I’ll be interested to compare the themes and how they are handled.
The reader is ahead of the characters in terms of the mystery element and this adds a layer of tension, and also frustration at times. It might have been slightly stronger to have the characters finding out some of those aspects rather than getting other character POVs to tell us what was going on.
All in all this was a pretty fun read that reminds me of The First Wives Club x Practical Magic x Carrie.
If you enjoy a ragey feminist slant to your writing where the bad guys get their comeuppance then I think you’d enjoy this. The Change is coming!
Thanks to HQ Stories for the copy for the purposes of an honest review. Check out what everyone else thought too.
kirstyes 