Aside from skincare products, TikTok has recently proven to be a reliable source of book recommendations. Just in time for the Halloween season, I stumbled upon my year-old paperback copy of Ashley Poston’s The Dead Romantics.
This delightful and touching romantic comedy novel has a supernatural twist, making it the perfect read for this time of the year. The book seamlessly blends the paranormal with love and laughter. Poston’s debut novel is a breath of fresh air, weaving together themes of love, loss, and the afterlife in a charming narrative.
The story revolves around Florence Day, a talented ghostwriter for a famous romance author and someone with the unique ability to see and interact with ghosts, just like her father. Florence is a character with secrets—two, in fact.
One is kept for legal reasons, and the other for self-preservation. Her ability to write happily-ever-afters is suddenly derailed after a painful breakup and her request for yet another deadline extension is met with resistance by her handsome new editor, Benji Andor.
However, fate has other plans. Florence’s life takes an unexpected turn when her father passes away, leading her to return to her hometown after a decade. She expects to encounter her father’s ghost but is taken by surprise when she discovers that Benji, her editor, is now a ghost himself.
As Florence attempts to fulfill her father’s peculiar last wishes, her memories of him and their shared ability to see ghosts rekindle her creative spark. In this curious posthumous connection with Benji, she rediscovers love. How can one fall in love with a ghost? The story will keep you guessing.
Poston brilliantly manages to embrace and overthrow rom-com tropes. The witty dialogue brings the characters, even the dead ones, to life, making them relatable and endearing. Florence’s journey from a writer struggling to find her voice to someone who regains her passion for storytelling is both heartwarming and inspiring.
The Dead Romantics is a hauntingly good read that is not just about romantic love. It’s a beautiful approach to handling loss and dealing with grief. It reminds us that love, whether in the realm of the living or the dead, has the power to give us happy endings.