The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston

I guess this doesn't come as a surprise to anyone that I've been in a reading funk for quite some time.  I am a firm believer that there's a correlation between reading and stress - the more stressed you feel, the less you want to read. 

As one may guess, everything is going pretty well right now and I have been reading more recently than I have before.  

Let me introduce you to this book that I remember about somewhere but I don't remember where and the book that the woman at Barnes and Noble told me was a great pick and she just read it and really enjoyed it.  The book that literally had me giggling from page 3 all the way until the end...

The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston is that book! Not only is The Dead Romantics funny but it's somehow cozy.  There is something about this book that makes you feel cozy when reading it, as strange as that may sound.

I only have one complaint about this book is that I found Florence's character to be a little whiny...

I'm sorry and I know, I know that is a cheap shot if that's the only thing a book could do to earn a complaint. 

I really enjoyed the way that Poston told Florence's story.  At first, I found the book to be very heavy in background details but as the story went on, I realized that it was necessary to tell the story in it's entirety. 

I liked the mix of romance, fantasy (the talking to ghosts made it more fantasy in my eyes?), and the mystery of it all.  In a way, it was like a wholesome romance meets almost cozy mystery.

*Spoiler Alert*

I desperately wanted Florence to find love in this story.  I was confident early on that she was going to end up with Seaburn because he would just pop up at times when Ben was there, talking to Florence.  I remember that early on in the story, Florence said that not only Seaburn the head grave digger but that he was married to Karen's daughter.  But life changes in the blink of an eye and anything is possible in a fictional story.   Then I was confident that Ben was in fact, not dead - maybe just in a coma - because he kept visiting Florence and she really couldn't find anything about his accident when she googled him.  I had such high hopes, people. Just high hopes! And at the end of chapter 29, my hope was revived (no pun intended).  

AND I WAS RIGHT.

The voices and the paint that Ben was feeling all meant something and it caused for a wonderful ending. 

I loved this book.  If I could raise a boombox over my head ala Say Anything, I would!  I literally just finished it and I've already recommended it to two people. 

Have an amazing week, everyone!

-J.B.