Publication Date: 02nd July 2024
Purchase Link (US): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CF15XMF9
Purchase Link (UK): https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0CF15XMF9
Goodreads Book Page: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/195889383-the-love-of-my-afterlife
Genre: Contemporary Women, Magic Realism
3.7 Stars
One Liner: Entertaining but a bit lengthy
Book Blurb:
What if the end of her life was just
beginning…
If she wasn’t dead already, Delphie Bookham would be
dying of embarrassment.
She’s woken up in the afterlife after choking on a
microwave burger, wearing the kind of pajamas you’d be mortified if anyone saw
you in, and has crashed headlong into the most handsome man she’s ever met. Who
is also dead and smiling at her.
As they talk, Delphie starts to feel that elusive
spark between them– something she’s waited her whole life to feel. Perhaps the
afterlife won’t be so bad if she’s potentially found her soulmate to spend it
with… That is until someone comes running in, yelling something about a huge
mistake, and sends the dreamy stranger back down to earth, leaving Delphie
behind.
Now the powers that be are offering Delphie a deal:
go back down to Earth, find her mysterious maybe soulmate, and get him to fall
in love with her. Or stay dead. The challenge? She only has ten days to find
him, and he has no recollection of them ever having met…
***
My Thoughts:
The story comes in Delphie’s first-person POV.
How can I ignore a premise like this? Imagine finding love in your afterlife and having to come back alive for it (way too much work, IMO, but Delphie is game, so why not).
The book opens with a bang. We are right in the
scene with Delphie choking on the burger. It shouldn’t be funny but it is.
The Afterlife will need some getting used to. The
best thing to do is go with the flow and don’t compare it to other settings or
what you know about the place. It sounds more like a corporate office (be
warned!).
Though the blurb makes it a romance, the book is
also about finding one's tribe, new friendships, coming out of the shell,
closing past trauma, etc. That makes the side characters (some of them) quite
interesting.
Delphie is a socially awkward twenty-seven-year-old.
That leads to a lot of second-hand embarrassment, which went a bit OTT in the
middle. While it makes sense in a way, it sure isn’t easy to see the FMC make a
fool of herself. Thankfully, things change as the realization strikes.
Moreover, we also notice that the FMC made her share of mistakes (which she
conveniently forgets), so she is not always easy to like or empathize with. It
makes her real but also a tad annoying.
One character is a diehard fan of romance (pun
intended), which means other romance authors and tropes are also mentioned in
between. This may or may not work for all readers. I didn’t mind it much but I
wouldn’t have felt their absence either.
The pacing is a bit uneven though not so much that
the story drags. However, I would have preferred it if the ending didn’t try to
pack so much into it. The book is already 400 pages, so the narrative should be
steady and evenly distributed. A lot happens in the last 20%, some of which do
seem a bit excessive.
To summarize, The Love of My Afterlife is an
entertainer that attempts to do something different with the tried and tested
tropes from the romance genre. That said, you will like it more if you connect
with the FMC.
My thanks to Anne (Random Things Tours), NetGalley,
and Penguin Publishing House, for the eARC. This review is voluntary and
contains my honest opinion about the book.
#NetGalley
***
About the Author – Kirsty Greenwood
Kirsty Greenwood is an internationally bestselling author of funny, fearless romantic comedies about extraordinary love. When she's not writing books she composes musicals and explores London where she lives with her husband.
Follow the Author here:
Twitter (X): @KirstyStories
Instagram: @kirsty_greenwood
Facebook: KirstyGreenwoodBooks
For publicity enquiries: Rachel Kennedy, Publicity
Director
Contact: rkennedy@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk|
020 7840 8893
***
This has been a pitstop on the blog tour for
#LoveofmyAfterlife by Random Things Tours (@RandomTTours on Twitter). Thank you
for stopping by!
I don't know if I will like something about after life. But sounds interesting, especially "corporate afterlife"!
ReplyDeleteIt's a different take on afterlife for sure. :)
Delete