The Dead Romantics

Starred review from May 2, 2022
Poston (Geekerella) makes her adult debut with a refreshing rom-com about love, loss, and hope. Florence Day’s life is organized around two major secrets: she’s the ghostwriter for a household name romance writer, and she can see ghosts. One secret is kept out of legal obligation, the other self-preservation. A recent breakup has halted her ability to write happily-ever-afters, but when she requests yet another extension from her new—and incredibly attractive—editor, Benji Andor, she is indisputably shut down. Her looming deadline is put on hold, however, when her father dies, and Florence returns to her hometown for the first time in 10 years. She’s expecting to see her father’s ghost. She’s not expecting to see Benji’s ghost. He’s died in the time between their last encounter and her trip, and now he’s haunting Florence. As she attempts to fulfill her father’s peculiar last wishes, memories of him—the only other person in her family who could see ghosts—reignite her ability to write. And, as she and Benji grow closer posthumously, she rediscovers her belief in happy endings. Poston manages to both affirm the cynics and give hope to the romantics by simultaneously embracing and subverting rom-com tropes. The sparkling dialogue makes the characters come alive—even the dead ones. Readers won’t be able to put this down. Agent: Holly Root, Root Literary.