the love of my afterlife by kirsty greenwood — a review
The Love of my Afterlife, by Kirsty Greenwood, takes the reader on a frightening quest with Delphie Bookham. Delphie is a literal dead girl walking, sent back to Earth by Merritt, her “afterlife therapist,” to find the mysterious Jonah who accidentally showed up in the afterlife while unconscious for dental surgery. Delphie’s quest is simple: find Jonah, get him to kiss her within ten days, and live. And if she can’t? Well, Delphie was going to die anyway. Though now, if she doesn’t succeed, she becomes Merritt’s guinea pig for her new afterlife dating service.
Spoilers ahead – you’ve been warned!!
Holy shit. Five stars. TEN STARS. This book is phenomenal. One of my favorite things about romance novels is when you don’t actually know who the other half of the relationship will be until you’ve started working your way in. (Mhairi McFarlane is an example of an author who’s done this, and is the reason I love the kind of storytelling it creates). And holy cow, am I glad that Kirsty Greenwood nailed it.
The main character’s life LITERALLY depends on her “ending up with” a different guy, and yet the whole time, Greenwood has the reader rooting for the literal guy next door. And who wouldn’t? Cooper is written as brooding and snarky, kind of an ass, and as you get to know him, you find out that he’s extremely genuine and sweet, and just has been going through what is arguably the hardest thing ever (losing his twin sister at a tragically young age). Little does he know that his twin sister, in the afterlife, is literally wreaking havoc, and also leading him to the love of his life by sending her back to Earth.
The characters in this book are written so realistically, as well. A little over the top? Maybe, but I could imagine actually meeting these people on the street in a city. Especially in romance, it can be hard to have an entire ensemble of characters that the reader actually cares about. Greenwood does this with ease, introducing the reader to Aled, and Mr. Yoon, and Amy and Malcolm, and countless more.
This novel is definitely a romance novel (in the best way), but it checks the boxes of a lot of genres as well. (I have to mention though, the smut was in low abundance, but was FANTASTIC – quality over quantity, and it was so perfectly placed and perfectly relevant to the story).
This has easily become one of my favorite novels of this year, and maybe even of all time. I feel silly saying “read this ASAP if you haven’t already!” considering that most people who have read this review have already read the novel, but hey, maybe this is your sign to re-read it! And if you haven’t read this novel yet, even though I’ve totally spoiled it for you… it’s absolutely still worth the read.
This review was written by @tessajane_books on Instagram. You can follow her here — https://www.instagram.com/tessajane_books/ — for more bookish content!