paige (ptsungirl)'s Reviews > The Dead Romantics

"Your book will find the people it needs to."

I feel like I've been waiting my entire life to read this book. Since the first moment I saw it, I knew it would be mine. I knew that I would love it. Before I even read the summary, I knew that everything written under its cover would be everything I needed to hear. Books speak to us, when they're right for us, and this one knew me.

Firstly, and most importantly, I need to praise Ashley Poston for her writing. Her imagery. Her ability to bring light, and kindness, and hope to grief. I can't put into words how much this book is going to mean to me from this day forward. She wrote in her author's note that "I think, as readers, we all have a comfort read, the one book that protects us in the exact ways it needs to. A book that we find ourselves in, like looking in a mirror. Oh, you too? It will ask, as it fills that soft, hollow place in your heart that nothing else dared to touch. I think we all deserve a book like that, whatever yours is" and I know that this book has been added to that special list for me.

Now to the actual review.

This book was such a celebration of life... and death. It's the feelings we sort through as we watch life spin around us without a planet in our solar system. It's heavy, and it's hilarious. It's sad, and it's fun. It's feeling lost, and realizing you were never really lost at all.

I love Florence so much. She's chaos, and anxiety, and love, and strength, and bravery, and life all put into one beautiful, entertaining ball of energy. I connected with her instantly. The moment she brought a half dead cactus into her new editor to ask for an extension on a deadline, I could see myself in the ensuing "WHY DID I DO THAT" thought processing instantly. She takes on life in so many of the same ways I do as an older sibling. She loves books (NORA ROBERTS) just as much as I do. She's who I want to be when I grow up.

Loving her made this read good, but watching her grow, and change, and become who she is in the end... that was the gift. She goes from a broken-hearted ghostwriter to understanding that isn't all she is. That she can be so much more. And Ben being there every step of the way: encouraging her to write, supporting her in her grief, respecting her space. He's perfect. They're perfect.

One of the most beautiful scenes I've ever read is when he tells her, "So, thank you for giving me words when I didn't think there were any left. I hope you never stop giving the world your words." I hope Ashley Poston never stops giving me hers.

I'm sure there's about a million more things I could put in this review, and I probably will on a second, third, fourth read, but for now let's leave it at: if any part of this book calls to you, listen to it. Pick it up. Read it.

It may just change your life. It may just be the book you find yourself in. It may just be exactly what you need to hear.