The Love of My Afterlife by Kirsty Greenwood
A recently deceased woman meets “the one” in the afterlife waiting room, scoring a second chance at life (and love!) if she can find him on earth before ten days are up…
If she wasn’t dead already, Delphie would be dying of embarrassment. Not only did she just die by choking on a microwaveable burger, but now she’s standing in her ‘shine like a star’ nightie in front of the hottest man she’s ever seen. And he’s smiling at her.
As they start to chat, everything else becomes background noise. That is until someone comes running out of a door, yelling something about a huge mistake, and sends the dreamy stranger back down to earth. And here Delphie was thinking her luck might be different in the afterlife.
When Delphie is offered a deal in which she can return to earth and reconnect with the mysterious stranger, she jumps at the opportunity to find her possible soulmate and a fresh start at life. But in a city of millions, Delphie is going to have to listen to her heart, learn to ask for help, and perhaps even see the magic in the life she’s leaving behind…
My sister won this from a Goodreads giveaway. She liked it and gave it to me to read. Thank you Goodreads and Berkley Romance/Penguin Random House. It's an ARC and is scheduled to be released July 2, 2024.
At first it got off to a bad start, in my opinion. There were some logistics that really irked me. [Spoiler (click to open)]Why are there jobs and bureaucracy in the after life? That sounds like hell, not heaven, to me. Also, why all the physical descriptions? If you're a soul with no body then why is Delphie experiencing a panic attack? It does not make sense and it would have been better and more of a challenge to describe those feeling without mentioning anything having to do with having a body. And she literally bumps into Jonah. If you're both ghosts you should fly right through each other.
My sister said I was thinking too hard about it. This is not my usually genre. I usually read sci-fi/fantasy books so I had to suspend my need for logical explanations.
I kept reading and I liked it more as it went on. The pacing was good and became a page turner. It was funny (there are some good one liners) and I loved Delphie's new friends. [Spoiler (click to open)]I still never liked Merritt though. From beginning to end I found her to be irritating, even when we find out she is R.L. Cooper's sister. I kept thinking of her as Ursula from The Little Mermaid because of that contract she whipped out for Delphie to sign.
British people curse way too much and they need to stop saying the Lord's name. *Cringe* Speaking of cringe, I skipped over the intimate scenes.
This is what I did love: [Spoiler (click to open)]the fake dating trope and the enemies to lovers trope. But most of all I loved that Delphie learned to make new friends, took up drawing again and learned to enjoy life. She learned to let go of past trauma and drop toxic people from her life. [Spoiler (click to open)](Like her selfish mom.) That was the real love story: Delphie stopped wallowing, and walling herself up, and found a family.
3 out of 5 Sketch Books
Favorite quotes and funny one liners I hope make it to publication:
Page 6 - This is the oddest dream I've ever had, and I once dreamed I ran a struggling hair salon with Tramp from Lady and the Tramp.
Page 52 - "I heard you groan from just over there and I thought, 'That's the sound of a bookworm in distress.' Can I assist?"
Page 96 - "...Drawing is mostly about the act of it, I reckon. The act of creating something from nothing and the way that feels..."
Page 120 - Like a rotation of Wednesday Addamses walking for Channel. (How Cooper's sister used to describe the type of woman he dated.)
Page 137 - "But life drawing should be about the art, not the model! This is not a pop concert, you know."
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Page 140 - "You are crazy and possibly a danger to my most popular model!" he shouts through the open window, his cut-glass voice ringing in my ears. "But you have much artistic potential!"
Page 149 - "Was it Gwyneth Paltrow? Because I do not trust her. Never again will I trust Gwyneth Paltrow or her magazine."
Page 185 - I shake my head. "I'm not on Instagram. Too many videos of people pointing at words."