Thank you to Fierce Reads for providing this book as a digital galley in exchange for an honest review!
One Sentence Summary:
When Ash is killed on New Year’s Eve, she must reconcile with her newfound role as a reaper and the realization that she can never seek out her girlfriend, Poppy, again.
My Review:
I have very mixed feelings on this book, but it’s almost entirely due to the file type and the fact that I had to read it entirely on my phone. I’m a fanfiction girly, but it wasn’t fun.
First up, our lovely characters. We basically have four main characters: Ash, Poppy, Esen, and Dev. Ash and Poppy are the MC and LI respectively, but I honestly liked Esen and Dev more. However, you really have a sense of them all. The book felt airy when it was just Ash and Poppy, but more as a vibe than a quality if that makes sense? I don’t have much to say here as the focus was the romance and philosophy around it and the thing I had problems with was the plot.
Next as always, romance. This is insta-love, but there’s a lot of development to it. However, I still just didn’t feel very connected to Poppy and Ash? I liked them as a couple and didn’t want them to be separated, but I also felt really disconnected from them throughout the whole book, especially compared to how easy it was to connect with Ash as a POV character. They make a good couple, but I was more immersed in Ash’s journey after death than her relationship with Poppy.
Finally, our plot, worldbuilding, pacing, etc. This was where I took issue with some things. The plot itself was really interesting, but I hated the pacing. This book took me TEN DAYS. I’m a speed-reader and it’s a contemporary novel 400 pages long, and it took me ten days. Part of that is due to the fact that it was on my phone and I’ve been busy, but this still felt so off. In terms of Before and After, I felt like everything was relevant, but there was still too much Before. The buildup to Ash’s death takes months, but Poppy dies literally two weeks later. It was so weird to me because I understand that part of it was their romance, but the pacing of it threw me off a lot. I still enjoyed the book, especially the second half, but it was strange.
Overall, I’d still recommend this book to fans of tragic romance and insta-love. The tropes weren’t my usual thing (I’m truly just not an insta-love gal), but I liked everything except the timeline of it. This was both sad and enjoyable: the two things everyone on BookTok looks for.
⭐⭐⭐✨/5
The Fiction Feature 