The Dead Romantics

2.5 ☆. This was SO “quirky millennial”. It's a miracle I didn't have to read the word “doggo” more even though the damn dog mayor was mentioned every 2 pages. However, “zoom zoom juice” and “battery acid” being used to describe coffee EVERY TIME was just as bad. Possibly worse? Definitely worse.

This just fell flat for me. I loved the premise of a protagonist who can see and speak to ghosts, though the author didn't really utilize this as well as I'd hoped. I mean, Florence solved a MURDER with her gift and there were barely any details given. I also refuse to believe that Florence really needed to leave town because the locals were so mean to her. She goes on and on about how she needed to leave, and then she's back for a week, and she has a single negative encounter the entire time. Which was anticlimactic, followed by a lame scene in which Florence confronts her high school bully who was mentioned ONCE IN THE ENTIRE BOOK BEFORE THIS? Hated it. It wasn't empowering and I simply would have been embarrassed if I were Florence.

Also, this book is supposed to be about grief and love. I get that. However, Florence doesn't even admit her feelings to herself until about the 3/4 mark. She has spent the rest of her time grieving her father with her family, but they really didn't seem that sad to me at all. The family spent more time being quirky and dancing through the funeral home to “Build Me Up Buttercup” than they did grieving the man who died a few days prior. I guess I just wanted more out of the romance. Benji was dry to me and I didn't really find him to be an interesting love interest.

I really didn't like Florence either, the more I think about it. I found her annoying and so, so strange. And not in a good way! (Seriously, you're about to get laid and you say you're going to put googly eyes on the man's abdominal muscles??? WHAT is that?). She was a terrible sister. Terrible daughter. Every serious conversation she tried to have, she just ran away, right up until the end of the book. And also I hated the use of “chaotic” to describe her all the time.

Overall, this book was a mess of slang phrases and pop culture references that didn't sit right with me. It read like fanfiction. I just wish this book had explored grief more fully or even given me a better romance.