The Love of my Afterlife by Kirsty Greenwood
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Published by Berkley on 07/02/2024
Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, Magical Realism, Romance, Romantasy, Romantic Comedy, Science Fiction
Format: DRC (384 Pages) 📖 NetGalley
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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 man, she jumps at the opportunity to find her possible soulmate and a fresh start. 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…

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✨ Thank you to Berkley, NetGalley, and of course, Kirsty Greenwood for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. ✨

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Delphie Denise Bookham is dead. She never thought choking would lead to her demise, but here she is—done in by a cheap microwave hamburger. And to make matters worse? She’s dressed in her most atrocious pajamas—green fuzzy socks and a ratty t-shirt with a cartoon star saying, “Honey, it’s Time to Sparkle and Shine!” Things can’t get much worse, can they? Oh, they most certainly can. You see, Delphie is all alone (let’s be honest, she’s preferred it that way until this whole choking thing); she’s got The Tinder Swindler paused on her TV, and the lone browser tab she has open is a Google search for “Are microwaveable burgers real meat?” Yup, things are bleak.

After everything fades to black, Delphie opens her eyes to find herself nose-to-nose with a strange, curly-haired blonde woman wearing bright orange lipstick. Behind this mystery woman are bright blue walls and a bunch of aqua-green washers and dryers; the scent of lavender permeates the air. Delphie obviously isn’t in her apartment anymore, but—is she in a very odd…laundromat? And is that “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” by Bobby McFerrin playing on repeat? Why yes, yes, it is. WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?! 

Confused and still reeling from choking to death minutes before, Delphie learns she has awoken in the afterlife—Evermore, to be exact. Which is kind of like Earth (they have a Diptyque!), but all the residents are dead. And the strange woman hovering around her? That’s Merritt, Delphie’s personal Afterlife Therapist. Merritt’s job is to acclimate Delphie to Evermore and ensure she gets settled. The first step is asking Delphie if she would like to see her life flash before her eyes. But before Delphie can answer, Merritt jumps up and disappears into a nearby closet. When she emerges, she’s pushing an old-school 90s TV on a rolling cart, ready to play a montage of the most significant moments of Delphie’s life. To no one’s surprise, Delphie’s life is lonely, sad, and over before it ever really starts.

Traumatized and desperate to get home, Delphie panics and runs from Merritt’s office. She doesn’t get far before she slams into the chest of the most handsome man she’s ever seen. In their short time together, Delphie and this beautiful stranger do a little bonding, some adorable flirting, and have a positively delightful conversation. They both feel a strong, calming connection—like they’ve known each other for years. But right as this hunk of a man tells Delphie his name is Jonah T…Merritt bursts out of her office yelling about a big mistake and sends Jonah back to Earth with a touch to the forehead. 

Convinced that she has just met her soulmate, Delphie begs Merritt to forehead-touch her back to Earth too. Merritt, being the romance-loving afterlife therapist she is, decides to use the “Franklin Bellamy Clause” to send Delphie back on a ten-day mission to find Jonah and convince him to kiss her. Sounds easy, right? But Delphie was interrupted before she could get Jonah’s last name, and there are so many Jonah Ts in London. Delphie has no idea how to find her Jonah and she’s got to if she wants to stay on Earth and get a second chance at life—and love.

But wait, there’s more!

Dejected and adrift in a sea of possible Jonah Ts, Delphie is running out of time and options. She begrudgingly asks her dreadful downstairs neighbor, Cooper, to help narrow her search with his computer skills. Cooper agrees to help Delphie, but only if she poses as his girlfriend and helps him put an end to his mother’s matchmaking. Wonderful. Now Delphie has to figure out how to fit a little fake dating into her ten-days-to-find-Jonah-and-get-him-to-kiss-her quest. What could go wrong? The answer? A LOT. But while she searches for Jonah in all the wrong places, things with Cooper start to go very right. Cooper is pretty great, and definitely not as dreadful as she thought. Delphie suddenly finds herself even more desperate to get Jonah to kiss her—but for entirely different reasons than before. 

The Love of My Afterlife is a hilarious rom-com that had me rooting for Delphie, grieving with Cooper, and cringing with Jonah. I chortled and cried and fell in love with the characters. The story delves into some heavy topics—death, grief, abandonment, bullying, and depression, to name a few—but it balances those somber moments with lovable (and relatable) characters, quick-witted humor, biting sarcasm, and some good old-fashioned heart. I absolutely loved it. This book was my first foray into Kirsty Greenwood’s writing and will certainly not be my last.