Quick Stats
Age Rating: 18+
Spice Level: 1/5
Over All: 4.5 stars

Special thanks to Berkley Romance and NetGalley for an eARC of this book! All thoughts and opinions reflected in this review are my own.

TW: loss of family member, suicide, grief, sexual content

Ashley Poston is simply phenomenal—and I adore her in this adult romance space. There’s something about her writing—the narration, the emotion—that feels slightly reminiscent of Emily Henry, to me. I find it kind of funny, that EH went from writing YA paranormal romance to adult contemporary, while AP went from writing YA contemporary romance to adult paranormal romance.
Though I think if I had to describe this book and The Dead Romantics, I’d say theyre kind of a soft paranormal romance. Because they’re magical—ghosts, apartments lost in time—but they’re much closer to what you’d think of as contemporary romances than what you’d think of in paranormal romances, or at least how I think of those genres.
All of that is to say, I love what Ashley Poston is doing with her latest books, and I want more of it.
As for this book specifically—I really enjoyed it! I didn’t find it quite to the level of The Dead Romantics, but it was a solid book. Fun and swoony and heartfelt. There were a few instances where I felt like the writing was trying a little too hard to be deep and emotional and introspective, but those instances were greatly outnumbered by moments where those emotions felt genuine and sweeping.
I loved Clementine. Her voice was distinct and easy to get swept up in. I loved watching her grow as a character, and I was sad to part with her at the end.
Iwan, too, was easy to love and easy to fall for. I loved seeing the differences between him in the past vs the present, while Clementine stayed the same. It’s a very interesting juxtaposition to explore, and one that doesn’t often get explored.
The two of them together was just perfection. The chemistry was tangible and their little banter had me kicking my feet. I love nicknames in theory, but in reality they tend to be very hit or miss for me, but this one was definitely a hit! It was a little overused (he referred to her by name [or by nickname, I suppose] at least 5 times as often as she did, sometimes multiple times in a page) but there were so many layers behind him calling her that, that I couldn’t help but love it.
This is, like The Dead Romantics, more of an emotional romance than a romcom, despite the voicy narration and some comedic scenes and aspects. There is a very centralized theme of grief and loss that could easily be triggering to some, especially if you go in unprepared. I really enjoyed the way it was addressed, though. Despite the fact that it was more distanced in timing than the loss explored in TDR, it felt heavier at times in its exploration. I didn’t cry as much as I did reading TDR, yet I felt more depressed while reading the scenes as they occurred—not in a bad way, at all, just in a way that was notable. There is so much love in this book, in many forms, and one of those forms is explored through grief.
All in all, this was a really good book, and I look forward to whatever Ashley Poston releases next, whether its another adult romance or back to the YA sphere.