Dal Pages

Greenwood, K. (2024). The Love of My Afterlife [Audiobook]. Penguin Random House.

Annotations:

27-year-old Delphie dies chocking on a microwaveable hamburger and reawakens in the waiting room of Evermore. She meets Merritt, her counsellor who tries to help her transition to the Afterlife. Upon learning that she had died, Delphie tries to escape when she bumps into her soulmate, who unfortunately, was an accidental visitor in Evermore and is definitely, not dead yet. Fortunately for him, unfortunately for Delphie, he gets sent back to Earth with his memories from the waiting room erased. The only way Delphie can return to Earth and live again, is to strike a deal with Merrit where she must find her soulmate within 10 days and he must initiate a kiss. Otherwise, she must return to Evermore to help Merrit trial-run her dating services for the dead; her worst nightmare. The only problem? Delphie only knows that his first name is Jonah and that he lives in London, England. Despite dying a virgin, having only kissed 1 person before, and feeling unconfident, Delphie is not wasting her second chance at life to find her soulmate. At least she has her neighbour Cooper to help her with her search and constant near-misses.

A Good Morning America Book Club Pick

An Instant Usa Today Bestseller

Discussion:

This rom-com genre is great for a lighthearted read! This genre includes multiple romantic tropes, such as enemies to lovers, fake dating, love at first sight, meet-cute, forced proximity, and the ugly duckling, all of which are in this book. This rom-com/chick-lit is very character driven and readers will feel an emotional attachment to Delphie, despite the many cringey moments and second-hand embarrassment felt throughout the book. Delphie appears real and relatable because of how deeply embedded pop cultural moments are in her sense of humour, inner monologue and snappy remarks. This book is best enjoyed by those who enjoy 1990-2020 rom-coms and pop culture references, such as Titanic, Bridget Jones Diary, Bridgerton, Nicholas Spark, Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada etc. While these pop culture references add realism to this magic realism storyline; the book itself can become out-dated and alienate/disengage readers who can’t pick up on these never-ending references, even if they love this rom-com genre!

I really enjoyed the British-isms, the internal monologue and dialogue between characters because it brought me back to 2018-2020 when I lived in London, England. Sofia Oxenham is a British actress and she narrated the audiobook, while also emulating different British accents for different characters. Her line delivery set the British tone and sense of humor, helping Delphie’s character appear more real and relatable as we follow her first love story.

The image above is from the Penguin Random House.