The Love of my Afterlife by Kirsty Greenwood

 

If she wasn’t dead already, Delphie would be dying of embarrassment. She’s entered the afterlife wearing the sort of pyjamas you don’t want anyone to see and finds herself face-to-face with the most handsome man she’s ever encountered. And he’s smiling at her.

As they start to chat, everything else becomes background noise – until someone comes running out of a door, yelling something about a huge mistake, and sends the dreamy stranger back down to earth.

In a twist of fate, Delphie is offered a deal in which she can return to her previous life and reconnect with the mysterious man she’s sure is her soulmate.

The challenge? She only has ten days to find him.

Ten days to make him fall for her.

Oh, and he has no recollection of them ever having met…
_______________

I loved Yours Truly by Kirsty Greenwood so I was excited to read another of her books and her new release The Love of My Afterlife sounded like a fresh take on a rom-com that was just what I needed.

We meet our FMC Delphi as she has just died after choking on a burger!

Yes, an unusual start to a novel and one I am sure none of us have come across before. As she is welcomed by her afterlife therapist she then meets Jonah and experiences a romantic connection she has never had in her life, could this be her soul mate?

Her meeting with him is short- lived though as Jonah is there in error and gets sent back to real life and Delphi makes a deal with her therapist to return to the living and find Jonah who will have no recollection of her and make him full for her and kiss her!

Yes this was a completely far-fetched storyline but that didn’t matter one iota, I loved every second of it. Delphi has never really lived life, she keeps herself to herself has no friends or boyfriends which was so sad considering what a lovely woman she is but this challenge made her push herself out of her comfort zone as she needed all the help she could get to complete her task but never did she anticipate that she may actually make some friends and maybe more along the way.

There were some funny bits here and there too which had me chuckling away and the old romantic in me really wanted Delphi to experience the perfect love story she deserved.

I loved that this storyline was so refreshing being unlike any I had read before as I have been moving more into Fantasy and Thriller recently with romance books all seeming to blend into one or being so full of smut that there is no storyline alongside it but this book has got me back to the romance that I always loved. This was light hearted, fast paced, witty and romantic all in one.

I could kind of see where the storyline was going to go but I still didn’t quite work out how the author was going to end the storyline and when the revelation was made I did have a little pull on the heart string, but it is certainly not a tear jerker so don’t be put off for those who do not like sad books ( as I know a few of you have asked this whilst I was reading)

This is a brilliant read by Kirsty Greenwood, she has brought my love of romance back.

The Vintage Guide to Love and Romance by Kirsty Greenwood

Jessica Beam is a girl who knows how to party. Only lately she's been forgetting to turn up for work on time. Or in clean clothes. Down on her luck, out of a job and homeless, Jess seeks the help of her long-lost grandmother. Things aren't going well for Matilda Beam, either. Her 1950s Good Woman guide books are out of print, her mortgage repayments are staggering and her granddaughter wears neon Wonderbras. When a lifeline from a London publisher arrives, the pair have an opportunity to secure the roof over their heads - by invigorating the Good Woman guides and transforming modern, rebellious Jess into a demure vintage lady. The true test of their makeover will be to capture the heart of notorious London playboy Leo Frost and prove that Matilda's guides still work. It's going to take commitment, nerves of steel and one seriously pointy bra to pull this off . . .

The Vintage Guide to Love and Romance is the second book by Kirsty Greenwood and after thoroughly enjoying her first book Yours Truly I was really looking forward to reading this and it came at just the right time I had read a lot of deep, dark reads so I was looking forward to something light and witty and that is exactly what I got.

Our bubbly main character is Jessica Beam and I absolutely loved her, she was a real live wire who is mischievous and loves life, running and pear cider! As her life looks set to go down a certain path things then take an almighty plummet and she loses everything and with nowhere to turn she ends up at her Grandma’s house who she hasn’t met before.  Although Grandma Matilda lives in a grand house she is down on her luck too but a lifeline is thrown Jess and Matilda’s way which will mean using Matilda’s traditional, classic Good Woman tips on Jessica.

This was such a fun down to earth read. The book is told from Jessica’s point of view but also at the beginning of each chapter there is a tip taken from Matilda Beam’s Guide to Love and Romance, 1955 book which was a lovely touch and there was also a diary entry from Rose who was Jessica’s mum and it was great to slowly get the picture as to what had happened to Rose earlier on in life.

The storyline has a classy modern feel to it the classy side definitely doesn’t come from Jessica but from her Grandma whereas Jessica brings a modern, fun and energetic feel to the book. There were great supporting characters in this book too, Peach was a very friendly, loving character who was a very reserved and timid character until Jessica came into her life. There was also her friend ( if you can call her that) Summer who I took an instant dislike to, but the character that really shocked me was Leo Frost my opinion of him went full circle.

The storyline kept me entertained and the book flowed at a fast pace. There was some swearing in this book but it was in the right places and didn’t feel out of place it just added to Jessica’s out of control character, I found myself smiling away at Jessica’s attitude because she is unbelievable and funny.

This truly is a fun, fast paced and uplifting read and I enjoyed every minute of it. I hope Kirsty doesn’t leave it so long for her next book we need another fix!

Paperback                Kindle

Yours Truly by Kirsty Greenwood

I couldn’t wait to read Yours Truly mainly for two reasons, firstly I loved the cover and I remember reading the post about the cover being developed with the various changes being made to make it perfect which I found very interesting. Secondly the author is Kirsty Greenwood from over at Novelicious and the ladies over there seem to have a similar taste in books to myself so I was secretly confident that Kirsty would write something to my liking but with any debut book you are never quite sure what is in store!

Natalie is a sweet natured character with “walk over me” tattooed on her forehead! Everyone from her family to her boyfriend Olly walk all over her and do not take her feelings into account but poor Natalie doesn’t have the heart to say anything even when she has a bad time at the hairdressers she still doesn’t say anything it seems easier for her to be upset than to stand up for herself and say something.

On a night out with her best friend to a hypnosis night things go terribly wrong when her friend Meg is meant to be hypnotised but the next day it soon becomes clear that although Meg didn’t full under Natalie sure did problem is every time she is asked a question she can only tell the honest truth. Things soon spiral out of control and Natalie is on a mission to find the hypnotist again to put things straight.

I loved loved loved this book! What a fantastic debut. It is funny in all the right places with situations you would never dream of. I don’t make a habit of comparing authors but I think it does help with debut authors so as you know if to take a chance on their new book and so I have to say the first thing that came to my mind whilst reading this book is wow the humour is very similar to Sophie Kinsella’s humour in Can You Keep A Secret which for me is great as that is my favourite book so I knew I would love this one if it kept the pace.

The characters are all fantastic even the characters we are not meant to like I loved as they brought their own little something to the book. Natalie’s character I found easy to relate to as I am similar in I would rather keep quiet to not hurt other people’s feelings so to watch her out of her comfortzone speaking her mind was very entertaining.

I found the book very pacey and the storyline didn’t feel as though it was being dragged out it was a simple easy read that had you turning over the pages wanting to see the outcome.

I would definitely read future books by this author. Well done on your humours and down to earth read Kirsty Greenwood.

Kindle