Published By: Penguin
Pages: 400
Released On: 20/06/2024
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…
*****
**Contains Potential Minor Spoilers**
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I have been sooooooooo excited about this book!! It’s my first Kirsty Greenwood book but I will definitely be checking out her others.
It is instantly glorious. So uplifting (regardless of the subject matter); it’s fun, funny, mesmerising, and just absolutely beautiful.
Delphie is a fabulous main character, and I felt so much of me in her from the get-go. She’s so normal and everyday, we could be er or we know her. She’s a bit of all of us I think. We also have Merritt, Delphie’s afterlife therapist. She’s dialled up to 100mph, is a bit tactless, over the top, almost a caricature, but she is unforgettable. And then Jonah, the handsome stranger who seems to be too good to be true at first, but he makes for an interesting adventure for Delphie.
Other characters include Cooper, her quite rude but mysterious neighbour, Mr. Yoon, another neighbour who she helps care for, and new friends Frida and Aled. They’re all fantastic. In my experience, you normally get at least one character in a book who is surplus, or not as developed as the others, almost as an afterthought, but Kirsty has clearly spent time building up these people and making them the stars of their own story.
Merritt I loved; she is obsessed with love stories, which is sort of the catalyst for the whole story I suppose, and whilst I like a good rom-com, I’m not obsessed. But let me tell you, I was OBSESSED with this one. I was rooting for Delphie throughout and would have done anything to make this a happy ending.
It is a very original (at least to me) synopsis. At first I thought it would be similar to Becky Hunter’s recent book, Meet Me When My Heart Stops, in terms of falling in love with someone after death, but that’s the smallest of connections.
It isn’t a spoiler to say that the main character dies early on – I mean, without that there’d be no story. I will say though that the way Kirsty first describes the afterlife, it sounds so calming and fun that I actually really hope that’s what’s waiting for us.
I read it in less than a day, it is so addictive. It does bring tears to your eyes, it’s so beautiful. It has to be one of the most uplifting, gloriously life-affirming books I’ve read in a very long time and I can’t wait to recommend it to everyone!
Books By Your Bedside 