Druidan reviewed Afterlove by Tanya Byrne
Review of Afterlove
4 stars
I enjoyed this one. I wanted something with a legitimate sapphic romance in it, and I got that. I liked the main character’s love interest. They were fun to watch together and I liked their personalities. The side characters were also good, though I didn’t really get enough time with any of them. That’s all right. The book is focused very heavily on the main pair and their story. There is a very clear three act structure and the first and third act are by far the strongest, in my opinion, and ends with a satisfying if bittersweet conclusion. It’s not that the second act is actually bad, per se. It’s more that, since I am really big on world building, I could see a lot of the cracks and thinness of some of the supernatural elements. By the time the third act came around, I was able to shrug …
I enjoyed this one. I wanted something with a legitimate sapphic romance in it, and I got that. I liked the main character’s love interest. They were fun to watch together and I liked their personalities. The side characters were also good, though I didn’t really get enough time with any of them. That’s all right. The book is focused very heavily on the main pair and their story. There is a very clear three act structure and the first and third act are by far the strongest, in my opinion, and ends with a satisfying if bittersweet conclusion. It’s not that the second act is actually bad, per se. It’s more that, since I am really big on world building, I could see a lot of the cracks and thinness of some of the supernatural elements. By the time the third act came around, I was able to shrug off my misgivings in favor of enjoying the melodrama of the final act. While tragic LGBTQ stories might be a bit overplayed, if you’re looking for a YA, supernatural sapphic romance, this one is quite solid.