Title: Drop Dead
Author: Lily Chu
Year Published: 2024
Genre: Romance
Setting: Canada
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Drop Dead: A Blurb
Nadine and Wes have been rival journalists since college. When Nadine posts dying author Dot Voline’s obituary, only to find out that she’s still alive, Wes (and the rival newspaper he works for) is thrilled.
Their paths quickly cross again as they try to approach the reclusive author for a story, each aggressively campaigning against the other to get her scoop. Then Dot switches it up on them: she stipulates that they have to work together to figure out her secret.
For the sake of their careers, both put their differences aside and dig in to figure out what Dot’s secret is. As they scramble to uncover the scandal, they start to unearth feelings as well, leading to a complicated situation.
My Thoughts
The back of the book blurb really sold me. The book, unfortunately, didn’t.
I wanted to love it. Everything seems set up perfectly: ambitious rival main characters, a reclusive author, a secret, a scenic mansion…yet it fell a bit flat for me, unfortunately. In the end, I finished it mostly because I’d started it, but most of it felt like it was dragging on.
I’ll preface by saying that this is my personal opinion, and any criticism is meant constructively, not hurtfully. With that being said, this wasn’t my favorite book that I’ve ever read, nor was it my least favorite by any means.
My Main Complaint
The heart of the issue for me was the lack of substance and the slow pacing. The book is almost 350 pages, but very little happens. Nadine and Wes search for clues, and they occasionally find some, but none are terribly earth shattering.
I put the book down and came back to it several times, ultimately reading the last third fairly quickly to finish it. The ending wasn’t very satisfying to me. It wrapped the book up well, but considering so much of the book was about the investigation, it didn’t feel like it got the focus it deserved. I get that it’s a romance, but I was hoping for more on the investigative side. This is partially personal taste, as I prefer more explosive, energetic novels, but I do wish it had been a bit twistier.
Characters and Romance
The characters and their romance were a bit of a mixed bag to me. I didn’t love either main character, but I did appreciate their ambition and dedication toward their work. I felt like I learned a lot about journalism through them, which was very interesting. Their romance worked well, and I think they were well-suited for each other, but it didn’t hit me in the way that some romances do. In the end, my main criticism of them was my main criticism of the genre: the inability to communicate like adults. However, I appreciated the fact that there was no third act break up, which I generally dislike in romance.
I know that many people on Goodreads fixated on Wes’s relationship with his mother. Don’t get me wrong–she was awful to him, and he did enable it. Should he have known better as a grown adult? Yes. Did he grow by the end of the story? Also yes, so I don’t think it’s a huge point to fixate on. My main complaint about Wes was the unnecessary phone calls with his friend, who is not a prominent character. I get that it was to show us as readers what Wes is thinking and to give him a sounding board, but it got so into the other character’s issues sometimes that it felt like a strange and unnecessary diversion.
The Setting
Okay, this was the one thing about the book that I did love. When I picked Drop Dead up, I had two very specific comp titles in mind. The first was Not Dead Yet, the short-lived sit com where Gina Rodriguez is an obit writer who can see dead people.
The second was Dying to Meet You, a hilarious middle grade novel that I loved when I was younger. In this novel, a washed up author moves into an eclectic mansion and has to adjust to life with a ghost and a young boy. The story is told through letters and other communications amongst the characters, and a big part has to do with a mystery and literature, so I saw the vision. I yearned for Drop Dead to be an adult version of this.
Unfortunately, this book was not the adult version of this. Fortunately, however, a wonderful exploration of an eclectic house. I loved the author’s description of the mansion, and I appreciated all the creativity that went into it. There’s just something about a secretive/haunted mansion that takes me back to childhood literature, and it was easily my favorite part of the book.
Side note: it’s not quite the same thing, but if you recognize that book (which, yay!!!), The Only Purple House in Town has a somewhat similar adult feel in terms of the cozy, kooky, unique vibes.
The Writing Style
The writing wasn’t bad, but the amount of telling instead of showing got to me, especially as an English teacher and writer. There were several times when dialogue tags were followed by an explanation of why the character did/said that, which surprised me given that the author has published several other books. Apart from that, the writing style was relatively smooth.
A Final Word
If you like cute, offbeat, closed-setting, predictable rom-coms, you’ll likely enjoy Drop Dead. I’ve heard great things about the audiobook as well, so it might be worth checking out.
Have you read Drop Dead? Let me know what you thought!
