flower power

Poppy Greene is lost. It’s been less than a year since her older sister Dandelion passed away, and she still feels like the ground has fallen out from under her. She doesn’t want to get married to her boyfriend Sam. She doesn’t want to think about kids. She can’t even sell Dandelion’s apartment, even though it could give her and Sam enough money to buy a home of their own. It could give them a fresh start. But Poppy’s not ready for a new start. She’s staying stuck.

When Poppy drops her phone and cracks the screen beyond help, she decides to use Dandelion’s. Which brings up all of Dandelion’s old apps, including a dating app. Poppy opens it up and looks over her profile. Dandelion had been a beautiful, vibrant woman. She had a good job in finance and wasn’t interested in marriage or kids. Poppy read through the messages that people had sent her, some making her laugh and some making her cringe. But one stands out to her.

Jake was divorced and the father of a young boy, and his message to Dandelion is warm and sweet and a little vulnerable. Poppy finds herself answering, and eventually they meet in person. Poppy doesn’t know how to explain that she had hijacked her dead sister’s account to message him, so she pretends to be Dandelion. Jake and Poppy hit it off, enjoying several good dates. But when Jake decides to talk about his new relationship with some work colleagues, one of them says that he had dated Dandelion a while back and describes a woman different than the woman he had met.

A quick internet search tells Jake that he’d met up with Poppy, not Dandelion, and he ends the relationship. In the months that follow, Poppy finds herself able to move forward again. She changes her wardrobe, she thinks about renting out Dandelion’s apartment, and she proposes to Sam. But when fate delivers Jake into her life again, she finds herself wanting to help him. She rents him Dandelion’s apartment and meets his son when she shows the two of them around the neighborhood.

Poppy is committed to Sam, but she can’t deny that spending time with Jake makes her happy. But as they live their lives, making choices and making excuses, coming together and falling apart, the invisible string that ties them together is tested. Will it be strong enough to keep their love alive, or will the pain and difficulty of life break that bond?

Dandelion Is Dead is a beautifully crafted story of finding love after grief. It’s a grown-up love story, about survival and healing, and I found it exceptionally moving. There is no saccharin happily-ever-after here, just genuine characters doing their best to become better adults, people they can believe in, people who deserve the future they want together. It’s about the struggle of the dark times and the possibility of better times.

Dandelion Is Dead is a slow burn novel, filled with lies and betrayals. But it’s also just about the human experience. It felt very real and emotional and transformative. I enjoyed it immensely and I couldn’t help but root for Poppy to find the happiness she wanted.

Egalleys for Dandelion Is Dead were provided by Berkley through NetGalley, with many thanks, but the opinions are mine.