Dandelion Is Dead, Rosie Storey (Review by Rachel Taran)

Rating: 3.75/5 Stars

Thirty-six-year-old Poppy has felt lost and detached since the death of her 39-year-old sister Dandelion. She feels disconnected from her job, her boyfriend, and her life. As the one-year anniversary of Dandelion’s death approaches, Poppy still clings to not just her sister’s memory but also to her material things she left behind. One day, after turning on Dandelion’s old phone and discovering an unanswered match from Hinge named Jake, Poppy decides to send him a message through Dandelion’s app. What unravels after this is a clever story about grief, love, and finding yourself after loss.

After Poppy sends the message to Jake, the story bounces back and forth between Poppy and Jake over the course of about four months. We meet a handful of loved ones from both their lives, including Poppy’s boyfriend, parents, and Poppy and Dandelion’s best friend Jetta, along with Jake’s father, his son Billy, and his ex-wife and her new boyfriend. Through their own perspectives, we learn about the different relationships in each of their lives and how grief has shaped their current life circumstances.

For me, parts of the story felt slow and dragging and there were several times I found the main characters to be unlikeable and confusing in their actions. Ultimately however, I did care enough about both Poppy and Jake and what was going to happen to the two of them. By the end of the book, I was pleased at the lessons they had learned and the mending they had each done within their different relationships- including with each other. While I did feel like there were some plot points that I wanted to delve into deeper than what was provided and the book eventually wrapped up with some loose ends that left me with more questions than answers, the ending satisfied me enough to appreciate the journey the story had taken.