Dandelion Is Dead by Rosie Storey
on March 12, 2026
Genres: Fiction / Coming of Age, Fiction / Family Life / Siblings, Fiction / General, Fiction / Humorous / General, Fiction / Literary, Fiction / Romance / Romantic Comedy
Pages: 368
Format: ARC
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When Poppy discovers unanswered messages from a charming stranger in her late sister’s dating app, she makes an impulsive choice: She’ll meet him, just once, on what would have been Dandelion’s fortieth birthday. It’s exactly the kind of wild adventure her vivacious sister would have pushed her toward. Jake is ready to find something real—and not least because his ex-wife’s twentysomething boyfriend has moved into their old family home. When he meets the intriguing woman who calls herself Dandelion, their connection is undeniable, and he can think of little else. As their relationship deepens, Poppy finds herself trapped in a double life she never meant to create. Every moment with Jake feels genuine, electric, and totally right—despite the fact they’re tangled in deceit. As the lines between grief and love blur, Poppy faces a choice: keep her sister’s memory alive through her lies, or risk everything for a chance at her own happiness?
I read the first few chapters of this in the NetGalley Fall/Winter Buzz Books preview compilation, and I was super excited about it — a young woman mourning the loss of her sister, who she then impersonates on a dating app and ends up having feelings for a man she meets… sounds intoxicating! Sadly, I had to DNF at 70% because I just could not handle it anymore and could not make myself care to see how it would turn out.
I simply could not care about these characters. I understand they were supposed to be messy and terrible but they were WAY over the top messy and terrible! Perhaps if they were in their 20s I could handle it, but they are in there 40s, with a child and it was just awful! I could not find a single thing that redeemed them to me. I do think people with a stronger tolerance for a slower burn/relationship dilly-dallying and manufactured strife that could be resolved with one very honest conversation will like this more than I did.
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for my advanced reader copy of this debut.
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