This story follows Vicky, a young queer, depressed woman living in NYC. She thinks a lot about death, so much so that she works for a well known urn company led by a famous celebrity. She works for Big Death, if you will. We follow her relationship with her best friend Jenn, and a couple she begins to see, Angela and Kevin. We spend a lot of time in Vicky’s head, so don’t expect a fast plot. But do expect real and moving descriptions of depression, suicidal ideation, and the inevitability of pain that comes from loving people. This was so real and so beautiful.

For fans of Emily Austin’s Everyone in this Room will Someday Be Dead.

Thank you to NetGalley and the published for the advance reader copy.

I Love You Don’t Die is one of those books that doesn’t ask for your understanding—it dares you to witness. Jade Song crafts a story that feels less like fiction and more like an unraveling—of identity, of grief, of how we move through a world defined by loss and longing. It’s not here to explain itself. It simply breathes, pulses, and aches on the page, inviting readers to sit in the discomfort and the beauty of it all.

At its center is Vicky—a protagonist written with such visceral honesty that she doesn’t feel constructed at all. She exists with contradictions intact: sharp and soft, grieving and indifferent, painfully aware and almost dissociative. Song doesn’t filter her through morality or likability. There’s no heavy narration nudging how you should feel about her. Instead, Vicky’s raw, fluctuating interiority is laid bare, letting you engage with her grief, her queerness, her resistance to labels, and her aching need for connection in your own way.

What makes this novel exceptional is how it reframes death—not as an ending, but a point of transformation. Song layers themes of gender, anxiety, and queer identity into a stream-of-consciousness style that feels experimental yet deeply grounded. It reads like poetry, or perhaps like an anxiety spiral you can’t quite escape—but don’t want to. Even the third-person narration, often emotionally distancing, functions here as a mirror for numbness, for the detachment that comes with navigating loss in a society that refuses to slow down for it.

And then there’s the speculative current—subtle but steady. The book isn’t horror in the traditional sense, but it’s unsettling in its truths, in how deeply it explores the death of imposed identity. There are no easy resolutions, no tidy arcs, and that’s precisely what makes it unforgettable. It’s a meditation on grief, gender, and identity that feels like it was exhaled rather than written.

For readers who like:
-Queer fiction
-Nonlinear, lyrical, and speculative narrative voices
-Character studies that challenge rather than comfort

Final Verdict
I Love You Don’t Die is not for the faint of heart—but for those willing to lean into the strange, the aching, and the quietly revolutionary, it’s an unforgettable journey. Jade Song has written something profoundly vulnerable and genre-defiant. A masterclass in raw storytelling, and easily one of the most thought-provoking reads of the year.

Grateful to NetGalley, William Morrow and Jade Song for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this story in exchange for an honest review.

Jade Song is such an incredible storyteller. I loved her first novel and I'm a hundred percent serious when I say this new book has become an instant favourite of mine. It was so f****** powerful, my gosh

4.5 stars rounded up.

I don't really know how to review this book. It was beautiful, lyrical, rambling, profound, and sad. It's about love and grief, depression and friendship, life and death.
Vicki is one of the most fleshed out characters I have ever read. Getting into her brain was like getting to know a new friend.

This is my first book by Jade Song but I am going to go buy Chlorine now.

Wow.

Books set in New York City that are ultimately about love and friendship are like catnip to me, and this one is no exception. The dialogue was crisp, snappy, and almost Ephron-esque.

“I Love You Don’t Die” is the latest novel by Jade Song. Like her previous book, “Chlorine,” this novel is vivid and unapologetically intense, exploring themes of life, death, and human connections. It delves into queerness, Asian American identity, and the process of coming of age.

The story follows Vicky, a young woman living in New York who is fascinated with death. She lives above a funeral parlor, works at an urn startup, and collects zhizha, tokens for the dead. As her friendships, work life, and relationships begin to shift, she gains clarity about her life. This book examines grief, the meaning of life, love, and our emotional states. While Vicky may focus on death, the narrative serves as a memento mori, urging both her and us as readers to live better, take charge of our situations, and appreciate our relationships.

This book resonates with readers, reminding us that we are not alone and life is fleeting. It captures that life is a mix of pain and love and encourages us to transform our time with others into something meaningful.

I would recommend this book to others, but I urge readers to check the content warnings beforehand. Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 ⭐️ rounded up

It should come as literally no surprise to anyone that I was an extremely willing participant in the journey I Love You Don’t Die took me along for! Chlorine was my favorite read of 2023 by miiiiiiilllllleeeeeees and this story, to me, still very much lives up to the highs of its predecessor.

I should say that while spiritually in a similar, dark mental “horror” space, this story definitely carves out its own niche.

Personally, I think the way Vicky is written is a genuine master class in making the audience really think while reading. The character study there is worth the read alone. The way she is presented as just being, with minimal judgement or commentary is sort of fantastic. We aren’t told to love or hate or sympathize with her. We just experience her and the life going on around her in real time, along for the ride. Her thoughts and action constantly teeter from morbid to pragmatic to borderline existential crisis without ever feeling inorganic or contrite.

This is such a special, peculiar little tale that I really think every should take a swing at enjoying. If you’re willing to come along for the ride, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

GINORMOUS thanks to William Morrow and Jade Song for the ARC!! I Love You Don’t Die will be published March 17, 2026!

Death is where life begins and this immaculate stream of consciousness reforms how we talk about grief. There is something in the air that keeps leading the protagonist down a rabbit hole defined by death. What does death look like for all of us? The third person perspective is usually my least favorite, but it truly captures how numb we are to the death around us all. Engage with this sapphic queer tale for more than just ramblings about death!
Think of Jade Song’s I Love You Don’t Die as a flirtation with the concept of death of gender constructs. We let these gender norms define us and kill us on the inside. Now we can deconstruct that. This narrative really employs the discussion of what it means to kill the concept of gender. If you liked Chlorine you will love this narrative – but beware this is more speculative fiction than horror.
This is the third person perspective of the voice of anxiety in our heads. Death triggers those anxieties and the way we interact with our world. Anxiety is another persistent theme throughout this narrative. What is an obsession but an attempt to take control of our anxieties? Thank you Netgalley and William Morrow for this advanced digital arc.

For more recommendations and and reviews check out my blog, https://brujerialibrary.wordpress.com