Unfortunately I was not able to get caught by this book so I didn't finish it. The prose is difficult to get through, and because of this I was distracted trying to figure out what was happening with the characters that I couldn't get caught by the romance. This will be for some readers, just not me.

Thank you #NetGalley for the early access copy!!

I give it 4.5 stars because the book is good, even though I myself did not like it that much.
Death is quirky and interesting, Molly is admirable in her resistance to the tragedies of life, and even though the author warns us it is not a romance, it most certainly is a love story.
I loved some ideas more than the characters or the plot, and maybe that’s why the book did not engage me so much. Still, the idea of the consequences of angels existing at all moments always, making them have multiple versions and a very bad understanding of what “yesterday” or “tomorrow” mean (since they are in a perpetual “now” in their multiple “we”) is very well used – and so is the solution to making Death’s plot even possible, since he gives his multiple versions up to live among humans. What did not make so much sense to me is how he could live 200,000 years with us and still not have a clue – although the fact that time stops around him would explain a lot.
My problem with the book is in part the style and in part that I found it a little depressing (again, the author gives more than fair warning, so it would not be fair to judge it on this last aspect). The book begins funny and quirky, so I got into that mindset – maybe that was the problem: expectations. Then the style stiffens, it becomes a tad dry: I don’t think the vocabulary is the main problem, as other reviews stated, but the fact that sometimes the style is so tight you don’t know which character is thinking a sentence in an isolated paragraph. You go back, reread it and it could be both characters in the scene – for me, that is annoying. Together with the fact that the plot is not eventful and that their life is almost banal, it makes for a slow reading.
My last observation, with a much veiled kind of spoiler (be warned): at the very ending, the big things/ideas beyond Molly and Death himself resolve in a valid way, and if that were what actually happened in the real world, it would almost be reasonable (if not beautiful). But because we know it is not, it’s just bittersweet at best, if not downright painful. Their almost banal life together is what’s supposed to make us think about what it means to be human – and it does, but for me it’s just really mildly depressing. Still, that is just my point of view, so if you don’t mind bittersweet endings or the tragedies of life, go for it.

Death accidentally picks the wrong soul and Molly Molloy lives. From now on Molly can see Death and interact with him. Death is depicted as going with the time on Earth but with the comic relief of no education and no clue about the world he wants to live in whatsoever, i.e. he writes everything phonetically, doesn’t know how modern amenities work. A love story between the two of them ensues, including a very fast-forward to several years on.

I'm certain my love for the funny stories about Death by either Pratchett or Christopher Moore had an influence on my perception of this rather lukewarm rom-com.

While Molly Molly and the Angel of Death isn’t my usual type of book, I quite enjoyed it.

I have to admit, it was hard to get into at first as I found it a little confusing. It took me a few chapters to really grasp what the Custodes were and that the grammatical mistakes were intentional. I believe that certain parts of the book could have been elaborated better, but that may have just been the writing style.

I loved Death’s growth and his innocence. I loathed the use of “yuh-oh” and some other… quirky terms. I got over it due to the story itself.

I laughed, I cried, and at the end I was glad that I read the book to the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me this e-ARC. All opinions expressed here are my own.

This was too cute. I absolutely loved the characters as they moved through the story, especially the character of Death. This was not a too long story either and was just right. Definitely recommend!

An incredibly intriguing premise for a book that offers a new take on an immortal/human romance. Death’s character was completely quirky and very sweet and completely fascinated by this human who is not dead and can see him. Molly is a strong woman who has experienced a lot of death in her life and she’s not interested in experiencing her own, thank you very much. Watching this unlikely pair form a bond was intoxicating and whilst I wouldn’t say there’s chemistry between them, their romance is sold through their interactions - however unusual they might be.

The second half of the book was a little rushed and I would have liked to have seen more of Death and Molly here together rather than an overview of their separate experiences and I also got pretty confused at the ending but all in all this was a unique and enjoyable story and worth a read!

I received a free copy of this book. All views are my own.

Thank you to Maria Vale and Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review! Molly Molloy and the Angel of Death by Maria Vale is a perfectly, quirky little tale. As a lover of Meet Joe Black - the premise of death learning to be human is one of my favorites. Death (Dee) accidentally saves Molly Molloy when it was her time to die. Now Dee and Molly have a special connection leading to death staying in NYC, learning to be human. Dee has to even learn emotions:
“It makes me feel very… very shaky and spicy.” - Dee
“Angry, maybe?” - Molly

The cover, title and premise of this book had me so excited to read it. I loved the concept but I struggled with the style of writing which made it hard to really get into the story. It is a shame because I feel like this could have been so much better if you were able to really immerse yourself in the story.

This book was not what I was expecting at all. From reading what I thought were similar books I assumed that Molly would be working alongside the Angel of Death in some sort of urban fantasy type story and then they would fall for each other. What I definitely wasn't expecting was just a bizarre romance!!
There were some cute parts but I think where I really struggled was that both characters were quite emotionless and I struggled to connect with them. The weird language and the way that the Powers That Be speak gets a bit annoying and i found myself skim reading those bits after a while.
Overall an average read unfortunately.

Thank you for this advanced reader copy.
Molly Molloy and the Angel of Death is different to recent releases of "Death romances" e.g. Belladonna as Death isn't the morally grey character we're used to.

It was a decent read with some cute parts.

I absolutely loved this, I do loves about Death as a character, Ithink Terry Pritchett started this off for me, but there you go. This was one of my favourites I’ve read so far and I’ve read a lot. The character of Death is so awkward, but realistically so as what would Death know about human day today life, but he’s so out of his league and inept , but you fall in love with his joy and delight in the learning. Molly Molloy is such a character herself and I adored her almost as much as Death, realistic with from stretch marks and all , iso loved that, as much as I loved her strength, her history and how she gets through it all. I can’t say much more on the story without spoilers but you’ll love it and you need to read it

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

You might be thinking, "Taylor, you were at a funeral this week, why did you think this was a good time to read a book about the personification of death falling in love with a human woman?" And to that, I have no answer, but it was the perfect distraction, and easy to pick up and put down without getting confused about where in the story I was. This book is bizarre, and you'll probably be able to tell pretty quickly if it's your type of weird.

Death is in charge of collecting souls from dying humans, and he's just eaten one of the powdered donuts his last collection had just bought when he meets Molly Molloy eating atomic hot wings in her grandmother's hospital room. He's a little distracted by the powdered sugar on his coat, and caught off guard by the fact that Molly can see him. Reflexively patting Molly on the back when she choked on a chicken wing ends up getting Death on Heaven's sh*t list, as it turns out he was meant to collect HER soul, not her grandmother's. Oops.

Molly is 25 and splitting her time between EMT training and waiting tables at an NYC "breastaraunt", which is exactly what it sounds like. Everyone she's ever loved has died, so needless to say, she's not too thrilled when Death starts popping up again to try and remedy his mistake. That mistake being leaving Molly alive.

The interactions between Death and Molly as they both learn the other's perspective on mortality are both hilarious and heartwarming. If you've had the thought "I wish I could learn what Death thinks about condoms and Star Wars" but also "What is the meaning of life", this might be the book for you. I both laughed hysterically and also got choked up, all in less than 300 pages---if you like weird humor and are looking for a bit of a palette cleanser between larger books or more dense or heavy topics, this might be the perfect choice!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, & the author for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review of “Molly Molloy and the Angel of Death”.

I just finished reading Molly Molloy and the Angel of Death.
Whilst I was really excited about the premise of this book I found the execution (no pun intended) wasn’t quite to my tastes. I found the writing style distracting and it did not allow me to get drawn into the story as I would have liked to.
This book has a complex use of language which overshadowed the storyline for me

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy of molly molloy and the angel of death. this was pretty cool scifi and womens fiction. on what would happen if death messed up royally and saved someone instead of taking their soul. the conflict she brings to his doorstep was great, the banter as well was quite good, worth the read.

I received an e-ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review. Review can also be found on *Milky Way of Books*

It is no secret that I loved Maria Vale's books. Her series Legends of all Wolves is a must-read that brings together our love for the paranormal but with the sensitivity and deep love for nature as also romance.

This book gave me great vibes of "Meet Joe Black" and "The Ghost".
Molly Molloy and the Angel of Death was quite the wild ride. I knew that I just wanted to read it, despite the premise which always makes me cry because anything metaphysical always hits that spot in my heart that knows....that we don't know anything about the after.

Death is...not exactly an angel but a being beyond time and creation itself who has been demoted into gathering the souls of mortals...which he so drily pulls from the bodies he calls Rags, and sends them...Upstairs. I loved the sarcastic way he does the job? Like a public sector worker who just does the routine and finds no satisfaction in anything anymore.

And then when he goes to pull the soul of a Molloy, he realizes that he can be seen and that the woman whom he should he taken the soul is still alive.
Molly Molloy lives her life, without actually living, filled with grief and a dry sense of humor which was born of circumstances of pain and loss. When she realizes who and what Death is, a strange companionship will bloom between them, one that will defy the powers of...Upstairs.

There is a lot of emotion to unpack here. From the way, Molly slowly and surely integrates Death into human life to Death's understanding of how precious life is, despite being short for humans. It's almost comely how often he acts like a child or a teenager with his behavior and Molly is the one being the adult in the relationship. Additionally, I found the description of how Upstairs looks like quite hilarious, the combination of Latin for their rules and the idea that souls are connected to the human body through the omphalos (greek word for bellybutton-also an ancient mythological belief-) was a nice touch.

The ending had me crying but as Death adjusts to change, you slowly realize that his story never ends, and love can come and find him again through endless time.

This was one of the best books of 2023 for me and I totally recommend it.

Super unique and captivating! I don’t even know how to accurately describe Molly Molloy and the Angel of Death but it was a heck of a ride! Full of dark humor, love, loss and everything in-between this is a story that will stay with me for awhile!

Thank you to NetGalley & Wild & Ashe, LLC for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Molly Molloy and the Angel of Death is a love story with a dash of humor.

The Angel of Death accidently saves the life of the person he was to collect. Thus the beginning of this love story. The whole atmosphere of the story makes great spring time reading. The characters are adorable and the love is charming.

ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

#MolllyMolloyandtheAngelofDeath #NetGalley

My thanks to NetGalley and Wild & Ashe for an ARC of this book. Opinions on my own. I have read and enjoyed Maria Vale's other works, so I was excited to be approved for this book and predisposed to like it.

This book follows Death, an immortal being living among humans for all time yet knowing and understanding little of humanity. He accidentally saves a young woman, Molly, and in the process of trying to undo his mistake, falls for her. Molly is a resilient woman who's life has been upturned by Death several times. She focuses on her goals and dreams, and inso doing, inspires Death to consider life.

The pace of the story is somewhat slow to start, and a little rushed at the end. Death as a human is kinda ridiculous but his abiding love for Molly and the family they create is endearing.

I was looking forward to reading Molly Molloy and the Angel of Death. Unfortunately, it just wasn't the book for me. It had some interesting and also funny elements, but ultimately I found myself struggling to fully connect with the story and characters. The pace was slow and the writing style was challenging for me as a non-native English speaker. I had to frequently re-read passages and look up words that I wasn't familiar with to make sure i understood everything.

2.5 Stars

The blurb of this book is what drew me in to read it but unfortunately I felt that it fell a little flat in the delivery.
I felt that the plot was really slow to start with and that the pace was just off as well.
I felt that the writing just did not flow well unfortunately and at points it got confusing.
I did enjoy the characters especially how Death was portrayed.
I think with a little tweaking with the writing that this could potentially be a great read.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for an eARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.