The hill that I will always die on is that magic that comes with a cost or needs equal exchange is the superior magic.
Till the Last Beat of my Heart has this.
I can definitely see the comparison to Cemetery boys but I will say the other comparison, 'The Taking of Jake Livingston' did not fit.

I loved the take on this plot premise, about bringing back that dead crush you had from death and trying to keep them alive or learn to let them go. This book added a touch of background mystery because of the secrecy of family gift and why he hasn't been told of their gift before. The romance had potential to be amazing but unfortunately this book lacked some luster.
I felt the build up was drawn out to a point it was annoying the character and me the reader, the romance felt like it was missing a dimension and lastly the writing failed to full capture my attention.

I have to say I did love the sweet touch is the moment we get with Jaxon and his dad after the plot twist.
The fact that his father had seen so distinct while alive was all because he loved Jaxon and did something that was killing him to save him. That actually made me cry. It's the kind of moment that moves you.

In conclusion, this book had a great premise, some great plot twists and good potential. It didn't live up to what it could have been but it was still a good read. Compared to a few other books I have read with a similar idea, this was is the second best.

Till the Last Beat of My Heart is a YA contemporary fantasy about Jaxon who has the ability to bring people back from the dead and how he accidently brings back his childhood friend and crush and the consequences of that. I liked Till the Last Beat of My Heart and thought it was an enjoyable read.

I really liked the story and premise of this book, I was intrigued by Jaxon's abilities and wanted to know the effects they would have on both Christian and Jaxon. Jaxon's mum is a mortician so he lives in a mortuary which gave the book a creepy atmosphere which I liked and I think it's a good book to read in the autumn/spooky season.

I liked the relationship Jaxon had with his mum and how close they were. The friendships between Jaxon and his friends were intriguing but I did find the romance between him and Christian to be a bit sudden. And I also felt like the story wasn't as emotional as I expected it to be but I was still interested in the characters and what was happening in the story.

Overall I liked reading about Jaxon's abilities and what was going to happen to him and Christian but I didn't find it as emotional as I thought it would be. I did still enjoy Till the Last Beat of My Heart and I think it's a good book to read for the autumn season.

(I was sent a Netgalley arc of the book to review)

I had such a fun time with this! Till the Last Beat of My Heart is a great YA paranormal book about Jaxon, who lives in a morgue and accidentally reanimates a dead body... who happens to be his friend who he had a falling out with (and also a crush on). Jaxon spends the rest of the book trying to figure out his powers and find out if Christian can safely stay alive. While the blurb compares it to Cemetery Boys, there's a lot of different stuff going on in this book. Since Jaxon knew Christian before his death, when he brings him back to life, it is a chance to resolve conflict between them. Things came together in a sweet way for them. I did find the resolution of the story to be a little too easy - there is a consequence to what Jaxon and his friends do at the end, but then that consequence is waved away with magic, so it lessens the impact of the sacrifice that was made. Overall, this is a great spooky season read, and I can't wait to read more from Louangie Bou-Montes!

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC!

This book is the perfect Halloween read!

While this book is definitely not a horror novel, there were plenty of spooky moments and horror references that feels just in time for Halloween season. I hadn't expected that based on the cover, so it was a pleasant surprise!

The characters read as realistically teenager-y to me. Jaxon is moody and anxious and stubborn (same, dude) while Christian is upbeat and cheerful but is also putting up a front to hide his fears. Also, I really appreciate that Christian is a glasses-wearing jock.

There were certain conflicts that I feel got brushed off/didn't get resolved fully, but for the most part, everything gets resolved pretty well.

I feel that the necromancy aspect isn't fully fleshed out, but as Jaxon is new to this/still figuring things out, I think that's fine.

Overall, a pretty solid YA fantasy, I will definitely be looking forward to see what the author writes next!

P. S. I love Grimalkin the cat so much 😭😭😭

I went into this book with an open heart. The premise sounded so good, and I was really excited to read about this queer story. However, I found the actual story totally unbelievable. I had a difficult time following the story because I just couldn't believe how much miscommunication there was. I hope that this will still be of interest to some, I just couldn't get into the story.

Thanks NetGalley and HarperCollins for a copy of this ARC!

Till the Last Beat of My Heart is a touching story about the messy relationships between family and friends. It is filled with imperfect characters who sometimes make epic mistakes but also care deeply about each other and would sacrifice a lot for their loved ones. Some parts are predictable, and some questions about Jaxon’s abilities are left unanswered in this whirlwind week of Jaxon discovering he can resurrect the dead and constantly trying to keep Christian alive. Overall, that feels appropriate given the timeline and urgency. I appreciate the intersectionality of a protagonist who is queer, Afro-Latinx, and takes medication for anxiety. For those of us not fluent, some Spanish phrases are easy to interpret from context clues while others may need translating. While there is a budding romance, things are kept PG and occasional language is the only mature content, so I’d recommend this to middle school and up.

In Till The Last Beat of My Heart, Louangie Bou-Montes writes of death, resurrection, necromancy and love. Jaxon’s mom is a mortician so he’s used to being around death. His friend, Christian, dies in a car accident and his body is brought to the morgue. Jaxon feels compelled to check on his friend and somehow Christian comes back to life. This is a perfect spooky story to read around Halloween. I loved the friendship between Jaxon and Regan, the romance of Jaxon and Christian and the family dynamics. Anticipatory grief had me crying in certain parts but I was definitely laughing as well. ARC was provided by HarperCollins Children’s Books via NetGalley. I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The son of a mortician discovers his powers over life and death when his crush ends up in his family's morgue

With his mum being the local mortician, sixteen year old Jaxon is used to death. There's quite often a body down in the basement waiting to be prepped for a funeral. It's normal, routine. Living in a small town, Jaxon's mum has worked on many of the residents, but when Christian Reyes, Jaxon's old friend and crush, ends up on the morgue table after a car accident, Jaxon can't help but go down to the basement to see for himself.

Accidentally resurrecting Christian brings a whole host of problems, from Jaxon's family history of necromancy, to Christian's limited time. For Jaxon, inherited necromancy powers aren't as fun when they come with secrets that could tear his family apart, and with Christian's second life about to be cut short, Jaxon must quickly learn all he can about his powers, or he'll lose Christian for good.

Marketed as for fans of Cemetery Boys, I went into this a little hesitant. Cemetery Boys is one of my favourites, one I'll always hold close, and just lately I've been let down by incorrect marketing comparisons. Till the Last Beat of My Heart? Perfectly comped. My hesitation quickly dissipated, and I found myself easily loving this as much as Cemetery Boys very early on. 

The characters are easily likeable, and Christian's bright, sunny disposition is impossible not to roll your eyes with a smile at, just like Jaxon. You get the real sense of family, of love, friendship and connection. At times it felt like I was a guest in the kitchen, happily observing the interactions between Jaxon, his mum and aunt, and then later, Christian and his extended family. It has that real sense of warmth despite the themes, and Jaxon's need to save Christian quickly became mine, too.

The pacing is set perfectly, with the urgency, anxiety, and all out desperation combined with the necessary slowed down, and not quite relaxed. This will be a great spooky season read, and well worth a read if you're looking for something to break up any dark horror books. 

As a debut, it's clear the author has a lot of potential, and I'm excited for what's next! This is firmly on my favourites list, and I hope it finds its way onto yours too!



Did I like the book? Yes!

Did I love it? Yes!

Would I recommend it? 100%! As a spooky season read, or for the Cemetery Boys lovers, it's a new favourite for me!

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for this earc. I had a fun time with this book and it is definitely one I will be recommending for a fall read. This book does a great job of handling death and how it affects people. I enjoyed the friendship between Jaxon and Regan. My favorite character would have to be Christian, I loved his sunny personality and how much he loved live and his friends. I thought the romance and progress of it between Jaxon and Christian was cute. I liked the authors take on necromancy and how it runs in family bloodlines, I also liked how it wasn’t all copy and paste of each person having the same ability too.

When the son of the local mortician accidentally brings back his dead ex best friend/crush, he finds that his life is connected with him... and that they'll have to find a way to figure it out before he takes the life out of him. Jaxon is a sixteen-year old boy who grew up in a funeral home, he's the son of a mortician, and he's used to death... until he finds the dead body of his ex best friend/crush Christian Reyes right on the table. Christian died in a car accident and that was before Jaxon was able to make up with him, let alone confess his feelings. Yet when Jaxon visits the body and accidentally reanimates Christian...he discovers that Christian's life is connected to his own and that he's taking from it. It also doesn't help that Christian is determined to get back into Jaxon's good graces, making it harder and harder for Jaxon to even think about letting him go. Jaxon has to figure out what inherited abilities he has and how he can keep Christian alive without killing himself. This book had an interesting premise and a simple necromancy system however I just didn't really care all that much for the characters or the relationship between Jaxon and Christian. The ending wraps up and I am left feeling "meh" about it all. It just felt like a miss for me and the plot just felt bland. The characters don't really connect with me and I really wish that they had. Their relationship just didn't feel all that well fleshed out and I'm just happy to have reached the end of the book. I would say if you like queer YA Romances and second chances then I'd give this one a go.

Release Date: September 10,2024

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and HarperCollins Children's Books | HarperCollins for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Since Jaxon's mom runs the neighborhood morgue and funeral home, he's not surprised with all the bodies his mom works on. He is surprised when he found out that his mom is working on the body of his ex-bestfriend and crush Christian. And... Jaxon just accidentally resurrected him.

I think I'm too old for this book. I just really didn't connect with the characters at all. Maybe it's also because I'm an adult that I don't understand why the characters are not listening or confiding to the adults in the book. So. maybe this is a me problem.

The Necromancy in the book is simple enough. Nothing too crazy in that front. It also felt like the book tried hard to be scary. I thought the creepiness was minimal and it's not too scary to dive in. Plot wise, I thought that everything was too easy in the end.

I have to acknowledge that there were some twists that I really appreciate. I didn't see them coming and they were a nice throttle to the story.

As I mentioned, I think this book is not for me. I thought the book was okay but it's not something I would read again.

This was such a refreshing story.! I'm personally not a fan of gore, and this toed the line at times, but only because there are some realities necessary to living in a morgue.

Overall the romance was sweet, the paranormal aspects were just right and I cant wait to see what this author does next.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

The cover for this is incredible. Thank you Louangie for sending me this ARC!

I really liked Jax and his portrayal of anxiety. It was nice to see someone deal with it and have medication and everyone not make it seem like it was something that hindered him. Christian seemed so sweet. I didn’t quite understand the part where Jax was mad at them for talking about his dad cause it never seemed to come up again. The group was super nice to him from the beginning and he held a grudge but we never see that happen on their end. Why did they do that? He was talking about it but it was never shown that they were mean or anything. Rhys seemed like a nice guy and a good friend. The necromancy elements were interesting and I would like to know more about how the powers worked. The few twists within the book were really good and I enjoyed getting into this world a lot.

Well this was pretty darn cute…Which is kinda weird to say when so much of this book was about death and resurrection…but the romance was just so adorable!

The concept was great - teen boy accidentally resurrects his ex-best friend. All the supernatural elements and the family history of having powers connected to life and death were super cool. Love how there were little extra reveals as it went along.

Really enjoyed seeing Jaxon and Christian reconcile their friendship. Then the slow burn of their romance was just what I like to read. Lots of awkward almost flirting and blushes. I absolutely loved their dynamic - Christian being an upbeat, bubbly sweetheart and Jaxon being more of a cynical grump. Their silly banter during make out sessions was everything!!

I did think the way things got resolved was perhaps a little anti-climactic. I was like couldn’t they have just done this all along 🤣 Was just expecting something a bit more somehow. But still, was the sweet happy ending that I was hoping for after lots of tension!!

A really cool YA with a super sweet teen romance, a legacy of family magic and some cool friendships.
Also…there’s a really old cat! 🐈‍⬛

Thank you to Harper Collins and Nrtgalley for the opportunity to read this advanced digital copy.

THOUGHTS

I really enjoyed this book. Some of the plot points and characterization here felt a little silly, but that didn't overall diminish my reading experience. It was fun. It was cute. And I really liked the most of the characters.


PROS
Quirky Christian: Christian is such a fun character. He adds life and some good laughs to this book. He's a Catholic-raised recently-reanimated corpse, which is wacky enough without adding the fact that he is definitely, totally into all things witchy--much more than our necromancer main character. He's a contradiction in the best way possible, because he's a contradiction you could absolutely see yourself meeting in real life. He adds a sort of Golden Retriever, puppy-dog energy to this otherwise gloomy cast that I appreciate.

In Too Deep: Jaxon is pretty much immediately in over his head here, and he just keeps making things worse. He wants answers so bad that he starts sneaking around, but in keeping one secret, he creates a dozen more things he can't ever tell anyone--even though he really does need to tell someone. But it's a lot harder to tell someone you've messed up this bad. Jaxon doesn't know what he's doing, and things go horribly, spectacularly wrong.

Supportive Friends: I'll always say it, but when a YA book includes an actual, developed friend group, I'm happy. Regan and Jaxon have a very strong bond, and that friendship really makes this book. But Christian also has his friends, too. These friends might not have been the nicest to Jaxon in the past, but they were cruel in a way that feels so... teenage mistake. They obviously regret past decisions, and they're here for Christian--and Jaxon, by extension--now. I appreciate, too, that this book isn't a coming-out story like so many YA books are. Both Jaxon and Christian are already out, and nobody even really mentions it. Which is nice. It's nice to have their queerness normalized in this way--in a way that means it isn't something to even question, really.


CONS
Not Enough Questions: Jaxon needs to ask more questions. He has plenty of opportunities to ask, and he just... doesn't. Sure, there are things people don't want to tell him, but that shouldn't stop him from asking questions. Ask all the questions, buddy, because experimenting with life and death just isn't the way to go. At the end of the day, I don't think I would have minded if he wasn't asking the right type of questions or he wasn't getting the right answers to the questions he asked. But he doesn't ask questions, and that's a big, big problem. Because there's no way a kid is going into this without questions. It also means that the dramatic arc that happens with Jaxon's aunt (which is left vague here, to avoid spoilers) feels more melodramatic than dramatic because she didn't play the role that I think the author meant her to. Because Jaxon wasn't asking enough questions for her ultimate revelation to really have the impact it should.

No Translation; I love that this book includes Spanish. These characters switch between languages as they naturally would, and I love that. And I also hate that, because my Spanish is abysmal. I loved the inclusion and wish there was a way it could have been more accessible to me since I spent more time than I wanted translating. I don't know the best way to fix this, the right way to balance it so readers don't have to jump to dictionaries if they're less-than-familiar with the language. And I don't want to discourage multilingual books like this that feature multilingual characters. So it's a conundrum.

High Stakes, Low Tension: The stakes in this book are so high--literally life or death--and yet the tension felt so low. The book feels like it is just meandering along, and I think some of this is fueled by the fact that Jaxon just doesn't ask questions. Because if you're in a desperate situation, wouldn't you be out here demanding knowledge from anybody and everybody who has it? He isn't curious enough to invoke a sense of urgency, and I think that's to the book's detriment.


Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
6/10

Fans of Aiden Thomas's Cemetery Boys will like following along with this accidentally-resurrected love interest. Those who loved Camilla Raines's The Hollow and the Haunted will like this witchy town where anything can happen--even if it shouldn't.

If you had the power to save someone you love at the cost of your own life, would you?

This book has such an interesting take on death, and I really liked how Bou-Montes explored it here. In this world, necromancy runs through families (At least, through Jaxon's dad's family. I wanted to know if any other family/groups had paranormal powers, but that really isn't important, given the grand scheme of the story), but Jaxon wasn't told about his powers until after he literally resurrected his ex best friend. From there, he has to take life energy from living organisms (i.e., plants, other people, and himself, but Jaxon mostly draws it from himself throughout the story) in order to keep Christian alive. The self sacrifice for love is literal here, and it makes it all the more angsty because Christian doesn't want the love of his life to practically kill himself for him. And even though Death is never personified, its presence is inevitable as Jaxon does everything in his power to help Christian out run it. The themes of grief and love are so strong, that attempting to outrun death isn't the way to go. I won't spoil what obvious two choices Bou-Montes made by the end, but I will say the acceptance was bittersweet, leaning a bit more sweet.

The characters are very fleshed out, particularly Jaxon and Christian. Christian is so adorkable with his big himbo jock energy, but the love and care he has for Jaxon actually got me good at some parts. Jaxon was very relatable with his anxiety and grump attitude to juxtapose against Christian's sunshine, though sometimes he got a bit dismissive in some situations when I felt it shouldn't. The rest of the side characters are enjoyable, too; Mami and Regan were the ones that stood out the most for me.

Overall, this is a pretty solid debut. The description saying this would be perfect for fans of Cemetery Boys is spot on, because I wholeheartedly believe that the people who loved that book would come and devour this gem up as well.

A solid YA debut, this book is a contemporary fantasy about an Afro-Latino teen boy who discovers he's a necromancer when he accidentally resurrects his ex best friend and crush Christian.

It is very much a teen story with a high school setting and familiar themes but with necromancy mixed in. The plot mainly focuses on the romance between Jaxon and Christian and how to keep Christian alive and I liked their characterizations.

The family dynamics were also good, Jaxon lives with his mother who is a mortician, his father died and his aunt on father's side comes to visit at the start of the book.

Would recommend it to fans of YA contemporary fantasy, family focused stories and queer romance.

I like necromancy and bringing someone back to life once, but when it happens several times, I start to get bored and stakes start to feel non-existent. I actually wish there had been more of a permanent cost at the end. Besides for that this had a cute paranormal queer romance. The magic system and items used to help were interesting.

Thank you Harper Collins and NetGalley for this eARC, these opinions are my own! A beautiful story! Jax is used to being around death, his mom is a mortician after all. But his world his shaken when Christian Reyes dies. Christian was once a best friend but they’ve since grown apart. Now Jax often finds himself mildly annoyed with Christian. And it’s not like he is not used to his mother taking care of people he knows is a small town after all. But something about Christian’s death is different and he can’t think of anything else. Then the unthinkable happens, Christian comes back to life. How is this possible? Turns out Jax is a necromancer. But what does that mean? And learning this information also opens the door to other family secrets, can Jax survive? And now that he’s brought Christian back what will happen between the two? I love that you’ve got the necromancy and magical aspects wrapped up with a romance! I love the take on grief in this book and how that connects to things like first love! Quick paced and had me consuming the book! Highly recommend checking this one out!