Casket Case by Lauren Evans was a fun debut rom-com.
A cute, fun and heartfelt story.
I really enjoyed reading it.
I liked the writing and thought the characters were so much fun to be with.

Ignore the star rating. I dnfed. This was terrible.

I adore when death is personified so I was excited to read this one but I couldn’t get past the clunky writing and annoying characters. The dialogue is so cringey and awkward. I stopped at 21%

Unfortunately not for me.

Thanks to netgalley and random house for an eARC

I have not enjoyed books in the past, which is fair, but very few books have actually managed to annoy me. And this was one such.

As much as I wanted to dnf it, I wanted to know where exactly this story is going. Result- nowhere.
Sorry to say but I didn't understand the purpose of the plot or anything else here.
The romance was insta-love and cringy. The main characters came across as cringy especially the FMC.

Sorry to say but this book wasn't for me.

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoy a unique paranormal romance so this one seemed right up my alley! I also liked the idea of death being a large corporation. It seemed like a concept with a lot of comedic potential. Unfortunately, the concept was not well executed.

Nora struck me as a bit stuck and depressed. She didn't know what she wanted and she was barely getting by. Usually, I like seeing a character struggle and come out of it but Nora never really did. She was able to become a bit more open-minded but her unhappiness and bad coping patterns were not addressed.

This book also mainly revolves around Nora and Garret. Their relationship seemed to mostly exist in a bubble and neither of them seemed to have many friends. They had lots of fights that I think would have been better as conversations with friends.

This is a really interesting concept but I think it could have used some more development and editing. A book being marketed as a romcom needs more of the comedy.

I was drawn to Casket Case by its unique concept and intriguing blurb, and I was eager to dive in. The book handles themes of grief, loss, and the aftermath of a loved one’s death with care and sensitivity. It’s not just about coping with the loss itself but about the difficult journey of rebuilding life afterward. Nora, the protagonist, has been navigating this reality for a year, and I appreciated the authenticity with which her emotional journey was portrayed.

However, the reading experience was not entirely smooth for me. The banter between Nora and Garrett, while enjoyable at first, started to feel repetitive, and their romantic relationship felt rushed and underdeveloped. The abruptness of their romance made it difficult for me to fully connect with their dynamic.

That said, this book may resonate with readers looking for a lighter romance read, especially those who enjoy stories that incorporate heavier themes like grief. Perhaps I wasn’t in the right frame of mind for this story, but I believe it could work for others.

Thank you to Random House Publishing - Ballantine and Dell for providing me with a copy of this book.

CW: Grief, loss, death, depression

Nora couldn’t wait to get out of Rabbittown,Alabama and have her own life and career. Unfortunately, her parents passed away unexpectedly and she had to come home and take care of the Casket company that her grandparents started then her parents owned it now her. The problem was she was depressed and wasn’t sure she wanted to do this for a living. Rabbittown didn’t have a lot to offer for a young woman. When all of a sudden this very handsome man named Garrett Bishop stopped and asked Nora where an elderly man lived. Then the elderly man had died. It seems like a few other deaths had occurred after Garrett had been with them. This will keep you wondering.

I received this ARC from Netgalley for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

There was a lot of death in this book, which I guess I didn't expect? But also, makes a lot of sense, so that is probably on me. One thing about this book that I really liked was the concept, about Garret working for death and how he is there to make sure no one is alone when they pass. This book has a little too much 'insta-love' for me, especially since there is a lot of time the characters are fighting or don't understand each other. Even by the end of the story I'm not sure if they even like each other, which is something. Adding in the random other male interest for a few chapters was almost more believable to me? Either way I think this book had a really good idea, I'm just not sure how it was presented was for me.

Thank you to Dell Romance for this ARC.

I think I may have a problem (seriously). This is the second book that I have gone into, thinking it would be a fluffy, feel-good romance book, only to be let down by the entire execution of the novel. Fair warning: I didn’t like much about this book.

The concept of this book is super intriguing: Garrett, the MMC, is a logistics coordinator for Death, and Nora runs a casket company in the country town of Rabbitttown (I don’t know why this made me constantly think of Zootopia 🤦🏻‍♀️). The entire description of Garrett's job with Death was explained very well and made me interested in learning more, but unfortunately, the author doesn't spend much time on this plot point.

Regrettably, the pros of this book stop there. I felt that all of the conversations were awkward and never flowed together. There is forced drama, and the characters are incredibly bad at communicating everything. Also, for some reason, it felt like I was reading the monotone conversations of two very boring people.

The romance/relationship is where I had the biggest issue. At about 25% into the book, the characters fall madly in love with each other with absolutely no reason why or no chemistry. I was actually rooting for the evil MMC to somehow become the love interest 🤣 While the story is a dual POV, both MCs sound exactly the same; there is no discernable difference.

Overall, I think this book could have greatly benefited from some editing. The writing was too descriptive in parts where it didn’t need to be (e.g., they put on their shoes, opened the door, looked outside, and thought it was a nice day) and completely boring and choppy in parts that needed to be fleshed out (e.g., the MCs' dialogue with one another).

I know it seems like I am completely dumping on this book, but I think the author had an incredible premise. Unfortunately, the execution was lacking.

This was a painful slog. In concept the book sounded great. Good idea and could have been great. But in execution not so much. It was clear this is a first novel. The writing did not flow smoothly and the story was jumpy and odd at times. The romance wasn’t believable and the two main characters start off in some kind of obsessive relationship right after meeting. Nora wasn’t very bright and Garrett was way pushy. The small town vibe wasn’t cozy it was just nosy and not a good backdrop for the story. Just didn’t work for me.

She's running her family's casket business but falling for a guy who is working for Death. Nora has unexpectedly found herself back home in her little town of Rabbittown... and working at her amily's casket business. Garrett Bishop seems like the perfect guy, he's sweet and has a good job... only he's hiding a secret and it's odd that his odd job behavior and the strange uptick in residents of the town passing away, has Nora's red flags up. What does he actually do and can she trust him with her heart? This was a small town romance that explores loss and dealing with death Unfortunately this one did not hit the mark for me, I really didn't care for the characters or the romance, despite how hard I wanted to like it. The premise made it seem like a book I would absolutely love but while reading it I just felt bored overall. Nora just didn't make all that much of an impression on me and I did not feel any chemistry at all between the two characters. The romance just didn't feel all that romantic and the story just felt "meh" for me unfortunately. If you do like small town romances that deal with grief and death, I'd say give this a go, maybe you'll have a better time with it than I did.

Release Date: September 10,2024

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

*Thanks Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Dell for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

This book has such a fun premise but the connection between Nora and Garrett had no real time to build before they were declaring their undying love for each other. Then as soon as Nora learned Garrett's secret, she dumped him and was getting romantically entangled with someone else she previously swore she couldn't stand. The second romance felt like this was two books being smushed into one rather than a single book that focused on what Nora and Garret's relationship. It wasn't entirely clear what Nora learned during her time at the funeral conference that made her go running back to Garret, so their reunion didn't really feel earned. The prose is well-written, and there's good stuff in here, but the plotting could have been tightened up.

2.75/3 ⭐️ I really wanted to like this one more. I was instantly interested in this once I read the summary and thought it was suuuch a good concept but sadly the execution really fell flat for me.

The pacing was really off from the get-go. We got to spend time with our main characters during the beginning of their relationship and Nora when they were apart but I have no clue what the actual timeline was from the moment they met to when the last chapter takes place because it’s not really mentioned except for brief mentions of days or weeks here and there.

That leads me into my next point, this one was super heavy on the insta-love. It’s essentially love at first sight for Garrett and Nora falls pretty quickly after. They automatically spend all their time together and are in love so fast only to break up abruptly because of his job (understandably tbh) and then get back together because she accepts his job now. Maybe it would’ve worked better if the characters had a bit more substance but unfortunately they both felt very one dimensional to me. I really struggled connecting with either of them throughout the story.

I think the most interesting part of the whole story was Death as a company. I know it’s a romance novel but I wish we got to see more of that part.

Overall, Casket Case was fine. I wouldn’t necessarily go out of my way to recommend it but it was a quick and easy read so not the worst.

Casket case is an adorable twist on the rom com genre. It took me a couple tries to get into it because it was just too meet "cutsie" at the beginning. The characters developed more as the story went on, but this is a small town Alabama girl meets big city boy trope.

I've let this book just mellow in my mind for a few days before giving my honest opinion. I thought this was bad overall for many reasons, and I'll share my notes after my review. I think the biggest issue I had with this book is that I know the title is a play on words on Basket case, but its Caskets cause she sells caskets. I just think it was so wrong for the FMC to constantly call herself crazy for some of the things she does, when she's not crazy. She's depressed.

Like the FMC is still grieving the tragic death of her parents and how her life is now that they are not there. I get self deprecating humor, I just thing it's wrong of a romance book that have an FMC that is so depressed then by the it's all fine and dandy cause she found love. She still hasn't gone to therapy or tried working on her grief.

The other issue I had, and it wasn't the purity culture, is how quick the characters fell in the love in the first 25% of the book. To then have her be super jealous, then mad at him for his job. Question the whole relationship because of his book. Then start having out with another guy, just to go back to the guy.

This was bad. I did not like it a lot.

I got an e-arc of this book on NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.


notes:
- The pacing is weird, the POVs.
- Purity Culture?????
- I don't get the Humor
- "He's the kind of smart that can skip grade." Is a weird sentence.
- She;'s not like other girls cause she watches all show and sports.
- Instagram therapy????????????

I fell in love with this book. Lauren Evans did a fabulous job as a literary artist. The description of the characters brought them to life as well as Rabbittown.

Nora had a life she was comfortable in, a job, and a relationship she could see a future with until her parents died in an auto accident that changed her life. She moved to Rabbittown into her parents' home and took over the family business selling caskets. Even though she lived in her parents' house she never changed anything and left it the same way it was the day of their death. Her life was in limbo not knowing what she wanted so she didn't do anything, just lived day after day with each day the same until she met Garrett Bishop. Nora and Garrett have a whirlwind romance until Nora started questioning why Garrett is there at the scene whenever someone dies Nora knows.

Death seems to be a big part of this book, and I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was a really light-hearted read that's perfect going into spooky season. It takes everything I love about the subversive like the characterization of Death and joins it with a sweet undertone of romance.

Nora’s parents died a year ago, leaving her to return to their small town and run the family casket shop. It’s a life with a dependable but dull routine, waiting for customers and watching tv alone.
Garrett works for Death, a ‘logistics coordinator’ making sure people get where they’re going. While in town to ‘move on’ the local restaurant owner, he stops at the casket store for directions and Nora catches his attention.
The two start dating. Even though she doesn’t know much -well anything - about what his job is, it doesn’t really come up as an issue until the town starts losing other people and it’s noted he’s been around.

At the start, it is like if The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy had all its whimsy replaced with depression. (CW - Nora does a not insignificant amount of drinking in attempt to cope with her mental health)
And when the two begin dating, the dialog felt stilted, which made the instalust less than believable. And then instalust while taking things slow felt off. They somehow talk a lot with actually communicating. There are arguments that feel weird, and there’s a lot of them.
Basically, this one just isn’t for me. Dnf at 45%

Thanks to Ballantine/Dell for the arc

Up front - you gotta buy the premise with this unique rom com and even then it might feel a tad odd in spots. Nora, who moved home to her small town run her parents' casket company after their deaths, is stalled and stuck until the day that Garrett comes to her shop for directions. He works for Death- and you won't fully understand how and why until late un the novel. He turns her world upside down and inside out. Until....no spoilers. Nora is a portrait of grief (and know she drinks a lot), her Grandpa a wise man, the people of the town delightful, and Garrett, well he's interesting to say the least. Yes there's insta-love but the steam is delayed and it's not explicit. And then there's another possible romantic interest (he's a hoot). SO much is revealed in the last chapters. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. The tone might seem odd in spots but this is a gem.

I don't know how I feel about this book. Nothing really stood out to me as great, it was mostly just everything being okay or lacking. First, the romance was really a let down. At first, it sounded great, a girl who inherited a casket business and a man who works for Death. It seemed like a really fun concept that could have led to do much more. But instead we got insta love, a love triangle, and boring characters that I could not root for at all. I had such high hopes for the concept of this book, but the overall execution was disapponiting.

Thank you to Lauren Evans, Random House Publishing Group - Balentine, and NetGalley for the eARC of this book.

Nora inherited her family run casket business, where she meets Garrett. I liked how it was told from both points of view and hoped she would give him a chance. I felt the book ended a bit too abruptly for me.