This is the third romance around a funeral home (or funeral-home-adjacent, I guess, this is technically about just a casket store?) I've read for publication this year—are people okay?

The main character in Casket Case was funny, and pretty relatable, and interesting to read about. I enjoyed following her around. Though I'm sorry to say found the love interest in this one very, very boring. Like if a man were a paper bag with a weird secret job. What there is there beyond the weird secret job? Not much of a personality, in my opinion.

I was expecting this to be a cute and spooky Halloween read but boy was I wrong. This book was filled with romance, heartbreak, and many heartfelt and sad moments, but I guess that’s what happens when the owner of a casket store and an employee for death decide to date. This book had its ups and downs for me and I found myself being more interested during certain parts over others. I will say that the speakers POV tended to change randomly mid paragraph and the timeline jumped around a lot which I will say did help with this not feeling like a fall in love in a minute kind of book. But I can honestly say that I could have done without the epilogue because boy did the waterworks start when I read that last chapter. Be sure to have your tissues ready when reading this book whether it’s for laughing tears or crying tears because you’re going to need them. I really enjoyed the premise of this book and being someone who has lost their fair share of close people, it’s a nice sentiment to think that there is always someone there when they went so they didn’t have to go alone. Although I found this book to be mildly depressing, I did enjoy the romance between Nora and Garrett and I’m glad they at least got their happily ever after.

I wanted to love this one! The premise sounded so interesting…a woman with a casket store falls in love with a man who works for death. Unfortunately, it just didn't work for me.
Nora and Garrett fall in love at first sight for no reason that I can discern. Their relationship felt very one dimensional. They felt like high schoolers. Fall in love instantly, become obsessed, pick stupid fights, make up.
After Nora finds out what Garrett does for a living, she says she needs space. Garrett agrees but says he'll call her. She then spends the next however many days, angry and confused and questioning why he hasn't called her. When he does call, she is angry with him for not calling sooner despite asking him to give her space to think.
Their whole relationship frustrated me but it was ninety percent of the plot.
We see very little of Garrett's job, although they talk about it constantly. And at the end, Nora just decides she is going to get over all the issues that she had about Garrett's job.
The emotional development of the characters is lacking and there isn't much of a plot to help carry the novel.
The little Grandpa twist could have been developed into something with much greater impact on the story and to help Nora better understand Garrett and his work but it seems like it was thrown in as an afterthought.
I also had issues with the narration. Most of the time we are in Nora or Garrett's third person POV. But sometimes we shift into other people's perspectives. One chapter starts off in a coffee shop in Elaine's perspective but as soon as Nora walks outside we are back in Nora’s perspective and we never see Elaine again. It was confusing at times.
Overall this story just fell flat for me.

Lauren Evans is clearly a talented writer. I can see the world she is creating and her characters feel like real people. That being said, Casket Case missed the mark. I acknowledge that not every love story is perfect - but Nora and Garrett argue more than they love. Nora has more chemistry with a character that she supposedly hates than her love interest - and their romantic subplot contained more genuine emotions than the romance we are supposed to be enjoying. There is such potential here, but it needs some massive edits to be a success.

Casket Case by Lauren Evans is rom-com about Nora who returns home to run the family visit selling caskets. A good looking stranger walks in to ask directions. They both are interested in each other. Except his employer is highly unusual! A predictable story line. The banter between the characters keeps it interesting.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dell for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review.

“Casket Case” by Lauren Evans follows Nora as she moves home after her parent’s death to take on the family business- casket selling. Home and heartbroken from a breakup, Nora unexpectedly meets Garrett Bishop when he stops in the shop to ask for directions. Sparks fly. But Garrett works for Death… Is that a deal breaker? Nora isn’t sure.
I’m not sure how to categorize this one… morbid romance? Whatever it is, it was definitely interesting. And a quick read, too.
I liked Nora and Garrett instantly. They had a quick love story that felt too fast, but honestly? I love love, so it was fun to read through even if it felt like things were moving fast. I am not good at slow burn romances, ha.
Overall, this read like a normal love story- that is until their jobs would resurface and remind me of what an odd combo they were. Garrett’s job was weird and so was hers. Honestly, I think his job is a book premise that would have fit better as its own storyline not in a romance book.
In the end, this book was a solid romance read with the predictable tropes. I gave it 3 stars, simply because their jobs kept jarring me out of the romance genre. But I think this would be a fun spooky season romance read, if you’re looking for something unique!
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for the ARC! This book publishes on September 10th!

My thanks for the ARC goes to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Dell. I'm voluntarily leaving a review.

Genre: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Magical Realism
Spice Level: View into the bedroom
Language: Some profanity

Having someone working for Death is a fun twist (slightly paranormal). And Nora has taken over her family's casket business.

I found Nora hard to take for the first 50% of the book. Why was she so insecure? I know she was grieving for her parents, but I wanted to see her not being quite so needy. And Garrett is lying to Nora, but I was okay with that because who would really believe your job was working for Death. I was never clear on how Garret got paid for his work, but that isn't critical for the storyline.

The second half of the book picked up for me, and I enjoyed it as Nora came to trust herself. There is also a nice little twist.

This is a fairly light-hearted read considering that grieving and loss are represented.

Happy reading!

While this book is a romance book, it is not a lighthearted one nor will you find any type of comedy to liven up the mood. Which with a book about two people who deal in death it could have used. This book just fell flat on so many levels for me. I did appreciate that Nora had two love interest’s kind of. Nora was just so depressed and sad throughout most of the book and questioning all her choices that it was hard to enjoy.
Thank you to Random House Publishing Group, Dell, and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book.

Nora is a casket sales woman, she took over the family business after her parents passed away. She's lonely and lost back in her hometown. But then she meets Garrett. Their love story is very sudden from strangers to content and in love - but that all changes when she learns Garrett works for Death.

This book wasn't lighthearted but it wasn't heavy. It is full of religious undertones which is uncommon for romances centered around death. I don't know how I quite feel about that.

The premise of this book hooked me pretty quickly, but I do wish the story was a little more fleshed out. I enjoyed some of the banter between our MC’s but their relationship felt a little flat and forced. I will say the author did a beautiful job of displaying grief and showing a different side of tragedy. All in all it was a fun read, just maybe a few tweaks to make it perfect.

I loved the cover and description of this book which lead me to request an ARC. I thought the author did a good job covering grief in this story with Nora's character who has a hard time letting go of the past and with Garret whose role is to make sure nobody dies alone. I enjoyed meeting all the characters of the town and how they all seemed to really care about Nora and wanted her to be able to move on and do something that makes her happy.
I did think there were some pacing issues with the love interest and I found myself not really caring if Nora and Garret were together or not because the relationship was not built up enough.

I was really looking forward to a romcom involving an employee of Death and a casket business owner. It seemed like such a great premise and I’ve enjoyed so many contemporary books with little bits of paranormal/dark/death aspects mixed in.
I’m sorry to say that this book just didn’t work for me at all. I can’t say I didn’t like the characters, because I think I did in the end, but I did expect a heck of lot more personality. Nora and Garett did have some funny moments and banter, but it was peppered into long bits of otherwise bland dialogue. The scenes of angst were… well.. not very angsty. Instead it was still pretty bland. The whole thing just felt like trudging through mud, but there were some pretty flowers along the way. So much potential!
Overall, I am genuinely disappointed by this because I felt so sure I would absolutely love it. The execution just did not work for me despite loving the premise.

Casket Case by Lauren Evans is a debut contemporary romance with a paranormal/fantasy twist. Nora has recently lost both of her parents and ended up back in her tiny town, running the family casket business in their stead as she works through her grief over her parents and her life turning upside down. She meets Garrett, a handsome man new to town with a secret job: he works for Death. This was such a great, fun premise and a unique way to explore the book’s deeper topics. However, I otherwise found this book just fine. The writing, especially the dialogue, is a bit stiff, which might be chalked up to it being a debut. I found that Nora and Garrett didn’t really have a special spark that made me invested or enjoy their development, beginning with their bland first date happening so quickly. I really wanted to love this but sadly didn’t.

I thought this book had great promise. When I began reading it, the book is in third person, but there was something off with the point-of-view (POV). It read like it was in the third person, but it felt like at times the story was told by a third person from third person POV. I know it sounds confusing, but that's also the way I felt. I couldn't become invested in the story because of my previous concerns.

This was an interesting story. It was pretty easy to be sucked in, and especially with the small-town setting, it was easy to be caught up in all of the characters and their intertwining lives.

I went into this hoping for a fun witchy romance, and it fell a little short. Despite being a worker for Death and a casket seller, there was very little magical elements, and everyday life felt almost mundane. There was also a strong love-at-first-sight element, which felt almost contradictory.

While I enjoyed reading it, I wish this had been a bit shorter.

I also found the third-act breakup to be unnecessary, and seemed fairly easily resolved.

I'm really not sure how to rate this book. I enjoyed the small-town setting and found Casket Case to be a surprisingly easy and propulsive read considering the difficult subject matter. (This includes a protagonist, Nora, who works at a casket store, which was left to her by her deceased parents, whose sudden death derailed Nora's career and social life and threw her into what appears to be a depressive episode. Also, the love interest literally works for Death, but that's actually kind of the cheery bit.)

But I really struggled with the romance and the overall plotline. Nora and Garrett meet by chance and fall immediately into a love affair that consists of Nora being alternately needy and angry (both of which were understandable as manifestations of her grief over her parents and her frustration and embarrassment over her current circumstances) and Garrett trying desperately to appease her. I was sometimes frustrated by Nora's behavior - but Garrett's immediate and profound commitment to their relationship was even more confusing. Later, when Garrett reveals the nature of his work, Nora becomes focus on his connection to Death with a seriousness and attention to detail that feels inconsistent with their relationship up to that point. I think this is all meant to be read as a meditation on grief and Nora's struggle to accept death and its role in her life, but I couldn't quite connect with that part of it.

3.5 stars?

This is an entertaining RomCom. I was glad to have the humor since working for a casket company and working for Death can be morbid topics. Nora inherited her dad's casket company and is trying to keep it afloat. She meets Garett and she instantly falls for him, but his job is logistics for Death. He doesn't really tell her about the ins and outs of his job, which is a red flag for me, but it's a novel so it's all good! ha It's a very interesting concept and I read to see how it all worked out. Overall a book I am glad that I picked up to read something new! Thank you Random House Publishing Group- Ballentine for an early e-copy of this book! This book will be out Sept 10th.

I really enjoyed this book! The dark themes, the romance, the flawed characters, and the fact that Garrett works for Death! The romance between Nora and Garrett seemed both fast and slow at the same time — the timing was fast but their conversations felt too slow at times. And yet I really enjoyed seeing them get to know each other and feeling like I was watching a real and at times very awkward new couple fall in love. I liked seeing Nora discover who she can be and what she wants out of life in terms of love and work and everything. I liked hearing about Garrett’s job and what it entails and I wish it was a real thing — that would be so comforting to know! Yes this book is dark at times (it is about death!) but at the same time the way it speaks of death is warm and comforting. I really liked this book a lot!

The blurb promised rom-com, and while I think it was far from that, I thought it was charming and represented grief in a unique, real way. Also gave me Steel Magnolia vibes with all the town people. This book is not lovey dovey, not about grand gestures. It doesn’t ooze happiness. It’s about grief and anxiety and how sometimes just taking a step outside feels like the biggest task and largest victory. I think Garrett’s job was just a metaphor for Nora living around death everyday and learning to live her life with that reality. He was her path to understanding death is a part of life. He has already found his peace with it. He was a manifestation of her trauma and recovery. I do get that some folks will see this book as a mundane downer and it won’t be for everyone. For me, it felt kind of cool that so many human emotions, many we’ve all experienced, aren’t unique. It makes life feel a little less lonely. I enjoyed it.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from Casket Case - was it going to be funny, emotional, heartbreaking, all of the above? It was a little bit of all three, but mostly it took this reader on quite the emotional rollercoaster. Eleanora “Nora” Clanton sells caskets. Seriously. She’s seen more than her fair share death in her young life - three of her grandparents and then both her parents in a car accident a year ago. Now it’s just her and her grandpa living in her small Alabama hometown, and she keeps herself to a small circle and small life, running her parents’ shop selling caskets and living in their house, changing nothing. Until one day, Garrett, a handsome and well dressed man, walks into her shop asking for directions. There’s an immediate connection between the two, and they quickly fall into an intense and passionate love affair. But when more than several townsfolk suddenly die, and Garrett has been seen at the place and time of death each time, he reveals to her that he works for death as a “logistics coordinator”. Given Nora’s past, she is understandably upset by this, and finds herself at a crossroads - break things off and try to distance herself from more death, or take a chance on lasting love but expose herself to more loss. When she tries a “normal” relationship with someone else on for size, she realizes that maybe normal and predictable is boring. A study on grief and loss, and how love and passion are worth the risk of loss and heartbreak, Casket Case shows us that sometimes loss and death are worth the risk when it comes to matters of the heart.