I understand what Evans was trying to do with this book, I really do. But it just was not for me.

The writing style was a little too dry, perfunctory, and tell-instead-of-show for my taste. I'm all for a good dual or even multiple POVs, but Evans would switch between them in the middle of scenes, which drives me crazy.

I couldn't get behind Nora as a character. I think there's a difference between struggling to function properly through grief and behaving in an immature, petulant way. Nora definitely came across as the latter to me to the point where she was honestly actively irritating. The lessons she learned by the end of the book felt like they came too little, too late because she was so obstinate about being irrationally angry and projecting all of her problems onto Garrett.

The love story between her and Garrett didn't feel developed properly from the get-go. I didn't <i>mind</i> Garrett as a character, but he didn't really jump off of the page at me as someone who was actually interesting and desirable or as someone flawed we could be angry with.

Quite honestly, I think Johnny was painted in more of a negative light than was warranted. Regardless of how anyone feels about corporations buying out smaller businesses, Johnny was actually interesting and nuanced, and his chemistry with Nora read way more natural than her chemistry with Garrett. The conference was the first point in the whole book where I actually felt like I was enjoying myself, and then Garrett arrived, and Nora got on my nerves again.

There's a lot of potential here, both in the idea and with Evans as an author, but it just didn't work for me personally.

[NetGalley was kind enough to provide me with an ARC for this title.]

Unfortunately I could not finish this book. I got about 20% into it and could not remember a single thing I had read. I appreciate a cozy romance for its ease and accessibility. I do not feel like this book is either of those things.

DNF. I saw no chemistry between the 2 main characters and according to goodreads reviews, it didn’t ever start to get better.

Unfortunately, this book just didn’t do it for me. I wasn’t connecting with the characters or their romance, I didn’t enjoy the humor, the pacing felt off. The premise seemed promising, but I wasn’t enjoying it.

Nora inherits the Rabbittown Casket Company when her parents die. She returns home to a small town in Alabama as a single woman with a very bleak future. In Rabittown, she meets Garrett who is looking for directions. They start dating and one thing leads to another. Nora doesn't really know what Garrett does for a living, and there entails a main plot thread. Living in a small town comes with small town gossip as well, especially when Nora's parents were fine, upstanding citizens. You will just have to read to see where Ms. Evans excellent story winds and takes the reader.

DNF at 5% which is a new record for me! But with the multiple God/Church references (especially one about submitting to ones husband) and some truly terrible grief rep (which I hope gets better throughout the book) - I just simply couldn't do it

I've heard similar things from other friends who got farther than me or even finished so I decided to DNF for my own sake.

This book was overall, a very cute concept. It immediately gave Tim Burton vibes. Unfortunately, the execution fell flat, I was hoping this book would be bursting with whimsy, and instead I fell through a tunnel of emotional whiplash. We have insta love, we have a love triangle, we have a confusing layer of "adults who can't process emotions", and overall, this book wasn't for me.

All that to say, 2 stars for an interesting concept!

This debut novel by Lauren Evans is a quick read with an interesting concept, but it fell a little flat.

The first half of the book didn’t draw me in very quickly. It felt very insta-love to me…Garrett and Nora seem to fall hard and fast after briefly meeting when Garrett needs directions. That just rings false since they barely know each other and suddenly they were declaring their love. Nora is extremely unsure of herself, while Garrett is almost too confident. I found Nora’s character to be less likeable than Garrett. The conflict felt a bit forced to me.

The second half of the book really flowed better and sucked me more into the story. Things picked up a little with the second love interest, who was an interesting character. I did appreciate the little twist at the end of the book, and I even shed some tears.

Overall, I wasn’t overly impressed with the writing in this story. It just didn’t flow well and the pacing felt off. It was hard to relate to the characters and their dialogue and actions felt unnatural. I really liked the premise of the book and was so excited to read it, but the book didn’t quite meet my expectations.

Such an interesting premise but the characters were so emotionally all over the place while also being uninteresting. The writing was choppy and disjointed.

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 - rounded up to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I enjoyed my time with this book, and I think it was a great read to ease myself into the fall. The story is extremely unique and original, and has a big magical realism element, which I really liked. I do wish we could have spent more time with our two MCs, parts of their relationship felt forced and moved too quickly for me - but I did grow to like them a lot by the end. I enjoyed the grandpa twist and connection with Death - but wish we could have seen Death & Nora’s casket company interact more - I think there was a lot of opportunity there that was missed. The supporting characters were fun to get to know, and I feel like they added a lot to the story.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read that I had a fun time with! It is a type of story that I have been gravitating towards recently. I think this was a great debut from the author.

Thank you to NetGalley, Lauren Evans, & Random House Publishing for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Review posted to StoryGraph and Goodreads on 8/16/24. Review will be posted to Amazon on release date.

I really wanted to like this book. It had a cool premise but ultimately a 3 star rating is me being generous. The main characters had no chemistry. Our FMC is a year out from the deaths of her parents and she came home to run the family casket shop. One day the MMC pops into the area because he’s working for death and needs directions. Next thing you know these two humans are going on dates and are basically inseparable immediately. He’s very vague and avoidant talking about his job. She pushes 100000000 times before he finally tells her because he thinks they’re going to break up. They do break up and I was relieved. But then somehow I’m supposed to believe she magically is okay with his job enough to get with him. Don’t even get me started about the grandpa twist. The writing itself felt disjointed. I believe the author thought shifting through time and revealing more to scenes at later parts in the novel would make it feel richer or more well thought out but it didn’t. I almost DNF’ed this book at 45% and wish I would have instead of pushing through.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and Lauren Evans for this e-arc!
All thoughts and opinions are my own 🥰

⭐️⭐️

It is an interesting premise, but unfortunately it lost my attention early on and couldn’t really get it back.


Find more on my IG @kayreads_romance

⚠️ !! Please be sure to check any TWs before diving in !! ⚠️

My thoughts while reading:
🚨ALERT SPOILERS AHEAD🚨

Dang Janine is sassy I like her

“Well, I know we just met, but I can only come up with so many reasons to run into you, so I’ll be direct. How would you feel about having ice cream with me sometime?” Shut uppppp 🥰🥰🥰

Yepppp and now Franks dead of course

I think the characters are are kinda weird and clunky but I like them

Puzzles are great!

Spice is like fade to black level kinda/ alluding to things

Chapter 9 and they’re saying I love you

I’m not sure if I like it?? I think it’s interesting but I’m finding myself skimming a lot

I really enjoyed the concept laid out for this book but ultimately the chemistry and plot fell flat for me. The darker, macabre ideas were a really fun launching point but it took too long for the plot to take off for me to stay hooked. Wishing the author all the best in this journey and I'd be curious to see where her next book goes.

I wish I love this book. The idea was there and it could have been so a fantastic read. However the writing felt like the story just wasn't going anywhere and the fmc was dull and lackluster. I didn't feel that there was any conflict to move the story along.

Casket Case is the story of Nora, a woman that inherits her family's casket store after her parents pass away. One day, mysterious Garrett walks in looking for directions and changes Nora's path.

I wanted to like this SO BADLY. I loved Dead Romantics and I was hoping for the same sort of vibe, since the description was comparable. Unfortunately, this didn't have the same vibes. In fact, I'd go as far as to call it a bit depressing. The romance felt really rushed and the pacing was weird. I'm not mad I finished it, just a little disappointed in it overall.

The inconsistency in chapter length also made reading this kind of annoying. Some chapters are a single page, some are six, then some are like twenty five pages out of nowhere. I'm not expecting every chapter to be the same length but this was like riding a rollercoaster. There were also some odd little inconsistencies that took me out of the story. At one point she is having dinner with her grandfather on Tuesday, she talks to her friend the "next day" and states that Friday is the following day. Is there no Wednesday in this town? Then later, she says no to wine at a restaurant, then on the next page she is taking a sip of wine with dinner. These might not seem like major issues, but they can take a reader out of the story really quickly.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for the arc in exchange for an honest review. 3 stars because it was still better than The Pairing.

I was so intrigued by the premise of this book and I think I was expecting something more like Ashley Poston or Sarah Adler. But this didn't quite give me the laughs or the romance I was hoping for. Eleanora "Nora" Clanton seemed like a nice girl, stuck in place after her parents died, living in their house, running their casket store, having Tuesday night dinners with her grandfather in between Cheers episodes and too much red wine. And Garrett had a lot of potential, as a logistics manager for Death. But their relationship was too instant, without enough character development or chemistry. Why did he like Nora? Was she funny, was she hot without trying (I didn't get that vibe, but IDK)? was her job just a good match for his? I couldn't tell. I would have liked more of his POV. A potential rival love interest worked as a funeral director, hot but maybe evil? The pacing felt pretty slow, and so did Nora's realization that Garrett had a big secret. She never seemed to care what his job really was until she thought he murdered her old teacher at her nursing home just after Nora visited her. I did like when we saw her grandfather's POV, and found out he and his friend had retired from the same company as Garrett, to bring about a somewhat satisfying conclusion. And when we saw Garrett with the teacher, seeing what he actually did. I would have loved more of that earlier in the book.

I was so excited to read this book because of the unique story line. While there were parts of the book I thought dragged on a smidge, overall I thought this was a wholesome read. I would have loved to see her build on the whole Death and casket store idea, and how those two could have combined to really make a difference. I loved Garrett, Nora not so much, but by the end she was great as well.

I really was excited about the premise of this boom but the execution fell flat for me. The FMC was lackluster all the way through, even in her “wild” ending, there was little that was really interesting or exciting about it. The MMC had loads of potential but even his grand gestures came through in a very understated way. Honestly, Grandpa was the highlight for me and his barely gets any time on paper. It’s fine, a bit boring, I didn’t hate it, but the characters deserved more exploration.

Thank you Lauren Evans and NetGalley for the ARC of Casket Case! I’m so conflicted on how I feel about this read. I loved the plot of the book but the FMC was quite annoying and irritating. I’m also conflicted because I thought Garrett’s job with Death was going to be more in depth in the storyline but it really wasn’t. When I read the blurb I thought it would be a cute and cozy read with some insightful and thought proving moments of life/death but I didn’t really get that at all unfortunately

I’m so conflicted on how I feel about this book. On one hand, I find the premise so interesting. On the other hand, I found the FMC to be rather insufferable.

I think I also am conflicted because I thought Garrett’s job with Death was going to be a bigger storyline than it actually was. Like, it’s certainly in there, but the first half of this book was basically just Nora and Garrett falling in love and being happy and cutesy. Which I did enjoy, but for 200 pages? I was getting bored and wondering what possibly was going to happen because it seemed like there really was no plot. I didn’t necessarily love what ended up happening, but I guess I’m glad something did happen.

This was a bit more religious than I expected. I liked Garrett. Overall I liked Johnny. I did not like Nora. Some of the stuff with her grandpa was… not my favourite. But overall I am glad that I read this because it was a totally different story that I’ve read before, and I appreciate that.

Thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of this book! I voluntarily read this book, and all thoughts and opinions are my own.