Thank you NetGalley for an arc of this book!
This is a cute book. I enjoyed the chemistry between the main characters and how the book presents discussions on life and death. I thought the conflict came too early or the resolution took too long, but overall it was a fun read.

The Vibes: Pushing Daisies sensibilities, fast burn (sorta kinda), going back to small town living

Heat Index: 3/10

The Basics:

Back in her hometown and running her family's casket-selling business, thirty-something Nora feels directionless. Until she meets the sweet, successful Garrett. His logistics job is a bit mysterious... until Nora finds out he works for Death. As in, he handles the logistics of... people dying. Well.

The Review:

This.... is hard. Because as the type of romcom that we've sort of been debating a lot in romance spaces, this is about right, and it's unique in a way I really like. I love the premise, I love the quirky vibes, I love that Nora is thirty-something.

I just don't know that I would call it a true romance. Or, if it is a romance, it's less successful executed. So yeah. I struggle with the rating.

This is kind of more about Nora figuring out her life, which I found well done. It's also just nice to see a thirty-something heroine not knowing everything. The relationship with Garrett... Well, it's not really his story, to me. So he's nice but he's not a super deep character. His job is more interesting than he is.

The relationship happens quickly. Which I'm not against, but they're very emotionally invested just as quickly. And you kind of need to have that for the sake of stakes with the reveal, but like... I don't know how believable it is.

Basically, if the relationship is the most important part of the story for you, like it is to me, this is on the more mid end. If the heroine-centric growth is more important to you, then it will work. I really liked the focus on Nora's relationship with her family, and how that affected her identity. I liked the wistfulness of death, and the sorrow but... natural rhythm... that came with it. Like, there's a lot of coming to terms to death within this, and I think there's a space for confronting death in romance.

But is this a true romance, or is it a "romcom" (an ambiguous label)? I'm not sure.

The Sex:

This is all but closed door—the sex begins early, but that door is juuuust cracked open.

While this didn't fully work for me, I did find it very intriguing. I'm just more of a romance person, and... I don't know if this was one...?

Thanks to Dell and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The excitement I had for this book after reading the description was off the charts, a spooky-esque romance right up my alley, but I was sadly disappointed! Garrett and Nora both lacked personality, there was no chemistry between the two of them, and their relationship seemed very forced and rushed to me. Nora got on my nerves most of the time, it felt like every conversation she had with Garrett turned into an argument. The story’s pacing was very slow and overall very difficult for me to get through.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity to read this arc.

I'm a basket case over Casket Case by Lauren Evans!

Casket Case follows Nora, a casket store owner (by chance), who meets Garrett, a mysterious guest at her casket store (maybe not by chance). These two meet and then sparks begin to fly. Nora is trying to get her feet under her when it comes to the story because she is the owner via tragedy, which means that feelings are flying everywhere and these feelings are sure to pull you deep within the pages of this story.

I enjoyed Lauren Evans's writing style immensely. It is clear, concise, and colorful. How she crafted her characters made them actual people in my mind. You cannot convince me that Nora and Garrett aren't real somewhere in rural Alabama. I did occasionally get some whiplash from switching perspectives. I enjoyed getting to experience other characters, but also feel like the time jumps and the perspective shifts did make it sometimes confusing.

The plot of this story is adorable and so sweet. It made me feel all the things and gave me such happy vibes. I think this is going to be a story that people love. I also cannot wait to read more in the future from Lauren Evans. I think she has a great deal of talent and I know that future rom-coms are coming and are going to be great.

Nora though she was done with her small town & the family casket business in Rabbittown. When an unexpected tragedy happens, she ends up back in town & running the business. There are few prospects for love for her until a stranger comes into the shop. He seems like a great job, but has a weird & vague job. As they begin to date, a strange number of deaths begin to occur in town. The stranger is at all of the death scenes. Is he the cause? Does his job have anything to do with them? Can she stay in love and build a future with someone whose job she can't stand?

I loved the 3rd person POV and the concept in this book! It was so much fun and I love books that involve grief in some way.

This was weird. Very morbid. The characters were very robotic and had zero chemistry. I do not recommend.

This is an instance when a book is perfectly fine, but did not match my preferences. I think this being marketed as a rom-com by the publisher is a SERIOUS misstep. There were no laughs from me. I don't think I even cracked a smile. It just wasn't a comedy book.

The writing is good. The plot was fine. The romance was....not my cup of tea, but I can see why readers would enjoy it.

But I could not stand the characters. Nora, the main female character, is annoying, whiny, and immature. I think as a reader, I was supposed to understand she's supposed to have regressed after moving back to her hometown. But as a reader, a) I can't be confident of that and b) her character arc didn't progress enough to solidify that for me. And the main male character, Garrett, has very little personality. If this were aged back to a NA or even YA, the characterization would make sense. But for me? No thanks, didn't work.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Dell for the ebook ARC. All opinions are mine alone.

A cute romance between a man who works for Death and a woman who is running her parents' casket company. Nora has returned to her hometown of Rabbittown, Alabama, after the death of her parents, and is now running their business. Garrett Bishop comes in and asks for directions, and later returns to ask her for a date. Everything is wonderful until Nora starts to realize that Garrett has been with many of the people who have died recently. While he tells her that he's a logistics coordinator, he doesn't tell her that he works for death. It's a sweet story and definitely worth a read. Thank you to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for the chance to read this book.

This was cute and I was really intrigued by the concept! There were just sometimes that I wanted to shake the FMC cause she was so frustrating! But the story was cute and I had a good time! Thank you to NetGalley and to Random House for my digital ARC!

i really thought i’d enjoy this book- the concept and title was very appealing . I did not like the romance or the fact that they jumped right into sex- i like the characters to build a relationship a bit more so i can get somewhat involved in them, character development i suppose . I did enjoy the plot and setting !

The concept is one I loved, the thing that made this a. 2/5 for me is that it’s a romance but like it was so confusing? For me at least! They had sex so fast, fell in love so fast then they broke up sooner then I felt was necessary for it to be a love triangle till 95ish percent where they get back together… but where was the character development? It felt like she completely did not give a crap or think about our MMC then they get back together after she kisses another dude? Idk it was all over the place for me and I think maybe I just didn’t get it? Maybe I missed some important stuff that would have explained it better if I caught on to little hints!
Still completely recommend, the plot was good! Great ideas all around, just not the romance I’m used to!💜 All love, will read more by this author for sure!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the early access to this book in exchange for my honest opinion!

the owner of a casket store is no stranger to death, especially after losing her parents in the previous year, when a man who seems too good to be true walks into her life, we find out that there might be a deal breaker, he works for death. Nora does not take this new very well. can she get past this and be happy with Garret?

While i did not request this book, i was very glad to dive into it, it has an interesting premise and i found myself captivated by the story. The smalltown and its residents make for a charming background to our main story. Both Nora and Garret are charming and lovely characters that you just want to root for and want to make sure they get their happy ending.

The story begins very quick paced, it could be said its Insta-love, which it's not my favorite. it feels like there is a lack of substance on the relationship but i loved it on this book. while it moved fast it also highlighted their meaningful talks and how they are there for each other.

When Nora finally finds out about the nature of garrets job, they take a break, and we spend the second half of the book waiting for Nora to decide if she can get past it or if they will remain broken up. this was not my favorite, and it was the part that dragged a bit.
there was a bit of a small romance with another character which felt like it came out of nowhere and it made no sense to me if I'm being honest.

while we get a bit of inside into Garret's mind and life every other chapter, we don't have an actual pov of him, i would have liked to get more inside into his mind and what was going on while they were apart, we only saw a few insides into the job.

when reading the blurb i had expected a supernatural aspect to the story but there was none.

did not love the ending, we didnt get a glimpse into the future but it was sweet that Nora got to see that aspect of what an appointment entails for garret and she got to say goodbye to his grampa.

Nora and Garrett’s story is one of a kind! Quiet Nora hiding out in her recently acquired family casket company. In walks a beautiful human with unimaginable secrets she tries not to fall for. Charming story!

This was a cute and easy rom-com of a read. This was exactly what I needed when I picked it up - light, breezy, sweet and whimsical? The element of Death would usually put me off, but it worked for this book.

Casket Case had everything to be one of my comfort and 5 stars read, but sadly it missed the mark for me :( the writing is good, but the pacing of the story was a little off and the romance a little underwhelming, which made my progress through the book much more slow than normal :(

Thank you so much Dell and Netgalley for the e-ARC in exchange of an honest review.

This was one of the sweetest books ever. I’m not sure what I was expecting when I started this book, maybe a spooky cutesy story, but I was not expecting this lovely little nugget of a story.

This book made me laugh, the end brought me close to tears - UGH, I loved it, ok.

Both the FMC and MMC were deeply human, flawed, but incredibly likable. The banter between the two of them made me smile, and remember the excitement of a new relationship. While both characters have their flaws and conflict, Evans avoids making them annoying. Many authors ride the line of making the two main characters frustrating and over-the-top, during conflict. Evans just makes them human. They speak to each other (and themselves) like actual people do. It was refreshing.

The story itself is incredibly unique - I haven’t read anything like it, which is a nice break. I’ve never wanted to own a casket store until now?

Evans’ writing style is wonderful - it’s intellectual, cohesive, but not pretentious. It’s, for lack of a better word, real. You can see yourself, or people in your life, saying the things these characters do.

My favorite characters were Garrett’s mom and Nora’s Grandpa. Read it and you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about!

I am IN LOVE with this book.

The premise of this book had potential and I was looking forward to it. Sadly, I was disappointed. The romantic scenes had potential but fell flat. Then there was a plot twist that was totally far fetched and wasn’t at all what I had expected. The religious undertones were a bit much. I was sorry it wasn’t what I was hoping for.

I completely regret reading this book. The characters where boring and had no depth. Nora seemed like she turned every convo into a fight. The plot didn't do anything for me either and the writing style felt like I was reading a fan fic. 1.5 stars.

Thank you to the publisher and author for allowing me to read an ARC of this book. I love a story that wraps up completely to a happy ending and this one did not disappoint in that aspect. I think the character development is lacking a bit which left me not feeling connected. Some of the introduced characters were not necessary at all and I'm still trying to figure out why they were introduced. I didn't really feel the chemistry between Nora and Garrett but I wanted to. I actually liked the storyline with Johnny and found myself routing for him some. I wish "Death" had played a bigger role, I really felt like the author could have done so much with that but it kinda fell flat. Finding out that grandpa had done the same work as Garrett could have been a wonderful story as well but it all felt rushed. I liked that Garrett's chapters were titled and not numbered, I don't think I've seen that before.