I went into this thinking that the plot was very unique. However the writing was not the greatest (or maybe just not for me?). I felt like there were way too many plot holes for a mystery.

3.5 stars

A year after her parents died in a car accident, Nora is back in Rabbitown, living in her childhood home and working in her family's casket shop. A chance meeting with Garrett and Nora finds herself in a whirlwind romance. But what she doesn't realise is the logistics coordinator for Death, assisting people to the other side. Will Nora be able to overcome Garrett's career given she is surrounded by death and loss?

Casket Case has such a fresh and offbeat premise about grief, love and loss. Lauren Evans makes a solid debut and I look forward to seeing the development of her writing.
However I feel at times this book was was marred by the pace and too much tell and not enough showing. For instance, while I loved that the romance was not dragged out, it was pretty much insta-love. I'd also loved to have had more exploration of Garrett as a character and how the death of his brother drives him in his career. Nora was a bit more fleshed out with her grief yet she's stuck in a rut and while this was understandable, the book didn't drive this along enough with her resisting any growth to deal with her future.

Additionally, the conflict regarding Garett's job became repetititive. Also when Nora finally made a decision about her future, it still seemed like she was going with the path of the least resistance, ignoring the advice from all the adults around her who knew this was not what she wanted. I'd have loved to have seen her spread her wings more.

Having said that, I really enjoyed this book and the ending made me tear up and I loved the twist. Nora and Garrett were well suited to each other and I loved the dry and offbeat humour, which reminded me of 90s indie films by Hal Hartley. I look forward to reading this author's next work.

Thanks to Dell and NetGalley for the ARC.

This book was lovely. It occurred to me today when reading The Third Act Stressor that maybe this wasn't the right book to read after a breakup, and maybe it's a bit morbid when I've spent all week worrying about my grandma's health. But the HEA felt like peace, and I needed that.

So, Nora's parents died last year, so she moved back to her small town in Alabama to take care of their casket store. She doesn't enjoy being surrounded by death or being back in Rabbittown, but her grandpa is there and she couldn't bear to sell the place. One day, a handsome stranger asks for directions, and then he comes back to ask her out. What she doesn't know is that Garrett is a grim reaper (Death is a business) who joined his company to help people not be alone when they die. Nora is still mourning her parents, so what will happen when she finds out what her new boyfriend actually does for work?

This book was the first time that the marketing team from a publisher has reached out to pre-approve me for an ARC, so thank you to Corina. This was a great fit for me. I'm pretty sure that I got this ARC because I had just read a romcom with ghosts and yep, I have no regrets! I love seeing a guarded MC learn to trust again. I loved seeing Garrett love and accept Nora so fully, no matter what her insecurities were doing. Nora was extremely relatable with her bad cooking, General Hospital, and the way she dives into love. Garrett was loving and always on Team Nora, and this is why I like romance. He's just a good dude who loves his family. I would read another romance from this author.

This is actually the first book I've read in a while that was not a fantasy! I've just realized that. Unlike the other books I've recently reviewed, this has zero ghosts or scary things. It might surprise some that the casket store romance was not scary at all, but this really was just a Hurt/Comfort, Small Town romance that literally has a funeral industry conference in the last 30%!

WAIT OMG this book even ends with the recipes for some of the food that Nora talks about, amazing!!!

Thank you to Netgalley, Random House Ballantine, and Lauren Evans's team for the e-ARC.

Brilliant premise - lackluster execution.

The idea of a casket shop owner falling for a man who works in logistics for Death is such a good story hook. Unfortunately the characters and their behavior were so predictable, so paint-by-numbers, that even I, who can't guess just about any twist in a book, could see everything from miles away.

Nora is still grieving the loss of her parents and leads the dull life of a retiree even though she's barely thirty, focusing on keeping the family funeral store going. Her boring life is sparked by the appearance of Garrett, who shows up in her sleepy little town, and before you can saw Insta Love, yup, they're professing their feelings for each other.

This happens so early on that you know there is trouble ahead, and the moment it appears, you can see exactly what is going to take place. Even the last-minute event that closes the book was something I saw happening from the beginning.

The main issue is Nora. She is a passive character who only comes to life when the male lead shows up. If Garrett hadn't shown up, Nora would have kept watching General Hospital and Cheers reruns for the rest of her days, having her scheduled meals with her grandfather, and not ever moving on, yet another fixture in her sleepy town.

I wanted to enjoy this book but found the characters just didn't jell right together. Parts needed more in depth fleshing out. Ended up being a slow read that was lacking.

Casket Case is a beautiful mixture of a rom-com + personal growth + grief story that all combines together to make a very special story! At a very basic level, this book is a rom-com between Nora, a casket store owner, and Garrett, a man who mysteriously shows up in Rabbittown, AL and has some strange interactions with people who die soon after.... I really enjoy the romance, the suspense surrounding Garrett, AND the small southern town vibes! As an Alabama girl myself, I love the little small town vibes + all of the basic AL things that mix together to make the setting feel like it could be right in my backyard (which I guess it kind of is😂)!

On top of this rom-com, there are elements of personal growth, themes of accepting that death is inevitable, and dealing with grief. These extra elements make this a more literary styled rom-com which turns out really beautiful!🥹 There seemed to be a lot of back and forth in the end with Nora and Garrett but other than that I would say that the book moved pretty fast and you never really knew what was going to come next. I ADORED the final plot twist that involves Nora's grandpa and I had GOOSEBUMPS because it was such an interesting surprise! 👀

Thank you so much to Dell for an early copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review!💖

I loved the concept of this book and thought it was unique which is what initially sparked my interest. I also enjoyed the dark humor and banter between Nora and Johnny and i felt like they had more chemistry than Nora and Garrett.

The storyline felt a bit choppy and Nora was, at times, unbearable to read. I am always here for mental health representation in books, but I think her grief/anxiety was kept surface level in description when in reality it appeared to consume her.

Overall I just wanted more from this book - it had all the potential and for me fell short with the pacing, overall writing and MMC/FMC development.

This book had all the makings for a cute and whimsical romance…but then then main characters did not have chemistry that I understood. He was handsome. That’s about it.

The plot point where she breaks up with him didn’t make sense. He very clearly wasn’t killing people. But she was convinced he was even after he carefully explained his job.

The pacing was also off. It took a long time to even reach the conflict.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC! While I enjoyed the exploration concept of working for death as we saw with the MMC. The main characters overall felt disconnected to me in addition to having no chemistry. At times I even thought the romance could be better with another character. Overall while i enjoyed aspects of the book, the romance and characters (which are a major part of this book) dragged down my experience to a 2.5 star.

I DNF’ed this around chapter 6… I unfortunately did not enjoy the writing. It felt very monotone and straightforward, almost like I was reading a script for a movie instead of a book. The descriptive writing was not really there. While I loved the concept, it just seemed cheaply approached. The relationship between Garrett and Nora moved so quickly that it left me a bit hopeless for the rest of the book. Garrett was the most interesting character to me, and he didn’t seem to get much opportunity to show his personality or perspective.

A special thanks to NetGalley for providing me an eARC, making this review possible!

I loved the premise of this book, but I didn't like how it came together. I felt like there were aspects that a lot of time was spent on that could've been glazed over and then things that were glazed over that could've been delved far deeper into. Overall, it felt like the aspects of the book that were the most intriguing and interesting weren't given much space to really flourish. I also didn't love the pairing of Nora and Garrett. Something about how it was all portrayed felt incredibly love-bombing/toxic/codependent to me. I was actively rooting against them ending up together.

I wanted to like this book so much but everything was so basic and boring. I didn’t enjoy the plot or characters.

I was very intrigued with this book. It took turns in the plot that I was not expecting. It was an easy read, but it kept me guessing what was going to happen next. I absolutely loved this book.

This book had a super unique concept- the main character owns a casket shop, and the love interest works for Death. It was heartwarming and sometimes bittersweet, and I really enjoyed it. Some of the dialogue was a bit stilted for me, but overall, this was an interesting and quick read, and a nice twist on a contemporary romance!

I really loved the concept and plot of this story. At first, I thought it was going in a much different direction but that’s okay. This was a cozy read. Get to read as a palate cleanser. It was a pleasant surprise to read a duo pov story this way. I wish it was longer. I wanted more about the grandpa and the town. IYKYK. This story gave me Chilling Adventures of Sabrina vibes so if you liked that show, I highly recommend this book.

Death is a main theme in this story and I feel like you should know that going into it. As much as this is a romance book, it is also about grief and how it affects the living.

Tropes:
Obsessed boy
Small town romance
Instant love

A good debut book from Lauren Evans! I liked the premise a lot. I had a hard time with the insta-love and dialogue as others have mentioned, it may just not be for me. Because of this I did skip around a bit.

The Death concept here was quite intriguing, I would love to see a sequel or prequel on just lore, not even more romance. I think it'd be so cool lol Garrett's chapters were my favorite and I think they were so well done! Looking forward to what Lauren writes next!

I feel like there was a lot of potential with this story, but it was not very good. I almost DNF'd it, but I have a strict policy against not finishing ARCs. The writing and plot felt like a rough draft or something written by a very amateur writer. I did not expect this from Random House/ Ballantine.

Nora was very boring and the rest of the characters lacked any sort of personality. Nora and Garrett's relationship was so dull and honestly did not seem realistic. I actually liked the second guy way more than Garrett. Why didn't the author switch the characters? I wish Garrett had turned out to be the antagonist. Also, maybe Nora's drinking problem should have been addressed or had her drink less? I will say that the epilogue did make me cry, so there's that.

I feel so bad writing such a bad review, but I really did not like this.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for allowing me to read this arc!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing the opportunity to read this title ahead of the release date.
Let’s start with the man of the hour - Grandpa. I loved, loved, loved his character, the way he was described, his Southern ways, the little remarks, the advice he gave - all of it. I’m typically a fan of morbid topics. The places the author described are close to the heart. You’re immersed into the small town, home feel with all of its history (life and death).
To try to describe some of my other thoughts.. I wish there was less dialogue. I found myself enjoying the character “thoughts” tremendously more than their conversations. Sometimes the dialogue adds to the missing parts of the character development and in this case the dialogue felt like unnecessary small talk. The story felt “dragged down” by it.
Although there was this connection built between the two main characters.. I’m not sure if the events (or emotions) that led up to that attraction would cause such a strong bond. It’s like the author connected their lives, but didn’t connect everything else needed to build up to such a bond. And this is a completely personal opinion - the main character's relationship "temper tantrums" did not leave me wanting to see what happens next.

I was so intrigued in this premise but I ended up DNFing about 55% through. The chemistry between the main couple in this just wasn’t doing it for me and I found the writing style in this to be pretty elementary.

I feel like this book had a lot of potential, but it fell flat for me. The concept kind of reminded me of the show Dead Like Me (which I loved).

The romance was kind of instant love, which I dont always hate but it didn’t hit this time. Later on in the book, there is a love triangle of sorts and the FMC had more relationship depth with the “other man” than with the MMC.

I saw the “twist” with the MMCs job coming from a mile away. The FMCs issues with said job were absolutely ridiculous, given her own line of work. Also, a store that only sells CASKETS (and stays afloat? Without any of the funeral/cremation/other services?) was just too far fetched 😅

My other big complaint is the constant mention of the University of Alabama. My ex husband is an Alabama fan. So I might be biased lol. But that joke about “you know how you can tell when someone’s vegan? They will tell you before you even ask” - I felt like that applied to this book, with the whole Alabama thing. It got old.

Overall, it was a relatively enjoyable read and I feel like I’m nit picking.