Casket Case by the title alone you know this novel has something to do with death, yes death. Not a subject many people would want to read about yet I did.I wanted to see how someone could write about this scary subject.

A young women named Elenora Clanton or Nora which she is commonly called sells caskets. She lives in a small town in Alabama along with her grandfather. Nora was destined to work in a high power job far away from her hometown. This was her way of exploring the world first step going away to school, getting her job and living her life. That it until her parents are killed in an accident and everything changes. She goes home takes over the family business selling caskets and tries to live her life. She really has no friends her age they all live in the big city. Her boyfriend dumped her and all she does is live in the family home,drinks wine and watches Cheers. Until a stranger by the name of Garrett Bishop drives into town and asks for directions. Then everything changes for Nora. She and Garrett become close the stranger with the nice car fancy suits and dreamy eyes. Still grieving the loss of her parents she finds herself falling for Garrett and he she until the truth comes out. What he really does for a living, why he dose it and she just cannot get her head around it. Garrett works for DEATH.. Even when he explains things to her Nora just cant believe it and runs for the hills.

Did I love the subject of death no. I did see some humor in the way Ms. Evans wrote the story. The loving way she tried to explain what Garrett's job really entailed. The character of Nora did bother me at times. I found her annoying because she was like a dog with a bone she couldn't let go of things. I sometimes felt Garrett tried to hard with her. He sort of tried to fix her in a way. There love story went from zero to sixty with nothing in between. All and all I did enjoy the novel. It was a quick read and again I did not see the ending coming. I did feel at the end Nora did grow up and took the chances she was always afraid of. At the end I realized the subject matter was still scary, but there was always someone to guide you through it.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group and Lauren Evans for a very quirky read. I'd give it 3.5 stars

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I enjoyed this book and think you will to.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of Casket Case.

Nora Clanton is steeped in grief after losing both her parents and having to return to her hometown of Rabbittown to take over their casket business. Everything is going as well as can be expected until a handsome stranger stops in to ask for directions and Nora finds herself wondering if it’s time to give love another chance.

I really wanted to like this book. I’m a pretty morbid individual (I write and lecture about asylums) and the concept sounded fantastic. A casket shopgirl and a logistics coordinator for Death? Sign me up. Instead what I got was a whiny, boring main character who was as flat as flat can be and a love interest with zero interesting qualities. It took over 50% of the book for Garrett to admit to Nora what his job actually entailed and the second 50% of the book was Nora vacillating between hating Garrett for working for Death and whining about how much she missed him. And then, in the zero hour, it looks like her competitor Johnny might be a contender and frankly was a much better fit for her but no. Johnny was just a red herring so the author could give Nora another opportunity to whine. This book was beyond disappointing unfortunately.

This was a fun, quirky romance. I absolutely loved the premise and requested it based on that alone. Reading the book felt a little under developed in the romance department though. I applaud Lauren’s creativity when creating these characters and the plot though!

Casket Case is a cute rom-com between a woman (Nora) running her parents’ casket store and a logistics coordinator for death (Garrett). She ensures loved ones are buried how the family, or individual, wishes. And he makes sure those passing are never truly alone. Super cute and absolutely made for each other, right?

I enjoyed reading this book, but it was pretty underwhelming considering the pretense for the plot. I also didn’t find the comedy in it, but that very well could be a me problem.

The main character, Nora, was self-centered and extremely insecure. While people like that do exist, it’s infuriating to read. She was only concerned with herself, her feelings, and her problems. But she also doubted and second guessed every thought or decision she made concerning how others perceived her. All while having little-to-no backbone regarding everything that involved her or her future.

Garrett, on the other hand, has way too much patience for her. He puts up with her doubts, her grief, her indecision, and her selfishness with little to no argument. The only thing he won’t do is quit his job, which is understandable to be honest.

I feel like this book would have been a lot more entertaining if there was more banter between the characters, more comedy, and maybe more points of view. Since we mostly only get the POV from the FMC, I feel like we’re missing out on a lot of information that might make the story deeper.

I wanted to like it, but unfortunately I really didn’t. It had a quirky premise and I liked how things were explained, but so much of it felt forced. The conflict came too soon and the resolution took too long. I wish I had liked it more.

This book was cute and I enjoyed it, but it felt like it fell into the category of "telling, not showing'
So the relationship didn't feel genuine and they felt very surface level. The main character Nora didn't feel like she had any personality to her at all, and I get that is a part of her grief but it just didn't narrate well.

Overall, I really liked this. I found it very creative and fun to read. I struggled at times with the simplicity of the main character, it was sometimes hard to connect with her. If you're looking for a fun, simple, forget about real life for a minute type of book - this is a great option!

This book was such a fun and unique read. I have been feeling very bored with reading lately and this one made WANT to read. I loved how quirky Garrett was and his job was so intriguing, I almost wanted more about him than Nora. I would whole heartedly recommend this read!

Hilarious, yet thought provoking. Exactly the book I needed right now. Lauren Evans is on my list of authors to watch.

I requested Casket Case based on the premise alone. I mean, who wouldn’t want to read a novel about a woman who falls in love with someone who works for Death? However interesting the premise was, it didn’t make up for the lack of characterization and the poor quality of writing that plagued most of Casket Case. For the majority of the novel, it seemed as though the characters, action, and conflict were being described superficially, rather than being fleshed out properly. I never felt as though I entered the story, let alone immersed myself in it. Nora was incredibly one dimensional for a protagonist and Garrett was simply a stereotype of the romcom love interest.

That said, the quality of writing did improve a tad after the requisite second-act breakup occurred. The end was lackluster though and no conflict was truly resolved.

Thus, this debut was unexpectedly disappointing.

Casket Case had an intriguing premise, what with a woman who runs a casket shop meeting and falling for a man who works for death.

Unfortunately, while I appreciated the emphasis on grief and nonlinear healing, I found it difficult to connect with the story for a couple different reasons. Firstly, Nora and Garrett's romance was unexciting and underdeveloped. They were together immediately, exchanged "I love you's" after only a couple dates, and then spent the majority of their time as a couple fighting, which was wearying and sucked all the joy out of seeing them together. Secondly, Nora was unlikable. Now, I'm all for unlikable characters so long as its done with nuance and purpose, but here, instead of her coming across as a person who was mourning the loss of her parents, she came across as temperamental. Hostile. Almost acting as if she were the only person in the world who had lost someone she loved to tragedy. She constantly snapped at Garrett, too. Her remarks pointed and borderline hurtful. That made it hard for me to root for them.

I'm sorry to say this one didn't jive with me.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC in exchange for my review.

After Nora's parents die in a car accident, she moves back home to Rabbittown, Alabama and takes over the family casket business. Not exactly a high-volume business most days, so Nora is more than a little startled when a handsome man comes in to ask for directions. Once she gives him the directions, he asks her out on a date. Garrett Bishop is handsome, kind, and gainfully employed in logistics. While Nora doesn't really understand the specifics of what Garrett actually does, she does know that his job involves travel and some long days. When two residents of Rabbitown die, and Garrett was nearby when both deaths occurred, Nora starts to question both Garrett and her feelings for him. When she confronts Garrett and demands to know exactly what he does for a living, she finds out that he does work in logistics, but his employer is Death. Nora finds it hard to see the man that she fell in love with as an agent of death and has to come to a decision if she can be in a relationship with someone who works in a job that she thinks is heartless. A quirky romance and a delightful read.

This sounded like a unique rom-com, sort of Dead Like Me vibe. I really enjoyed it. Garrett and Nora are really interesting and different characters and the interactions they have with each other and those in Nora's small Alabama town are relatable and sweet. The story gives us various looks at grief, death and acceptance. I found it a very nice read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for this ARC.

While this book wasn't for me, I do think it was a good book overall. You will enjoy this book if you have strong family ties, believe love takes work and not everything needs to be hashed out to be okay.

Nora runs her families casket business after her parent's tragically died in a car accident. She was working the shop one day, when a handsome man came in looking for directions to the café near by. They bump into each other a few more times and their relationship hits the ground running. There's just one small problem... Garrett works for Death. Casket Case follows Nora and Garrett and their fast, tempestuous relationship and their two separate relationships with Death, as a concept and as an employer.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the early copy, it was greatly appreciated. Unfortunately this could not hold my attention, which was super disappointing because this sounded so cute!

I was so excited to get an ARC of this book from Netgalley because the premise was super interesting to me. A woman who runs a casket shop meets a man who works for death. I really tried to give this book a chance but it reads like a rough first draft of something. There is no character development, the main characters start dating immediately after meeting and say I love you right away, but all they do is fight. I gave this book a chance thinking the stuff about working for death would get interesting but if really didn't. I didn't really feel like there was much going on besides the main characters bickering with each other and the FMC talking about how she's never good enough. I had to put this book down for good about 50% in. I think I was hoping for Sign Here vibes but this book lacked complexity, an interesting plot, and interesting characters.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing this eARC!

This book had potential but it fell flat for me. It’s a unique concept: casket saleswoman meets death’s employee. I was hoping it might be a bit like Dead Romantics but unfortunately I didn’t feel that the main characters had chemistry and all the characters had a similar “voice”.

I was excited to read this due to the title alone. It had a cute story but the relationship didn't have much of a build-up so it fell flat. The concept could've made such a great story but it wasn't written well at all.

This was cute but cheesy and didn’t consistently grab me. If I didn’t feel I owed a review I may have even DNF’d. The concept had potential to be a really cool take but I just didn’t vibe with the authors writing I guess. I feel awful rating this low but I refuse to gas up a mid book :/