I was really hoping to read and "prove the bad reviews wrong" but I struggled with this book. I'm not a stranger to reading books about death or about folks working in the death space - and that side of the story was engaging and interesting to me. I felt like the love story fell flat, and the MMC frustrated me in his lack of sharing. Additionally, the FMC needs therapy - badly. As someone who lives in Rural Alabama I wasn't surprised with the influx of Jesus, but it felt awkwardly forced into the story, verses a natural fit. With some tweaks to the story line, this could be something great.

This is an interesting concept for a romance novel. Nora is in the family business of selling caskets. She lives in a small town in Alabama, and has had to take over after her parents die in a car crash. She has no life, other than work. She says that is ok.
And then she meets Garrett, and it is one of those inta-love things. They seem to get along well, until Nora finds that Garrett works for Death, then she isn’t so sure.
Nora is a bit of a flake at times, but she is only 30. We are allowed to be flakes at that age. She does know how to run a business, though, and apparently she is one of the few independent casket sellers around.
This one has a lovers triangle. It has a meet-cute, as well as the inevitable go-away-forever breakup. Something for everyone.
What I do like is that Garrett is an ordinary human. I keep thinking he might be supernatural, but he is not. He just works for Death. He is, however, well-paid for doing so.
Sometimes you want to shake Nora for being stubborn, but again, how can a character grow, if she is already where we want her to be.
Quick read. Told in alternating limited third person, although, sometimes the author slipped, and used a character we haven’t had before, to narrate a section, which threw me a bit. Minor quibble.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for making this book available for an honest review. This book is being published the 10th of September 2024.

Thank you for this arc . I really thought I would live it based on my love for the undertaking of hart and mercy and the dead romantics . But I really didn’t like it as much as I thought. It was little messy . Just didn’t love it the way I thought I would.

2 stars.

The longer I read "Casket Case" by Lauren Evans, the more annoyed I got. This book had *so* much going for it with its unique premise and the interesting conversation it could have had surrounding the (exploitative) death industry at large. Unfortunately, Evans *does not* capitalize on this at any point, instead opting to write a disjointed and pedestrian insta-lovey meet-cute with no real bones or substance. I really, *really* disliked Nora, the main female character. I am all for flawed female leads, but Nora is, frankly, the worst. Anyone who has had the displeasure of losing someone can tell you that grief is a fickle b***h. There is no timeline for grief, but Nora frequently acts like she is the only one who has ever lost a loved one, as if she's the only one who has had their entire life upended and altered by death, as if she's the only one who has had their dreams and hopes for the future dashed because of loss, like she's the only one grieving the loss of her parents. Nora is such an annoying person. She is a whiny, privileged pushover. She acts like a toddler throughout the book, especially in the ~60% range. She asks Garrett (the main male character) to give her space at one point after a bad fight (there are *several*), then freaks out after he does it! She basically sits by the phone waiting for him to call her MULTIPLE TIMES throughout the book instead of just calling him herself!!! Someone even asks her, "is it the 1950s?," which is what I thought! And then, she has the audacity to get mad at him when he gives her the space she asked, nay, BEGGED for!! Mixed messages much?! Also, I'm fairly certain she is an alcoholic. She uses and seemingly abuses alcohol on multiple occasions to cope with Garrett leaving, or having a bad day, or whatever other drama is going on in her life. I say this not to shame her, but it's fairly obvious to me that she is an alcoholic and copes with her substance abuse issues. It felt out of place to mention it so many times and not call it what it was. Garrett, on the other hand, seems like the perfect guy, but he's harboring a secret *~so big*~ that you can see it coming a mile away. Garrett has no personality whatsoever, apart from being obsessed with Nora. Once they start dating (which is suspect, very quick, and VERY convenient), they say "I love you" on their second or third date. No joke! It is wholly unbelievable, which makes the romance between them feel silly and disconnected. There is no tension, no angst, no pining... they just see each other and instantly fall in love. My least fav! There are also way too many references to religion, God, praying, and church, which felt like an intentionally "good" juxtaposition to offset the "bad" that Nora and Garrett do by working around and with death. To me, it felt forced and unnecessary, and it threw me out of the story every single time religion was brought up. I did not like this book. I love the idea of a macabre love story focusing on caskets, death, and dying, but this isn't what I hoped it would be, not by a long shot. I do not recommend this one at all.

Thank you to NetGalley, Lauren Evans, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and Dell for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.

This was a cute romance between a girl who inherited her families casket business after her parents death, and a guy who does “logistics” for death. I’d have liked to see the idea of deaths logistics flushed out more rather than being more of a conflict between the leads, and think the writing could be a bit more polished. There was good mental health rep!

This was an interesting concept. Garrett and Nora both have jobs dealing with death. Nora is running her family's casket store after the death of her parents and Garrett works for Death, literally. Their chemistry is instant and Nora feels unworthy. She learns of Garrett's job and can't get past it. She goes to a conference with a frenemy and has a surprisingly good time. There's a short love triangle plot, which seemed a bit forced. Learning about her grandpa wasn't a huge surprise, but him withholding the information was a little surprising. I didn't think he'd spill early on, but I figured when he saw how she was hurting, he may have spoken up. I did enjoy the read though.

Such a unique concept and an incredibly lovable MMC, but the pacing was a tad slow and the FMC was slightly childish with her thought processes.

Thank you to @netgalley and @penguinrandomhouse for this free ARC copy.

Real talk, I read this book, and now you don’t have to. The premise is adorable, and I was so freaking psyched that I cut all the books I have in a very long TBR line to read it. She’s a casket salesperson and he’s a logistics expert for Death.

Nora is grieving for her dead parents. I think she’s also struggling through severe depression, and coping with Instagram therapy infographics and way too much wine (like honesty, it’s an alcoholic thing). Her depression and anxiety made me feel anxious myself while reading it. The instalust with Garrett the James Bond-esque corporate Death shill wasn’t sexy or smutty enough to get me past the uneasiness I felt while I read this book. Goddamn it — I had high hopes but this just, this just did not work for me. It also had random church and Jesus stuff in it because it’s in a tiny town in Alabama, but I’d have handled that better if the drinking and depression and third act love triangle of it all didn’t make me uneasy. Oof. No thanks.

1.5 🌕🌗🌑🌑🌑

I actually liked the morbidity of this book. But honestly that’s about it. Which is a shame because the concept sounded so good.

The characters are dull, with little personality. I couldn’t root for either. The speed at which they got together was wild, the instalove was a big eye roll. And the writing style wasn’t my favorite, it felt more like a rough, rough draft.

Overall this one was very disappointing and I’m upset about it

Thank you for letting me read this early!

I really enjoyed the premise of this book and some parts were really funny
But it just felt a little rushed and the characters chemistry was just a little off

I loved the concept of this book; it was so unique! I really enjoyed Nora’s character, but I wish we had gotten more of a dual POV with Garrett. His character felt really flat to me, which impacted their chemistry. Probably my favorite part of this book was the one examination of death and grieving. It was a fun, quick read. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

this blurb sounded so fun but nothing about this book entertained me. it was not believable chemistry so i was bored pretty quickily.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC!

I really wanted to like this one! The blurb sounded like something I would enjoy but I ended up not liking it at all.

I loved this book! It was so good and I loved the storyline. I could not out this one down I kept wanting to read it!

Oof. This was painful to get through. Absolutely no personality or chemistry between the main characters. They went on a first date and asked the most bland questions ever - if that date happened in real life, those people would never want to see each other again. I was so utterly bored. This was a real letdown because I love a small town romance, and I never get to read ones that take place in my home state. But my god. This was very poorly executed and I expected much more out of it.

I really tried with this book. I thought it had a unique premise. The plot and writing were very basic and choppy. The side characters were very basic and you don't really even establish a connection with them or the story. The FMC and MMC both felt like robots just going through the motions. The relationship was like extra insta love. The writing does not show their connection or dynamic... they meet, go on a couple dates where they don't really show the connection and then all of a sudden in love and then having fights to create drama after 3 dates. The FMC says she needs him to leave and she needs space anytime she has a conflicting thought. I just can't ...

Thank you for allowing me to receive this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I made it through 55% of the book before deciding to not finish it. Although the story was intriguing…I found myself becoming bored quite quickly. The themes and tropes were not something I usually enjoy…so I made the decision to stop. I believe others may find this story compelling as well as hopefully gravitate towards the characters. Sadly, this was not for me.

I really liked the concept of this book but I felt the chemistry was rushed and lacked between Garrett and Nora.

Thanks so much to netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Dell for the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I loved the premise for this one and the cover. Unfortunately, I couldn't get into this one and ended up DNFing this one pretty early on. I just couldn't connect with the characters and I didn't care for the plot.

I hope others love this one but it wasn't for me.

This debut novel was such a fun, yet emotional ride. I really wasn't entirely sure what I was walking into when I started it, but I totally fell in love with our main characters. A personal favorite type of book of mine is those that blend a little fantasy with reality, and the author did so beautifully. I can't wait to read what she has up next!