I had high expectations for this book, because I've had good odds with the death/romcom crossovers (The Dead Romantics and Morbidly Yours) + my family owning and managing a cemetery makes it sort of a fun crossover for me.
But.
This book did not live up to those expectations. It did not really seem to qualify as a romance-- sure, there was *a* romance, but it was so far removed from me as a reader that I felt like I was reading an autobiography. The two main characters met, started dating, and broke up within the first chunk of the book, and there was very little development to engage me with any of that (I found myself skimming… a lot). Then there's a random love triangle, and I found myself rooting for neither guy, because they both lied to the FMC about various things and did terrible jobs of apologizing. The FMC herself was also extremely one-dimensional and boring (which I think is sort of the point, but it didn't make me like her any more).
Overall, the pacing of this book was entirely too fast, and I found it near impossible to connect with any of the characters (partially because of the fast pacing, but also because none of them seemed to have any redeeming qualities).
Except Grandpa. I am team Grandpa.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was eager to read this book because of the premise but unfortunately it didn't meet my expectations. The pacing of this book was off and the main character, Nora, was unbearable. Every page felt like a panic attack and her thoughts and feelings were jumbled all over the place. Also, the romance between Nora and Garrett happened so quickly that it wasn't believable. If I'm not mistaken they said I love you after their second or third date? But even with the issues that I had with the story there were some parts that genuinely made me lol.

Perfect for those who love their romance with a twist of grief and sadness, because this is about the impacts of death on our leads and their community as much as it is about romance. Not your sparkle gem beach read.

This was cute. I've read a lot of books but I don't think I read anything similar to Casket Case. Some times books can feel really repetitive and boring, like a Hallmark movie, and it's so refreshing seeing a new take

Something I liked about this book is this it just drops you right into the story and the heads of the characters. Unfortunately, I prefer that to happen with a touch more exposition than was here. It took me a little longer than I would have liked to fully understand what was going on. And to understand where in the story we were.

There are multiple timelines in this story that give the reader some more insight into the characters, sometimes they didn’t feel totally relevant though.

This book has such a fun premise, but I couldn’t get that invested in the characters. They felt very two-dimensional to me.

This was a fun and quite read, but not anything too deep (at least for me). I was able to get this book done in an afternoon - it really did zoom by!

And they are definitely a very cute and wholesome couple.

Thanks Net Galley for the e-ARC of this book! My review is already up on Goodreads and my TikTok review will be up with my June monthly wrap-up (at the end of the month or very beginning of the next).

This is a great romcom. I liked it quite a bit. I’d recommend it to fellow romcom readers. Pick this one up on publication day.

The pacing did not make sense, and I felt it was difficult to connect with Nora. I enjoyed the way they portrayed grief and death however!

Lauren Evans’ Casket Case is a delightful debut rom-com that blends love, loss, and a touch of the supernatural. Nora Clanton returns to Rabbittown, Alabama, to run her family's casket business and meets Garrett Bishop, a seemingly perfect stranger with a mysterious job. As residents start dying under strange circumstances, Nora discovers Garrett’s secret: he works for Death.
This revelation tests their budding romance, forcing Nora to reconcile her feelings for Garrett with his grim occupation. Evans’ witty writing and charming characters make this a heartfelt and engaging read.
I enjoyed the unique premise, humor, and emotional depth of this story. Casket Case is a clever and endearing tale about love and loss, perfect for fans of quirky romances.
I’d rate this book 3.5 stars for its engaging plot and lovable characters.
🌟🌟🌟⭐️
Thank you to the NetGalley team for providing me with the ARC to review.

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.