As someone living in a tiny town— I really resonated with our FMC and was rooting for her throughout the story. I did find it to be a bit sow going and struggled to stay engaged in the beginning but around 30% through and it started to pick up pace. I also felt like the characters could be fleshed out a bit more because they felt a little flat. Overall, it’s a sweet romance with an interesting twist.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing - Ballantine, and Dell for providing this book, with my honest review below.

I was intrigued by the concept of someone working for death and that being part of a romantic novel with Casket Case, so I was eager to pick this up. The premise came together in a sweet novel and I enjoyed the main characters along with their supporting cast. Eleanora (or Nora as she is widely known) has gone through a rough time with the death of her parents and inheritance of their casket shop. She’s still definitely frozen by grief when Garrett, a logistics employee (his job being very generalized and mysterious to others) comes onto the scene and the two strike up a fast moving relationship. But it soon emerges that Garrett works for death, comforting those about to pass, which for Nora just represents the deaths not only of her parents but those close to her that seem to be happening even more with him around.

As we dive into Garrett’s role and why he took the job, we also see Nora trying to decide how to finally move her life along. I thought these parts were all very well done striking bittersweet tones in the perfect way. I did wish we could have dived into her Grandfather’s past a bit more and that the epilogue was a bit more robust, but this was a cute romance that took advantage of its unique premise in a satisfying way. The third person point of view with which this was written made it just a bit harder for me to get into (I’m not quite sure why as this works for me normally) but it may just be my experience.

This book is sweet, funny, cute, swoon worthy and everything a romance reader could want! I liked seeing their relationship progress across the novel. It’s a heartwarming, and an emotional story that romance fans will love!

thank you to netgalley and random house publishing for the opportunity to read this arc!

this book follows our main character nora who comes from a family that runs a casket business. after her parents suddenly pass away, she is brought back to her small hometown to continue running the store. one day she meets garrett as he enters her store looking for directions.
what she doesn't know about garrett is he works for death.

this book concept really intrigued me, and the synopsis had me thinking about a kdrama that i watched a while back and really enjoyed called "tomorrow". while there were some similarities (really just the concept of working for death), this story also had romance which i am no so sure i was that big of a fan of. the two characters seemed to not have much chemistry and it was quite insta-lovey, which i am never really a fan of, but that is personal preference! i also was quite bothered with how they communicated, it seemed like they were just always arguing. the overall pacing of the book was maybe just not for me!

i did enjoy the concept like i said earlier and i also really loved how the author talked about grief in this book and how our main character handles her grief and also slowly starts to understand it better throughout the story.

overall i would rate this book a 2.5!

Thank you to Netgalley, Lauren Evans, and Random House - Ballantine for an advanced copy of Casket Case in exchange for my honest review.

Casket Case was quite a journey! It was a little reminiscent of the television show "Dead Like Me" in a good way. I felt the main plot of the book was interesting and unique. I enjoyed reading about the backgrounds of the main characters and how they were related in a roundabout way through their work. Lauren Evans did an excellent job weaving the story in the setting. I truly felt like I was in a small town in Alabama. I could feel the Southern, small town vibes and the closeness of the community. I also enjoyed reading about the main characters and related a lot to the female main character, Nora. Her history and background were set up well and really gave us a clear picture of her internal conflict throughout the book.

This book is very dialogue heavy, which I enjoy. There was a lot of missed communication attempts or attempts at talking through issues with sometimes limited resolution leading to extended conflict. Several times I just wanted the main characters to discuss their emotions and feelings more clearly. My other critique is that a little more description within the book of the emotions of the characters may have enhanced the writing and the exposition of the story, because otherwise there was just the stilted dialogue about being frustrated without looking for resolution.

For people who enjoy closed door or fade-to-black intimacy scenes, this book fits those criteria. Although there is a lot of kissing, there isn't anything overtly graphic romantically. Overall, the main tropes of this book include: small town and he falls first. Those tropes are done well and I truly felt engrossed in those parts of the story.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book and felt that the plot was very eccentric and distinct.

The plot for Casket Case was incredibly creative, and is what drew me into the book. Unfortuantely, I did not love the main couple as much as I would have hoped. Their chemistry was okay and some parts did make me laugh, but I was also frustrated with some of the fights they had. A lot of Nora's journey about being unsure of what she wanted to do with her life was very relatable.

I did however love the small town setting and the supporting characters. They were a huge part of what made this book endearing and also funny.

Overall, it was a cute read. I loved the connection between the main characters with their jobs - a casket company owner and someone who helps the living pass through to the other side. It was great to see Nora grow as a person throughout the book. As someone in her 30s, she was a relatable character. The ending had me in tears, both happy and sad!

Thank you random house publishing group and net galley for this arc!

interesting concept with death and someone who runs a funeral home. the romance was okay and went from dating to quick relationship. this book dealt with grief.

I was excited for Casket Case by Lauren Evans because I was hoping for a weird, dark-humored comedy, but it fell a bit flat for me. I did like the idea, but it was just a bit tropey/cliché for my taste.

Nora takes over her family's business, selling caskets after her parents pass away. Garrett works for Death, comforting people as they pass. He is driven by compassion as his brother died young.
Having a personal life is pretty tough when you work in the death industry, so maybe they're a perfect match?... but Nora has a hard time accepting that Garrett works for death. She loves him, but can she handle dating death?
Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group Ballantine for access to read Casket Case in exchange for an honest review

This was a really interesting concept and unlike anything I’ve read before. I enjoyed the story and characters, but I can’t put my finger on it, I think I just wanted a bit more? Garrett and Nora fell hard and fast but their chemistry didn’t jump off the page to me. I also feel like at times things were a bit surface level, like Garrett’s brother, or even how/why he was recruited for his job. Was the woman who came for his brother his recruiter? Things like that. I think a bit more depth and detail would have helped. The ending and epilogue also felt a bit rushed. Overall I did like the book and writing style though.

Casket Case by Lauren Evans feels unlike anything I’ve read before. Who knew I wanted a protagonist who runs a casket shop? It was fun look at a job I’ve never thought twice about!

As a whole I did really enjoy this book. The concept was creative and well done. The pacing was ok, maybe a bit slow at times, but it kept me interested. Most of the slower parts were Nora acting like a whiney teenager instead of someone that is 30 years old. She was the only one in the entire book not acting their age. It got to be a bit much. I don't know what Garrett saw in her or continued to see in her. Their relationship felt a bit forced at times because of this. They didn't seem to be on the same maturity level. By the end she did have some growth which was nice. Took her long enough. There is a small twist, if you will, that I enjoyed in the book. I found that the final chapter ended kind of abruptly. I felt like there should have been more to wrap it up. The epilogue was well done and finished the book off nicely but I feel like there was more that could have been said prior to it. All in all the book is good, concept is solid, and it was a cute and cozy read.

I'm always down for a bit of magical realism in romance, an element that's not always easy to find. I was so excited to learn of a romance novel about a woman who sells caskets for a living, falling in love with a man who literally works for Death.

This story fell apart for me in the execution. First, internal monologue makes up a significant portion of the narrative. You are in Nora's thoughts and memories for I'd say more than half the book. Because of this, the book itself feels slow and drawn-out, with little happening on the page. However, the romance itself is almost too fast paced. I appreciate the insta-love trope--but in this case, I felt like Nora and Garrett coming together felt rushed and too easy. By 30% they were declaring they loved each other. By 55%, they had their "third act" breakup that typically happens at 80%. I didn't really believe in how Nora and Garrett said they felt about each other. Then you have this odd interlude where Nora starts up a flirtation with Johnny. When Nora and Garrett get back together, I'm not convinced they'll go the distance--it doesn't really feel like they've overcome anything.

Things I did like about the book: Garrett was a solid MMC who was mature, patient, and romantic. I liked the relationship Nora had with her grandfather, and appreciated the plot twist that he had also worked for Death. I was fascinated by the concept of Death as a boring as hell corporate logistics operation. I loved the references to "classic" pop culture that won't date the book in two years, like General Hospital and Cheers. I think many people will love and appreciate this book a lot more than I did--especially if they're looking for an internal, women's fiction-esque story more than a classic romance.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House - Ballantine for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I kind of tuned out of this book at 70% and skimmed the rest of it, but I do feel that I read enough to leave a review.

I couldn't get into this book from the beginning, and I just could not finish it. I didn't like the main characters, and there was absolutely no chemistry between them; their relationship was very unbelievable, and their dialogue was extremely stiff, which is my main issue with the book. I didn't like how quickly the relationship between the two main characters moved either; they were together after knowing each other for like half a week? The premise is really interesting, but it just wasn't executed very well, in my opinion (honestly, the idea for the book drew me in so quickly; it's such a cool and weird idea for a book). I did like the small-town setting, but it just wasn't enough to make me want to finish the book, unfortunately.

Casket Case is the third book I have read in this last year that features people in the funeral industry. I guess it’s a new trope? Not sure what it says about me that I really liked all of them. This piece has a nice twist. Our heroine, Nora, is running the casket sales company that she inherited after her parents died in a car crash about a year ago. She has been deep in mourning and has cut herself off from her old life. And then Garrett comes along. He stops into her store looking for directions and is immediately smitten. So they go on a date. And honestly at this point I thought, well that’s nice, but it’s two people dating, so what? The so what is he works for DEATH. I love a bit of magic realism and oh boy does Lauren Evans give us some. Obviously someone that is still mourning the loss of her family is not going to want to date an agent of death, or maybe he is the best thing to happen to her in a long while. Nora and Garrett’s story charmed the socks off me. It is pretty closed door, but the characters are so awesome, I didn’t miss it so much. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the ARC.

Wow, I was not expecting this book to hit like it did.

Casket Case is a whimsical, cozy romance about Nora, who's taken over her family's casket store in a small town in Alabama after her parents unexpectedly passed away in a car accident. Garrett is this new hot stranger in town, working a mysterious "logistics" coordinator job.

I really loved the style of the book - I felt like the third-person and the writing was suited for a book about death and dying, and to be honest, really lent itself to the themes of the story. We were still able to get a great understanding of our characters and their inner workings. The flashbacks to Garrett's past were a little disjointed at first, but ultimately lent themselves to a little charm about Garrett, giving us a better sense of who is, and why he's such a little sweetheart - he was truly a star of this book.

I read this whole thing in one sitting and teared up a little towards the end - I loved the way the writer decided to wrap it all up. Was I a little frustrated with Nora at first for not understanding Garrett's point about death being inevitable? Yes, but also I was willing to forgive and understand in the context of her very recent and fresh loss. I loved that they gave Johnny a fair shot, which I'm sure a lot of readers don't like. I just appreciated that dose of reality in a romance book, because truly, that is what life is like - there are always other options.

Overall, giving this a 4.5 rounded up to 5. There was no spice in the book (I think categorized as closed door), but there was discussion about intimacy.

For a debut, it's okay. I felt as if the romance was made a forefront and that it moved a bit too fast for the plot being about a man who works for death, and a woman who owns a casket business. It just seemed like I was waiting too long for the plot to further develop, and I had the thought that maybe there would be more about Garrett's job and what he does than their dates that were the basis of most of the chapters after they first met. It wasn't a horrible book, just not my style.

2/5 ⭐️
Spiciness: 1/5

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the opportunity to review this ARC ebook.

This book follows Nora, a woman who started working in her family’s casket store, falling in love with Garrett, who works for death. One of my favorite elements of this book is how death and grief is handled, as well as how comforting having someone with you to explain what is happening when dying is. I think that it also well describes what grieving can look like.

My favorite character in this book was Johnny, and I found him to be hilarious. I actually laughed a couple times during his scenes.

I think that my biggest piece of feedback would be that I struggled to see the chemistry between Garrett and Nora. The dialog felt stiff, and I don’t think I really was able to fully appreciate their romance. I also do not think I liked Garrett as much as I hoped I would. I would also say that I tend to opt for books with a clearer plot, and more thorough character development. Overall, I do not think that this book is for me, but I do hope that those interested do enjoy it!

I was really excited for this book and thought this had a lot of potential. The plot sounded so interesting and unique with an otherworldly aspect to it. A logistical coordinator for Death? Definitely intriguing. Combined with how Nora's life has been altered forever by Death? Another great layer to the plot.

I wish there was more about Garrett's work and more details about how he does what he does. Even though the book was in third person, his chapters were definitely shorter, but I found his story to be more compelling than Nora's. The beginning of Garrett and Nora's relationship was kind of volatile in that there were a lot of insecurities, especially on Nora's end. It seemed like she was ready to bolt from this relationship at the first sign of trouble. I wasn't really into Nora's character - I felt like she got really defensive when Garrett tried to talk about sensitive topics and her level of communication wasn't as great as Garrett's, which was kind of frustrating to me. The dialogue was overall a little stunted/choppy - what was probably supposed to be banter came off as them being short with each other. But their relationship got better as the book went on. I think it's cute how their careers involve and connect with Death in different ways. I really liked Garrett's character and I just wanted the best for him.

I was teetering between a 3 and a 4/5 rating, but decided to go with the 4 stars due to the little twist near the end and the epilogue. It was beautiful and I felt like it wrapped up the book perfectly.

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

this romance was so unique and quite heartfelt! I loved the portrayal of grief and the emotions present. I loved her writing.