The premise of this book was intriguing - a girl working in a casket store falls in love with a boy who works for Death as, essentially, a grim reaper - but the execution left a lot to be desired.

The most egregious issue with this book is the insta-love. Nora and Garrett have zero chemistry on the page and I could not tell why Garrett liked Nora or even asked her out. He literally walked into her casket store, took one look at her, and decided she was the love of his life. I wish I was kidding. Nora seems to be into Garrett because he asked her out, he's hot, and he drives a fancy car. That's it. Their dialogue is the most mundane script imaginable, and neither character has a personality to speak of.

There is some potentially interesting meditation on grief here - Nora lost her parents, after all - but rather than dealing with her grief through therapy she's drifting through life, going to work then drinking wine and watching soap operas. That's the entirety of her life. She doesn't have any friends, hobbies, or interests. Garrett goes to work and goes running. That's the extent of their personalities, so you can imagine how difficult it was to believe that either of them found something to love in the other 'cause there's just... nothing there.

The plot was also missing. They meet, they date, they break up, they get back together. Nora goes to a conference to accept an award. A couple of people die. That's literally it. Even Garrett's job, which had the potential to be intriguing, was glossed over like Evans didn't want to bother coming up with an interesting system for Death. Between the dry dialogue discussing everyday minutiae, the utter lack of personality, and the non-existent plot, this reads like the bare-bones first draft of a book. Shame on Evans's editor for allowing it into the world like this.

The unique premise of this book immediately sparked my curiosity, but unfortunately I feel this book missed the mark. The pacing of the book felt slow and I struggled to get through it, yet the romantic relationship developed rather quickly. I didn't feel a more than a passing connection to the characters, neither of whom I found to be very likable, which left me uninvested in the outcome of the plot.

Garrett was rather bland, without much range of emotion. Nora was dealing with the grief of loosing her parents, the end of her previous romantic relationship, and also struggling with the decision she must make to either stay in her small hometown and continue running the casket store, or return to her old life in the city. While Nora showed more emotion than Garrett, I would have liked to experience a deeper connection with her.

Overall, I give this book a 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3 because of the uniqueness factor.

This was a unique romance novel, and I enjoyed it immensely. 

No one ever wants to think about Death and what people go through on both sides. Enter Garrett. He works for Death, which is portrayed as a large corporation. His outlook is altruistic based on what happened 27 years ago when he lost his younger brother to cancer. Nora lost her parents to an accident and is now back in their small town running the family casket business. Is this where she wants to be, or is it meant to be? We are on a journey with Nora as she processes grief and figures out her place in this world.

While we know what Garrett does based on the book description, Nora takes much longer to uncover this truth. She then has another struggle as she tries to balance her attraction and feelings for Garrett with his job. I appreciated that not everything was easy for Nora or Garrett, and they had to work for their relationship and more. The author even introduces a potential third party. I think there could have been more to this story or even more to his story. Maybe a book based on him would be fun. The eternal playboy that is snared by the right woman.

I loved this little town, Rabbittown, because it is a quintessential small town. Everyone knows everyone and their business. Nora can't get away with much because even if the truth isn't exciting, they will twist it to become more.

I laughed and even cried a little at the end of this book. It was a great break from reality and thrillers that I usually read.

We give this book 4 paws up.

Garrett and Nora, ugh, I love you both so much!

Cue the small town vibes and wholesome love story.

This is a very unique story and although you might catch on, early on, it does not ruin the storyline at all. Lauren Evans has hit the ground running with this stunning debut. She captures the moment and blurs the lines between life and death.

This is a must read.

Check out this teaser :

Nora thought she was finished with Rabbittown, Alabama, for good. But an unexpected tragedy turned her life upside down, and she’s found herself back in her tiny hometown running the family casket business.

There aren’t exactly a lot of prospects for a single woman in her thirties in a place like Rabbittown. Until Nora Clanton’s ordinary, casket-selling day is interrupted by a handsome stranger wandering into her shop and asking for directions—as well as a date.

Garrett Bishop seems like the ideal guy. He’s thoughtful, he’s kind, and he has a lucrative job as a logistics coordinator, for which he seems to have a passion. She’s not totally sure what “logistics” entails, but she knows it means long hours, lots of travel, and urgent calls in the middle of the night.

When a few of Rabbittown’s residents suddenly pass away—a heart attack here, a car crash there—and Garrett is spotted at the scenes of, well, all of the deaths, his frustratingly vague job description starts to become increasingly . . . suspicious. What is it that Garrett actually does for a living?

He’s a logistics coordinator for Death.

When Nora discovers the truth, she is unable to reconcile the wonderful man she knows with the unthinkably cruel job he loves. Will she ever be able to understand how he can do what he does, or will she have to lay her best chance at love to rest?

CASKET CASE is a paranormal romance about nora, a young woman running her family's casket business, who falls for a guy who ticks all her boxes and seems perfect on paper... except he works for death. this was a really fun, slightly spooky romance, and it's perfect for fall! nora and garrett's chemistry was so good and very easy to believe. my only issue was with the pacing—i felt like their relationship developed way too quickly, so i spent a lot of the book waiting for the other shoe to inevitably drop. but i still really enjoyed it and would recommend for anyone who's in the mood for a good fall read!

thanks to netgalley and dell for the advanced copy!

Such a fantastic premise but unfortunately the execution wasn't good at all. It didn't ever feel like they had a connection at all and Nora was very annoying. I went in to this one hoping to love it and just didn't.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Omg this book!! I loved everything about it! Such a fun and easy read! I really enjoyed all of it. Highly recommend!

This was an okay read. I thought i would like it more than I did. Maybe this read is not for me. i found the story-line to be pretty dull/bland.

This ARC took me a while to get into, but by the end I was smiling and bawling my eyes out. I didn’t realize how death heavy it would be. It’s not in a bad way but I have my own issues with stuff like that 🤣🤣

After I got over my anxiety, this was such a lovely book and I really enjoyed it.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

Let me start by saying that a lot of reviewers said they didn’t like this book because it was too morbid and the death aspect was depressing, I personally didn’t get this vibe. I thought it was handled well and seemed pretty realistic. I did however think this book was just kind of boring.

Unfortunately this book just didn't deliver in the way I thought it would. From the summary and overall very fallish, spooky vibes, I was really excited for this romance!! I thought the plot of the book had similarities to The Dead Romantics, which is one of my favorite books, because Nora is surrounded by death and runs a casket business. However, the writing and characters just overall fell a bit too flat for me.

Nora has to return to her hometown to run her families casket business when she meets Garrett, who appears to be her ideal guy. However, she starts to get suspicious of Garrett when she realizes he appears whenever there is a new death in her town. That is because Garrett is actually the logistics coordinator for Death. Nora has to work through her feelings of whether she can reconcile Garrett working for Death with the person she has grown to love and appreciate for his thoughtful and kind personality.

Overall, not my favorite book, but it definitely had cute moments and a nice small town vibe. Thank you to Dell Romance and NetGalley for my advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review!

Adding this to my fall book list. Not only is this a romance, it’s also very healing when dealing with grief and death as a part of life. Nora owns a casket shop and Garrett works for death, itself, helping people by being with them in their final moments. Following the death of her parents, Nora resents death yet still works closely around it. Can Nora reconcile these feelings when she learns of Garrett’s job?

1.5 rounded up. This was such an interesting concept, but it didn’t work for me. It was boring and dragged on, with far too many scenes that went on forever that didn’t need to. And yet the parts we should have had been “shown” and gone on longer, didn’t. In a lot of cases they were actually told to us (vs. showing). Like for instance how suddenly the two main characters are in love even though they’ve known each other a few days? And we know this because the characters keep telling us, not because we saw it or felt it. I didn’t buy it or care at all.

Thank you Netgalley for giving me a copy in exchange for my honest review. Nora in general has a lot going on. She has had a lot of loss in her life in the past and it doesn't stop around her. It doesn't help that her job is literally working at a store that sells caskets. Garrett literally works with/for Death as he gets assigned a case in who needs to visit and tell them they are going to die and help them cross over. When Garrett is assigned a case in Nora's town, he stops in her store for directions and there is immediate sparks. Although there was a connection with the two characters, I had a really hard time rooting for them. Nora was so burned before in past relationships, that she was so clingy and having major trust issues the whole way through. For Garrett to constantly reassure her that he is indeed working and not cheating on her or that she is good enough, made me think that Nora needs to be single and work out those issues. You need to love yourself before you can love others.

This book was really weird, usually that's a good thing for me but it was not this time. The pacing was off and Nora and Garrett's relationship seemed very forced. I really liked the concept of this book but the execution and writing were just so-so.

Talk about a happy ever after complete with tears!! It was a little difficult to get through the beginning, and the relationship and character development could have been better; BUT about halfway through, this book took off for me! I loved the idea of bringing in another man to compete for her heart, and loved how it all came together in the end! Death is a hard topic to write about, and I feel that Lauren Evans did it justice. The end was so delicate and beautifully written. I haven’t cried reading a book in a long time, but this one definitely got some tears out of me. Overall very much enjoyed!!

I'm afraid this didn't work for me. It was just... un-fun.

I was okay with the morbid tone and topics. The death industry is fascinating — and I mean that about both Nora and Garrett's jobs. But it was the romance that failed. Incredibly boring dates that felt like lackluster interviews ("What do you do in your spare time?" "I watch TV." "What do you like to watch?" "Sports." "What kind of sports?" "Local teams.") magically led to insta-love. Call me crazy, but I don't enjoy chemistry-free romances.

Even so, I extend my thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Boring, repetitive, and way too long. The book keeps repeating the same points over and over as Garrett tries to hide his work for Death and Nora tries to decide if she should date him and/or keep her parents' casket company. I thought this would be a quirky, comedic romance, but it wasn’t particularly funny or romantic either.

Billed as a whimsical romcom featuring a meet cute with death, this novel instead slogs along with a slow pace and histrionic feel. Many interesting ideas are left unfinished while one or two emotional moments are pulled too far or often. A great idea that didn’t happen.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy. These opinions are my own.

As a debut, the premise had me HOOKED. However the execution fell flat. I think something was missing. There was too much one dimension writing, and I was not a fan once it hit 75%. I stuck it out but I wouldn’t have if I wasn’t nearly done when I got the urge.