DNF: Unfortunately, like many other readers, I struggled with this book on a variety of levels. Not a huge fan of the writing style, pacing, characters, or romance, which means it was a disappointing read for me. I found it easy to set aside, and don't have much desire to finish, so it's a DNF for me. I do like some of the concepts explored, but this wasn't the right execution for them.

Thank you #NetGalley and #Dell for this ARC! I found this book to be a bit challenging to read. It's very character driven, and to me there really wasn't a plot. There are some details that I felt were unnecessary to the story. And yet, with these challenges, I was still coming back for more!


Our whole focus was on Nora handles grief and this book handled grief very well. Grief doesn't have a timeline, when something tragic happens your life is turned upside down...and there is no set "time" when you get back on track...or even a definition of what "on track" really looks like now. I think that's what made this challenging (but accurate) to read...when is the right time to "move on"? When is the right time to run (or close) a family business? What does the future look like after tragedy? All of these are hard questions, and there is no right answer. This book does Nora justice on her journey after tragedy and through grief.

I want to start by saying that I have tried to pick this book up a handful of times and kept putting to back down. I had to dnf this book because I struggled to connect to the story. With that being said, I can see a lot of people really enjoying this!

I was eager when I requested this book due to a fascinating premise perfect for a fall read. The summary reminded me of The Dead Romantics and Morbidly Yours. I believe that this story had a lot of potential, but it fell short for me in many different places.
To start, I do believe that the chemistry between the two main characters were written well. It was vivid and tangible. Additionally, I loved the concept of the story. The writing and plotting just made it fall short.
In the first 25%, the two comments on race made me uncomfortable. They did not land well due to no supporting context. (FMC not realizing she wasn’t related to her aunt and Garrett never being scared in Mississippi since he is white.) I don’t believe that they were necessary to the story.
Nora was an insufferable character for me to read about. I understand that she is in a grief journey and should be given some grace. And I think in many moments grace is given. That being said, she came across as very immature. She would quickly escalate any minor conflict and not try to understand the other party.
Garrett was a lovely character. I enjoyed him. That being said, in the middle of the book, it felt like he was gaslighting Nora when she was concerned about him in the storm. It was clearly an upsetting situation for her and by him not explaining why he would be ok was really disrespectful to her mental health at the moment. Additionally, his character profile did not make sense to me. The different character traits that made up this character did not seem realistic. He is clearly an empath and smitten with Nora. His job requires him to keep secrets. However, once it got to the point where the secrets of his job were met with Nora’s panic attack about the weather, the Garrett in my head would have had a conflict and realized he needed to choose. Especially with his history of work getting in the way. I would have thought he would have learned from his past, especially with how much he loved Nora.
The mystery of Death did keep me reading rather than DNFing. That being said, since it was a major plot point, I think more on page explanation should have be given. It felt underdeveloped until the very end. I think side plot of Nora’s second love interest could have been devoted to developing Death more as it is a unique concept. I wanted more of it.
Alcohol felt like a main character in the story. It seemed like every other chapter the FMC was having 3-4 glasses of wine. Again, I understand that this might be a part of her grief journey. However, it is problematic.
That being said, the excessive alcohol consumption paired with the racial comments, immature 30-year-old FMC, MMC who did not make sense on page, and the lack of sensitivity to mental health made this a unpleasant book for me to read. I believe that this plot had a lot of potential and maybe a different draft would have been better. I will read the next book by this author but also quick to DNF if similar concerning themes are present.

Casket Case was a very quick, light romantic read with sympathetic characters. I enjoyed the notion of a "grim reaper" who was not so grim, but rather there to smooth one's passage. The haste with which Nora and Garrett leapt into a relationship was very movie rom-com and not believable (to me at least) but I didn't let it stop me from enjoying the story.

Thank you to NetGalley, PRH Audio and
for providing me with this book for free in exchange for my review! I was also lucky enough to receive an ALC from the Penguin Random House Audio Influencer Program. @prhaudio #PRHAudio #PRHAudioInfluencer
All opinions are my own.

This was an adorable debut novel that I think will. be very popular this fall for spooky season! I loved the romance between Garrett and Nora. While this book does have some paranormal themes, it is not necessarily scary, and it has more romance. Rabbitown, AL is a very charming town and I loved the residents that served as supporting characters in this novel. The audiobook is narrated by Bailey Carr and Sean Patrick Hopkins who do a wonderful job bringing these characters to life. I am kind of surprised that this is a debut novel because Lauren Evans knows how to write an enjoyable story. This book has lots of heart, humor, and charm. I hope Lauren Evans writes many more swoon-w0rthy novels like this. This is a wonderful novel to read on a crisp autumn day, and I can see it being very popular this spooky season!

This book will be released on September 10th. Pick up this fun and spooky romance this fall!

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Many Thanks again to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest review.

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⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
#CasketCase was a fun read with a unique plot. Small town romance vibes with some quirky jobs held by the main characters.
Looking for a different read this Halloween, look no further!

Read if you like:
- Small town romance
- 3rd person POV

Don’t read if you
- Don’t like long chapters

Publish Date: September 10th

I understand what Evans was trying to do with this book, I really do. But it just was not for me.

The writing style was a little too dry, perfunctory, and tell-instead-of-show for my taste. I'm all for a good dual or even multiple POVs, but Evans would switch between them in the middle of scenes, which drives me crazy.

I couldn't get behind Nora as a character. I think there's a difference between struggling to function properly through grief and behaving in an immature, petulant way. Nora definitely came across as the latter to me to the point where she was honestly actively irritating. The lessons she learned by the end of the book felt like they came too little, too late because she was so obstinate about being irrationally angry and projecting all of her problems onto Garrett.

The love story between her and Garrett didn't feel developed properly from the get-go. I didn't <i>mind</i> Garrett as a character, but he didn't really jump off of the page at me as someone who was actually interesting and desirable or as someone flawed we could be angry with.

Quite honestly, I think Johnny was painted in more of a negative light than was warranted. Regardless of how anyone feels about corporations buying out smaller businesses, Johnny was actually interesting and nuanced, and his chemistry with Nora read way more natural than her chemistry with Garrett. The conference was the first point in the whole book where I actually felt like I was enjoying myself, and then Garrett arrived, and Nora got on my nerves again.

There's a lot of potential here, both in the idea and with Evans as an author, but it just didn't work for me personally.

[NetGalley was kind enough to provide me with an ARC for this title.]

Unfortunately I could not finish this book. I got about 20% into it and could not remember a single thing I had read. I appreciate a cozy romance for its ease and accessibility. I do not feel like this book is either of those things.

DNF. I saw no chemistry between the 2 main characters and according to goodreads reviews, it didn’t ever start to get better.

Unfortunately, this book just didn’t do it for me. I wasn’t connecting with the characters or their romance, I didn’t enjoy the humor, the pacing felt off. The premise seemed promising, but I wasn’t enjoying it.

Nora inherits the Rabbittown Casket Company when her parents die. She returns home to a small town in Alabama as a single woman with a very bleak future. In Rabittown, she meets Garrett who is looking for directions. They start dating and one thing leads to another. Nora doesn't really know what Garrett does for a living, and there entails a main plot thread. Living in a small town comes with small town gossip as well, especially when Nora's parents were fine, upstanding citizens. You will just have to read to see where Ms. Evans excellent story winds and takes the reader.

DNF at 5% which is a new record for me! But with the multiple God/Church references (especially one about submitting to ones husband) and some truly terrible grief rep (which I hope gets better throughout the book) - I just simply couldn't do it

I've heard similar things from other friends who got farther than me or even finished so I decided to DNF for my own sake.

This book was overall, a very cute concept. It immediately gave Tim Burton vibes. Unfortunately, the execution fell flat, I was hoping this book would be bursting with whimsy, and instead I fell through a tunnel of emotional whiplash. We have insta love, we have a love triangle, we have a confusing layer of "adults who can't process emotions", and overall, this book wasn't for me.

All that to say, 2 stars for an interesting concept!

This debut novel by Lauren Evans is a quick read with an interesting concept, but it fell a little flat.

The first half of the book didn’t draw me in very quickly. It felt very insta-love to me…Garrett and Nora seem to fall hard and fast after briefly meeting when Garrett needs directions. That just rings false since they barely know each other and suddenly they were declaring their love. Nora is extremely unsure of herself, while Garrett is almost too confident. I found Nora’s character to be less likeable than Garrett. The conflict felt a bit forced to me.

The second half of the book really flowed better and sucked me more into the story. Things picked up a little with the second love interest, who was an interesting character. I did appreciate the little twist at the end of the book, and I even shed some tears.

Overall, I wasn’t overly impressed with the writing in this story. It just didn’t flow well and the pacing felt off. It was hard to relate to the characters and their dialogue and actions felt unnatural. I really liked the premise of the book and was so excited to read it, but the book didn’t quite meet my expectations.

Such an interesting premise but the characters were so emotionally all over the place while also being uninteresting. The writing was choppy and disjointed.

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 - rounded up to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I enjoyed my time with this book, and I think it was a great read to ease myself into the fall. The story is extremely unique and original, and has a big magical realism element, which I really liked. I do wish we could have spent more time with our two MCs, parts of their relationship felt forced and moved too quickly for me - but I did grow to like them a lot by the end. I enjoyed the grandpa twist and connection with Death - but wish we could have seen Death & Nora’s casket company interact more - I think there was a lot of opportunity there that was missed. The supporting characters were fun to get to know, and I feel like they added a lot to the story.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read that I had a fun time with! It is a type of story that I have been gravitating towards recently. I think this was a great debut from the author.

Thank you to NetGalley, Lauren Evans, & Random House Publishing for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Review posted to StoryGraph and Goodreads on 8/16/24. Review will be posted to Amazon on release date.

I really wanted to like this book. It had a cool premise but ultimately a 3 star rating is me being generous. The main characters had no chemistry. Our FMC is a year out from the deaths of her parents and she came home to run the family casket shop. One day the MMC pops into the area because he’s working for death and needs directions. Next thing you know these two humans are going on dates and are basically inseparable immediately. He’s very vague and avoidant talking about his job. She pushes 100000000 times before he finally tells her because he thinks they’re going to break up. They do break up and I was relieved. But then somehow I’m supposed to believe she magically is okay with his job enough to get with him. Don’t even get me started about the grandpa twist. The writing itself felt disjointed. I believe the author thought shifting through time and revealing more to scenes at later parts in the novel would make it feel richer or more well thought out but it didn’t. I almost DNF’ed this book at 45% and wish I would have instead of pushing through.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and Lauren Evans for this e-arc!
All thoughts and opinions are my own 🥰

⭐️⭐️

It is an interesting premise, but unfortunately it lost my attention early on and couldn’t really get it back.


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⚠️ !! Please be sure to check any TWs before diving in !! ⚠️

My thoughts while reading:
🚨ALERT SPOILERS AHEAD🚨

Dang Janine is sassy I like her

“Well, I know we just met, but I can only come up with so many reasons to run into you, so I’ll be direct. How would you feel about having ice cream with me sometime?” Shut uppppp 🥰🥰🥰

Yepppp and now Franks dead of course

I think the characters are are kinda weird and clunky but I like them

Puzzles are great!

Spice is like fade to black level kinda/ alluding to things

Chapter 9 and they’re saying I love you

I’m not sure if I like it?? I think it’s interesting but I’m finding myself skimming a lot

I really enjoyed the concept laid out for this book but ultimately the chemistry and plot fell flat for me. The darker, macabre ideas were a really fun launching point but it took too long for the plot to take off for me to stay hooked. Wishing the author all the best in this journey and I'd be curious to see where her next book goes.