Reviews

Reaping the Benefits by E.J. Noyes

nothoughts_mt's review

emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

mischievous_monkey's review against another edition

4.0

What an original, well told story! And the way Death (as voiced by Abby Craden) says Morgana...dead sexy. :)

I will definitely be listening to this again.

laconni4's review

adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

A happy ending version on a grim reaper falling for a human. 

worthleyv's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

lezreadalot's review

3.0

“And that’s the problem with love that’s like oxygen. When it’s gone, you suffocate.”

Sometimes when I'm reading a book, there can be a little detail that I love so very, very much that it makes the entire book better for me, despite whatever flaws there might be. Sadly, this book was kinda the opposite. There was a pretty trivial detail that I didn't really like, and I sadly never really got over it. This is a paranormal romance, involving one of Death's minions, and a woman who is trying to live out her bucket list. The one detail that I couldn't get over was the fact that the author took a fantastical, paranormal plot like this, and made it into a kind of business bureaucracy that involves a lot of paperwork and nitty-gritty details. Office work. Databases. Minion of the year awards. That just isn't fun to me! And I'm deeply aware that that's a really silly hang-up, but I yam who I yam, etc. The more we learn about the way Death works in this world, the way minions work, the way the death contracts are parcelled out... it's not that I lost interest, but this seemed so very bland to me. If I'm reading fantasy/paranormal, I want it to feel like it. The office veneer didn't do much for me. Maybe it's my own fault, because I went to this thinking that it would perhaps be kind of like a guardian angel romance? And it very much wasn't.  

Another thing that I had trouble with was the romance itself. Morgan lost her first love many, many years ago, and the book wants us to believe that she falls even more deeply in love with Jane in the span of a few months. I really did not buy that. They had good chemistry, and I did like them together, but by the end, we were supposed to believe that their love paralleled and even surpassed the love that Morgan had had with the woman she spent more than half a century with. I couldn't buy it at all.  

And I don't know, I'm just kind of disappointed with this. I can recognise it as a technically fine book, and Noyes is a great writer, but I didn't fall in love with this anywhere near as much as I wanted to. I wish we had seen more of them together. The author did do a great job of establishing what their relationship was like at work, on the trips, then at home in their own spaces, but I just never felt the connection and bond that I know Noyes is capable of writing.

Listened to the audiobook as read by Abby Craden, and that was at least a bit of a saving grace. I don't know if I really like her English accent, and the voice that she did for Morgan, but her performances are always really good, at least. It's a good book for sure, but since I was looking forward to it so much, and it didn't deliver in the way that I was expecting, I feel kind of let down. But honestly, that's just me being nit-picky!  

aliu6's review against another edition

3.0

3 stars

This seemed like a fun premise, and I enjoyed the first half of the book. The second half ended up dragging a lot, mostly due to the romantic plot's stagnation. Morgan and Jane fall in love very quickly, and then we get the conflict:

Spoiler

Morgan's fear of letting herself love Jane. A lot of time is spent on Morgan's hangups, and while Jane slowly learns the whole story of Morgan's past love, I grew bored of the repetition.

The resolution of the conflict also did not make sense to me, as so much time was spent agonizing over the conflict, and then it was fixed with a quick action.

Unfortunately, I could not get invested in the romance. The romance plot is mostly pushed forward by dialogue, but the conversations were fairly mundane. The MCs claim to be in love with each other, but I don't know how they get there.

I think this story could have been better if Morgan and Jane had taken longer to fall in love, and less time was spent on the conflict.

cw: multiple attempted suicides; discussions around death/mortality

raisin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

jennabeebs79's review against another edition

5.0

EJ Noyes is an amazing writer. I have read all of her books and no two books have even a remotely similar plot. She constantly pushes herself to be a better writer. This book is no exception. This book was such a fun twist on what everyone normally thinks about life, death, and the afterlife. Morgan, a few hundred year old Minion for Death (Cici LaMorte) fell in love when Jane Smith, her employee. Little did she know that Jane had feelings for her. Morgan tried so hard to keep herself from acting on her feelings but the more time she and Jane spent together crossing off items on Jane's bucket list, the harder it got for her. I loved the dialogue between the characters as well as the plot development. Cici was a fantastic supporting character as was Jane's mom. Jane was an admirable character for not giving up on Morgan, despite all of Morgan's attempts to back away. I really enjoyed this book. It was a lot of fun to read! Thanks EJ for another fantastic read!

I received an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

lovemeknot's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

jamietherebelliousreader's review against another edition

4.0

4 stars. Such a unique and super romantic story. I’ve been meaning to pick up something from Noyes for a while so I’m glad that this was the first one. I think it was a really good place to start. The writing is good, the pacing is even, the characters are both very likable, the plot is fun, and the romance is so swoon worthy.

Jane and Morgan were absolutely perfect for each other. Morgan is afraid to love due to the death of her ex and my heart broke for her. She kept trying to push Jane away but I loved how persistent Jane was. She knew exactly why Morgan was pushing her away but wouldn’t let her do it without a fight. Their chemistry was on point and I loved the way their relationship developed. Also, the ending was really cute.

I enjoyed this immensely and I will definitely be picking up more from this author.