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A review by fringebookreviews
Casket Case by Lauren Evans
1.75
I guess I was hoping it would be less morbid? Which is partly my bad, the summary was pretty clear. I had really good experiences with similar books—The Dead Romantics, Love of My Afterlife, The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy—so I was intrigued and wanted more!! This book differed in a few key ways from those though, and it made me realize just why I loved them (and didn’t love this one).
In The Dead Romantics, most of the dead people were ghosts which I highly preferred, as they seemed a bit further removed from death. In Love of My Afterlife, the afterlife was romanticized and I LOVED how it made me feel. There was even a (secondary) romance happening IN the afterlife. The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy was morbid, yes, but it never lost the romance even amidst the ZOMBIES!
Casket Case, however, was alive humans actively dying with no reassuring afterlife talk (it was out of his "jurisdiction”). So everyone—including me—was just sad and confused. The book claims that the dying people get closure from people like the hero, but that’s still leaving a LOT of unclosed wounds!! The poor families!!! Having a solid knowledge of the afterlife would’ve at least made it all feel less morbid, like give me proof that grandpa gets to reunite with his wife, etc!!!
I also had issues with the stiff dialogue, clunky writing, and instalove romance. The writing was all tell and no show. Not to mention, the romance as a whole was wildly paced: sex by 25%, “I love yous” by 35%; breakup by 60%, kissing another man at 70% because it's suddenly a love triangle, getting back together at 95%. At the end, she was separated from the hero for so long and wasn’t even really thinking about him, and he didn’t even have an arc at all. So much so that I was actively rooting for the wrong side of the love triangle??? That guy at least had chemistry with her and a personality!!
Overall, it was not the right book for me and definitely not the right time. I’ve recently experienced some personal loss, and this book was just too morbid for the moment. The morbidity wasn’t necessarily the book’s fault (it’s clearly stated in the summary), but I still wasn’t a fan of the execution. The concept, however, was still intriguing and I liked the Death details…more than the romance, which is where the book fully fell apart for me.
⭐️.75/5 .5🌶️/5
CWs: Death of a sibling (past; recounted) (cancer), fatal car crashes (multiple; past and current), heart failure, death of a grandparent (current), death of parents (past; recounted)
I received an eARC via NetGalley. All opinions are honest and my own.
In The Dead Romantics, most of the dead people were ghosts which I highly preferred, as they seemed a bit further removed from death. In Love of My Afterlife, the afterlife was romanticized and I LOVED how it made me feel. There was even a (secondary) romance happening IN the afterlife. The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy was morbid, yes, but it never lost the romance even amidst the ZOMBIES!
Casket Case, however, was alive humans actively dying with no reassuring afterlife talk (it was out of his "jurisdiction”). So everyone—including me—was just sad and confused. The book claims that the dying people get closure from people like the hero, but that’s still leaving a LOT of unclosed wounds!! The poor families!!! Having a solid knowledge of the afterlife would’ve at least made it all feel less morbid, like give me proof that grandpa gets to reunite with his wife, etc!!!
I also had issues with the stiff dialogue, clunky writing, and instalove romance. The writing was all tell and no show. Not to mention, the romance as a whole was wildly paced: sex by 25%, “I love yous” by 35%; breakup by 60%, kissing another man at 70% because it's suddenly a love triangle, getting back together at 95%. At the end, she was separated from the hero for so long and wasn’t even really thinking about him, and he didn’t even have an arc at all. So much so that I was actively rooting for the wrong side of the love triangle??? That guy at least had chemistry with her and a personality!!
Overall, it was not the right book for me and definitely not the right time. I’ve recently experienced some personal loss, and this book was just too morbid for the moment. The morbidity wasn’t necessarily the book’s fault (it’s clearly stated in the summary), but I still wasn’t a fan of the execution. The concept, however, was still intriguing and I liked the Death details…more than the romance, which is where the book fully fell apart for me.
⭐️.75/5 .5🌶️/5
CWs: Death of a sibling (past; recounted) (cancer), fatal car crashes (multiple; past and current), heart failure, death of a grandparent (current), death of parents (past; recounted)
I received an eARC via NetGalley. All opinions are honest and my own.