Book Review: Casket Case by Lauren Evans

Rating: 3 stars of 5

Casket Case was a monthly pick for one of my local book clubs. It was a bit slow to get into but was a cute autumnal read. If I hadn’t been reading it with a group, I think I would have struggled more to finish it.

The FMC seemed to be neurodivergent-coded, which was fun, and the idea for the story was unique and not as formulaic as some other books in this category. I didn’t fully believe in or like the FMC or the MMC, though. They both displayed some red flag behaviors pretty early on in the story and I found myself not really being “for” their relationship. The tense usage also felt a bit jostled at times, and that affected my reading experience.

I found the small-town characters amusing. At times, their antics were so audacious that I couldn’t help but chuckle incredulously. I did wonder why they weren’t more suspicious of the MMC in the beginning of the story. I found myself thinking, “There’s no way that these people noticed him and then not one of them thought about this situation with suspicion,” after reading about one of the events that happened early on. The town is just too tiny for that to be believable.

The random (and very specific) elements of purity culture recovery sprinkled throughout the story were interesting. I never expected to come across a fictional character who had read I Kissed Dating Goodbye in a novel about a girl who is dating Death, but here she is!

Overall, I think reading this with a group made it a lot more enjoyable than I would have found it if I had read it on my own, but it was cute.

Content advisory: strong language, spice

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