This was a fun read! It was refreshing to see a book at the intersection of “queer”, “rom-com”, and “death positivity” and it had all the banter and shenanigans I could have asked for. It was also great to see the grumpy-sunshine trope from the grumpy point of view. I loved reading Lilah’s cynicism and anti-social thoughts, because they reflected my own darker side.

However, it felt like McMan was leaning a little too hard into the rom-com plot at times and as a result, the book didn’t entirely hang together for me. There’s a lot of banter, not just between Lilah and her love interest, but also between Lilah and her co-workers, and Lilah and her family. At times this got overwhelming and I think it might have hurt the romance because it could be hard to tell if Lilah was flirting or Lilah was just being snarky. On a similar note, some of the situations that crop up throughout the book felt very ‘good rom-com’, like the reasoning behind sharing a bed in Vegas, and some, like the thing with the stew, felt a little contrived, like McMan was putting things in to keep us laughing rather than because they had bearing on the plot.

I’m also not sure McMan really knew what to do with Lilah’s social media problems. I’m of a generation where social media is familiar and almost second-nature (and not that far off in age from Lilah), and I kept asking myself why she was so resistant to finally having a platform. It was never quite explained through her character or the story. (Privacy concerns didn’t really come up though they could have; same with unfamiliarity with the medium.) At times I felt like she was just being contrary or this was a problem only because every romance needs some, and as a result, I kept bouncing out of the story.

I was also saddened that there didn’t seem to be a lot of chemistry between Lilah and Sparkle. We’re initially told they’re into each other far more than we’re shown it, and even though they do start to show it and definitely care about and understand each other, I never really got a sense of why Lilah and Sparkle were interested in each other. I’m not sure if that’s down to having a single point-of-view or me missing some subtext or me reading on my phone, but it is still something I found myself missing. (Also, similar to the social media thing, I found the ‘problem’ in the relationship to be a bit of a non-problem.)

All that aside, this was a good time! It was definitely the kind of light read I was expecting when I picked it up, I do love a good snarky goth and queer characters who get to exist without related pain or tragedy, and the banter and shenanigans kept me entertained. I also loved the funeral industry stuff, because McMan did enough research to make that feel real and current and also because I’m a fan of Caitlin Doughty and there were shout-outs. It’s not a perfect romance, no, but it’s not bad either, and I think most people who are hooked by the premise will like it. Even with the flaws, I did enjoy reading it. ( )

I definitely enjoyed the irony of this (mostly) feel-good romcom about two seemingly polar opposites working at a funeral home.

It's usually hard for me to pick up and stay engaged in a contemporary romance, but this book did the trick. I thought the characters were odd but loveable - my favorite combination - and was rooting for our two FMCs the whole time. Arguably the most important part of a romance novel, the dialogue/banter, was witty and fun and not too cheesy/cringe worthy, with lots of sweet moments sprinkled in.

Yes, many of the events in the story were kind of silly, but I loved how that lightheartedness was balanced out by the characters' very real relationships and decisions. (I also just feel some silliness is allowable in a romcom.) As someone who mostly sticks with dark/intense books, I liked the little gothic personality to this story - but would say that overall it was pretty upbeat and light. Really the only gothic part of it was the funeral home environment (and a lot of the story doesn't take place there) and our main FMC.

This book did have some grumpy x sunshine vibes, which I'm a sucker for, but I was pleasantly surprised that the MCs had enough depth added to them that it wasn't an oversimplified portrayal of the trope. Each of them had ambitions and minds of their own, too, which I liked.

I would recommend this as a quick, fun, sapphic romcom that's an overall cute, feel-good story - but has a liiittle edginess to it from some of the characters and events. Also, climate change is a big theme in this, so if you don't agree with "go green" type stuff, you probably won't like this book. I had absolutely no issue with it, though! 💚 ( )

I wasn't quite clear from the blurb exactly what I was getting into with this Early Reviewer book. Was "sightings of The Black Bird of Chernobyl" to be taken literally or metaphorically? Was it going to be a paranormal story or no? It was billed as a romantic comedy, but that could go either way.

And for a fleeting moment once I realized the answer was "no," I was minorly disappointed. After all, the apparition spotted by the workers of the Ukrainian nuclear plant would be new grist in the overly chewed mill of supernatural stories.

That disappointment didn’t even last a whole chapter. Somehow, the goth, misanthropic, cranky Wednesday-Addams-of-a-protagonist caught my interest and wouldn’t let go. For three months of Lilah Stohler’s life and somewhere around 275 pages of mine, I enjoyed following her madcap, LGBT, occasionally contemplative, always idiosyncratic lurch ahead with her life, surrounded by the colorful characters of Stohler’s Funeral Home.

As with any romantic comedy, we strongly suspect where everything will end up. But like any good romantic comedy, the journey was the point. And this one, humorous and erudite and quirky, was a fun one.

If you like romantic comedies, I’d say this one is worth it. ( )