Narrated by: Thea Funk
Release Date: September 30, 2025
Published by: Bloomsbury Publishing
Read from: September 13-30, 2025
Stand-alone
Source: Audible (I also received a physical ARC from the ALA conference. This did nothing to influence my review)
Content Warning: Death, Death of a Parent, Grief, Violence, Car Accident, Injury/Injury Detail, Child Death, Fire/Fire Injury, Chronic illness
For Readers Interested In: ARC, Audible, Audio, Family Diversity (Read the Book), Holy Crap, Sparkly Covers, Most Anticipated, Racial/Ethnic Diversity, Retellings, Romance, YANew York Times bestselling author Kalynn Bayron is back with a Frankenstein-tinged horror romance.
Meka is used to death. After all, it’s the family business.
As a newly certified mortician’s assistant at her parents’ funeral home, her days are not for the faint of heart. Luckily her boyfriend Noah isn’t squeamish, and Meka is finally feeling ready to say the three little words that will change everything.
But then tragedy strikes, and Meka’s world is torn apart. Nothing makes sense, especially the strange things start happening. Ravens are circling her home. Strangers are following her. Someone is leaving mysterious items at her door. And worst of all . . .
The dead don’t seem to be staying dead.
Meka thought she understood death better than anyone. Turns out, the family business is a bit more complicated than it seems. And Meka isn’t the only one desperate to unearth their secrets . . . because the truth may be worth dying for.
*MY THOUGHTS*
This has been on my TBR since before I knew really anything about. Since Bayron’s vague tweet about it lol And it’s safe to say it lived up to the hype. I had so much fun reading this and it really confirmed that we need retellings (both direct and loose) of all the old classics. Because this was just “Frankenstein tinged” and it was still just as good!
Ok so the romance in this was so good! It fell into the horrormance genre. I haven’t read much horrormance and I felt weird about it because it just sounds weird together lol But it brought two of my favorite genres together and I loved it. This and Alba Diaz are probably some of my favorite reads this year. I don’t want to say anything specific about it, but it even with everything it felt so real. I hated how everything played out for her tho.
The family dynamic in this definitely felt real. As for the twist, I knew it, but I didn’t until it was confirmed. And I thought it was another way actually lol I knew a lot of what was going on in this book, and I was still shocked and surprised at every turn. I also counted Meka’s friends in this family group. I do wish she hadn’t like dropped them or forgotten them after everything happened, especially since they were so well fleshed out and had that backstory in the beginning. Yeah they probably wouldn’t have understood what she did, BUT they could have been there for her.
As always, Bayron’s writing style was so good. I was taking that ARC everywhere and anywhere. And even with it being a Frankenstein like book (basically I’ve already read the story) I hadn’t read it like this before. This was so new and unique. I think I liked this one a little more than I liked My Dear Henry. And if you don’t know, I loved that one too.
This was so good. And although there are some creepy themes, I wouldn’t say its actually scary. Its more like horror lite. No jump scares or anything like that. So basically, you have no excuse to not read this lol Go get it now!
Overall, I give this
