Don’t Fear the (Not Really Grim) Reaper by Carole Cummings

Title: Don’t Fear the (Not Really Grim) Reaper

Author: Carole Cummings

Genre: Paranormal, Angels & Demons

Length: Novella (62 pages)

ISBN: 978-1-64080-679-5

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (11 Jan 2019)

Heat Level: Low

Heart Rating: 💖💖💖 3 Hearts

Reviewer: Prime

Blurb: When unassuming college student Emery Sutton wakes up in the morgue, it takes him a few minutes to remember he has magic (superpowers, damn it!) and free himself from the refrigerated drawer. And the body bag. (God.) It doesn’t take long, though, for him to remember the hot guy with wings he ran into just before a city bus ran into him.

Junior Reaper John must explain to his supervisor how his first solo assignment went so wrong. All he knows is that he happened upon Emery quite by accident, that Emery saw John when he shouldn’t have been able to, and when they accidentally touched, a bus came out of nowhere and plowed Emery under. (John really does feel bad about that.)

Hot angels, annoying demons, hijinks, absurdity, drunk siblings, a dash of silly romance, an inordinate attachment to wings, and a highly disorganized bid for world domination—Don’t Fear the (Not Really Grim) Reaper follows Emery and John down the rabbit hole where they find that moms are scarier than demons from hell, a goat is not a puppy no matter what Emery’s sister says, and awkward romance can happen anywhere.

Purchase Link: Dreamspinner | Amazon US | Amazon UK

Review: Carole Cummings is an author that I’ve heard of and until I went through my book files, I could have sworn I have read something by her in the past. I didn’t really know what to expect from this one. However, reading the blurb I thought that it would be a really fun, quick read with the possibility of angels and demons and all in a package that doesn’t seem to take itself seriously. Which, is exactly what I got.

Emery is a mostly normal college guy who has a penchant for getting into trouble because of the “superpowers” he’s had since he was a kid. His parents have shielded him for the most part and that has meant that he hasn’t crossed the radar of anyone magical. That all changes when Emery encounters Junior Reaper, John.

John is fresh out of training and starting his career in the afterlife as a reaper. John was born and died a human, he doesn’t remember much and he isn’t meant to, but the afterlife presents him with the chance to become a reaper, helping the souls of dying. His encounter with Emery has Emery waking up very much alive in a hospital morgue. As for John, he is in a whole world trouble as the angels and demons quickly find out what has been hiding on earth.

I’m not sure what to feel about this book. There is a little bit of romance, because Emery and John are attracted to each other, but this is not something overly explored in the story. It is more the ending point for their possibility of a HEA. I think on the whole that is ok as there is a lot more to unpack. Yet the downside to that is I think that there was too much goofing off between characters, which made me impatient as it just felt like filler for the story and so other ends of the story wrapped up quickly within all the chatting. It is a shame because Emery’s character really appealed to me. His pop culture references were also right up my alley – Firefly, Doctor Who, Star Wars and Star Trek. The biggest problem in the end was that I just feeling underwhelmed by the whole thing.