To Catch Her Death

A Grim Reality Novel

Book One

Boone Brux

Genre: Paranormal Humor

Release Date: October 17, 2013

Publisher: Red Hot Publishing

ISBN: 9781938601125

ASIN: B00G09XSBS

Pages: 250

Word Count: 60K

Goodreads Rating: 4.57

My Rating: 5

Book Description:

What do you get when you cross a hockey mom with the grim reaper? Me, Lisa Carron.

If being a depressed, frumpy, widowed mother of three wasn’t bad enough, I just discovered I’m a grim reaper. I know what you’re thinking. Wow, that’s kind of sexy and full of awesomeness. Hardly. Oh, and my clients? Stupid people. Like I don’t get enough of that from the living.

Since Alaska is big and angels of death are few, I’ve been partnered with reaper extraordinaire, Nate Cramer. He’s strong, silent, and way too good looking for my recently widowed state. Oh, and he reaps violent criminals, so that should be interesting.

Forget the danger and the hours of self-analysis it will take for me to find my reaper mojo. My biggest problem? Hiding it all from my overly attentive family and nosy neighbors. Now that’s going to take a miracle.

My Take On The Book:

This was an absolutely perfect read for Halloween. I loves, loved, LOVED this book. It was short but it was also enthralling which is an absolute must for the short reads. I’m not even sure I can begin to describe my love for this book but I can try.

First and foremost, the cover. The cover art was pretty much amazing. Ever since ‘The Mercy Thompson Series’ my love for cover art, not just beautiful pictures but art like graphic art something hand crafted, has grown immensely. So once I saw this bright blue graphic novelesque cover with a white haired lady and this awesome title, I tabbed it. The cover haunted me as I cooked dinner that night and once I’d finished I rushed to my computer to read the synopsis. I was hooked. I love all things paranormal, it’s my go to genre and this book has just that. But it also is chalk full of real and vulnerable characters, another love of mine. Our main character Lisa is all too real as is her grief and downward spiral. A widowed mother of 2, barely getting by and a grim reaper to boot. Epic.

The Great (Pros):

Vella. What’s not to love about her she’s a country bumpkin with a heart of gold. She’s the ideal best friend especially for someone like Lisa.

Nate. I loved to hate him and I hated to love him. He pushes Lisa to the extreme but even in his worst of times, he doesn’t come off as cruel. I got the feeling that there was more to his not wanting her to be a grim reaper. Plus he is yummy.

GRS. Um hello, can anyone else say genius. When I read GRS – Grim Reaper Services and had a full on laugh attack.

Lisa Carron. I just love her spunk. She always tries, and she may not get it right but at least she’s trying. Her reasoning for her actions are downright hilarious and her story is really heart felt. BTW Carron, Carrion clever Ms. Brux very clever. And if I read too much into that well then kudos to you for unintentionally making that connection.

Ghosts. The way they passed was really cool and a new take on the whole Angel of Death spiel. It was one of the best parts of the story and the porters were pretty cool too. Sure I got the heebie jeebies when they made their debut but they also got a nice little chuckle out of me too.

The Not So Great (Cons):

Next of kin. I wasn’t quite sure how being a reaper worked. Sure, I understood the basics like how they did their job but how were they picked to be reapers or better phrased… how did they gain their ability? Is it something that they are born with or is it a family thing and if so, she was his blood relative so wouldn’t one of their children get that nifty little gift?

The Kids. Now, now before you attack me, I love the kids. They were some of the best written characters so it’s not the children themselves that bothered me. What I didn’t like was how confused all their names made me, not to mention there were twins involved. I had to reread the scenes with them a couple of times just to make sure I was picturing the right character lol. I know parents do that, name all their kids with a theme in mind, a letter a flower, the seasons but darn it, it’s confusing. So I guess that more of a personal problem on my part and not so much on the author lol.

Her Husband. Sigh. The mysterious disappearance of money, yeah that irked me. Where did it go you slimeball? Ok so he could have been an awesome person, noble and what not but as far as I’m concerned until there is an answer as to what he was up to he’s dirt. Truthfully I wouldn’t be surprised if he had cheated on her… maybe with the beautiful Willow, ok maybe I’m pushing it but whatever.

5 Quills

This is a definite must read. So what if it’s not Halloween anymore. It’s a paranormal read that makes you laugh and give you a new out look on Grim Reapers. If you liked the show Dead Like Me then this is a book for you, if you didn’t well give it a try anyways. I don’t think you’ll be dissappointed

A Short Excerpt From 'To Catch Her Death'

“You’re not welcome here.” He took a step forward and I slapped my hand against the wall, blocking his path with my arm. If he was a grim reaper then maybe he couldn’t enter my house until he was invited—like vampires. “Be gone.”

He smirked. “I’m not a vampire.”

“I know you’re not. There’s no such thing.” I rolled my eyes, trying to give the impression I hadn’t totally been thinking that. “What do you want?”

“Give me ten minutes. Then I’ll leave and never bother you again.”

It sounded too good to be true. “Never ever?”

“I promise.”

He didn’t do any kind of scout’s honor hand gesture, so I didn’t know if I could completely trust him. “Ten minutes.”

In that amount of time, he could have me sliced up and vacuum sealed, but what choice did I have. I spun and walked into my kitchen. The idea of he being a grim reaper was the lesser of two evils made me want to laugh. Not in a haha, ironic isn’t it way. But a deeply disturbed things keep getting weirder and weirder way.

His footsteps followed. I cursed myself. He’d probably leave big, stupid dirt marks all over my sparkling floor. I scooped up my glass and turned to face him. My upbringing forced me to offer him a drink. “Would you like a glass of wine?”

He held up a hand and shook his head. “No, thank you.”

Hmm, very polite—for a killer. I pulled out the chair and sat, indicating he should do the same. I sipped slowly, wishing it was something stronger. “Okay, speak.”

He lowered himself into the chair and propped his elbows on the table, leveling a stare at me. “You are a grim reaper.”

“So you’ve said.” I took another drink and set down my glass. “Are we done?”

“Hardly.” He eased back and sized me up, his gaze narrowing. “All right then, you explain what happened at the Holiday station this morning.”

I considered giving him Vella’s explanation, but those reasons sounded even more ridiculous than reaping a soul. I decided to change tactics. “Let me ask you this. Why do you think I’m a reaper?”

“We recently lost one of our own and you came on our radar as the next reaper in line.”

“Lost one of your own?” I didn’t like the sound of that at all. “You mean one of your reapers died?”

He shifted in his chair. “Yes.”

“That’s a bit ironic isn’t it? The angel of death dying.”

He shrugged. “We’re mortal, tools for the greater good of mankind.”

I refrained from telling him how much of a tool I thought he was. “Isn’t the grim reaper immortal?”

“You watch too many movies.”

That was true but I didn’t confirm his statement.

Author Bio

As a bestselling author, Boone Brux’s books range from high fantasy to humorous paranormal.

A former nanny, Boone has lived all over the world, finally settling in the icy region of Alaska, where she writes full time. Always looking for the next adventure, it’s not unusual to find her traversing the remotest parts of the Alaskan bush. No person or escapade is off limits when it comes to weaving real life experiences into her books or blogs.

Website Blog Twitter Facebook Goodreads