my first impression was that the writing is extremely amateur and almost juvenile, with telling instead of showing all over the place, which didn't exactly bode well for the rest of the book. still, i gave it the benefit of the doubt, and continued.

it only got even more annoying. the protagonist "nearly swooned" when she saw the love interest blush, which might have been acceptable if they were fourteen. but they aren't. they're adults. am i being a grumpy old git, or is that just completely stupid?

speaking of completely stupid - the characters. oh my god, the characters.

the love interest accidentally sees a text on her girlfriend's phone from another woman, "can't wait to see you tonight *kissy face*" and she's all, "oh my gf would NEVER cheat on me" GIRL. the only way that text could be more blatant is if she'd said "can't wait to have you in my bed" or something.

don't even get me started on how the love interest is dating the girl who bullied the protag in high school, because goddamn, cliches galore.

and THEN, when the protag goes to deliver mail to their house, she sees the love interest's GF with another woman who calls her "babe" and the GF is all, "omg don't tell lauren" and then the stupid protag is like, "well, i guess i can't be sure if she IS cheating, and their relationship is none of my business anyway" girl, lauren is your FRIEND and you're gonna ignore this? i know the author probably wanted to show that the protag isn't a vindictive bitch, but instead she comes off as a milksop who's a terrible friend.

all of this aside, the writing, dialogue etc. was so boring that when the protagonist literally died, made a deal with the grim reaper and came back to life, i was still bored AF. and that's when i realised i'm just never going to like this tripe and i should just quit while i'm ahead.

★★★★☆ | Sometimes you gotta die to get the girl of your dreams

"What was she going to do–fight a ghost?"

This was a fun paranormal romance with quite original worldbuilding as I don’t read that often about grim reapers. I had some issues but it was mostly well-developed for its length.

The main character, Samantha, has been in love with her customer Laura but unable to make her move since the later is in a relationship. With Sam’s former high school bully, to make things worse. Here, cue — Sam’s pinning hard.

So far we have a regular love triangle, but what happens then? Sam dies.

She dies, makes a deal with a blonde chainsmoking, Margo, and comes back to life with more problems than anticipated.

And we still have the thing with Lauren, right? Because how do you tell your crush you can see ghosts and have to help them move on? As if love life wasn’t complicated enough already…

Anyway, we have:

-- really hot sex scenes,
-- grim banter,
-- surfing and the sea,
-- good friendships and focus on the relationships other than romance,
-- likeable side characters and potential for the series.

What I didn’t like — some conflicts were fixed too easily and it felt like the author was running out of pages (it was all mostly in 3/4th of the book). It felt a bit deus-ex-mahina and like things were fixed by magical intervention rather than characters’ actions.

Also, I didn’t always feel the chemistry between Sam and Laura. I’m more used to angry passion rather than cute though and I was lowkey shipping Sam with Margo? Like, sure, Sam and Laura fit together and I can see it but Sam and Margo had that banter and frustration I usually crave.

“It’s real buttercup. Get used to seeing my face more often. I was serious about giving you some time to heal, but after that, you’ll be on my dime.”

Fantastic read. Was surprised how well the author wove her story. I'll definitely suggest my friends and coworkers check this one out.

Samantha Diaz likes living near the beach. She works as a postal carrier and surfs in the summer mornings when she can. Sam helps her sister with childcare and has a crush on one of the residents on her route, and although Lauren is taken, the two start a friendship as they exchange books. When Lauren invites Sam to game night at her house, Sam is looking forward to it, but an early morning surf brings other plans for Sam.

A sudden thunderstorm creates the worst conditions and Sam is thrown off course and drowns. She awakens, looking down on her body with a woman named Margo who claims to be one of the many Grim Reapers out there in the world. Margo proposes a deal to Sam: if Sam will become her assistant for a short time, Margo will bring her back from certain death. But deals with death can never be what they seem and Sam quickly realizes that maybe she would have been better off dead.

The premise of this book was interesting and I want to say fun, and although the subject matter of death does not lend it itself to being fun, it still was. Sam is fine with her life. Her job is fine and she has a sister and nephew she is close to and she surfs with her best friend when she can. Her love life is not going as smoothly and the customer on her route, Lauren, certainly turns her head, but Lauren is taken. Lauren has not had the best time with relationships and she knows what it feels like to be cheated on. She strikes up a friendship with her mail carrier, never realizing that Sam may really be the one for her.

The book is largely about Sam becoming the assistant to a Grim Reaper, or Grim, in exchange for her life. I wanted to like some parts of this book more than I did and that had a lot to do with Margo, the Grim, who gets Sam into the situation in which she finds herself. Margo is described as mediocre at her job, has a gruff exterior, as well as interior, for most of the book, and refuses to answer most of Sam’s questions. Sam finds out there is a whole supernatural world out there and the information given was not as thorough as I would have liked and didn’t fully create this world for me. There are other supernatural creatures besides Grims, as well a corporate office, and there wasn’t enough detail provided to fully make this world come to life for me.

The relationship between Sam and Lauren runs parallel to the Grim storyline and it was a little underdeveloped for me as well. The two are acquaintances at the start of the book and they didn’t spend that much time together before they were in love with each other. There was a lot the book was trying to lay the framework for between Sam’s story and the world she finds herself in, the relationship between Sam and Lauren, and then Lauren’s best friend Jackie’s story was started as well.

There were parts of the book I really enjoyed and drew me in as Sam enters a new world and then realizes that her deal is not going exactly as planned. Sam and Lauren are left in a good place, but I would classify this ending as HFN as this book is the start of a new series. Sam still has a lot to learn in the larger storyline and there is the setup for more story to be told. I would read on to the next book as there was enough to engage me here and I am interested to see where Sam’s journey takes her next. I’d say to try this out for a paranormal story with an interesting premise and strong female characters in the lead role.

The Grim Assistant was a fun and quick read. The storyline was good, and easy to follow. I enjoyed how all the character interactions, it seemed almost believable at one point. I look forward to reading more from Jodi Hutchins in the future.

Rating 3

Crossing over.

Sam is a surfing mail carrier who has a crush on a customer on her route, Lauren. Lauren is a school teacher who is having some issues with her live-in girlfriend, Bethany. When Sam encounters rough waters while surfing alone one morning, her future is suddenly cast in doubt.

Sure, you can say that this is reminiscent of shows like 'Dead Like Me' and 'The Ghost Whisperer.' But ultimately, I think this story stands on its' own. With a unique paranormal world and very interesting characters.

This was written very well. I felt as if I was watching a movie as each scene quickly played on. I know this will sound silly, but this may be the best paced book I've ever read. It doesn't drag on day by day like most books I read do. This carefully fast forwarded days or weeks while only summarizing what happened in between. And it was perfect.

I already mentioned interesting characters but I think it needs to be addressed more thoroughly. I felt super connected to the main characters because of the side characters involved. Sam's sister and nephew. Margo, the reaper. Lauren's bestie, Jackie. They were all well fleshed out and SO unique (with the exception of Sam's bestie, Josh - Hey! Nothing can be absolutely perfect).

There is a romance here between Sam an Lauren. It was cute and sweet. There were a couple of explicit sex scenes that I could have done without. I don't think it was needed in this story. But I know I am not the norm when it comes to this. Regardless, they were done well.

I feel like there is so much more of this world that I want to know about. Like we were just scratching the surface with this one. I'll definitely read future books if this becomes a series.

I highly recommend this one. Romance, Infidelity, Death, Family, Afterlife, Grim Reapers, Vampires, Fae, and gruff chain smoker.

Good things first: The Grim Assistant is a fun and cozy read. Sam and Lauren are a nice couple and I liked the idea of the Grim. Their job isn't precisely fun and they have to deal with all kinds of ghosts who refuse to go into the afterlife as long as they have unfinished business on earth. But Margo and Sam have a humorous way of handling things. What I liked most about the restless ghosts is that they haven't all been good people when they were still alive. Serial Killers have unfinished business, too, and a Grim has to deal with that as well. So this book has all the good ingredients for a light and fun read. While death always is s sad thing, some fates in this book are more sad than others, so be warned you might need a handkerchief at some point. , There is also a promising secret society of supernaturals which reminded me a bit of Tamora Pierces "Tempted" just with queer leads. I hope the this society will be more developed in the following book(s) in this series. Because … yeah here it comes again: it could have been better.

The story sometimes felt rushed, jumping from one point to the next without much development in between. Conflicts or drawbacks are thrown in now and then, but they get solved so quick that they almost felt irrelevant. As for the characters, Margo, the Grim who makes Sam her Assistant keeps popping in and out of the scenes without having real purpose. Also, why is she there all the time? She told Sam she needed an Assistant as her work is getting too much for one grim to complete in time but Sam never works alone. Margo is always there to help or mentor her which makes no sense when you want an assistant to get more work done, right?
And then there is Lauren, the women who strongly believes in science but it doesn't take longer as the blink of an eye to make her believe in all the supernatural beeings and their powers, with no visual evidence whatsoever. Her struggle lastet for maybe two minutes which wasn't enough to make her character believable.

Now, enough nitpicking. It's a light read with potential for more so give it a try. Like me you might get the feeling "there could have been more development" but it's likely you'll enjoy it anyway.

***Thanks to NetGalley and NinestarPress who provided me with an ARC of The Grim Assistant***

Samantha spends her early mornings surfing and the rest of the day delivering mail. The rest of her time is spent pining over her friend, Lauren, and supporting her sister while she goes through a bad divorce. Life is as simple as it can get when there’s drama surrounding a divorce until Sam drowns while she’s out surfing one early morning. Waking up in the space between life and death, Sam is given a choice by a Grim Reaper: stay dead and move on to wherever her spirit is meant to go or return to life. She chooses life, but there’s a catch to this deal. Sam must aid the Grim Reaper, Margo, in ushering difficult spirits onto the next phase of the afterlife.

Told in narrating perspectives, we follow Sam and Lauren through their lives. I think the story would’ve been better if it was either told with a single narrator or in the third person. It’s not that the first person is bad, because it isn’t, but Sam and Lauren have the same exact voice. If the shift in narrators didn’t clarify who was speaking, it would’ve been confusing until I saw the setting.

I did struggle with telling some of the characters apart in the early chapters because they were so similar that I thought a few of them were the same person based on how they spoke and acted. I kept confusing Sam and Lauren’s best friend, Jackie, during Lauren’s perspective during the early chapters. On the plus side, the characters start coming into their voices around halfway through, but they did blend into one another for several chapters early on.

I thoroughly enjoyed the supernatural aspect of the book. I see books following Grim Reapers often, so it was exciting that they were at the forefront here. Sadly, we didn’t see too much in that world for much of the book since Margo was very tight lipped until later. Once things got rolling, I was fully absorbed in the story and excited to meet new characters and see more into the supernatural world.

I was a little sad when I got to the final chapter, but I think I’ll stick around and check out the next installment. Similar voices aside, it’s a nice, fluffy paranormal romance that’s mostly fun to read. I’m looking forward to seeing the characters continue to develop as well as see how Sam’s supernatural crash course continues to go.

Confession, I am a fan of that cheesy Jennifer Love Hewitt show the Ghost Whisperer so I am familiar with the premise of an individual who is gifted with being able to see restless spirits and helping them find closure in order to “move on.” After watching 107 episodes over and over in reruns, I’ve probably seen most twists on this particular storyline.

But one thing I’ve learned that holds true is that if the author is having a good time spinning the tale, then the reader is going to have a blast on the receiving end. Such is the case with the Grim Assistant. This book has so much good vibe and humor that it is an awesome read from start to finish. There’s a light creepiness factor which fits the ride perfectly. Given the theme, the author is obliged to touch on life and death but it’s never heavy handed. It took me only a few hours to read because it’s such smooth writing with genuinely likable characters. There’s also a cute and hot romance. A few of the author’s moves even surprised me and that’s always fun when it happens. So nothing really new here but I don’t care because I enjoyed myself and I’m definitely in for the series.

Oh, this was a huge amount of fun and a nice surprise because, as usual, I didn’t bother to read the blurb. Sam delivers mail and surfs. She also helps her sister, who is going through a rough divorce, by babysitting her nephew when needed. Her crush on Lauren will have to remain just that because Lauren is involved with Sam’s tormentor from school days. One morning a sudden storm puts her life in danger and she wakes to find she’s made a deal with a Reaper, Margo.

What I enjoyed most about this is the lightness of it in spite of the paranormal theme and other worldly creatures. Added to which there are a number of characters and lots of different interactions to make it so much more than a simplistic romance. It’s also a good romance.

This is a series I’m really looking forward to, particularly if the secondary characters, Margo and Jackie, come to the fore.

Book received from Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.

This book seemed quite different to anything I had ever read before. Paranormal is not really my first genre choice, but I quite enjoyed The Grim Assistant.

Sam is a surfer and postal carrier. Things go a bit haywire when a morning surf doesn't quite go to plan and she dies. What follows is an interesting journey as a Grim Assistant while navigating a new relationship with Lauren.

What I liked was that this book surprised me. It was very open, fast paced and didn't rely on angst to draw the reader in. Sam's character was refreshing, as was the snarky Grim Margo.

Worth a read with an open mind.

3.5 stars

Dead Like Me meets The Rules and Regulations for Mediating Myths and Legends, the premise of this book had me clicking at once. The worldbuilding was a little underexplained but nonetheless interesting, and I really enjoyed just how many characters were queer. The romance between the main character and her non-paranormal love interest was sweet and had a satisfyingly paced build up, and the side characters hinted at different stories left to explore within this world. Queer ladies, ghosts, and room for the story to develop -- a series that could really come into its own.

A new author for me to pay attention to. I love when that happens!

This is billed as a dark urban fantasy novel, but it wasn't super dark and one of my favorite parts about this book was how normal it was. The beginning is written just like a regular LBTQIA book, with Sam interested in Lauren, who already has a girlfriend. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until we get to Sam's death, which made it more believable in a weird way.

The death and how the "other world" worked was very original. Yes, there were some places that could have been explained more, and I think by having Margo not want to talk details was a convenient way for the author not to have to explain everything, but it was still entertaining. "Suspend your disbelief", as my theater classes taught me.

I especially loved how the Grims still keep normal, boring jobs on their off time. I do hope the next book dives into Margo and her background more, so we can see how being born into this role is different from Sam's experience.

The end seemed a bit rushed. I don't want to get into specifics too much, so I don't spoil it for others, but it felt like the big reveal(s) were accepted too easily throughout this book. I kept thinking that I wouldn't remotely wrap my head around certain events that quickly, so I was missing some of the struggle between what we think is normal and what actually is reality (in this book at least).

Overall, an entertaining book in a series that I look forward to continuing.

One bad decision changes lives.

Sam's sister is divorcing and needs Sam's support.

Sam has crush on a beautiful woman involved with Sam's high school memos.

Sam's friend, Josh, is always late to their surfing dates.

An ordinary life until Sam dies.

Sam finds out about things that go bump in the night when she makes a deal with a grin reaper.

This was actually really great. I thought it was going to be more of a comedy, but it turned out to be a really sweet romance that has some funny bits to it. I also love that Hutchins takes the concept of a psycho-pomp and turns it into this whole office gig. We don't see much of it, but Margo, who is quite possibly the worst grim reaper I have read about, always mentions quotas and such. It's played for laughs as much as the serious magical consequences that occur when messing with the supernatural world.

Samantha Diaz, mail carrier, surfer, and all around hopeless romantic, is a charming lead. I love her dynamic with her crush/ love interest, Lauren even though Lauren is currently in a relationship. Lauren is equally as interesting as a kind of co-lead, especially since she is pretty much the poster child of the "___ and carry on," meme. Both women are sweet people, but flawed and are absolutely perfect for each other. Then there is the whole super natural part, that is amusing and even hits some good emotional beats.

I just had a lot of fun with this book, and hope to see more within this universe and from this author. Be prepared for some surprises, too. Especially with how much heart this little romance has.

I got an opportunity to read The Grim Assistant in advance thanks to NetGalley and I thoroughly enjoyed it! It reminded me very much of Meg Cabot’s Abandon series but on a more mature level.

I was very pleased with the main characters, Sam and Lauren. They for sure had chemistry! If you’re looking for a quality LGBTQ fantasy then this is it. There’s a great deal of world building that is very intriguing and a wide array of characters that are unique and fun.

The representation in this book is a beautiful thing! There were some very steamy smutty scenes so look forward to that!

I highly recommend The Grim Assistant! It’s the perfect mix of dark and light and sexy!

What a fun debut (I think...!) for Hutchins! Despite this not being in my normal genre of reads, I really enjoyed this one!

MC Sam has a freak surfing accident and ends up dying on the beach. She's visited by Margo, who claims to be a Grim Reaper, and Margo claims to be able to bring Sam back to life if she'll agree to be Margo's temporary assistant. Sam accepts, because, well... dead versus temporary Grim Reaper is no contest, right?

Surprisingly, with that blurb, this book actually wasn't too heavy on the paranormal. It had elements of the supernatural, but it felt a bit more like a normal romance where the reader lived the strangeness through Sam while she figured out how to handle her temporary job. It was really well balanced, and I liked that we as readers got to experience the supernatural world as Sam lived it instead of being thrown into it. This is my kind of paranormal story!

And yes, there's a romance involved in this book as well. I would split this book 50/50 between romance and paranormal. The romance is newer for both characters, but it feels natural and the sex scenes are very steamy. There's no HFN or HEA, but that makes sense since it's billed as a series.

Look, the book isn't perfect (I could have stood for a touch more excitement - the characters seemed to get out of certain situations a bit too easily), but it's a great debut and perfect setup for a series. It felt like a great beginning and I'm looking forward to the next one! 3.75 stars, rounded up to 4.

**Many thanks to NineStar Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.**

I thoroughly enjoyed this book!! The question of spirits being trapped in the ether is one I have always wanted to know the answer to. In this work of fiction it answers that for me. This was a beautiful story of love, faith, hope and so many other words. Sam has been put in a bad position by doing the right thing for her sister, living instead of dying but her choice has ramifications too. The love story is very sweet about not being afraid to try again when your heart has been broken. I’d highly recommend this book.

Interesting Read!!! although this is not my genre, i found myself unable to leave the book and wanting to finish it! for me rating it will be tricky because as i said it is not my usual genre, but if a book forces me to stay a couple of hours later at night to read it, then i think it should get an extra point for that :)
So Sam the main MC was very likable, and even Lauren the other MC didnt bother me that much :) while the sex happened too fast, i still felt it was very HOT so that's another point there Jodi Hutchins :)
If you are not into paranormal reads, i recommend that you make an exceptions and read this one because the ending is very cute, it is not too heavy on the paranormal side, it is very entertaining, and most importantly, you will definitely be hooked up and wont be able to put it down.
my rating is a solid 4 for this one!
"i received an ARC for an honest review."

The Grim Assistant is a fantastic unique book. I loved it. I can't wait to read more from this author. The characters and storyline are entertaining.