🌟4.5🌟 Rounded up

Thank you so much to Netgalley & Caitlin Moss for an ARC of this book!

For a second I didn't think I was going to like this book but that notion was soon squashed. This was such a cute, unique, fun, and feel good time. You have to have somewhat of an open mind to truly appreciate this book! I personally LOVED the way the dead helped the living.

If you like,
Small town vibes
Enemies to lovers
Hilarious banter and witty one-liners
Heartwarming plots
Books that feel like hugs
Beautiful storytelling
A sprinkle of supernatural
Original concepts

You will absolutely LOVE it here!! I know it's a book I will definitely be recommending to people. I loved it!

This is my review which as of today can be found on the following platforms:
Goodreads
Tiktok
StoryGraph
Fable
Bookmory

This book is so original and unique! It touches on grief and loss but adds humor and romance. A great rom-com for anyone who needs a swoon worthy enemies to lovers book! This is a great book to get you out a reading slump, or maybe even put you in one.

Note that this book was more of a 3.5 rating than a 3 for me. Overall, the premise was really fun and unique. Unfortunately, the characters and the romance itself really fell flat for me. I think Moss could have delved further into the backstories of the two main leads and delve into their chemistry a bit more, as it felt like their relationship was an after thought.

Mournet for Hire is a comedic romance with Vada and Dominic meeting in a bar one night, instantly connect, but then Vada leaves and doesn't see Dominic until a year later.
Working as a professional mourner, Dominic thinks Vada is a con, but Vada agreed to Annabelle's wishes to stay in town and work on the cottage. This story is perfect for fans of enemies-to-lovers tension, slow burns, and ghost stories with bite. I liked the writing style, but at the same time, I felt like Dominic was too wishy washy with the way he treated Vada.

Vada is a mourner for hire, which means before you die, she will meet with you and fulfill your wishes for when you die or when you have your funeral. This get a bit more complicated when Annabelle makes some requests of her. Dominic is her son, the one who Vada spent an evening with almost a year ago. They have to work things out while Vada also uncovers a few things from her past.
This book was pretty tender and a bit funny. I really enjoyed the bits where you got a glimpse into Vada's job. I liked that she went on a personal journey and welcomed it. The little thing with Conner felt out of left field, but you knew where it would go. I don't know how men mourn typically, but Dominic's was seemed very childish (which feels about right).
When he finally comes works through his grief, it is a welcome transition.
The ending was easy to anticipate but was satisfying given the process Vada went through.
Thanks Netgalley for the ARC!

“Blood might be her kryptonite, but her touch may as well be mine.”

4.5⭐️

This was actually really good! I had great time with this one.

Vada is a girl who is - yes, you’re right - a mourner for hire. She attends funerals. But not for fun. That’s her job. She’s being paid afterwards- after meeting all of the criteria dead (well, back then very much alive) person said “this must be done”. She’s so kind, loving and has hart so big, she can share her love with half of the world and still there will be some more left.

On the other hand we have Dominic who is my brand new crush. He is caring and loving and he has some nerve to say the least. Well. He just lost her mother.

I loved the chemistry between them and the tension. Banter? Say no more. He hates her, she hates him but they’re both full of shit. Go away from cottage, no, you go away. That was something else, I really had much fun. But in one moment I wish I can step inside the book and slap them for being so stupid and stubborn. Well, mostly Dominic but who cares 🤣 something I really loved about this was that there was some spicy-ness but I didn’t really have to participate in it, cuz author made it some kind fade to black thing. And I absolutely ADORE this.

I must say one thing - Ghost. This trope was hilarious and in the end I dropped some tears from my eyes and my heart get warm. This was the best ending I could imagine. Really.

This book is not only romance. It shows how different people manage grief differently. How you handle losing somebody so much important to you, how you handle being utterly helpless and unable to deal with it. This book also shows that our mothers are little manipulative creatures who knows everything way quicker than we do.

PS Dominic has tattoos. Just sayin.

ARC provided by NetGalley

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read this book and review it.

Where do I start? Mourner for Hire was an amazing idea, filled with banter, yearning, and a constant search for oneself. I wasn’t sure if the main characters Vada and Dominic would get together or just stay at odds with each other.

Grief is a hard topic to cover but I think that this book brings Dominic through all the stages at a realistic pace instead of jumping into immediately processing all that has happened.

I recommend this book, I enjoyed this book, and I would read more from this author.

If you love supernatural elements in your rom-coms, this book is 10000% for you! I definitely think I’ll read it again in the fall because it’s such a cozy read. Absolutely fell in love with Vada and Dominic 🤍

The last few chapters of this book absolutely wrecked me. Unhinged
-sobs-and-struggling-to-breathe level wrecked. And I absolutely loved it.

If you’re a fan of Happy Medium by Sarah Adler and The Inn Between by Danika Brown, you will absolutely adore this book. It’s a must read.

The enemies to lovers moments definitely sucked me in, but what kept me invested was the unravelling of Vada’s past and the realization that the family she had been seeking was there all along, she just couldn’t remember them.

Annabelle was by far my favourite character and my heart absolutely ached for Dominic when she passed. Her ghost causing chaos and meddling from beyond the grave was so fun!

The best detail was by far the continuation of taking us to funerals with Vada so we could witness the antics of her job. I was a little worried that this particular piece of the story would fall to the wayside as the enemies to lovers and renovation plotlines became the focus of the book, but we still got to see so many funerals, and each one was better than the last. I honestly could’ve read an entire book just with funeral stories from Vada. Endless entertainment.

Obviously, I absolutely adored this book and cannot recommend it enough if you’re in the market for a quirky enemies to lovers romance featuring a meddling ghost.

Thank you so, so much to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this ARC!

This book is so much fun! The author is local, so when a new bookstore in the area promoted her novels, I was delighted to see that NetGalley had this one to read. The premise is so interesting—can you imagine being a professional funeral-goer? I loved the different characters that Vada got to play, and some of the fun and wild stories she was able to tell. While I understand why Moss made Dominic a bit of a whiny guy, I would have loved to see him loosen and lighten up a bit earlier in the story. Overall, I absolutely loved it and will absolutely recommend!

Thank you to the author for the ARC.

The entire concept of this book is so beautifully unique. It spins grief and pain into a tangled web of comedy and hope and you're left wondering what the exact cause of your tears are. The author does a wonderful job of portraying the impact of grief and loss, and the stand still it brings to all your future plans.

The character arc's were well developed and the main characters themselves had a great amount of chemistry and banter. The love Annabelle felt for her son was practically jumping off the page and truly highlighted the extent a mother will go to make her children happy.



SPOILER:


The only thing I would say is that the meet cute between Vada and Dunner, whilst sweet, felt a little uncomy to me. I loved the concept of her being stuck in traffic and wandering into his bar, but the decision to kiss her whilst she was heavily intoxicated felt a little contradictory considering he was actively trying to sober her up because of how 'out of it' she was. The kiss paired with him taking her to bed (with the best intentions) and chosing to strip down to his boxers, all whilst knowing she was too drunk to string words together, had me initally retreating from him. I think this scene would have been a good opportunity to dig deeper into the vulnerability they were granting each other without the physicality involved. This is only my opinion though.

Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the world the author built!

This was a great slow YEARN that left me wanting more. Enemies to lovers with lotsssss if tension, and great character development. Plus - the story itself was unique! I loved every second.

This book has such a creative and unique concept that was impossible not to feel deep into it. I did love the take on grief and how it works between the characters.

Thanks to the author for the ARC.

This one crept up on me and before I knew it, I was 90% in with tears welling. It's a really beautiful story, in parts funny and emotional with a lot of weird quirks that grow on you & make this story so endearing.

Vada and Dominic. She is a professional mourner/interior decorator and he owns a bar in his hometown, sort of stuck in life as he supports his mother, Annabelle, through the end of her life. Vada & Dominic have a very chaste ONS but the grounds for burning attraction is set. In a strange sequence of events, Annabelle hires Vada with a list of strange requests to be delivered, posthumously. Vada leaves town, only to return to deliver once Annabelle passes, and when Dominic realizes who she is & the role she will be playing with his mother's afterlife directions, he is devoured by grief/anger and his sole purpose becomes to drive her out of town.

This was a really delightful, graceful read. There are quirky characters in this small town and of course, the ghost of Annabelle continuing to meddle in the afterlife with the best intention to help and heal her son & Vada. Buried within the unique story context is a really emotional narrative - about grief, the related trauma, honoring memories so they are no longer hurting but healing the way forward.

I didn't think I would but I loved this - so yes, absolutely pick this up.

I was really excited about this book, I found it to be funny and smart but I really didn't love the dissociative amnesia trope. I really wished it could have been better but that trope soured the book for me.

ARC review
Publication date 9 Sep 2025.

"Mourner For Hire" by Caitlin Moss is a romantic comedy about death, forgotten pasts, and unfinished business.

I received an e-ARC from the author (via Netgalley).
Opinions from this review are completely my own.

What you can expect:
- strangers to hate to lovers
- repressed childhood memories
- grief
- small town
- ghosts

Vada is a professional mourner. Depending on the what her clients request, she can cry at the funeral or tell invested stories and memories.
Annabelle is one of her clients, but she had a list of demands (and agreed to a large fee).
At her funeral, Vada realizes that Annabelle's son is Dominic, the bar owner that she met an year ago.

This book is so good. I went through many emotions while reading Vada and Dominic's story.
She has no memories from her childhood as a trauma response to loosing her mother.
Dominic is a broody grieving man that thinks her mother was tricked by Vada into giving her money and a cottage.
The relationship between then goes from strangers with instant attraction to him hating her and then to lovers.
They banter a lot and have good chemistry.
I liked the character development for both and how the relationship changes slowly.

Annabelle is a great character. She is a mastermind and manages to help her son find happiness, even from the afterlife.

This book has feeling, humour and romance.
I enjoyed reading it very much and I plan to read other books from this author.

A million stars. This book is so freakin' beautiful. I'm so glad I waited to finish it until I was on my lunch break at work because I'm ugly crying in my car while processing 😭 😫

Endless thank-yous to NetGalley for connecting me with this incredible book. Endless thank-yous to Caitlin Moss for introducing me to Vada and Dominic, and the entirety of Shellport. This story will be one that stays with me, for sure.

..

Vada Daughtry is a mourner for hire. She'll come to your funeral and do what you ask of her, within reason. She'll sob, cause a scene, stir up some mystery. It's unique, but honest work and close to her heart. On her way to a meeting with a prospective client in the town she spent her early childhood in, she runs into a bar to use the bathroom. This bartender eventually winds up being the son of the woman she's about to meet - worlds collide while grief strikes.
Dominic/Dunner is the town's bartender, for now. He moved back home after his dad died and his mom got sick, and while it's not his dream job of being a doctor, he's not mad about it. He loves his mother and is happy to be with her. When she succumbs to her illness and passes away, he is so caught up in his grief that he's angry to see Vada, the girl of his dreams from one night last year.

Summary in Brief

Vada is a mourner for hire, and she finds herself hired for the funeral of her old flame’s mother… only he doesn’t seem happy to see her.

Genre + Plot

Tropes: Strangers to Enemies to Lovers, Amnesia, Meet Cute, Small Town Romance, Ghosts, Lust at First Sight, Denial of Feelings, No Third Act Breakup

Okay, I was so excited for this book—the premise seemed interesting, and the cover is beautiful. That said, it did disappoint me a little. Vada is our FMC, and I really loved her. She had a traumatic childhood and suffers from dissociative amnesia around the time her mother died. She’s never been able to recover those memories. The funeral she’s hired to attend takes place in the town where she grew up with her mother.

Vada is kind, compassionate, witty, confident, and extremely talented with interior design on the side. You can tell she’s never had anyone since her mother truly be in her corner—to love, care for, or support her. Her dad was definitely not that person. She clearly uses humor as a trauma response.

Our MMC, Dominic, on the other hand, I struggled with. Their initial meet-cute, a year before the funeral, was actually very sweet. They met at his bar, talked for hours, spent the night together, and he was absolutely smitten. The guy named a drink after her for crying out loud! She told him pretty much everything about her job. Then he finds out that she’s in his mother’s will—hired as a mourner for a large sum of money—and is also contracted to renovate their beach cottage and take care of some other odd tasks around town.

Dominic immediately hates it. He thinks she’s swindling money from his dead mother (despite it being his mom’s idea, clearly stated in the contract, and approved by legal). And he is mean to her. And I mean *mean*—using her childhood trauma against her, following her around town telling her that no one wants her there when *newsflash*: he’s the only one with an issue. Everyone else seems to love her. And she’s done literally nothing wrong and is trying to stay out of his hair.

This is where I just couldn’t get on board with him. He was so rude and cruel to her for the majority of the book. I’m talking not until maybe 60% in does he finally start to soften. But by that point, I just thought Vada deserved so much better. Also, Dominic had gone to medical school and was about to start his residency when his mom got sick, so he delayed it. In the book, he’s reapplying to residency, and honestly—it didn’t fit his character *at all.* I couldn’t picture this man as a doctor, caring for people. He does woodworking on the side, and that actually fit his personality way more.

Also, totally unrelated side note: NO ONE finds out if they get into residency “early” before Match Day. Just doesn’t happen. Gah.

Annabelle, Dominic’s mom, was hilarious. She haunts Vada as a ghost, so Vada really can’t get out of finishing her end of the contract, even though she’s being verbally attacked left and right by a man she had an amazing night with. Annabelle knows it and calls it like it is. She thinks her son is being a hard-headed ass (which he is).

What really frustrated me throughout this book was the dissociative amnesia. I guess that trope just isn’t for me, because the whole time I was thinking, *“Okay, you can remember any second now.”* She literally doesn’t remember anything until the very, very end, and by then I was over it. I was getting annoyed with lack of memories, with Dominic, and with everyone being so cryptic. And that’s probably very insensitive of me, but it just felt like the book spent way too much time with Dominic being awful, and then suddenly everything was sunshine and rainbows, and she gets her memories back.

Final Thoughts

Overall, while I flew through this book, I had quite a few gripes with it. Vada was an outstanding FMC, and I loved reading about her journey. Honestly, I think I would’ve been fine if this had just been a book about her and Annabelle, trying to recover her memories—without Dominic.

This book is definitely a slow burn as the two main characters try their hardest to hate one another. Add in the meddling ghost of mom and you get all the feels. I went from being annoyed, sometimes bored, to laughing and at the end crying my eyes out.

This is the perfect rom-com for those who want less spice and more story. All in all im am grateful that I was granted the ARC for this book.

The premise of this book intrigued me because I enjoy romance books with a paranormal or magical realism aspect, and quite honestly, Vada's job is so unique! As the summary states, she is a "mourner for hire" and goes to people's funerals to fulfill certain tasks. On the way to a client meeting, which coincidentally takes her to her hometown and a life she can't remember, Vada unwittingly has a meet-cute with the love interest, Dominic, who is also her client's son.

When the client, Anabelle, dies, Vada begins to fulfill her funeral wishlist, and Dominic realizes that Vada--the almost-one-night-stand from nine months earlier--is "working" his mom's affairs. Oh, and Anabelle haunts them to make sure the list gets done right. It's a lot for a setup, but it does make for an unforgettable story.

I won't spoil anything for future readers, but this is an emotional gut punch of a book with some spice and humor sprinkled in there. The reason I gave it three stars mainly has to do with the two main characters' dynamic to one another. I understood that Dominic is grieving and has some misguided anger toward Vada, but he needed to have some emotional accountability and maturity. I thought he was a little too mean to Vada at times, and it was a bit uncomfortable. Vada is sharp and funny, but she occasionally gets all wishy-washy with Dominic's angry attitude. When the two finally get together, the dynamic and way they treat each other changes too abruptly for my taste. I wish there was more emotional depth to their romantic connection.

Overall, I would recommend this book for a unique romance read, but I do suggest readers check the trigger warnings and prepare themselves accordingly.

Thanks to the author and Netgalley for the ARC!