Love You to Death
Jenna Levine
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: Oct. 13, 2026
Genre: Paranormal Romance
A jaded grim reaper and a woman who wants another chance at life give ‘til death do us part a new meaning in this paranormal romance from bestselling author Jenna Levine.
Lucy McKenzie’s life has always been a disaster. So it should come as no surprise when one day she’s hit by an inconveniently-timed bus—and dies. Unfortunately for the handsome grim reaper who shows up to take her to the afterlife, Lucy is not about to go quietly.
Daniel is tired of his job collecting souls. While working for the Agency beats the heck out of going to Hell, he’s been doing this for literal ages. The drudgery has him yearning for more. Touched by Lucy’s plea for more time on earth, he convinces the Agency to make a Lucy can have six more weeks of life if Daniel can observe her and report back on humanity.
But as Lucy and Daniel navigate the chaos of life and afterlife together, they discover that a second chance at living might be their real chance at love.
My thoughts…
This story sort of had a melancholy cast over it the entire time. You always knew Lucy was going to eventually die. So when you meet her bubbly sister, you get sad thinking about how she’s going to get married and then shortly after he sister will die. Or the fact that she needs to come up with a game-plan for her cat because when she passes away, her cat will have no one. So, when we meet her cat and that knowledge hits you, I cried. It was just so sad to think about what was going to happen to her cat when she was no longer there. That tone sort of stayed with me the entire book.
Sure there were fun parts like the bachelorette party, but her looming death was always at the forethought. So, when the romance kicks in, I was taken back. I mean, I knew that there would be romance, but I just didn’t feel that connection. There didn’t seem to be any real build up – it was just insta-love. The first half of the book was great because Lucy is coming to terms with her impending death, but once the romance came into play, I felt like the story shifted into this weird territory where two people were being forced together for the sake of some steamy scenes in a book. That organic connection just wasn’t there for these two, which in turn didn’t allow me to completely get on board with the story.
Since we do get some chapters from Daniel’s PoV, I was excited to see his world. However, the few times we get a glimpse, it’s very basic in what we experience. We don’t go with him to collect souls. We don’t really witness him interacting with the other reapers. I honestly would have liked to see more of who HE was rather than who he was when it came to protecting Lucy.
I enjoyed following along with Lucy while she tried to make the most of her remaining days with her sister. I wish the relationship between her and Daniel was more fleshed out because that was an important part of the storyline.
It was an enjoyable read, but I just wish it had more depth to it.
Sounds like it has potential to be good. I would probably feel the same way about the cat situation, though. Great review.