ARC provided by author via NetGalley

Author: Chip Pons

Thanks, @booksovrbros, for the copy.

Hayden Harlow, formerly known as Hades,  God of The Underworld, has been living a secluded life as a funeral director in the small town of Stonewall. He’s been fighting his fall from godhood since the mandatory Immortal Retirement Act was imposed to no avail. The fates, who work as bureaucrats at City Hall, apparently live to annoy him…

Then Levi Wilder enters the chat – the florist with an infectious smile and sunny disposition. The man who dared send a bouquet of sunflowers to a funeral! The audacity!

When Hayden storms the flower shop to tell how inappropriate the flower choice was, maybe that’s the Fates meddling because an undeniable spark ignites a dormant fire in Hayden’s numb heart. 

They can’t stay away from each other but have erected walls that seem unsurmountable… until the right climber comes along. And changes EVERYTHING. 

OMG! I loved Chip Pons’s books from their debut and I was thrilled to see he was dipping his toes into the paranormal and boy, he delivered! The book is unputdownable! You get humor, heart, pain, all the feels! This is light and romantic but the underlying theme here is grief: loss of a loved one and loss of an identity.

The bond between Hayden and Levi is slowly built and you get roped into their romance and can’t not fall in love with them too. There is a hilarious cameo by the now ‘mortal’ versions of Zeus and Poseidon and the Fates as City Hall bureaucrats who meddle in Hayden’s (and Levi’s by proxy) life are a stroke of genius.

What you get: a grumpy/sunshine, opposites attract, found family, former god/mortal queer romance with wonderful friends, a no-nonsense funeral manager who makes great soup, a super competent intern, the realization that grief is just love with no place to go, super intriguing shadows (IYKYK), a cute cat, meteor parents, queer joy and a wonderful HEA with lilies and sunflowers!

10/10. No notes! 

Representation: queer romance (several queer characters)

Content notes (including but not limited to): death, funerals (and everything related to them), grief