From #1 New York Times bestselling author B.K. Borison comes a new whimsical, haunting romance. When a runaway grim reaper tries to save a life, she clashes with a skeptical Guardian, forcing them to form an unlikely partnership beyond the grave.
Darcy Moore is tired of death. Which would be fine and good ... if she wasn’t a Grim Reaper. Determined to outrun her designation as the villain, Darcy decides she won’t be dragging her next assignment to the underworld. She’ll be saving him instead.
Unfortunately for Darcy, there’s a complication in her plan. Guardian Angel Gabriel Aetos doesn’t tolerate threats to his little corner of the world, and a Grim Reaper showing up at his bar is as deadly as it gets. But when he realizes Darcy is not as she seems, Gabriel must decide if he can trust his growing feelings or hold on to his long-standing grudge.
But magic doesn’t come without consequences. And the Department of Hauntings & Spirits will eventually come calling for their missing Reaper.
A spooky yet simmering enemies-to-lovers tale to keep you warm this fall.
New York Times, Sunday Times, and USA Today Bestselling author B.K. Borison is the author of cozy, contemporary romances featuring emotionally vulnerable characters and swoon-worthy settings. When she’s not daydreaming about fictional characters doing fictional things, she’s at home with her family, more than likely buying books she doesn’t have room for.
I'm so ready to feel that ghosty,ethereally cozy vibe—curled up in my Rory Gilmore sweater with a warm coffee 🥺 The only problem? I have to wait until September 2026 to get it! 😭😭😭
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! JUST LOOK AT THAT COVER? 😫 it’s so pretty i literally ran to the article to see the cover because i’ve been sat for this book since i finished good spirits 🥹🫧🩵 i’m so so so excited for this one!
Giving five stars to offset the one star rating for a book that is almost a year away from being released.
GoodReads really needs to limit early ratings.
I looked at the profile of the person who left the one star rating and that’s 99% of what they do. I’ve left my share of one stars over the years but this is excessive and seems very fishy.
I smiled, laughed, squealed with delight, wept, and then smiled again.
This book is like a hardy, rich soup - filled me up & is going to cling to my ribs for a long time.
I don’t know how to articulate how warm this book is. BK has somehow infused the feeling of genuine love & want for human connection into words on the page. A masterclass.
What to expect in Grim Tidings: -Reaper x Archangel -enemies to lovers -forced proximity -underlying themes of grief -right person wrong time
Darcy's profession within the Department (of Haunting and Spirits) is as a Reaper. She ushers those who are dying into the afterlife. But...Darcy wants something different from her job and life in general. She's tired of dying and death and being last person someone sees before dying. So she decides to veer a little off course on her next assignment. Instead of being the harbinger of death...she'll save the person instead!
Sounds like a wonderful idea, except some complications arise when Darcy is dropped off at her next location. She ends up in the same town as Guardian Angel, Gabriel - oopes! Their departments clearly do not like each other. She ushers in death while he tries to protect his people. There's a lot of animosity between the two. Will they find a way to “work” in the same place while both completing their assignments?
THIS BOOK...aahhh how I loved this book 😭. The tears were flowing fast and quite early while reading this book to be honest. BK Borison has a way of writing that just gets to me. Darcy and Gabriel had so much chemistry - from the first scene they were in together I was wanting these two to end up together. But that wasn't always easy considering their jobs. Darcy the Reaper and Gabriel the Angel are on two opposite sides of the spectrum. How would they even make a relationship between each other work?
Every side character had an important part to play in Grim Tidings and I loved them all. From Gabe's bar friends to the resident florist in town to Darcy's fellow eight (!!) year old Reaper Aelia - they all played crucial parts of this story 🥹
If there's one thing that BK Borison excels at its weaving the underlying themes of grief within her books. And it might be odd for me to say this - but she did it so well here. I have passage after passage highlighted 🖤.
What another lovely and hauntingly beautiful book from BK Borison. I literally cannot wait for the next book which has to be / book -right?!?! I can already feel the angst with that one.
Definitely add this one to your tbr if you haven't alredy!
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher.
i've been struggling to write this review bc sometimes books are just so good how do you articulate it? grim tidings was everything i wanted and so much more. truly might be my fav bk book yet.
first off, the tension & chemistry between darcy & gabriel??????? insane. like these two hit it off from the start & you can FEEL it! i was living for every single interaction and how they kept orbiting each other and flirting with each other !! SO GOOD! also gabriel is 1000% my type of man: flirty, a little broken and extremely caring. i love him i love him i love him.
something i loved about this book (beyond how hot darcy and gabriel are and how much they love each other) is how beautifully bk tackles death, responsibilities and the weight of expectations in a really unique story setting. you feel the anguish of darcy. you understand her dilemma of being a reaper but hating being the bringer of death. how does one keep being the bad guy? is she a bad guy? the way darcy wrestles with these thoughts and feelings and how she ultimately overcomes them is so beautiful (trying to keep it vague so i don't spoil anything)
and gabriel is also going through his own struggles, bearing the weight of protecting everyone around him. loving what he does but feeling exhausted from it at the same time. 😭 yeah.
and those struggles are part of what makes darcy & gabriel's relationship so sweet. they truly are a safe space, a breath of fresh air, for each other. and it is the sweetest most beautiful thing.
also tator tot and frank are my babies and i love them so much it's not even funnyyyyy
thank you so so much Avon Books for the arc! this is my honest review.
Every time I read a new B.K. Borison book I think, surely, SURELY, she has run out of room to top herself.
And she does. Every time.
Grim Tidings is perfect. B.K. somehow wrote a book that is simultaneously heartbreaking and heartwarming; that is witty and spicy and fun and sad; that SAYS something, about death and life and people who help you, on your way.
Darcy and Gabriel are the perfect, classic, opposites-attract-(and maybe are more alike than they think). I ached so, so much for Darcy. Her longing GUTS you—for purpose, for something more, for connection. The way she breaks down Gabriel’s surly, reluctant, fluffed feathers is cute and charming and just, a perfect look at falling reluctantly, helplessly in love.
Also: 🪽 An insanely overprotective, possessive MMC 🍋🟩 Tequila shots heal all wounds 🐕 Tater Tot, the goodest good boy there ever was 🎃 Perfect spooky, small-town fall, Halloween vibes—(putting my bet in now that we get 4th of July next) 💜 Wit, whimsy, and nostalgia—her writing is so soft and lyrical and feels like coming home 🕶️ Let it be known now that Gideon is MINE. I call him. Everyone else, back off
Oh, and this world?! The way B.K. continues to enrich the Department is insane. The small, tiny Easter eggs where this one interconnects with Good Spirits—and even Heartstrings—are Taylor Swift level masterful.
I devoured this in one sitting over a week ago, and I’m crying again now, thinking about this beautiful story. I didn’t review it right away because I was too raw. Those feelings are still here—because the magic of B.K. Borison is that her words lodge into you and stay there.
i cant tell you how many times in the last few days since the cover reveal i’ve come back to this posting so i can stare at the cover likeeee I NEED IT
I consider myself Good Spirits number one fan. Like it was a SIX star read for me, so the fact that this one blew it out the water. I say that with so much love. This was genuinely SO charming. While Good Spirits is for sure a Christmas reread, this one is PERFECT for fall. Yes, it can also be read as a standalone, and you can probably read this one first, but trust me read both.
The first little meet cute was SO delicious. Actually, the entire book was delicious. The chemistry and the banter was honestly insane. I had to keep pausing and then going back just to reread the same passage over and over. I was blushing!! I laughed out loud!! I KICKED my FEET!!
I also cried like ten different times. Heartwarming and sad in such a tender mix.
We got some grumpy x grumpy, which I feel like is so underrated. We got some enemies (though, lets be real, Gabriel is the only with actual beef) to lovers. It starts off fast and hot and heavy then moves into a nice little slow burn. We get a ghost (zombie?) dog!! The perfect and wild mix of side characters who you become attached to and love just as much as our main characters. It's the perfect blend of every single thing I love about a romcom.
I'm honestly still giddy after reading and planning another read once it's released because you best believe I'll be buying a physical copy.
I also love the idea of this taking place in the same universe as heartstrings and lovelight farms, because that means my friends are running around and falling in love with their SOULMATES while living in a magic filled world.
Thank you so much to Avon and netgalley for the invite for the e-arc!!
Talk about an enemies to lovers, slow burn romance with a twist!
I loved these characters, and I thought Borison did a masterful job at giving them depth without making them so tortured that you want to slap them around.
With every book I read by this author I am always amazed at how she hits me right in the feels! My one “What? Why?!” comment on this is that she wrote about Gabriel grasping, cradling, holding, and or cupping Darcy’s ribcage… like a lot…what? Why?!
Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the ARC of this book!
I fear I will never forgive BK for making me cry on the tube.
Praise be the netgalley gods that allowed me to read this. I love all BK books but this one takes the cake for me. Every time I think she’s written her best work she knocks it out if the park. THE YEARNING! TATER TOT! FRANK!
Like this book ripped my heart out, trampled on it, put it back together and still had amazing smut. WTF.
‘He shakes his head. “I want it,” he says quietly. “However long you’re here—whatever time you have left—I want it to be with me. I want all your minutes, Darcy. Every last one.”’ Are you serious!?!?!
I have been in a deep reading slump and this has yanked me out.
This is the best and worst thing that could have happened to me.
“Grim Tidings”!?!? Love. It would be amazing if this book has a slightly darker edge to it! Can’t wait to see what she does next in the Ghosted series.
Darcy, a grim reaper who feels crushed under the weight of her job of reaping souls and bringing them to the afterlife, is given a new assignment…except she’s met every step of the way by the Guardian of the town, Gabriel. Together they discover that these jobs are leading them to something much more important.
I thought this was very sweet, beautifully written and a really interesting and fun take on the co-workers/enemies to lovers trope.
Darcy is a grim reaper who doesn’t want to do her job anymore, she’s sick of it. She just wants to feel normal, even for a brief moment! Gabriel doesn’t know how to be anything but a guardian! I was initially turned off by the insta-lust but I got back on board when I realized they weren’t going to make it easy on us and they were gonna do the whole “enemies to lovers” thing even though Darcy is clearly a cinnamon roll.
********Spoilers abound if you proceed but if you want my overall thoughts skip to after the ************
With that being said, yeah Gabriel really pissed me off the first 30% of this book or so. He was really really mean and I honestly just hated him. I literally cried because of how mean he was being to Darcy. He did eventually get it together but it really turned me off from him for a decent % of the book.
I saw the ending (and the Frank thing) coming a mile away and it still got me good. I wish there would have been some sort of goodbye between him and Gabriel.
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Overall I think it was a sweet story but I wish we had gotten a little more depth from both main characters and the ending felt a little too tidy to me. Not that I’m complaining, these are just me nitpicking if I’m being honest. Darcy is lovely, Gabriel is…a man. The ending was cute.
Thanks Avon for the e-arc via NetGalley!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Thank you Avon and Netgalley for the ARC. This has been one of my most anticipated reads!
This book had me weeping. It was so beautifully written, with the most touching characters yet! Darcy made me feel so much. I just wanted her to experience everything. Gabriel was a knight in shining armor at every opportunity. Frank! Frank’s story broke me. B.K. never disappoints! The little pieces of Harriet and Nolan made me squeal, loved those touches.