You’ll Be the Death of Me

Life, death, and twists of fate collide in today’s new paranormal romance, You’ll Be the Death of Me by Holly Michelle. Since dying a year ago, Cole has been an overworked clerk for the Afterlife Administration, awaiting his ultimate fate. But one day he makes a big blunder: He collects the soul for the wrong woman, 33-year-old Verdella “Dell” Rodgers. Cole is permitted to return to the land of the living to correct his mistake. He and Dell have three days to figure out where she went wrong in life in order to get it back. Otherwise, her death will officially be processed. As ghosts, Dell and Cole run all over San Francisco to save her life… but they might learn more than they’d ever bargained for.

What I Liked:

• Fixing your biggest mistakes. Dell’s life seems perfect: She’s a successful chef and restaurant owner, she’s on the cusp of marrying the mayor’s son, and she’s beloved by all. So when tasked with figuring out where she went wrong, Dell is initially at a loss. Isn’t she perfect and nice and happy? It turns out: No. She might have thought she was all of those things, but there’s more to her than even she realizes.
• Mysteries to solve. While trying to uncover her elusive imperfections, Dell stumbles across a bit of a mystery… possibly something major and quite sinister! She might have actually dodged a bullet by dying prematurely. I enjoyed watching Dell and Cole follow the clues and unravel a whole evil plot, and all in the first 24 hours of her time as a ghost, no less!
• Ghostly activities. Dell doesn’t let unexpected death slow her down. She quickly acclimates to her ghost self, and she takes full advantage of what she can do. Floating through doors, possessing people’s bodies, haunting those who deserve it… she gets the whole experience, much to Cole’s chagrin.
• Rediscovering yourself. Sure, this accidental death is mostly about Dell, but I also loved getting to know Cole and his background, too. He doesn’t remember life before he was dead, but with Dell’s help, he starts to uncover some of who he was—what he did, who loved him, and even how he actually died.

Audiobook:

Kelli Tager does an excellent job of narrating You’ll Be the Death of Me. Nearly all the book focuses on Dell, and she captures the character’s full personality here. Ambitious, action-oriented, steamrolling woman on a mission? Acted out perfectly! This narration was full of spunk and energy, and it made for a fun listen.

Final Thoughts

You’ll Be the Death of Me is a charming novel that’s equal parts humor and tender. It handles death and grief well, despite (or because of) its jokes and hijinks. I enjoyed the lessons learned, the fateful romance, and the depictions of imperfect people trying their best. This was a wonderful paranormal romance and I’m excited to read more from Holly Michelle (and her alter ago, Holly James).

Special thanks to Avon, HarperAudio Adult, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Get the Book

You can buy You’ll Be the Death of Me here – it’s available as a paperback, ebook, and audiobook.

You’ll Be the Death of Me by Holly Michelle
Audiobook Narrator	Kelli Tager
Audience	Adult
Genre	Paranormal Romance
Setting	San Francisco
Number of Pages	336
Format I Read	Audiobook & Ebook (NetGalley ARCs)
Original Publication Date	August 11, 2026
Publisher	Avon

Official Summary

Cole is spending the rest of his eternity as an overworked Afterlife Clerk, processing souls for the Afterlife Administration. But when he accidentally claims the soul of the wrong Verdella Rodgers, Cole and Verdella must race to fix his cosmic blunder—and try not to catch feelings along the way. A swoony and whimsical romp, You’ll Be the Death of Me is a romance to die for.

Verdella “Dell” Rodgers is at the top of her game. As the chef de cuisine at San Francisco’s hottest new restaurant and on the cusp of marrying the mayor’s son in the social event of the season, her life is perfect. That is until the week before her wedding when she wakes up and finds herself very much dead.

Enter Cole, a charming but bumbling entry-level clerk in the Afterlife Administration who accidentally confuses Dell for a 95-year-old woman in Kansas with the same name, claiming the wrong soul. When Cole tries to fix his mistake, their worlds collide in life- and death-changing ways.

Now walking the city as a ghost only visible to Cole, Dell is frantic to get back to her perfect life but soon learns that it wasn’t what it appeared to be, particularly when it came to the man she was about to marry and his high-profile family.

Meanwhile, Cole has no memory of who he was before working for the Afterlife Administration. As they try to uncover Cole’s past and remedy Dell’s future, they realize the mistake that brought them together might just be a twist of fate. With time running out to bring Dell back to the land of the living, she’ll have to decide if the life she left behind is truly what she wants, or if Cole’s untimely appearance could lead to an unexpected change that she didn’t know she needed.