How (Not) to Raise the Dead

A Paranormal Dark Romcom

By: Rachael Chadwick

Narrated by: Marie Hawkins, Anthony Palmini

From Amazon bestselling author Rachael Chadwick comes a dark, addictive paranormal rom-com filled with demons, tension, and dangerously irresistible chemistry.

Eden only wanted one thing—to see her dead boyfriend again. But when her summoning spell misfired, she didn't get closure. She got Malachi—a demon with horns, fangs, a bad attitude, and the emotional maturity of a bored arsonist. He wasn't supposed to cross the veil, definitely wasn't supposed to barge into her apartment, and absolutely wasn't supposed to enjoy the frantic little mortal who panics when he breathes near her. As Eden's grief cracks open and Malachi learns what it means to feel, the line between summoner and summoned begins to blue. And when Hell finally decides it wants its missing demon back, they'll both have to decide how far they're willing to go to stay together.

©2026 Sonnets & Spines Publication (P)2026 Blue Nose Publishing

Loved loved loved Malachi and Eden!!!

I absolutely loved reading the book and listening was just as amazing!!!! Such a fun book!! A sassy demon a human on the verge of a breakdown and their shenanigans!!!

Who you gonna call? A Demon 😂

This one is definitely for the people that love paranormal romance, it’s probably one of my top five favorite tropes when it comes to listening to romance or reading romance, and the fact that I thought we were gonna be dealing with a ghost type situation or kind of like the supernatural episode where the one guy brings back the girl he had a crush so she was a zombie, but now we instead get a wholehearted demon, who’s banter is so freaking good that he reminds me of Crowley off of supernatural!! the whole time you’re listening to the banter that comes from Malachi’s mouth you’re trying so hard not to pee yourself because you’re laughing so freaking hard. And sweet little Eden, the whole time is not knowing what to do with the things that come out of this man’s mouth, but that’s just a charm of Malachi throughout this book. Then we have two phenomenal audiobook and narrators doing this in duet style with Anthony and Marie, they are both so freaking good in anything they narrate if you haven’t heard anything narrated by them before go check them out in this audiobook!!

Sassy hot demon

My goodness what a read! Malachi is an absolutely sassy ass demon and I absolutely loved it!!! The amount of times I laughed out loud while listening to this is wild. He always has something snarky or sassy to say and I AM HERE FOR IT.

"I cross a literal dimension for you, and you're just a domestic gerbil with a library card." - Malachi

We follow our FMC Eden, she is lonely , depressed, and grieving the death of her boyfriend. She decides that she is going to try to summon him back to the living but instead, she ends up summoning a demon, Malachi.
Poor Eden, has been through it and is constantly having breakdowns and trying to get her life together. You see her growth throughout the book and its honestly so awesome to see that character growth. Especially when people deal with these types of things in real life and know that it is not easy to just move on and let go.
I honestly couldn't not get enough of Malachi. He is an absolute menace but it really works out for him in the end.

I absolutely loved this book/audio. It had me captivated from the very beginning. The narrators did an AMAZING job bringing these characters to life.

Dark rom-com that made me hurt and laugh both

I really enjoyed this one! It was just as satisfying, darkly comedic, and steamy as I'd hoped, based on the title and summary.

These two characters have a smoldering slow-burn forced proximity romance that turns fiercely spicy. Eden, the human, is dealing with so much grief, guilt, and trauma; it made me ache for her. Her attempts at making things better are understandable, even if misguided and naive. Mal, the demon, is alternately egotistically droll, delightfully amused by Earth, and surprisingly sweet. Somehow together they work perfectly.

I loved seeing Mal's reactions to Earth, which are both awed and disgusted (in the right ways). But I also was fascinated by the bureaucratic version of hell in this book. Hell is, apparently, paperwork. The worldbuilding was tight, and I liked how the blood bind worked out in the end in a very "contract of hell" kind of way. The plot was great. The romance angle was obviously great, but the complications and plot twists were also fun. The ending worked out better than they had any right to expect, but I'm not complaining.

The narration for this one was excellent as well! Marie Hawkins sold Eden perfectly, managing the grief and trauma perfectly. Anthony Palmini had a perfect dry, growly voice for Mal (and his bit of accent is perfect - loved it). I'd definitely give the narration five stars as well!

Bonus things I loved:
- Vesper and Chainchewer
- Mal's love of reality TV (especially dating shows)
- Swaddling (iykyk)
- "Velvet wrapped steel" (also iykyk)
- "Little Summoner" and "Babygirl"
- Underwater spice

Overall, I really enjoyed this book from start to finish. It was interesting, exciting, romantic, hot, traumatic, heartbreaking, and satisfying. Just make sure to check the trigger warnings before jumping in.

Amazing

This book was outstanding! I couldn’t put it down. Eden was awesome at first the sulking was a lot to handle but after learning her story and her humor and her absolute glow up, she became a favorite FMC. Best come back and glow up ever. What she went through and her response and emotions were so realistic and relatable. Malachi was hilarious. I laughed so hard and I loved the dark and hell-ish humor and banter. I love how he would rip through dimensions for Eden. Add in the fuzzy companions and it was perfection. Marie Hawkins brought Eden to life she absolutely captured every line and emotion. Anthony Palmini was the perfect voice for Malachi and the inflection on every line had me laughing and gasping and fanning myself. The vocal chemistry had me forgetting it was a performance it was absolutely cinematic. Easily one of my favorite reads/listens this year.