Book 9, 2026

[chez_jae]

Reaper by Apryl Baker

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


View all my reviews

Last night I finished reading Reaper, which is the first book in “The Reaper Chronicles” by Apryl Baker.

Ella Banks is used to being uprooted and moved frequently, due to her father being in the military. Her first day of school in Jacob’s Fork, she’s the victim of a hit and run that leaves her in a coma for days. When Ella wakes, she learns that she is now a living reaper, whose job it is to help spirits cross over. And Eli, that beautiful boy she saw at school, is her guardian angel. It’s his job to protect her, even if that means from her own father.

Either this was a spin-off of another series, or the author is horrible at providing backstory. I’m going with spin-off. You would think Ella is the main character, but more time (and narrative) was devoted to Eli, including the fact that the last living reaper he was charged with protecting is now under someone else’s watch, and he’s in love with her. Mattie made a cameo appearance for no discernible reason other than to beef up Eli’s backstory. This seemed more like a prequel, in that there was no resolution. It was more of a character introduction, scanty backstory providing, scary stuff coming up type story. There were a couple aggravating editing issues, too. Was one character Selena or Selene? As a child, did Ella get lost in the mountains of Germany or Russia? Errors like that can throw the reader out of the narrative.

Favorite line: "Fear makes us remember that we’re alive, that there’s a reason to fight. It doesn’t make us weak.”

I don’t want to be a snip, but I can’t score this any higher than a two. It was confusing and disappointing.