Wow! What a great book introduction for me to become a fan of MaryJanice Davidson! I was captivated from the first page to the last!

I highly recommend!

I voluntarily reviewed this book.

I was smiling as I read then got to the Crisp and Gross and just had to stop and tell my peeps about this book. This book is hilarious. It totally hit my funny bone. Ava was a hot mess that seemed to create drama in her life. Her view of Minnesota was hilarious. The mystery of who is after her is buried under the nonstop trials and tribulations. The cast of characters added to the humor. Such a fun book!

Oh my God! If you don’t have a sense of humor (or like books with a sense of humor) put the book down and walk away. However, if you DO have a sense of humor you absolutely must read this book! It is beyond funny. Kept me laughing the whole time I was reading it and for days after! If you are a sarcasm fan definitely put this one on the top of your TBR list. Truthfully a lighthearted, funny read with amazing characters that will have you forgetting reality. Its perfect!

Cute story of how one woman runs into so many issues in her personal life and professional life while attending a memorial for her best friend 10 years after her murder. It had romance and mystery with enough to question life. Reading about a female airline pilot gave this story a new twist. Some of the issues women have in the industry were mentioned, but not given the forefront. Falling in love and solving a mystery was the focus of this story.

TRUTH, LIES AND SECOND DATES is what you get when you mix in a little bit of everything - mystery, hilarious witticisms, ironic twists, and romance. I've never read a book where it pokes fun at itself and its characters so much, making me laugh during the most inappropriate times. When a gun is being pointed at you, I should not be giggling!

Ten years ago, Ava's best friend was brutally murdered. After tragedy struck twice, she became dependent on pills, checked herself into rehab, and took to the skies. She's now a famous airline pilot with a nutty batch of close friends. Honestly, she fits right in. So when it comes to the memorial, she tries to escape it. What happens when circumstances seem to align out of nowhere, forcing her to come face to face with everything she left behind?

It was impossible to pick a favorite part or character. I chuckled, wheezed, cackled, and guffawed my way through this read. I loved how this story and its people didn't take themselves too seriously. From Ava's irreverence to Tom's literal sensibilities to the extras that were so much more than filler, I was beyond entertained. I did want more from the romance portion, but I was easily swayed by the mystery and the comedy that will make this book a popular pick. I was pleasantly surprised by all of the wonder I was blessed with by this new-to-me author and I will definitely be on the lookout for whatever she creates next.

I liked the cover and the general idea of this book, but in the end it fell flat. Ava is a pilot and has spent the last 10 years running from the tragedy of her best friend being murdered. By coincidence she ends up back home in Minnesota just in time to go to a memorial service. After the service a series of add events happen and Ava finds herself in the middle of a mystery with the handsome medical examiner Tom. While the mystery works itself out and Tom and Ava get together, the pacing of the book was off, there wasn’t much romance, and the mystery was not built up well.

I couldn’t get past chapter three I was just not into this story or the characters. Not a fan of how these characters were starting out and I just couldn’t push through to the next chapter because I didn’t like the characters or how they were acting towards each other. This book was just not my cup of tea. Good luck with everything.

TRUTH, LIES, AND SECOND DATES
BY MARYJANICE DAVIDSON

I was granted an ARC of "Truth, Lies, and Second Dates written by MaryJanice Davidson and truth be told it took me approximately to be fifty percent into it on my kindle and then I was unable to put it down. This is seriously one of the most engaging dialogue I have read in a long time. The book has comedy and warmth but at the same time is a murder mystery. The two main character's are a female airline pilot who teams up with a medical examiner.

I loved Tom's extended family such as young Hannah and her fill in parent Abe who were warm and gave this romantic comedy--part murder mystery much added warmth. This book delivers for every kind of reader. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Publication Date: December 15, 2020

Thank you to Net Galley, MaryJanice Davidson and St. Martin's for providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

#TruthLiesAndSecondDates #MaryJaniceDavidson #StMartin's #NetGalley

Funny at times, but overall too flippant. I thought the story jumped all over the place and was hard to follow. This book wasn't for me.

The hook for this book was the snarky narrator. Ava can get pretty manic at times—she’s got a lot of emotional baggage, what with the murder of her best friend Danielle when they were seventeen, followed by the deaths of her parents in a car wreck. Not helped by Danielle’s drama-llama family blaming her for the murder.

So her solution was to become an airline pilot, which keeps her always on the move. That includes relationships. Her hookups are all wham, bam, slam—out the door she goes, preferably without any words at all much less maudlin goodbyes or promises.

Until she feels obliged to return to the scene of so much misery for Danielle’s ten year memorial. Ava’s hatred of her hometown has extended to the entire state of Minnesota, which only begins to mitigate when she meets a big, bald medical examiner named Tom.


4.5
This is actually a murder mystery combined with a romance, with thriller aspects. The murder mystery seemed a bit tacked on, which I was okay with, as I was mostly reading it for the romance, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The humor in the narrative voice veered between great banter, dark stuff about death, wild riffs, and footnotes* that were half a crackup and half surprisingly informative about the airline industry from the inside.

At the start the author warns the reader that she intends to stuff in as many tropes in the genre as she can, and it added to the fun watching for them.

*the claim that ice cream sandwiches, which are doughy and disgusting, are the pinnacle of the ice cream truck experience is a howling travesty. Everybody knows that the true empyrean of the ice cream truck is chocolate covered bon bons.

According to the author's note in the beginning, this book is the third book in a series. I did not read the first two but Truth, Lies and Second Dates seemed fine as a stand alone.

Ava Capp is a pilot who has recently received some notoriety for a complicated safe landing. She reluctantly returns to her hometown for the ten year memorial of the murder of her best friend. While there, she meets medical examiner, Dr. Tom Baker, who is interested in the cold case of her best friend's death and they have chemistry. Not everyone is happy to see Ava and a bit of mystery evolves about the murder.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I think the premise of a pilot and medical examiner working together is very fresh and I would totally watch this as a television show (as joked about in the book). I really liked Ava and Tom, as individuals and as a couple. The supporting characters were also interesting and there was a good amount of humor as well.

There are a lot of tropes used in this book and I was worried that it would be disjointed but they did come together. I thought the mystery part was a little thin and I wish that had been a little tighter but overall, I enjoyed reading this.

Hummmmmm.

Ok. First, this is the third book in a series. I didn’t realize that when I requested. No idea if u should read all and in order. Because ... Second, the author begins the book saying that she’s going to throw in as many tropes as possible. So, yeah, I didn’t get very far in this one before I bailed.

Truth, Lies and Second Dates was a great read by MaryJanice Davidson. Ava is a captain who has been flying from her past for a decade. She finds herself back in Minnesota although it’s the last place she wants to be. M.E. Dr. Tom has always remembered Ava and the cold case she ran from. As much as they don’t want it, sparks fly between them.

Step into this book, my friends, fasten your seatbelt and let Northeastern Southwest (We Fly Everywhere!) Captain Ava Capp take you on a heck of a ride. This is one seriously funny, seriously over-the-top read that is not your standard romcom.

The blurb for this book gives you a hint of the plot, but nothing can prepare you for the actual story. I rarely give spoilers, but I will give some words of advice when reading this one – despite my use of the word “seriously” above, do not take this book seriously! The author makes a point that she will be using as many book tropes as possible in this story and book tropes she gives us. They are not sprinkled here and there like salt from a shaker. Oh no, this story is smothered in tropes like sausage gravy should be over a biscuit. It allows for some real laugh out loud moments, but do not get caught up is anything that smacks of reality – characters ages, true timelines, etc. Do not overthink any relationship or plotline – just allow yourself to be lightly carried on the currents of ridiculous and enjoy the fun!

On a serious note (ack, that word again!), I like Ms. Davidson’s writing style. It’s got a touch of manic in it (those * references!), but that has its own charm and is certainly apropos for this book. This was my first time reading this author and I certainly will read another one to get a true picture of her writing style.

A cute, fun, and quick witted story. Filled with some mystery, murder, romance, and characters that made me laugh out loud.

Thank you Netgalley, and St. Martins Press for the ARC.

Truth, Lies, and Second Dates by MaryJanice Davidson was a mixed and at times very confusing book. A medical examiner becomes involved with an airline pilot when she is stranded in Minnesota. It just so happens to be the ten year anniversary of her best friends murder. This book has a little bit of everything; computer glitches, healthcare information violations, chIld geniuses, murder, sex, and diverse family dynamics. Would recommend to readers that liked a story with a twisted plot and MaryJanice Davidson fans.

A quick, read. I had a hard time getting into the book at first, but I did want to know what happened in the end. I got sucked in about midway through. I received an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley and this is my honest review.

Best book I have read in a while. Funny, witty, keep reading past bedtime novel that is swift moving and has the best dialog ever. Definitely recommendable!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Fine, okay, fine. This is a very tropey romance (see author's note at the very beginning of the book). This is adequete. Would I pay money for it? Probably not, unless I was stuck in an airport and browsing the bookshelves. The cover and the description are interesting enough to get me interested for sure. To be honest, a romance novel undertaking true crime and aviation was probably a bit too much. The author is aiming for the snarky romance novels that are so popular these days and almost achieves this. But there are some things that make it kind of hard to keep going.

Now, I tried to read this book with a grain of salt. As I mentioned, the author's note really digs into how tropey this book is going to be and if you don't like tropes, don't read it. I didn't have an issue with the tropes. They were fun, classic romance novel tropes.

What I did have issue with? First of all, the sheer LENGTH of this book. My god. It took like 25% of the book for anything remotely plot-related to start happening. I imagine a lot of people picking this up at the book store, skimming the first chapter, then setting it down.

Second of all, I don't know what the city of Minneapolis ever did to personally offend this author, but she takes her main character's hatred a little too far. It's absurd. The main character waxes poetic about her hatred of Minnesota weather for eons in the first quarter of the book (specifically how cool it is in high summer) and the later in the book she's talking about early spring? It seemed like a pretty big oversight by the writer and the editor that should have been caught. I'm from Minneapolis, so I'm definitely biased, but it seemed like such an odd creative choice to have a main character be so fixated on the weather in a place she used to live. This is nit-picky, but I kid you not at least 10% of this book is spent with the main character complaining about the weather.

Finally, our main character. I don't know how a main character can be... out of character? There are so many moments that were downright bizarre to read. For example, at the memorial service for her dead best friend, Ava just starts... screaming at the mom of her dead best friend because said mom dared to ask Ava if she missed Minnesota. Ava is quite honestly just a bit insufferable for a good portion of the book.

Weird, confident and easy to read. It's a lot of fun, if a bit heavy-handed. The best kind of hot mess.