I really loved Ava! She definitely isn't the sterotypical heroine in a rom/com mystery with just a bitty of comedy. Her inner dialogue, her relationship with Tom, had me actually chuckling outloud, I'm not going to lie, I have my fingers crossed that this book ends up turning into a series. There's so much more I want backdrop from them. I want to learn more Ava, and especially, more of Ava and Tom together! This was definitely a fun read! I highly recommend it.

I would like to thank MaryJanice Davidson, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This was pretty different than I thought it'd be. There is such a weird mystery and it just wasn't handled well? Plus the romance wasn't that cute or exciting either. I'll never understand why romance books even have third person POVs though like who is this for? But that is personal preference and this book was not for me.

I’m a little torn with this book. While I did enjoy reading it and I enjoyed both Ava and Tom. I wasn’t in love with the story. Hannah was fun and the idea was interesting enough but I just struggled to really get into it. Overall It was just ok. Not my favorite read of the year but not bad either.

Truth, Lies and Second Dates by MaryJanice Davidson is a fun, light murder mystery that pokes fun at all the romantic novel tropes...and even lists the ones that it uses/flips around to make it more entertaining!

Captain Ava Capp has returned to her hometown of Minneapolis where she attends a memorial service for her friend who was brutally murdered 10 years earlier, and whose killer was never found. While there she meets handsome ME Thomas Baker with whom she immediately hits it off. Their relationship as they explore their relatiionship and try to solve the cold case keep you reading, and laughing! It's a fun novel and you'll be entranced to the end!

Thank you to the author, St. Martin's and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review of this novel.

Fun, weird, and nerdy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I’ve never read this author before and I was delighted to just really be super engaged in the story from the get-go. I read 3/4 of the book on the first day. I kept sneaking in a chapter or two even while I was supposed to be doing other things. That’s certainly an earmark of a great story.

I love that the characters are intelligent and a bit wise to the world. There’s not a lot of gameplaying and I find I enjoy that more and more in books today.

This one has to do with a cold case murder and the renewed search for “Who Dun It”. It is a very unique plot that’s intertwined throughout the book. You just become invested in the characters and the outcome. Great twist at the end too!

The character development is awesome. Davidson really elevated the story with her fun characters by showcasing their intelligence, and quirky, wacky ways that she built into each one of them. They’re very unique and definitely not boring. Plus, you get a bit of snark (yay) with delightful humor and wit throughout.

I have to say I was surprised by this story and definitely thrilled that I enjoyed it as much as I did. Truth, Lies, and Second Dates is an atypical murder mystery sorta romance (huh?) that begs you to keep turning those pages while cheering on the unexpected and definitely atypical boyfriend material!

Fun, weird, and nerdy. Awesome!

I haven't read anything by this author before, but the blurb peeked my interest. Strong female lead "flying" away from her past when she meets the sexy medical examiner who turns her world upside down? I'm intrigued.

Truth, Lies, and Second Dates follows the strong-willed and blunt Ava Capp (Captain Capp) as she reluctantly goes to her best friends memorial service. Her friend was brutally murdered 10 years ago and try as she might, she can't fake her way out of attending. Well lucky for her, shortly after the service, she meets Tom Baker - the clumsy yet handsome medical examiner who just wants to help solve her friends cold case.

Tom is adorable which makes Ava and Tom so perfect together. She talks too much and is sarcastic and he thinks everything through and is very literal. It's like two halves that fit perfectly together. I just wish there was a little less murder solving and a little more sexy times. *wink wink* Also. Abe and Hannah are equally adorable.

The novel was slow at first, but by about 50%, I had a hard time putting it down. I just didn't really understand the parenthesis and foot notes. Lost .5 of a star rating in my books because of this.

3.5 / 5 stars (rounded up to 4)

I requested to read and review this book from St. Martin Publishing Company. This book was a thriller but I would also classify this as a comedy as well. Who know you could mix humor with thriller/mystery. Characters Ava, Tom, Hannah, Abe, G.B. and India! These characters bring the book to life there is also other characters that will be interesting as well. This book has romance, thrill, mystery, comedy. This book will keep you guessing but also laughing. Does this make you weird or normal? This book is for a mature reader.

This is hard to catagorise definitively, its a mix of romance, murder mystery comedy... we follow Ava and Tom who are brought together again after Ava comes back to her home town. I liked how Ava was a pilot not something you see often. Tom is a Medical Examiner. And they know each other from a previous cold case. They butt heads alot but the attraction is there too. The writing style is unique. Hard to describe. Its like the author is aware of the common tropes and such and is making us aware of them in a fun way. I liked it. It was fast paced and easily digestible. Overall it was good. Id be interested to see what else the author has to offer.

This book was hilarious. Ava is definitely the quirky, unflappable, smart, and independent heroine I needed to read about right now. I also more than adored Tom and his equally amazing family. This book embraces romantic tropes in all their many flavors. The author even provides a list of them at the end and how they were either used as-is or flipped.

Ava's best friend was murdered 10 years ago and the murderer was never caught. Ava left the Minneapolis-St Paul (MSP) area and hasn't been back (other than to fly through the airport) since then. She's a successful commercial airline pilot who made the news recently because of an amazing landing. She finds herself back in MSP the same weekend as a 10 year anniversary memorial for her friend is being held. Once she arrives at the memorial - things go to hell pretty quickly. The only bright side is meeting Ted while she tries to wrangle her dead friend's brother into a car after he gets drunk. Ted is a medical examiner in MSP and is genius level smart. He is also somewhere on the autism spectrum. He and his late sister's father-in-law are raising Ted's genius niece together. After Ava and Ted meet - they truly do team up to keep Ava safe and try to figure out who killed Ava's friend - because they are now threatening Ava.

Ava and Ted are really really good together. They seem to truly complete each other - and accept each other fully as they are. Neither of them is a particularly easy person - but their communication and caring for each other was just awesome. I also adored that the conflict in the story didn't come from Ava and Ted - but rather from external sources.

There is so much to love about this book - from the characters to the notes at the end of each chapter. That made it easier to let go of a few things that didn't really work for me or make sense. Like how the villain managed to mess around with Ava's urine sample and Becka's age. Even Ava - who is 28 in the book - felt older and the timeline felt like they squished a lot of years into the 10 that have gone by since the murder. Ted also seemed old for his age (around 23). He's a genius - Doogie Houser style - but still he didn't feel 23.

Overall, however, this book is hysterical and a joy to read.

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley, but these opinions are all my own.

A clever and entertaining romance that's perfect for people who are looking for a quick and light read to take their mind off the pandemic. This isn't my favourite kind of novel but I appreciate the author's talent.
Thank you, #netgalley

This was a strange book, I think I enjoyed it but I’m not sure. It read like someone was telling you a story whilst talking really fast and never taking a breather. It had some funny parts, and was a quick read.

I really enjoyed this. It wasn't ground breaking or the best thing I ever read but it definitely was refreshing and a cute little mystery.

This was a fun love story between two rather unlikely suited protagonists. The heroine was delightful and the storyline flowed seamlessly. Highly recommended!

MaryJanice Davidson is BACK! I have been reading her novels for ages have fallen head over heels for them (especially the Undead and Unwed series). This one, while not a part of a series, is refreshing and funny! I loved the mystery thrown into the story even though it wasn't heavy! Such a good book!

Ava is unique and not your typical rom com heroine- which I LOVED. There are a lot of laugh out loud moments when you’re reading her inner monologues. The author got it right with this protagonist. It’s a quick read. Some parts are more memorable than others and there are some plot lulls but for the most part, I really enjoyed Davidson’s story!

I received this book I’m exchange for a honest review. This book was a glorious hot mess of a book and I loved it! Truth, Lies, and Second Dates is a romance/mystery mash-up with a generous dose of comedy thrown in. It follows the story of Pilot Ava Capp as she returns to her hometown on the tenth anniversary of her best friend's murder. When the memorial is vandalized and she's pulled back into the murdery mystery, she meets medical examiner Tom Baker who is convinced that she was the original murder target. As the two of them start to unravel the mystery, sparks fly and the two of them hit it off with some fantastic witty repartee. I really enjoyed this book and can’t wait to see what the author writes next

Ava Capp is a commercial airline pilot with a sarcastic personality. She left Minnesota after someone close to her was murdered, but returns years later for the 10 year memorial anniversary. However, it seems as though the murderer has also resurfaced, in order to finish what they started. Will Ava be able to withstand the accusations and finger-pointing directed her way, and finally put the past behind her? Will the handsome Medical Examiner be able to trust her enough to help find the real killer?

The author talks about tropes in her introduction, and I liked that there were many instances where this book broke traditional stereotypes. The author includes footnotes within each chapter: I liked the idea of this at first as it made the book feel autobiographical, but after a while I just found it irritating to flip back and forth while reading a fictional book. I didn't really find this book to be much of a mystery, but others may find this the perfect book to escape 2020 for a while.

I would like to thank NetGalley and St. Martins Press for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. #NetGalley #TruthLiesandSecondDates

This book had elements that I liked, but didn't add up to a whole book experience. Bits of dialogue here, interesting mix of romance and mystery, I could point to several isolated parts that worked for me, but they were just that, snippets of good ideas rather than a cohesive body forming an engaging story. It was like a lot of good ideas were thrown in, but there wasn't a step back and take it all in moment to ask: "Does this make sense as a whole?" Where I struggled the most was the humor: it felt heavy handed, and based on unrealistic premises (the baby in the overhead compartment was a real head scratcher).

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The rating is because this is supposed to be an adult contemporary romance, and I'm getting nothing of that from the first 15% of the story (which is when I couldn't read any farther).

It was just... very confusing and jarring. I felt like I wasn't properly introduced to any of the characters, and we didn't even meet Tom. If Danielle's story was an important part of this story and the main character's growth, then the story probably should have started around the spot I put the book down, because what is currently the beginning is very dramatic/soap-operaish and not all that appealing.

Also, brackets in novels? No thank you.

"Truth, Lies, and Second Dates" was thoroughly amusing; another gem by MaryJanice Davidson. Captain Ava Capp is at least as funny as Betsy Taylor, Queen of the Vampires, from the Undead series, and is definitely irreverent. The book (and the series) sets out to honor and mock tropes, especially those beloved of romance novels, and in this book, also horror novels. Ms. Davidson includes a list of tropes in an appendix at the back of the book and indicates which tropes she has subverted. The cast of characters is great, from airline pilot Ava to head flight attendant G.B. to medical examiner Tom Baker and his precocious genius niece Hannah. The plot of the book, while interesting and well-crafted, is really just a vehicle for utilizing tropes and creating amusing interactions and conversations. Ms. Davidson utilizes the occasional endnote to poke fun at herself, reveal that events that seem surely to have been invented were in fact real, and to explain airline crew slang -- my favorite is "gate lice."

I don't know that another full-length novel featuring these characters would work without feeling derivative, but I think a series of short stories about Captain Capp and her flight crew or a short story featuring Hannah would definitely be enjoyable possibilities.

I received a copy of the e-book via NetGalley in exchange for a review.