Murder mystery meets romcom and lots of witty, sarcastic banters, hilarious inner monologues and plus we have a pilot badass heroine Ava accompanied with charming, smart medical examiner Tom and their love-hate relationship (Sorry doc but treating her like a murder suspect lowered your brownie points!)

Here we go: we’re introduced with Ava Capp, a kind of hero because when she was brave and determined enough to land a plane with no proper landing gears and of course she was all by herself because the pilot had a heart attack. Now she is happily flying the commercial flights, enjoying her job, swinging on the stars till she returns to Minneapolis for tenth year reunion: It’s unfortunately not a high school union you may reject to attend. This is Ava’s best friend Danielle’s tenth year anniversary of her death: she was murdered. And her killer hasn’t been found yet.

After the memorial, something unexpected happens and they cannot find the body which brings medical examiner Tom Baker and Ava Capp together to solve the cold case. Tom was a little suspicious at the beginning and considered her as another suspect but lately he changes his mind and as you can guess they start to attract each other even though there was no time for funky business, there is an important murder case they have to solve and save their lives from the danger.

I loved both of the characters and intriguing, riveting story-building: great concoction of murder mystery, romantic suspense with smart and witty dialogues. I’m giving my 3.5 stars and rounding them up to 4! It was entertaining, quick reading !

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/St. Martin's Griffin for sharing this enjoyable ARC with me in exchange my honest review.

Witty, smart, a little bit manic but generally a lot of fun. Part romance and part murder mystery this book has fun with some of the common tropes. It may take you a while to get into the style if you a first time reader of Mary Janice Davidson but stick with it it's definitely worth it.

Thanks to NetGalley & St. Martin's Griffin/Press for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Truth, Lies, and Second Dates is an enjoyable contemporary rom-com with some murder mystery thrown in (I don't want to go so far as to call it romantic suspense, although it probably falls into that genre also). I actually liked not being entirely sure of the heroine's love interest pair-up in the beginning, so I don't want to spoil that for future readers by mentioning any names, but suffice to say, both the antagonists were very different & interesting.

The writing style is a bit stilted (particularly the * references / sometimes things are overly spelled out) & somewhat confusing at times (Ava's internal thoughts), but overall was light & fun, with a lot of humor. As was the author's goal, there are some common trope subversions that are refreshing, as well as some addressing of less common representations of dealing with sexuality. I found the plot & dialogue to be intriguing enough to want to keep reading at a fast pace, so I'd recommend this one as a "beach read" sort of thing – actually, maybe on a flight? ;)

I can see that this book, in particular because of the personalities of the protagonists, wouldn't be for everyone, but I think if you're a fan of blunt dialogue & atypical characters, you'll be able to enjoy it. There are two characters referenced as being on the spectrum, which I personally found to be a positive representation, but could see how some readers might have been confused by some of the interplay, particularly in regards to a main character.

The author notes in her intro "...I’m a weirdo and romance and horror are my first loves." The characters have a bit of macabre murder fascinations, which as someone who is intrigued by true crime & murder made total sense to me, but to some people might seem off-putting (the characters even call this out). I thought their relationship development was cute, if not totally swoon-worthy (it's just not really that kind of romance). I liked that all corniness/clichés were intentionally tongue-in-cheek because as much as I read romance, I get very *ugh barf eye roll* during that kind of high-harlequin romance style stuff (you know the stuff I mean – this book didn't have that).

Overall, I wouldn't rate it in the top books I've read or anything, but it's entertaining enough & I enjoyed it, which is all I really want from the books I read on a regular basis (hey, not everything is supposed to be a "classic"!).

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

It took me a while to get used to the pace of this book; it was a bit manic and all over the place. However, once I got in synch with the author, I enjoyed the book. It was a bit heavy handed with the use and discussion of tropes, but I felt like the author was winking at me the whole time so I enjoyed that aspect as well.

I enjoyed this book; thanks NetGalley.

Thank you netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Unfortunately I did not enjoy this romance. The author introduces too many characters very quickly and it forces you to figure out which is the real storyline. Just couldn't keep up.

2 stars
This book was not for me. I am sure other's might like it, but it wasn't my taste at all.
Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first time reading Ms Davidson and it was very enjoyable. I'd give it an easy 4.5 stars and I'm rounding up because I am certain that other 4.5 star reviewers will round down; it just seems fair to balance.) There's a bit of a shroud of secrecy on some of the book's elements and I'm not about the be the spoiler. I feel comfortable sharing the following non-spoiler points, though:

Ava Capp is a highly respected airline Captain, originally from Minnesota but living in Las Vegas. If I had to describe Ava in one word it would be snarky. She is a master in the art but she is never mean-spirited with it. As a teenager, Ava experienced tragedy that shaped her life but she doesn't let past events define her. Tom is a physician working as a Medical Examiner in MN. He's raising his niece, Hannah, with the assistance of a relative, Abe. A routine flight to Minneapolis places Ava in Tom's path and puts into motion a series of events that result in a mystery to be solved related to an incident from Ava's past. By the end of the book, the mystery is wrapped up quite nicely. Getting there is a ride that is at various times entertaining, thoughtful and enlightening, and it's always deliberate. Enough said.

I smiled throughout a good portion of the book and laughed out loud more than once. Along the way, I learned a few things, too. I loved that the author wrote a diverse cast of characters each of whom added to the story. This is a romance so expect some heat but it's well-written and not over the top (but it's still hot.) I took off half a star for reasons that I can't share without oversharing, but it's a good/unique/enjoyable read and I highly recommend it. Well done, Ms Davidson. (Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for gifting me an ARC on which this review is based.)

Ava Capp is a pilot, known for her heroic save when landing a plane after the pilot had a heart attack and the plane had no landing gears. Unfortunately, this gives Ava a lot of notoriety. Her best friend was murdered in high school and after 10 years, she returns to Minneapolis for a memorial for Danielle. Danielle’s murder remains unsolved and after the memorial, the body goes missing. Dr. Tom Baker, a mortician, is fascinated with the unsolved murder and decides to try and solve the case. He is not sure whether Ava is the killer, or if she is the next victim. Ava and Tom work on the case together and romantic interests complicate the relationship. There is a lot of humor, romance, mystery, and great characters in this book.

I was not into this book at all. Some moments were funny and I liked the characters of Hannah and Abe but you can tell who the killer was from the beginning of the book which made finishing the book a let down.

Honestly, after reading MaryJanice Davidson's Undead series, I wasn't sure what to expect from a contemporary romance written by her. Also, given that the publisher has released next to no information about this book and seems to want to keep that information embargoed, I REALLY didn't know what I was getting myself into. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, I was able to score an advanced reader's copy!

I don't want to spoil it for you so let's just say that this book is dedicated to the subversion of tropes. Some of them really work, and some of them don't work as well, but I was pleased with the final result.

It wasn't as heavy on the romance as I would have liked -- it's honestly more of a rom com than a flat-out romance, but there was enough "there" there for me to get on board. This book has a lot of MJD's signature snark and more than a few self-referential asides, but therein lies the charm. I will be thinking about this book for quite some time and I can't wait to read more in this vein of her work. A solid 4.5 star read for me.

So at first I wasn't quite sure what I was getting into with this book when it started off giving a mini lecture on tropes, but I quickly got on board (hah). The witty writing and smart dialogue kept me entertained and I now want to read Blake's story because the author placed juuust enough nuggets to get me intrigued. Well played.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was solid 3.5 stars, which I am rounding up to 4.
Why not a solid 4? That's a simple question with a complicated answer. This book TRIED so HARD. It could have been written by Jim Carrey on an Adderall-induced manic bender. The non-stop snark made connecting with the heroine hard. She was emotionally blocked and the reader was on the wrong side of that blockade. The hero, however, was charming and lovely and you just want to squeeze him throughout the story.
While often hysterical, it was exhausting and a little bizarre to read...
And it was supposed to be that way.
The author is deliberately playing with tropes here, and making sure to follow-up her heavy handedness with an extra dose of "whoopsie, my hand shook, so here's some more". So to that end, she nailed it. It's a farce or satire of a romantic suspense, minus the suspense. At no point will you be scared or worried or biting your nails wondering who did it. The HEA is solid, but don't expect to swoon from the romance. The focus of this one is on the comedy, not all the feels.

‘Truth, Lies, and Second Dates’ is an extremely witty novel that is refreshingly self-aware. MaryJanice Davidson adeptly navigates through tropes while simultaneously embracing and subverting them.

Captain Ava Capp is perfectly happy flying commercial planes through the friendly skies. No roots, and definitely no commitments. Is she running away from the losses of her past? Maybe. Is she slightly emotionally closed off? Probably. All that aside, this pilot is about to be thrown back into her past troubles when she is unexpectedly grounded in her hometown. Add in Dr. Tom Baker, the medical examiner who is as hot as he is brainy? Things are about to get really interesting.

This is the first Davidson novel that I’ve read, and I was blown away by how incredible her dialogue writing is. It’s sharp, fast-paced, and thoroughly witty from beginning to end. It was honestly a joy to read. As I mentioned earlier, the writing in this book is wholly self-aware; in many ways, it’s an homage to the romance and thriller genres. Told in close third person, there are a couple of moments in the narrative where the viewpoint shifts abruptly, but said moments don’t have an injurious effect on the overall story. Ava is a strong, flawed protagonist who is fascinating to read. Tom is a refreshingly unique character who defies a lot of expected romantic stereotypes in the best ways. The supporting characters are also all entertaining and delightful to read.

‘Truth, Lies, and Second Dates’ is funny, witty, and well written. A definite must for your TBR stack.


Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review.

Initially, I was turned off by the publisher’s insistence that there be basically no details released about this book besides the author and cover, but as I read the book, I realized that the no blurb, no details rule that they we’re going for kind of worked for this story! To respect their apparent wishes at keeping the plot of this book tight-lipped, I’ll just say this: Five stars!