I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook. A fun little murder/mystery. Perfect for Halloween Month 🎃.

I started reading this book and found that it was not for me. I didn't want to review a book that I didn't finish.

Sadly this had poor quality of editing which did detract from my enjoyment of the book.

The story was face paced but sadly wasnt for me. Maybe to do with editing, maybe not,

I really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn’t manage to get into it. It needed some serious editing and proof reading for continuity but I could forgive those things as this was an advanced reader copy (although one of the poorest in quality I have read). The story and even the characters did have potential but they were flat and appeared more like poor actors than real people. The main character Diana is a doctor who used to work in forensics but retired when her father was murdered. She used her inheritance to buy a bookstore and hires a friend from a nearby cafe (although their friendship was bizarre and felt weirdly forced or awkward at times.). In fact all of Diana’s interactions with the other characters felt awkward and perhaps was why I struggled to really get into the story. The mystery could have been interesting with a little better character development.

Gates' Bookstore is the first book in a mystery series by Jamila A. Stone. Released 7th Dec 2020, it's 310 pages and available in ebook format (other editions available in other formats). It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

The setup for the book, a former forensic investigator turned bookshop owner who gets unwillingly dragged into a murder investigation - ticks a lot of boxes for me. Strong intelligent female protagonist, bookstore, murder mystery all go straight into the plus category. The execution sadly leaves quite a lot to be desired. The writing is uneven, the pacing is shuffling in some places interspersed with warp speed hopping over vital progression in others, the dialogue is clunky and the whole feels unedited at best, and unfinished in general. The joy-killer for me was the prose. There are -so- many mixed metaphors and jarring similes accompanied by grammatical mistakes which would be fixed by even the most superficial editing. "She stretched her slender frame, spreading her long legs to the sides of the queen size mattress and sighs."

I did read the entire book and was rewarded with a completely unbelievable denouement and a massive cliffhanger. I will not be picking up further volumes.

Two and a half stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

I spent all day reading this mystery, while neglecting a lot work and not responding to messages and phone calls.
Diane Gates, a clever retired forensic psychologist, now has a quiet life as a bookstore owner. However, the gruesome murder of her best friend has her searching for a psychotic killer. Will she and her lover, a workaholic cop solve the murder? I never found out because of a literal and figurative cliffhanger. I guess that I'll have to wait Neil the sequel to find the answer.

Gate's Bookstore by Jamila Stone was an advanced reader copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This was my first book by Jamila Stone and it read like it was her first. I really wanted to like this book as the main character, Diane Gates was a former criminologist and owned her own bookstore. I have a master's in Justice Studies and have always wanted to own my own bookstore/cafe. The more I read the story though, the harder it was to read. I had a hard time relating to Diane and her standoffish personality. I couldn't really get invested into the murder mystery of her friend/employee Catherine and her relationship with the lead detective was confusing. I am always looking for new authors to read, but unfortunately I don't think I will be reading anymore of these.

This book sounded so promising, but I was quickly disappointed. Diane Gates was a brilliant forensic scientist who took early retirement when the job got too much, and opened a bookstore. Once I began, the writing seemed choppy and the main character was erratic. I just couldn't get into the story, and understand many of the decisions that Diane made in the book

Thanks to Black Glory Publishing House for providing access to a digital ARC on NetGalley, but this book wasn't for me.

"What Happened Diane?"
"I Got Framed"

The best mysteries are the ones where you do not see the guilty party and when all is revealed you can honestly say, "Good job. You got me!" So to the author of Gates Bookstore, Jamila A. Stone, I humbly say " Good job. You got me!"

Diane Gates has tried so hard to simplify her life since her father's unsolved murder. She quit her job as a forensic psychologist and opened a bookstore to honor her dad. She is trying to keep violence away. Then she finds the dead body of her assistant in her store. She tries to help the police since she has a background in criminology but things start to unravel when another dead body turns up with a connection to her as well. Eric, the lead detective, wants to help her, he is falling for her, but the evidence is pointing in her direction. Diane has to find the truth before there is another victim, before she is arrested, before she is murdered.

There are revelations during Diane's search for a possible serial killer that are so twisty that I kept yelling out loud to the point my son came into my room to make sure I was okay. I was confused by some scenes where people seem to jump from one location to another without any break to get to their destination. It brought back fond memories of when characters in Game of Thrones miraculously travelled across oceans in record time.

This novel had me assuming all the wrong conclusions. Though much was explained I still have questions because this is the first in a series about Diane Gates and it ends in a whopper of a cliffhanger. I will not lie I almost threw my Kindle at the wall. I did scream in frustration when I got to the end.

So once again the writer got me because you know I am pre ordering book two ASAP!

The storyline and mystery were decent, and the characters do have potential, however I felt that the story is dragged down by superfluous wording. It had an old-timey feel, but not necessarily in a good way.

Diane Gates is a retired forensic investigator who now owns and operates a bookstore along with her assistant. Not long after the assistant is hired, there is a break-in and some of her things were taken ... but no damage to the store. Diane thinks this is a one-off, but days later it happens again .. only this time she finds the mutilated body of her assistant.

Although retired from her earlier career, she decides that she will work this case ..and hooks up with Detective Eric Barnes. Between the two of them they discover there's a lot more to the case than they think. The more evidence they uncover, the more they find fingers pointing at Diane.

This is the first book in a new series, featuring Diane Gates. There's a strong female lead, an intricate plot, lots of action, a bookstore and a bit of romance. All boxes checked. The only con I have is it ends with a huge cliff hanger (one of my pet peeves).

Many thanks to the author / BooksGoSocial / Netgalley / Black Glory Publishing House for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

The mystery was okay, and the characters have potential. But the story was bogged down by its literary style. It was almost is if the author was getting paid by the word and added adverbs, adjectives, and lots of flowery phrases that really seemed out of place, or over the top, in this story.

I was excited to read this book, but was unable to get past the first chapter.

This book is in dire need of a professional editor and proofreader. I started making notes about the issues that needed polishing, but there were so many changes needed that I had to stop.

I am not sure if the author had a certain word count that she needed, or not, but the way the story was written seemed (to me) as if extra words were added to make each sentence longer than necessary.

Also, in several places the author switches back and forth from past to present tense in a single sentence. A professional proofreader would catch each of these instances and correct them before the final book was released.

To illustrate what I am talking about, here are the notes I made from only the first few pages of the book:

"Her bed felt like a warm and relaxing sea, ready to cover her in its embrace and give her abode and shelter."
- This just doesn't make sense. To give her "abode"? I would remove that word.

"She stretched her slender frame, spreading her long legs to the sides of the queen mattress and sighs."
- Should say "sighed" not "sighs"

"... cringed when all she managed was to knock the alarm clock to the ground."
- Should say "floor" rather than "ground". Using the word "ground" implies that the clock was outside, rather than "floor" since the scene takes place indoors.

"Gliding graciously across the floor..."
- should say "gracefully" not "graciously" - they are two very different words with very different meanings.

"She rolled on her belly and felt ready to drift into a lulling slumber as she waited for the caller to speak."
- why "lulling"? This word is unnecessary. It reads as if the author is just trying to increase her word count. All that needs to be said is that "She rolled onto her belly and felt ready to fall back to sleep."

"The first ray of light hit her directly into the eyes, and she flinched from the sudden onslaught onto her senses."
- The way this is worded again makes it seem as if the word count is more important than the meaning of the sentence.
- This could be better worded. For example: " The first ray of light struck her directly in the eyes causing her to flinch."

"I didn't want her to call the police for nothing as I didn't see any movement or heard anything myself."
- Should say "hear" not "heard".

"... all the while wishing that her renters would have a perfectly logical explanation for everything, sparing her from having to visit the home."
- "renters" would be better if changed to "tenants"
- "wishing" would be better changed to "hoping" and "home" would sound better if changed to "property"

"The line rang and rang before the mechanic voice of an operator..."
- Should say "mechanical" not "mechanic"

"... she scrawled back into a sleeping position..."
- Should say "crawled" not "scrawled"

"Promptly she walked to the window and made quick work with locking it shut."
- Should say "of" not "with"

"As she passed in front of the full-length mirror, she stopped just before her reflection disappeared from the glass and smiled as she checked out her tall perfectly streamlined shape."
- This is too many words. Should say:
"As she passed in front of the full-length mirror, she stopped and smiled as she checked out her tall perfectly streamlined shape."

"... she had a hard time comparing it with how it was when she lived there."
- Should say: "... she had a hard time comparing it with how it had been when she lived there."

"Thoughts of the past slowly crept into her mind, bringing a smile in the corners of her lips, the same time her eyes widened with the realization of how much she had left behind and grown apart from."
- This is a run-on sentence and would be better if it was separated into two sentences. For example: "Thoughts of the past crept into her mind, bringing a smile to her lips. At the same time, her eyes widened with realization of how much she had left behind and grown apart from."