Thank you Netgalley for an ARC audio copy of Aloha Alibi in exchange for an honest review

Charlotte Gibson, was working in a jewelry store in rainy cold Seattle when a local mobster decided to rob her store. She recognized him right away from his infamous family, but he had the jewelry and all he had to do was leave. When he turned the gun on her she had no choice but to fight back, grab the gun and shot him, dead. His goon family did not take that lightly and began threatening her so she escapes back home to her mothers...in sunny Maui. She needs a job to afford her own places and begins working at a local ice cream shop. A mysterious business man that she serves at the shop is murdered minutes later. A large reward is offered to find his killer and Charlotte decided to take the opportunity but along the way meets a pair of zany older ladies looking for the killer too; antics ensue.

This is a light fun caper story set in beautiful Hawaii, with interesting characters, I really liked her best friend. It is predictable and a bit far fetched but it adds to the charm of a quirky mystery genre. Would recommend this to fans of the Miss Fortune or Hula Maidens series of the same style. I had the audio version read by Khristine Hvam who did a great job and was easy to listen to

Aloha Alibi is a debut novel by Jasmine Webb. I received an advanced listener’s copy of the audiobook from NetGalley in exchange for my review.

I’ll start with some things I liked. Charlotte, or Charlie as she is known to her friends, is a well-developed and likable character. I like that there are two older women as supporting characters. The vibe of the book is humorous and light-hearted even though it is a murder mystery. It definitely falls into the cozy mystery sub-genre. The story is well-paced. Khristine Hvam does a good job with the narration.

Now for some things that I feel detract from the story. The premise of the book isn’t believable. The path to solving the case is more luck and coincidence than skill. Charlie’s mom’s constant efforts to get Charlie a man so that she could have grandchildren seems uncaring towards her daughter’s feelings and irrelevant to the plot. There are several places where the author tries to insert social commentary into the story, such as police brutality, bribery by politicians, etc., but none of them are developed as an integral part of the plot. As a result, they feel episodic and make the story a bit disjointed. It is hard to understand the actions of some of the supporting characters because they need a bit more development. All these things are common to a debut novel.

I see the bones of a good series. There are two more books out now with one planned for release in early 2022. Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley. #alohaalibi #jasminewebb #netgalley

I really enjoyed the characters in Aloha Alabi. Charlie and company are interesting and fun to follow. Hawaii makes a great background.

I look forward to listening to the next book in the series.

This book was interesting from the beginning, but as the story went on it didn’t hold my attention. The main character solves a crime with her two older female companions and I was reminded of the show Only Murders in the Building. Fans of True crime podcasts will enjoy this journey that many listeners wish they had the means to do themselves. It puts you in the roll of the amateur detective. All in all it wasn’t bad, but bit my cup of tea.

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the audio version. A cute murder mysteries book. The narrator did a great job! It does seem a little bit unrealistic but it is not over the top. If you want an easy read this might be for you.

Charlie’s staying with her mom in Maui to avoid the mobsters threatening her in Seattle. Working a job at the local ice cream shop, she finds that one of her customers is killed on his way to the airport after leaving the shop in the taxi she called. She’s determined to find out what happened, solve the case, and get the reward money. Entertaining characters and mystery in a wonderful location! Great start to a series!

Wonderful narration -- voice, pacing, expression!

Delivers what you want from a cosy mystery - quirky characters and scenarios you need to suspend your disbelief for. Unfortunately, I couldn't connect to the characters.

I actually listened to this book as an audiobook also provided to me by netgalley and i absolutely loved it! i found the storyline so engaging and loved the two older characters. i think they contrasted so well with the protagonist. i adored how the book was so heavily focused on females and although there was a slight love interest it was more about friends and family which was so positive and refreshing. it was very easy to follow and i look forward to reading more books in the series. the narrator took a while to get used to as ive been recently listening to british narrators but after a couple of chapters it was absolutely fine. loved the book and would definitely recommend.

I had the ebook with me when I got the chance to listen to the audiobook, and I took it. It was an interesting experience as the narrator kept me hooked until the end.
We begin with our leading lady in a tight spot, she is being held at gunpoint, and things do not get better from that point on. This first part is when Charlie is on mainland USA, and she is leading a small life with a variety of jobs, enough to sustain her for extended periods.
The events in the first chapter slowly precipitate her leaving for her sort-of hometown of Hawaii. Her mother and best friend are on the island, and she now wants to build a temporary life until she can run back 'home'.
This thought process does not last long since opportunities come her way to better her life and maybe even help her family and friends. It is a pretty solid start to a series, and I liked the reason that facilitated her investigation. This latter part is usually not as believable in many of the cozy mysteries that I pick up, but here there is an obvious need for the tale to turn the way it did. The build-up was good, and the characters were very entertaining. The mystery's conclusion was mildly surprising but not completely out of the blue.
I might not have liked it as much if I had read it (I wouldn't know now since I have the individual voices in my head). I would read the rest of the series (given a chance) and recommend it to others who like this genre.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

Aloha Alibi by Jasmine Webb is the kick-off book to a new series. The book opened at a fairly fast pace with the main protagonist, Charlotte (Charlie) Gibson working in a jewelry store in Seattle and being confronted by a bungling burglar who during the course of the robbery was shot and killed by Charlie. Because this burglar happened to be in a crime family, Charlie became a target of revenge and subsequently relocated to her hometown of Maui, Hawaii. Upon her arrival in Hawaii, Charlie quickly decided that she needed to find a job so she would not have to live with her mother for very long. On her way home from her first day on the job in an ice cream parlor, she came across a crime scene where one of her customers from that day was murdered. When the family of the victim offered a sizable reward for the identity of the killer, Charlie became determined to solve the case and use the reward to enable her to move into her own place.

As the story progressed, Charlie met up with a variety of characters that included a couple of senior citizens who were also determined to solve the case, a pair of police detectives, and several individuals who had reasons to be involved in the murder. I was particularly impressed by the author's ability to develop the two senior citizens into individuals who possessed unexpected skills that greatly improved the team's ability to solve the crime. Unfortunately, the pace of this book fell off and in some parts were more about filling in the history of the various characters, Charlie's mother attempting to discuss Charlie's love life, dipping lightly into social issues such as police ineptitude and brutality, bribery of public officials, and going off subject by injecting an unrelated crime of stalking into the story. Hopefully, future books in this series will be able to move forward and remain more on point throughout the body of the story without devoted excessive amounts of space to additional history of the characters and positions on social issues.

Hopefully, future books in this series will This book was provided to me in audio book format and I was impressed with the ability of the narrator to maintain the different character voices throughout the reading as well as being able to inject proper emotional inflections for specific scenes.

Overall, I would give this book an average rating because of the off topics issues but am more than willing to give this author a second chance on future installments of this series.

I received a free audio copy of Aloha Alibi through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

What a fun book! The narrator was sooooo good! Love the characters, especially Charlie! Love her sassyness! The setting is in Maui, Hawaii where Charlie is returning home from stateside, and goes in hiding from the criminals that are trying to kill her. She of course leaves one crime scene only to get involved with another. Although this time there is a $100,000 reward, which she desperately could use since living with her mom is driving her crazy after a couple of days. She winds up partnering with two senior citizens, Dotty and Rose and the laughs continues with this who done it, If you love cozy mysteries, this does have a different spin to it. Written with a sense of humor throughout, of course the actual solving of the murder is a little far fetch.
Thank you NetGalley for this ARC. I am voluntarily posting an honest review after listening to an Advance Reader Copy of this story. #NetGalley #AlohaAlibi

🎧 Audiobook Review 📖
Aloha Alibi
By: Jasmine Webb
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

So I’ve been deep into my Christmas reading when this popped up in NetGalley and I thought, oh, that looks warm. It’s been SO COLD 🥶 here in NY so I thought an escape to Hawaii was just what I needed.

Charlotte “Charlie” finds herself in the middle of a heist gone wrong, and when her new stalkers leave her a “gift” she high tails it home to Hawaii and her baby crazy mom. And somehow, manages to get wrapped up in a murder.

This book is super cute, super funny and has everything from spunky “old” ladies, a hunky cop, and so much more. The plot moves right along, and it had some really great, funny bits. A quick listen, I was pleasantly surprised to learn it was the first in a series! I can’t wait to read the rest of them!

Aloha Alibi is a debut novel by Jasmine Webb and the first book in what is planned as a murder mystery series Charlotte Gibson Mysteries.

It’s a short, cozy, fast paced murder mystery set up in Hawaii.

I listened to the audio book version narrated by Khristine Hvam. For me narration was very good, not at all annoying or distracting.

At first, I didn’t think I’ll like this book much but over time it grew on me. It suffers from some problems I noticed in other debut novels, it is sometimes heavy with dialogues that can be little stiff or basic, in audio version it worked fine, almost like you are sitting by the characters while having a cup of coffee, but I’m not sure how it works in written text. Some transitions between scenes are awkward but nothing deal breaking.

I think that length of the novel, lighthearted approach and humor that was handled pretty well, definitely go in favor of the story and mitigate shortcomings of the book.

The characters are good, Charlie, Dot and Rosie have the most screentime, and I guess other such as Zoe and Jack will be further developed in the future.

The story has some troubles with structural points. There are scenes that lead to nothing story wise and are more episodic. Maybe they are setup for future books, but it would be better to focus more on the main plot and not to veer to future plans because “detective” work is rushed in places and characters just tumble into clues and solutions.

Examples, Mild Spoilers ahead: For example, in the opening of the story Charlie kills a mob member and is therefore threatened with her life what leads to her coming back to Hawaii. Never again is this mentioned or has any influence on the story except as her “badge of honor”. Then we have a guy stalking her best friend, Zoe. He stalks her, she gets restraining order, he stalks her again, they beat the crap out of him, he ends up in jail and that’s it, the end, no connection to the plot.

There is a lot of attempted social commentary in the book such as police brutality, police failure to act, strong female characters, bribery of city councilmen and American patriotism. Which in itself is ok, but sometimes these episodic stories and are created solely for the purpose of conveying a message with no connection to the plot. And in times characters word them out so often it’s annoying. In one scene Charlie was unlawfully shocked with electric taser by the policemen. She mentions it every single time she sees Jack to the point it interrupts each natural conversation they are having. I believe this aspect of the story could have been handled better.

Overall, I’ll still give this book 3/5 stars, but it is a strong positive 3. I’m interested in how the writer will develop her writing style and what comes next for Charlie and her companions on the beautiful Hawaii.

Thank you NetGalley and Jasmine Webb for free copy of the book in exchange for honest review.

A really quirky and cute cozy mystery. Can’t wait to listen to the next audiobook of this series. The main characters were fun to read about and it set a good premise for the series.

This was a fun mystery read for me. The story reads as a cozy mystery of a young woman, Charlotte Gibson “Charlie” who hightails it back to her mom in Hawaii, after finding a human finger on her doorstep.

Charlie winds up teamed with a group of gutsy senior citizens in the area. Charlie and her cohorts soon find themselves embroiled in a situation of a “solve the mystery of the murder of a local business man for a cash reward. The lively and shrewd women are all-in on the effort to solve the murder and in sharing the reward money with Charlie.

Although this story has serious undertones concerning creepy local dirty politics and a single-minded stalker, it manages to be funny and uplifting as well. Throw in a fine-looking officer of the law and Charlies prospects in Hawaii become ever more interesting. Fun, fun, fun…I can’t wait to read book two in this series!

Charlie returns to Hawaii after gangsters in Seattle are trying to kill her. Wherever she goes, however, she seems to attract trouble. After getting a job in an ice cream shop, one of her customers is murdered. When a reward is advertised to find the killer, Charlie starts investigating. This story is not so much about the detective work, but her freindships and adventures along the way. Helping out her best friend Zoe, who has a stalker, coping with her mother's desire for her to find a boyfriend, and discovering that old age pensioners are capable of more than they appear round out this story nicely

What does one do when a vengeful mobster leaves a severed finger on your doorstep as a warning? Run, hide, witsec? Charlotte Gibson, Charlie, takes off to Hawaii in hopes to disappear and stay alive.

Charlie finds herself on Maui with six dollars to her name, living with a mother who can't stop giving her advice on how to land herself a husband. Seems trouble follows Charlie when a businessman is murdered and his company offers a reward to whoever finds the killer. Charlie needs money and here is a huge opportunity for a windfall. With that kind of cash, she can afford to get her own place and start a new life here away from the people who want her dead. How hard can hunting down a murderer be? She’s already killed one of em.

Some unusual circumstances lead to Charlie teaming with a couple of old ladies who possess more spunk than Betty White. Charlie is sure shes going to snag the reward money. Problem is the infuriating, but hunky cop is trying to keep her away from HIS case. To keep herself afloat, Charlie Scoops up in a local ice cream shop. corrupt even though her best friend is trying to act as the voice of reason, Charlie has her own ideas.

Will Charlie find the killer, get the reward money, make herself a good life in Hawaii and maybe land a hunky cop?

The narrator was good and projected humor into the story.
This is a modern and unconventional way of solving a murder. Don't expect much suspense, but still quite the fun read

I really enjoyed this cozy mystery. I found the humor mostly refreshing and liked that it wasn't so serious. Although, I did find it a bit predictable. I also thought that it was based a little too much on luck. Other than that, it was an enjoyable listen, and I would recommend.

Aloha Alibi
By Jasmine Webb
The first adventure of a young girl. Returning to Hawaii after a death threat. What she finds is not only a job but a mystery. Connecting with two rambunctious septinarians she moves quickly through the clues. Their courage and intellectual astute information.

Wasn't sure about this when I first started listening to the Audio book and the cover was too nice for a thriller
It turned out to be a murder mystery rather than thriller but also a comedy in parts so really easy listening

A reward is offered for information on a murder and half the island decide to investigate but the story is about 3 unlikely women Dot, Rosie, and Charlie who join forces to find the killer.

The narrator was good and pulled of the humour side brilliantly
This book is modern light hearted funny way of solving a murder so don't expect any suspense

This I have no doubt will become a series