A story told in podcast episodes based on interviews with the accused. There's very little commentary or opinions offered by the podcast host, and thus it comes across as more of a telling of events from each accused party's viewpoint.

I liked how the story was told, but didn't find it satisfying in the end. Something is missing, or maybe more than one thing. As I contemplate what I didn't like it seems to be a lack of suspense and believability and the slow movement and repetitiveness of the first half. The reveals along the way should have been exciting, but they mostly fell flat. I was excited by the reveals about the victims, which were different and unique, but in the end they didn't launch the story in a new direction as I had hoped and really didn't add to the story.

The ending was where the believability suffered the most. I came away with many doubts and unanswered questions and without a sense of justice served. Maybe that's the point. In criminal acts involving more than one defendant you don't always get to know how things really happened, who did what, what is true and what is false. All you can do is look at the pieces and fit them together into a mostly clear picture and be satisfied you were able to do that much.

A respectable, albeit unspectacular, read for true crime enthusiasts and amateur sleuths. 2.5 stars rounded up.

I read the audio of this book and was blown away by the production. I actually put my other books to the side and listened every single minute of free time I could find.

The production of this was so good I immediately got the authors other book and began listening.

another fantastic story from LR dorn. i love the way their books are written, in this multimedia fashion. this story was mind boggling and addictive. highly recommend!

With a Kiss We Die is an intimate thriller following a pair of star-crossed lovers accused of a heinous murder told through a true crime podcast. It is also shallow and disappointing. Yes, I am mad about it.

The premise intrigued me. I like a Romeo and Juliet inspired story, was curious to read about two drama students and was hopeful that this book would deliver a nuanced and critical look at true crime podcasts and our media fascination with brutal crimes. Unfortunately, With a Kiss We Die delivers none of that.

Maybe that’s where my subdued rage comes from, the potential for this to be a great book was there…and just not used in the slightest! As someone who loves character-driven thrillers and is always looking for truly nuanced and critical fictional takes on true crime, I had such high hopes that this book would be a match made in heaven for me. Instead, it left me feeling almost betrayed by how much it underdelivered on every aspect.

What With a Kiss We Die delivers is a straightforward mystery with red herrings that don’t work, superficial characters that aren’t interesting, a main character who isn’t particularly critical in her journalism and a truly predictable ending. It’s not twisty, it’s not nuanced, it wasn’t particularly memorable.

The whole book hinges on the push and pull of “did these college students commit a violent double homicide or didn’t they”. That’s the question. But somehow, despite Ryanna consistently reminding us of this, With a Kiss We Die never actually manages to pose an interesting mystery.

To me, the book just didn’t commit either way. Either, we could have an actual mystery with alternate suspects and a real investigation. Or, alternatively, we go all in on the idea that they did it and dig deep into their motives. With a Kiss We Die commits to neither option, instead hovering in the middle with half-hearted attempts at investigative threads, red herrings, and a study of what could drive someone to murder. It’s incredibly frustrating, to say the least.

Jordan and Victoria, our resident murderous theatre kids, are truly insufferable. It took me less than a single chapter to want to throw my phone with the audiobook against a wall just to make them stop talking. They’re artsy and in love and they need you to know it. I’m all here for unlikeable characters, but Jordan and Victoria aren’t just unlikeable, they’re not even interesting.

They felt like caricatures of insufferably pretentious drama students and even the attempts to dig into their characters and backstories were sloppy and didn’t yield any depth.

With a Kiss We Die does not deliver any actual examination of the ethics of true crime content or the relationship between journalists and their subjects. As you might be able to tell, this is the aspect that really disappointed me more than anything about this book.

Firstly, With a Kiss We Die draws inspiration from a real murder case. I appreciated the author being honest about this upfront. However, for a book ultimately inspired by real life violence and tragedy, it is shockingly unreflected when it comes to engaging with its true crime format.

Ryanna mentions that she feels conflicted about being so close to Jordan and Victoria and how she has a responsibility to be objective. Ultimately, she let’s herself be blinded by her subjects and fails to actually discuss the work she does, how true crime content contributes to the sensationalisation of violent crime or what the ethical implications of her kind of reporting actually are. It all feels shallow, like a facade of actual journalism put onto something that is anything but.

The one aspect of With a Kiss We Die that I genuinely enjoyed was the audiobook production. I couldn’t imagine consuming this story in any other format! Reading a book full of podcasts transcripts does not sound like my definition of fun or engaging. So I am happy to report that the audiobook has a full cast, great performances and very good sound design. The production might be the only reason I didn’t DNF this book, if I am being brutally honest.

Overall, With a Kiss We Die has a promising premise that it fails to bring to fruition every step of the way. If you aren’t going into it with the expectation of a great story or a nuanced look at true crime, it’s a fun and straightforward mystery with a nice audiobook production.

Fast-paced and entertaining. A recommended purchase for collections where crime and thrillers are popular.

I don’t know how I missed leaving this review because I read this a couple months ago. It was a good read, just missing that extra oomph I look for.

✨ "We're in the golden age of true crime. People can't get enough of this stuff."

Well, I couldn't get enough of this entertaining page-turner for sure! I've been a sucker for thrillers presented in a podcast format lately and this definitely hit the spot. It was a breezy and compulsive read that kept me intrigued and trying to figure things out. I know many people recommend the audiobook but I read an e-book and was very engrossed still.

I'm not big on Ryanna and her questionable decisions, but found Jordan and Victoria (and their dynamic) fascinating. The mystery and main storyline fell a bit flat, plus the supposed social commentary felt lacking, but overall I enjoyed the journey!

So did they or did they not? I had my guesses but you'll have to find out for yourselves...

Minor quibbles: 1) Phan is a Vietnamese surname, not Taiwanese. Pan is Taiwanese. 2) The scene where the podcasters call up "an office assistant who logs into a database of patients" and gives out info freely. Umm, what happened to patient confidentiality?

Thank you NetGalley for gifting me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review and opinions. I greatly enjoyed this novel.

3.5-3.75 Stars
If you're a fan of true crime podcasts, this novel is for you!

Follow Ryanna Raines, a true crime podcaster, on her journey as she delves deep into the investigation of the brutal double homicide of Mr. and Mrs. De Carlo. The two suspects in question: Jordan De Carlo and his girlfriend, Victoria Berne. Since no one would believe in their innocence, they reached out to Raines for help and asked for a chance to present their side of the story. After several interviews and deeper investigations, a question that arises over and over again is whether their innocence is authentic or simply part of an intricate scheme.

I love the idea, concept, and setup; it is such a brilliant and innovative approach to have the story set up in a podcast format. However, the slow pacing and predictable ending took away from the story, making the novel less engrossing. Despite a few flaws, it was still an enjoyable reading.

*** Thank you to NetGalley, L.R. Dorn, and William Morrow for graciously sending me a copy of the novel to review. As always, all thoughts are my own.***

I really wanted to love this one — the premise and writing was strong. The plot had me hooked and at first I liked the podcast format but when it didn’t change, I couldn’t get past it!! I so wish there had been “snippets” of podcast followed by narrative.

Many thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for my gifted copy.

This one was different and it was told all through a podcast. It gave me Bonnie and Clyde vibes. I enjoyed it and I liked the ending, but I was not a fan of the podcast.

podcast themed thrillers have become a bit oversaturated over the past year or so, but i actually tend to enjoy most of them and i had a lot of fun with this murder mystery! it definitely is a different sort of reading experience to have the entire book written in podcast scripts, so it took a minute to get my brain into the vibe of the storytelling (and i'm sure it would be fantastic on audiobook) but yeah, ultimately really enjoyed the latest from Dorn!

Such a good book!! I’ve never read a book with this kind of format and I am obsessed. A Romeo and Juliet sort of tragedy. This all could’ve been avoided but if it was then this book wouldn’t exist. I’d love to see how Victoria and Jordan’s story plays out in the future since this doesn’t seem like an ending for these two lovers. In a way this was a sort of wrong person right time. They would go through hell and back for one another (although one of them quite literally made that hell for them). I truly enjoyed and if I could reread this book for the first time I would in a heartbeat.

I am on a binge to read anything with a sub genre of a podcast or documentary and this book fit the bill. This was a excellent thrill a minute and will leave you stunned with the ending. Give me more books like this please!!

So I loved the unique approach on this one. Ryanna Raines is a true crime podcast host and she gets the scoop of a lifetime when a young couple accused of murder contact her to tell their side through her podcast before they go on trial for murder. Jordan and Victoria are two young and in love college kids. When Jordan's parents wind up brutally murdered they are the number one suspects. Neither believe they will get a fair shake in the media so they contact Ryanna who agrees to embed with them and get their side. This whole book is told as a series of podcast episodes which made it really interesting. You're seeing it unfold through the interviews and because the perspective is all through Ryanna and what she is experiencing as she interviews Jordan, Victoria and those surrounding them, it hits different than most books where you have multiple perspectives to go on to try and figure out what is going on. I agree with others who have said the audio book version of this would be awesome. I still had a hard time figuring out who to believe at the end. Glad I picked this up!

I had an e-galley of this book thanks to the publishers, but I used a LibroFM credit on this one to listen to it on audio after really loving the authors' first book on audio. I don't know if the authors are explicitly writing these books to play well on audio, but this one, in particular, SHOULD be listened to on audio versus read in print. It's fully stylized as a podcast, making the full cast audio incredibly immersive, and I absolutely binged this audiobook. It's a great plot, full of twists and clever cliffhangers, and fascinating characters. Loved this, hope for more from these authors!

Just fantastic.

I want to only put that as the review, but since Netgalley and William Morrow kindly gifted me an advanced copy, I am going to write more.

First off, the authors (a team of two) gave such a great author’s note on their exploration of true crime and podcasts.

This book is a mixed media lover’s dream. I was sucked in and felt like it was real. I know that it was based off a real case, but everything else was so well written it felt real.

The book leaves you wanting more even though it has a conclusion. You do have to suspend belief in the journalist’s allowances in this story, but that’s why this is fiction.

It was compelling and so easy to read. I did receive this only a few days before it was out to the public, so I was also able to pick up the audiobook and that was a fantastic way to consume this. Full cast and extremely well done.

This one is one of my top thrillers of 2023 for sure.

I really enjoyed the way this story was told from the POV of podcast episodes! At times, though, it was confusing if certain text was an internal thought or said aloud on the podcast. Such a creative premise, but I wish there had been a mix of episodes and first person POV as I feel we didn't quite get to know our main character, Ryanna Raines, as well as we could have. It felt like I had a pseudo-social friendship with her as she did things like overshare via the podcast, but it was still quite shallow, which may have been intentional.

I enjoyed some of the twists and new information that was revealed throughout the "podcast." As a true crime podcast listener, it felt realistic that some episodes were packed with information and others reflected on big picture items. It accounted for the pacing and gaps in time and made it feel more fluid.

I was waiting for a big ending and it fell flat. I didn't care about the couple and whether they were guilty, found guilty in a court of law, etc. The ambiguous conclusion left me wondering why I bothered to read the story beyond a certain point because it felt like there was a build up to a brick wall.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I loved the podcast style of this novel.
Very complex characters and story. Many twists and unpredictable turns that keep you on the edge of your seat.

The ending felt bland but I definitely see why the author ended the way the did. The ending was to make one question absolutely absolutely everything that had been said about the character.

With a Kiss We Die was a compelling read that I thoroughly enjoyed. The story was completely believable, which was an interesting contrast with the two people that Ryanna’s podcast focused on—they were absolute wild cards. Thankfully Ryanna was a stable, reliable narrator to balance out the two unreliable thespians who kept everybody guessing! Excellent novel—I look forward to reading more by these authors.