A book with a signature drink ? This one definitely has one - Eleanor Dash keeps downing Aperol Spritz's like there's no tomorrow "and keep them coming" !
Every Time I Go On Vacation by Catherine Mack is a funny and humorous mystery novel, the first in The Vacation Mysteries series, which I both read and listened to on audio, wonderfully narrated by Elizabeth Evans, who juggles the wide cast of different characters, the drama, and especially the significant number of foot notes masterfully, keeping me engaged from beginning to end.
I want to visit Italy now, there were such vivid and beautiful descriptions of classic Italian tourist locations that l'd love to visit. The reader gets deeply immersed since Caroline Mack uses fictional author Eleanor Dash and has her speaking directly to the audience bringing them in on their adventures and laying open that it may not be the wisest to fully trust her either.
Eleanor is not the most likable of main characters I found her a bit whiny and a bit too dependent on her younger sister/ personal assistant Harper waiting on her hand and foot. She finds herself on a 10 day book tour organised by her publisher from Rome through Pompeii and down the Amalfi coast with quite the entourage that includes her sister, Harper, other authors, fans and a stalker against whom she has a restraining order as well as her nemesis the dislikeable con man Connor Smith, the mold for the main character of her books but also her ex-lover and blackmailer. Add to this a slightly incompetent tour guide and get this show on the road ...
This was very fun to listen to ! Was this a little over the top ? Sure, but it was a fun ride that made me think of summer ... and now I'll have that Aperol Spritz!

A fantastic, entertaining read! The digital version was a little tricky with the notes throughout only appearing at the end of each chapter, but the physical copy clears it all up. Fantastic!

This is a fun, cozy mystery, full of plot twists and humerous mayhem. Eleanor is a successful author of a highly celebrated series of mystery books. Her book tour includes a trip to Italy with a group of fans and authors (and stalkers), all ready to enjoy a relaxing vacation and celebrate Eleanor's success. But everything takes a turn for the worse when Connor - Eleanor's writing partner - claims that someone is trying to kill him. As someone who knows a thing or two about murder mysteries, Eleanor takes it upon herself to try and figure out who is behind it all. As she delves deeper she realizes there is way more than meets the eye and the supposed killer may be part of the group.

I actually had a fun time with this one. I loved all of the sightseeing of Italy thrown in and all of the plot twists. Eleanor does break the fourth wall, and it is distracting to a certain degree, but if you get past that and the weird footnotes, the story itself works out well. What hasn't been mentioned much in reviews is Eleanor's relationship with her ex Oliver which I really loved. Oliver is interesting and they have great chemistry, which the story needs. This is pretty fast paced and finishes nicely. It is definitely a light-hearted cozy mystery so it has many light moments but Eleanor's back story is complex enough to give a nice balance to the story.

The only real issue I had were the footnotes and lack of fourth wall as it was continuous and didn't flow well. However it could have been an e-reader issue.

What did I read??????????

This book was all over the place, messy. And I freaking lapped it all up like it was a melting ice cream cone in 100 degree heat.

This is the type of cozy mystery I can read. Nothing against cozy mysteries. I enjoy one from time to time, but some of them just leave me shaking my head. This one left me shaking my head for all the (great) opposite reasons.

What a fun group of characters. Then throw in a little mystery. Throw in a little love (maybe?). And throw in lots of mayhem! Give me more! Oh yeah, this is just book one. Sign me up for the next two books, please and thank you.

While I received this as an advanced ebook, I opted for the audiobook to consume. Y'all, that was absolutely the best choice. This is a book that is done so well as a listen, and I'd highly, HIGHLY recommend consuming it in this way. This is like a book within a book within a book, and it's just a darn delight. The story is narrated by Eleanor who is on a book tour for her mystery series. Except then a real-life mystery happens, too, and she has to figure out who wants her dead. In other words, Eleanor is like a character in her book. The twists in this one are so great, and it's got a great cast of characters to keep you (and Eleanor!) guessing as to who's responsible for what's happening. There's also this really great aspect of the story where Eleanor brings the fourth wall as the narrator and speaks directly to the reader. For me that's the piece that worked best as an audiobook. This was just so, so well done - Truly storytelling at its finest. Thanks to NetGalley for the look at this April 2024 release!

I really wanted to like this. The writing was fun and it seemed like it was a cozy read. The footnotes were too distracting for me. Especially on a kindle.

4.5 stars!! I really enjoyed this book about an author and her books becoming so intertwined with her reality! Eleanor is so funny, Conner is the worst, and Oliver is the most cinnamon roll guy ever! At some point I felt like I was suspicious of just about everyone, main and side characters alike, but I didn’t put it together until the very end when everything was revealed! The footnotes were a little tricky to navigate, but I ended up really enjoying the little aside moments inside Eleanor’s brain. I knocked down half a star because the breaking of the fourth wall kinda took me out of the story. Asking if I solved the mystery yet, and reminding me of all the clues left behind, made me feel like I had missed something really big, even though I hadn’t. Overall, the story is a super fun read for summer time, and I really loved the settings all over Italy!

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Minotaur Books for the digital ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!!

I found it fun to read the 200+ footnotes. I really felt like I talked to Eleanor and got to know her in depth.

The book takes interesting turns and despite the crime, it maintains a light tone that did not generate tension or excess drama, which I expected from this story.

Although I enjoyed it, there were times when I felt that it went on too long in scenes that did not contribute to the advancement of the plot. As much as I enjoyed the footnotes, sometimes they took away a bit of the story and I found it difficult to fully immerse myself. However, I found it to be a creative structure and I would love to read another book by the author.

I think this story would work well as a miniseries with voiceover for Eleanor's notes.

As a reader of mysteries, I am often required to suspend belief to enjoy a series The premises are so bizarre that if it happened in real life there would be a major investigation. If I know someone who routinely encountered dead bodies, I would avoid them like the plague. Catherine Mack's wonderful title "Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies" sums up this lunacy well. Her protagonist, Eleanor Dash, writes mysteries that take place in vacation destinations. While on a publicity jaunt, Eleanor finds herself surrounded by a mixture of people who she would love to see fall off a cliff, or would love to see her fall of one. Mack entertainingly captures the trend of including foot/endnotes as a type of aside or to supply further information. She keeps the reader guessing and even if you may think you know who the culprit is, the reason why is not obvious. This has been presented as the first in a series and I hope that the second book is released soon.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3,75 stars rounded up

Oh I love books that show a little bit of the behind the scenes of publishing. I had so much fun with this cozy mystery and loved the Italian setting. I wouldn't mind going on a press trip for some of my favorite books!

What a fun book. I plowed through Every Time I Go On Vacation, Someone Dies and can't wait for the next in the series. I really enjoyed that the story was basically the manuscript for the main character's new book (or at least I took it that way with all the footnotes) and thought that was unique. The story is fun, filled with drama, and the characters really make the story come to life.

This is one of those books I could 1000% see becoming a movie or a series. It was like Only Murders in the Building, but with a vacation in Italy instead.

This is the perfect summer book.
Thank you Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.
4.5/5 stars

THE BEST SUMMER read for 2024
It has everything a little humor, wit, romance, a few juicy details, a lot of suspicion. But the best part? I love books that break the 4th wall.
and most novels I find with this style are serious and/or historical. It was a treat to find it in this novel. I first shrugged it off as a simple beach read. But it ended up being so much more and I am happy to hear it is part of a series.

All that bestselling author Eleanor Dash wants is to get through her book tour in Italy and kill off her main character, Connor Smith, in the next in her Vacation Mysteries series—is that too much to ask?

Clearly, because when an attempt is made on the real Connor’s life—the handsome but infuriating con man she got mixed up with ten years ago and now can't get out of her life—Eleanor’s enlisted to help solve the case.

The setting was perfect - 10/10! I will automatically read any book that has the setting of the Amalfi Coast because I think it’s beautiful, and I desperately want to visit some day. Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies, is a fun, light mystery that breaks the fourth wall with Eleanor Dash, the main character, speaking directly to the reader at times. I will say that I struggled to get into the story… it seemed slightly chaotic, I didn’t particularly love any of the characters, and I found the use of footnotes distracting – I didn’t love the back and forth of reading the footnote and then having to find my place in the book again, but that’s just personal preference. I did start to get into it around the 85% mark and flew through the ending. I seem to be in the minority with my feelings about this book so if you’re looking for a light, cozy mystery, you should check this one out.

Loved the book within a book. The characters were great and I enjoyed the story. The twists were good and not super predictable.

I quite enjoyed this book, and the footnotes were really fun little additions. (My ARC version wasn't formatted the greatest for my Kindle app, so trying to *find* the footnotes was an adventure in itself sometimes, but I digress.) The story definitely kept me on my toes and guessing about what was happening and who was behind it, and I slightly figured it out just before the big reveal, but still not entirely, which I liked. I will absolutely be picking up the sequel once it's available. =)

4 stars

**I received an advanced review copy from Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving this review. All thoughts and comments contained within are my own.**

This book was good and at times I was laughing out loud at the comments and footnotes. Throughout the story you’re wondering who is trying to kill the protagonist and the main character in her books. random occurrences keep happening and trying to figure out if someone really is trying to kill them or not.

This is a fun vacation book. We have a bunch of authors and their fans going on a trip to Italy. Some of the participants are not welcome, don’t get along, and some are hooking up or have hooked up in the past, see have a bit of everything in this one.

Eleanor is the author that the tour is set up for, and she is plotting her next book, in which she plans on killing off Connor, her main character. Plans tend to change and Connor appears to be on a hit list in real life. This is where the book has drama with some deaths and some funny scenarios.

The book was enjoyable on my road trip and I will recommend it for that purpose. You don’t have to think, just enjoy.

this was a fun read! i loved the voice of the main character, it absolutely propelled me through the book. i didn't love the resolution, but i will definitely be continuing the series.

This story follows Eleanor Dash a best-selling author on a book tour through Italy. Along the way, it turns into a real-life murder mystery.

I enjoyed this story it was a fun, cozy, murder mystery read set in Italy. Everyone was a suspect, the characters were fun and the dialogue was witty. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

Thanks to @stmartinspress, @netgalley, and the author of this ARC

Eleanor Dash became a mystery author by accident. She went to Italy, got involved in a real-life murder, and turned her vacation fling into a wildly successful novel.

That was ten years ago. Now, the con artist she fell in love with during that trip — who became the lead of her mystery series — is blackmailing her; her younger, prettier sister Harper is her personal assistant; and they’re trapped on a ridiculous promotional trip to Italy. Along with them are a bunch of fans, including one who’s so extreme there’s a restraining order; Eleanor’s ex-boyfriend, another mystery writer whom she’s still not over; and a younger, hotter, upcoming author who’s copying her plots.

Eleanor wants to kill off Connor, the blackmailer, but only in her book. Then he declares he needs her help in finding out who’s really trying to kill him. In Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies, Catherine Mack has given us a very modern Agatha Christie-style mystery with lots of twists, emotional potential motives, and both comedy and drama.

But it’s the style of the book that makes it stand out — it’s dual-tracked. By which I mean, there’s the story, narrated by Eleanor, and then there are her footnotes, commenting on what’s she’s just said. It’s reminiscent of social media, where everything’s up for discussion, or watching TV with a snarky friend.

It’s easy to read, great fun, and wonderful escapism as all this happens during a hot summer in Italy. (The publisher provided a digital advance review copy.)