This is one of the best books I’ve read in a while. There were book recommendations, digs at authors, digs at the publishing industry and fun jabs at crazy readers. The thought of Agatha Christie picking fights with one star reviewers on Goodreads will live with me. Hilarious! All this paired with a really fun plot and a top notch mystery. I loved the footnotes and will be anxiously awaiting Catherine Mack’s next story. Every time I thought I had things figured out I ended up being wrong but I did figure out who the “bad guys” were and it was a great ending. The setting was amazing and it was like having an adventure in Italy..

Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for a copy of this book. It was fabulous.

This was so much fun! It was an easy read and had some thrills. I enjoyed the characters and the overall vibes. Thank you for the advance copy

This was such a fun book! 3.75 rounded up. This is not a thriller but more of a cozy mystery, so go into knowing that it's going to be a lighter read. I loved the FMC and her sister, Harper, as well as the setting, and even the side characters (I hope that Oliver and Connor are in the next one!) Side note: I also highly recommend the audio version! Elizabeth Evans is fantastic. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an ARC of this novel.

A sweet cozy mystery, filled with suspense and wonder.
It's a dramatic, slow burn that will keep you guessing all the way to the end.
If you're looking for a beach read this is the one!!

3.5⭐️ Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies is a nice light murder mystery, with a bit of humor mixed in. While not the most memorable story, it makes for a great quick beach read.

Thank you Catherine Mack, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for providing this ARC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies is the debut book of a new series by Catherine Mack. Our main character, Eleanor, is an author of a murder mystery series, with strings attached, which leaves her DYING to kill off the main character (Conner) in her series…and yes, we can see why. The book takes place in beautiful Italy while she’s on a book tour with fans that have won a spot to join along with several other authors. Meanwhile, Connor thinks someone is in Italy trying to kill him for real and now everyone is a suspect.

ETIGOVSD is a witty, light, airy, cozy, whodunnit murder mystery. What I really love is the narration of the book, which comes from Eleanor, and her quirky personality filled footnotes. It really felt like you were being told the story by a girlfriend while sipping aperol spritzes on the Almafi Coast. We used to live in Italy and I think that really enhanced my experience because it sparked so many memories and I could envision the scenery since I’d toured those cities a few years ago.

I give this book 3.5 stars! This is such a fun and quick read that’s great for the summer.

Feel free follow my social media accounts, I will be sharing my review of this book prior to the publishing date.
https://linktr.ee/britneybarlow

Thank you Netgalley and St Martins Press/Minotaur Books for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. My thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.

A quick paced, funny, lighthearted, who done it mystery. When everyone has a motive and the means - everyone becomes a suspect in this story. I didn’t guess everything correctly but I was able to put together a few clues along the way which I’m happy about!

The story is told in a second person point of view which was both intriguing and refreshing. I find that POV a bit uncommon - at least with the genres I read - so it was a nice change for me! Specifically, the ‘Breaking through the fourth wall’ chapter and the numerous footnotes were unique.

While I don’t feel particularly connected to the characters in this story, I am interested to see what this author comes up with next as I enjoyed her writing style!

This book was such a fun read, especially while on vacation! I LOVED the FMCs footnotes and the fourth wall breaks. The mystery was compelling and I really didn’t see the culprit coming. I can’t wait to see where Eleanor’s story goes in the next book!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read an ARC of Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies. This was a quick and enjoyable read! Eleanor goes on a book tour to Italy to celebrate the 10th anniversary of her first book being released. Unfortunately, someone is trying to kill her and Connor, her former boyfriend/main character of her books. Eleanor and Connor have a complicated history, and Eleanor decides to try to solve this mystery without killing Connor herself. There were several moments where I found myself laughing out loud. Eleanor reminds me of Finlay Donovan as they are both messy, humorous protagonists. Admittedly, the footnotes drove me crazy. This could have been a formatting issue since I was reading on my Kindle, but I didn't enjoy having to skip ahead every few pages to find the corresponding footnotes. That being said, some of the best snark was in the footnotes so I'm glad that I stuck with it. I will definitely read the next book in this series!

DNF @ 23%. As much as I wanted to enjoy this and the characters + summary drew me in, the footnotes were SUCH a distraction from the story itself, especially on kindle. I found myself pulled out of the narrative and it was incredibly difficult to sit and read. I wish there were an arc with no footnotes.

3.75 ⭐️! Imagine murder mystery with Jennifer Anniston & Adam Sandler in book form. This was such a fun cozy mystery and I was always excited to pick it up and listen to it and kept me intrigued through the whole book. I’ll definitely read the next one whenever it comes out! Also I recommend the audiobook more than the physical book because the narrorator was great and the footnotes flow better via the audiobook.

Every Time I go on Vacation, Someone Dies is fresh and funny. In this clever, light mystery, famed Eleanor Dash and a few other mystery novelists are the spotlight guests in a bookish tour of the location of Eleanor's first published novel. The twenty fans participating in the tour are merely extras as the story centers on mystery writers and the mystery in which they are embroiled.

Eleanor Dash is the narrator of this story. Author Catherine Mack gives her lead character an interesting voice and uses some unique techniques for Eleanor to reach out to her audience (we readers). In addition to everything else going on in the book, and there is a lot, Eleanor Dash talks directly to the reader, via "footnotes" to tell us about anything and everything from secrets of the publishing world and literary devices to drink recipes. These additions brought some insights and laughs. Through most of the book I enjoyed them, but it did feel a little overused towards the end of the book.

I found that I was easily sucked in by the red herrings and Eleanor's musing on who had motive and means to kill. I hit on the true antagonist a couple times, by author Catherine Mack made me doubt myself. For me, this is the sign of a good mystery. The book title hooked me, the fun read kept me engaged. It is a highly entertaining read!

4.5 stars

I couldn’t get into this book at first. Light, fluffy mysteries aren’t really my thing, and I wasn’t a huge fan of the author talking at me. Eventually, though, her snarky sense of humor won me over and I flew through the second half of the book. If you’re looking for a light-hearted mystery with a dash of comedy, this one’s for you.

3.7 rounded up to 4.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the arc.

Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack is the first book in the new cozy The Vacation Mysteries series. I can’t say totally for sure yet but with the mystery in this first book being solved by the end I expect this series to be one you could read as a standalone or in any order with new mysteries in each book.

Eleanor Dash is a best selling author who desperately wants to end the book series that made her famous. Eleanor’s mistake was basing her main character on Connor Smith, a man she desperately wants out of her life. Since the success of the series Connor has been profiting off his likeness and making Eleanor miserable in the process.

Now as Eleanor plots the demise of the literature version of Connor it seems someone else may be plotting Connor’s real life demise. Eleanor and Connor have been on a press tour around Italy when someone takes a shot at killing him but their motley group of traveling companions is full of suspects and does Eleanor really want to stop Connor’s demise?

Picking up Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack is one for not only cozy mystery lovers but with the main character being an author you could say for book lovers but this first book is also for the travel lovers with the setting being around Italy. The character do have that slight tough of quirkiness you’d find in a lot of cozies and there were plenty of twists along the way in the story. With a lot going on in the this first book I felt I could have gotten to know the characters a bit better but when finished I rated this at three and half stars and would return to the series.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

This was a light-hearted tale with a few murders thrown in. How is that possible? An author tour is heading through Italy along with a group of fans, what could go wrong?

Our main character, Eleanor Dash, is a surprisingly successful author. She has penned several murder mysteries starring real-life Connor. A man she met years ago in Italy, at one point she adored him, now she can’t stand him. We know there are secrets about Eleanor and Connor’s first case, the one that turned into her first bestselling book.

I have to talk about the footnotes. I am not a fan; sorry, Eleanor and Catherine Mack. I found that they were a total distraction and took away from my reading pleasure. I have heard that the audio was a better experience.

As scary murder attempts and bodies start piling up, the reader starts to wonder just how reliable Eleanor is as a narrator. Could she be behind everything? She did mention wanting to kill off Connor, but was that only in the books?

There are quite a few characters to track in this one—the stalkerish fan, Eleanor’s jealous sister, two ex-boyfriends, and the other authors. I will say that I did not sleuth out the ending and I enjoyed the Italian setting.

Every time I Go On Vacation, Someone Dies is amazing. It’s been a while since I’ve enjoyed a cozy mystery as much as this one. If you’re looking for humor, mystery and thrills, this is for you. I did not guess the ending and I love how the information is parsed out so you had a fair chance of guessing (although I failed). One of my favorite devices is when the MC breaks the fourth wall and speaks directly to us. Eleanor does this with humor and I’m pretty sure this is going to be a series and I can’t wait for more of Eleanor’s world.

This was a fun mystery with a lot of humor. The main character is an author on a tour of Italy. She breaks the fourth wall and talks to the reader through footnotes and separate chapters. The footnotes were actually a fun twist. This is a light fun read.

My thanks for the ARC goes to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books. I'm voluntarily leaving a review.

Genre: Cozy Mystery, Travel Mystery, Mystery, Books about books
Spice Level: Med-High (Fade to black but some details . . . )
Language: Some swearing, including f-bombs

I loved the premise of EVERY TIME I GO ON VACATION, SOMEONE DIES. This book was so much fun in many ways.

The main character Eleanor has major flaws, and sometimes is really kind of a jerk. But I actually kind of liked her because some of the things that happened to her were worse than what she'd done to others. (Levels of how terrible the people were.) Connor is such a villain with his behavior, everyone looked great compared to him.

So many people had reasons to be angry with Eleanor—and you'll have to decide if they were good enough for murder. But hey, you've got lust, money, position all on the table. Sometimes, the author breaks the fourth wall—as in she actually says this—and invites the reader to figure it out. Since I'm always trying to figure things out, I felt pretty seen. In this story, I thought it worked as a device.

I hope you enjoy it too.

Happy reading!

Eleanor Dash is a bestselling author who is on a book tour in Italy even though she’d rather be anywhere else. She plans to kill off the main character, who happens to be an ex, in the next installment of her series so that she is done with him once and for all.

The book tour becomes a real-life murder mystery, and it kept me guessing. I’ve never read a book written in this style before, and while I originally didn’t know what to think I ended up really enjoying the different style. I can’t wait to read other books in this series.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read an ARC of this novel. #NetGalley #EveryTimeIGoonVacationSomeoneDies

“Rome
Bless me, Father, for I have sinned.
I want to commit a homicide.”

This. This is how the book starts. Utterly fantastic!

Dodging lost loves and death threats, literary rivals and rabid fans, protagonist Eleanor Dash wants to get through her book tour in Italy and kill off her main character, her handsome ex-boyfriend and star of her bestselling series, before her reality becomes one of her murder mysteries.

I 👏🏻 love 👏🏻 Italians! The country. The culture. The FOOD. Reading this book is like taking a crazy and murder filled hilarious jaunt through Italy, experiencing all that this most amazing country has to offer…with a sprinkle of shenanigans on the side.

This book is like a story within a story. It is so witty and cleverly written. There are also sooo many #bookstagram references that made me snicker and smirk and laugh out loud. The #bookface ladies. Not tagging authors in any review less than four stars. The Goodreads issue of snarky reviews without actually reading the book. So fun and relevant if you spend a lot of time either reading or writing reviews.

Narrator @elizabeththevansync nails it! Oh my did she bring this story and these characters to life.

Thank you to Netgalley, Macmillan Audio, Miinotaur Books, and the author for the ARC and ALC in exchange for my honest review.