This was a fun catchy book! Eleanor Dash needs to get through her book tour in Italy and then she wants to end her book series. She wants to do this to cut all contact with Conner because the real Conner blackmails her for profits off her books and she wants to end the cycle with him however, When the real Conner has a near-death experience when someone pushes him onto the road. Then Eleanor is pushed and Oliver (Her Ex) saves her, as the book continues there is a murder and then there is an attempt on Eleanor's life. They then work together to try to see who in the group has a motive to murder each other, and while the Italian Police are completing their own investigation as well!
I loved this! It was witty, snarky, and then just fun! I really loved the footnotes, while they wouldn't work with a lot of books they worked amazingly with this book! This was a nice whodunit cozy mystery that was a quick read that has everything the mystery, suspense, drama, romance, with a splash of murder! I definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a good whodunit mystery!
Thank you Minotaur Books and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this one!

What a fun story. This is definitely a read for a vacation.

It's unlikely but funny how Eleanor writes an improbable story and becomes a best-selling author. And it's a hoot that the only person she wants out of her series is her ex-boyfriend that she can't seem to kill off.

The story takes you through some delightful cities in Italy as a mystery unfolds during this book tour vacation. At first it didn't seem like there was anything sinister going on. But as they visited a new city, new situations and people entered the story to help it evolve into a great mystery.

I look forward to another book from this author.

This was such a fun book! The perfect book to read at the beach. This was my first Catherine Mack book, and definitely won't be my last!

Thank you to the publisher, author and Net Galley for an advanced copy of this book.

I really enjoyed this story. Somewhat slow moving, but inventive and quirky. The use of footnotes, especially in the audiobook version, was very weird.

A well written cozy mystery that kept me guessing until the end! I tend to find myself getting bored with cozy mysteries but this one was full of whit, suspense, and the author breaking the fourth wall which I loved. A great debut novel and I can not wait to read more!

I cannot fully express how much I detested this book. Everything about it was ridiculous, from the structure to the conclusion. The constant breaking of the fourth wall wasn’t clever. It was annoying. It felt like both the author and the main character were toying with the reader. The audiobook narrator’s voices for various characters, and her inability to keep them consistent, didn’t help. This is apparently going to be a series. I will not be reading more.

Overall, the book was well written, captured my attention and I did really enjoy it. Thank you for this advance copy!

*I received a free copy of this novel from NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Minotaur for my honest review.*

Eleanor is a best selling author with a series based on a real man she had a fling with and can't get rid of. So trying to off him on her Italian book tour is the way to go.... Maybe. Until someone starts trying to kill him for realsies.

Fun plot line, funny footnotes, and quirky characters and I can't wait to read more about Eleanor's adventures!

I really enjoyed this book. It was cute and had a little bit of everything...mystery, romance, sisters. It was a really cute book!

This was a really fun beach read! I highly enjoyed the setting in Rome and along the Amalfi coast, made me want a spritz really bad. Our main character, Eleanor, is a best-selling author of murder mystery books. She is on tour for her latest installment in the Vacation Mystery series when all of a sudden her main character, Connor, is the target of a real-life murder! Plot twist (not a spoiler), she is trying to kill him off in the book series as well, so this makes Eleanor suspect no.1 in Connor's attempted murder. Overall, I would give this book a 3.5/5. It kept me engaged and I enjoyed the mix of characters/settings. The ending was also a fun plot twist, which is great for any mystery. The one thing that kept this book from a higher rating was the author's use of footnotes. It was meant to be a character quirk, which it was but became a big distraction for me as a reader. I hope to have more books in the series and look forward to getting to know Eleanor even more.

Thank you @Netgalley for the advanced reader copy!

*Song Pairing: Bim Bom by Joao Gilberto

I had to switch to the audio of this book because I found the footnotes really took me out of the story. a unique way to tell a story but they worked much better on audio and I found them distracting in print.

Overall this was just ok for me. I couldn’t get fully invested - I was along for the ride but didn’t really care about the reveal or conclusion.

Thank you so much to Minotaur books and @netgalley for the ARC!

🍋 𝙈𝙮 𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 🍋
I love books featuring authors as the main character and this cozy murder mystery hits the spot! It is the first book in the Vacation Mysteries series, and I look forward to the next one!

Eleanor Dash is going on an Italian book tour for the 10th anniversary of her first book. She has to deal with Connor Smith, who she got involved with 10 years ago when they solved a crime together… leading her to base her main character off of him. He has been irritating her since then! She also has crazy fans, an ex boyfriend, and other shenanigans happening. In the midst of chaos, there is murder and Eleanor is trying to stay safe and solve it!

I enjoyed the breaking the fourth wall perspective in the book. Eleanor literally called herself an unreliable narrator, which was amusing! Her main character Connor was annoying and comical at the same time. I liked how we were taken in circles as to who could have the motive and means to the murders that happen on this trip. It kept me guessing until the end!

I look forward to reading the next one in this series! I enjoy a cozy mystery with humor blended in!
.

𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚:
🍋 Cozy Murder Mysteries
📘 Books featuring Authors
📗 Breaking the Fourth Wall
🍋 Italian Book Tour
📙 Blackmail and Funny Characters

Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack is a hilarious and heartwarming mystery series that follows the misadventures of travel writer Alexia "Alex" Hawthorne. After a series of unfortunate events, Alex discovers that whenever she goes on vacation, someone always seems to die. Determined to solve the mystery, she sets out on a series of hilarious and heartwarming adventures.

Mack's writing is witty and engaging, keeping readers hooked from the very beginning. The characters are well-developed and likable, and the setting of each vacation destination is unique and interesting. The mystery itself is cleverly constructed, with plenty of twists and turns to keep readers guessing.

This was a fun romp through all the delicacies of Rome, with a hint of distrust. The FMC is an author, talking through some concepts for her next book alongside an actual suspected murder, I high felt confusing at times. The relationships between the characters have very little depth, and there are a ton of footnotes. The audio does read them as part of the story, which adds character. Overall it wasn’t what I thought it would be, but I appreciated how beautiful Rome is depicted.

I received an advance review copy for free from the publisher via Netgalley and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

When author Eleanor ends up on a tour of Italy in July that’s been organized by her publisher, she has two goals in mind: survive and drink all the aperol spritzes. Unfortunately, blackmail, murder attempts, and interpersonal relationships get in the way. Who will make it out alive?

While this took me a bit to get into, I found Eleanor quirky and funny. Her footnotes made for comical insights into the narrator’s mind. A lighthearted who dun it for anyone looking for a fun, quick read.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for a fair review.

very fun plot lots of fourth wall breaks, i enjoyed it, was very fun although slightly predictable. would say the arc format was rlly bad and the amount of footnotes did get kind of annoying

A book about a book is always fun to read, this one unique with the annotations as part of the story. A cute cozy-ish mystery with a lot of characters to keep track of. It’s told in a single, first person POV of the main character who speaks directly to reader at times and is also an unreliable narrator.
3.5 stars

Unfortunately I didn’t remember to write a review for this work soon enough after reading and I don’t have a clear idea about how I felt about this book. I wish it was more memorable.

This book is written very uniquely with an exuberant amount of footnotes, but once I started getting the rhythm, I really enjoyed the storytelling device and its use to add to the story.
Our FMC, Eleanor, is an author of a popular mystery series, who’s male protagonist is based on her former boyfriend, and their own tale. Connor sucks and blackmailed her, and now he’s along for the ride with everything she does, as her come-to-life fiction character.
While on an exclusive tour in Italy for winners of her contest, it becomes obvious that someone is trying to murder not just Connor, but her too. The mystery writer becomes the subject of her own mystery. I loved the fourth wall breaks and how while following the mystery formula, she also points it out. Its like pausing a movie and saying “see what I did there?”
Even with her guidance, I still failed to figure out who the antagonist was until it was revealed.

Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the arc!

"Every Time I Go on Vacation Someone Dies" has an intriguing premise, but the execution fell flat for me. The writing style felt disjointed, making it hard to get immersed in the story. Despite the potential for dark humor, the pacing seemed off, and I struggled to connect with the characters—they felt more like caricatures than real people. While some parts were entertaining and had a unique flair, I found myself skimming through sections that seemed overly drawn out or lacking depth. It’s a decent read for those who enjoy quirky mysteries, but it didn’t quite hit the mark for me.