First things first, this story was SO FUN and fast paced and kept my attention from the start. That being said, I was reading the eARC and found it extremely difficult to navigate with all the footnotes. I say this because I don’t always read in the same font so my pages don’t always line up. Not only that, but it was constant back and forth trying to read the footnotes along with the story. However, I know this wouldn’t be as difficult with a physical book and I know, having listening to the ALC, the audiobook was also easier to follow along.

The characters are easy to love and almost hate. You’ll stay guessing until the very end and be shocked when you get to the twist. The cliffhanger though.. I can’t wait for book two!

Thanks so much Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC.

I will start by saying that the author did a great job of keeping readers guessing, which helped me stay very invested in the story and kept the pacing nice and fast. I did not guess the ending at all until she explained it to us, which is always a very strong positive in my opinion; if I’m reading a mystery, I’d always love the answer to come to me or be exposed to me in an Agatha-Christie-style, never-saw-it-coming way! I would say that I also did get the impression that there was character growth, and the main character did get SOME self-reflection and personal growth by the end of the story.

I think some of the areas I didn’t quite love are definitely reader-dependent; I think others may appreciate the story for the things that weren’t my favorite. I also feel the NEED to disclose that I read this work as an ARC, because many, and I may go so far as to say MOST, of the components/plot or character elements that I saw as detractors from the story were in the footnotes, which the author specifically mentioned may be removed before the publication date.

Firstly, I think that the main character’s flaws are a big focus of the plot. For example, she is a self-proclaimed (stated verbatim multiple times) unreliable narrator. I think this alone isn’t necessarily always a negative, but I think in this story it just happened to rub me the wrong way in the setting of the fourth wall breaks where she speaks directly to the reader, giving me a kind of taunting “I know something you don’t know because I lived it already and am telling you this story, but you should keep guessing” impression. Her other character flaws include severe sense of personal insecurity, imposter syndrome, and routine self-sabotage, which created some other facepalm moments and made the character seem pretty unlikeable at times. I think at times the persistent negative attributes overshadowed the character’s very significant positives, like how she takes care of her sister and is a humble person. There are specific things in the story that make me believe that the character is actually a VERY good person, so it upsets me that her negatives changed my impression of her that much.

Lastly, I was INTENSELY displeased with the Agatha Christie/Roger Ackroyd spoiler in the footnotes. Aside from the spoiler being completely unnecessary, there was not enough warning, it added nothing to the plot, and it spoiled a HUGE plot twist for an author that I absolutely love.

Thanks for the arc.
This was a fun read. Think I missed several of the clues, even though the main character reviewed them for us several times. The mystery was interesting as were the characters. Probably because it was an arc, the formatting was off. The author warned of that at the beginning. I might try this one again as a hard copy.

3 stars

Overall, this was a unique, cozy mystery. I liked it but didn’t love it.

At first, I was not enjoying this. At all. I was not invested in any of the characters and initially found the footnotes annoying. I started it weeks ago and just kept putting off picking it back up. It was also hard to get past the formatting issues I had with the digital copy. I debated DNFing.

BUT—I pushed through and ultimately ended up liking this cozy mystery. The writing style was certainly fresh and unique. The narrator broke the fourth wall frequently, which I found entertaining at times. However, the mystery was not all that mysterious because it was glaringly obvious who the murderer was the entire time (in my opinion, at least). And not a single character was likable in the slightest. Okay, maybe other than Oliver. Everyone else kind of sucked.

The footnotes grew on me. They were humorous, but there were way too many of them (almost 300, actually). And the formatting of them was simply not ideal for Kindle. Reading them either required me to skip ahead to read them or I had to go back and find the point in the story they were referencing—breaking the flow of the story either way. I think they would be much more enjoyable when reading a physical book, unless the final digital version has improved formatting.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

If you like Benjamin Stevenson's Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, you will love Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies. Catherin Mack gives us insight into the world of publishing in her protagonist El. On a 10th Anniversary, we meet El and her "Universe" of people, from ex lovers, family, scorned women, and even a few strangers. As the book tour we realize everyone has a motive for murder. Who is the victim and who is the killer is for you to decide... I can't wait to read the next book Catherine Mack has in store for this series.

Super fun and unique in its storytelling! A breezy read and perfect for the beach. My only feedback is the annotations were fun and funny but often distracting ad I’m darting my eyes back and forth BUT I’d categorize that as a ME problem

First off, this was a cute and funny murder mystery/romance. I was completely entertained and would read more books in this series.

The book relies on a couple of devices that I thought were unnecessary - endless footnotes and “breaking the fourth wall”. For example, I like to recognize a clue myself, I don’t need it told to me in a footnote. Considering I was reading an e-book and listening to an audiobook, the endless footnotes are clunky in those formats. Some readers might find the constant breaking of the fourth wall and endless footnotes refreshing and engaging, for me, it became more of a distraction than a delight.

3.5

Queue this up for the perfect vacation read!

This was such a fun book to listen to and to follow along with in my e-book. I thoroughly enjoyed the story, the characters, the setting (Italy), and the writing style. The footnotes were a hoot!

Bestselling novelist Eleanor Dash and her personal assistant and sister, Harper, are off on a book tour with other authors and the winning contestants from the BookFace Ladies fan event. Eleanor is in a bit of a funk as she wants her long running series, the Vacation Mysteries, to come to an end by killing off the main character in the books, based on her actual ex-boyfriend and pain in her life, Connor Smith. Surprisingly, someone else seems to want to kill him too, but for real. After several attempts are made to end Connor, Eleanor realizes that the murderer must be part of their tour group.

As the tour moves from place to place with the situation growing more dire, someone in their entourage dies. Each is a suspect and the theories grow more wild as the finger pointing, motives, and investigation deepens.

This was hilarious and I cannot wait until the next in what must be a new series comes out. The audiobook was done very well and the narrator did a great job voicing all the characters with accents and pronunciations in Italian. I like to follow along in the book as well and the only jarring note is that in the e-book all the footnotes appear at the end of the chapter, so I had to pause to read those even though they were voiced at the appropriate point. Lots of clues in those!

I have to recommend this debut to anyone looking for a light-hearted read that is nearly impossible to put down.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the e-book and the audiobook to read and review.

Book: Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies
Author: Catherine Mack
Format: Digital
Genre: Cozy Mystery, Comedy
Places Featured: Italy
Review Score: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Review: This is a funny book; I appreciated that it was "different" and "quirky". The formatting was a bit challenging (especially with so many footnotes and recognizing when there was a break in the fourth wall), but I, of course, recognize that may have been because of the advanced copy. The story is about Eleanor Dash, an author known for her series of mysteries set around Italy who is currently traveling throughout Italy with fans, fellow authors, and others with ties to the series. As the group tours through Italy, Eleanor has a lot to deal with: some old loves, the future of her series, some crazy fans, her past, and a possible killer among their group... It's a fun book and definitely a nice escape from real life. :)

This well-written, fast-paced, and enticingly intriguing whodunit had me immersed in all aspects in the telling of this drama, from the eclectic cast of characters to the snarky and engaging dialogue to the foretelling of what’s to come and to the backdrop of Italy. The comfortable tone + the footnotes made it easy to follow along with what the author intended.

The mystery was nicely executed with a slew of potential suspects with an abundance of nefarious motives including blackmail and revenge, lots of clues and staging that created a world that I could not escape. There were a few twists and turns that gave me pause as I had to re-think who I thought was behind all the mischief and mayhem. With so much going on, it was no wonder I was engrossed in every detail, which included the part where she, the narrative, is talking to me, the reader, which is brilliant and added to the appeal of this delightfully entertaining and amusing tale.

This was a fun read with an extra cute twist of footnotes added in. The main character is an author on a book tour who desperately wants to kill her main character in her book off. It was such an intriguing thriller.

2.5 stars

I am in the minority here but this book was not for me which is odd as I do enjoy a good cozy mystery. It was very hard to get into and I just couldn’t connect or care about the main character (or any of the characters really). The use of footnotes was very distracting and overdone and the author tried too hard for the main character to be funny. This one felt like a long slog and it took way too long before anything interesting started to happen. I was really anticipating this one but it just didn’t work for me.

Thanks to the publisher. All opinions are my own.

Review: wow this was such a wild read. Based on the title alone, I knew it was going to be exciting!

The book started off strong. Eleanor, an extremely successful author, travels to Italy with a group to promote her new book in the book series. The book includes her sister (her assistant), her ex, her other ex who she is trying to kill off in her series, his ex, another disgruntled writer, and a new up and coming writer who stole her plot. Whew, let me tell you it’s quite the book.

While in the trip, her ex Connor, who she wants to cut ties with in the book series and real life claims someone is trying to murder him. It soon turns out someone is also trying to murder Eleanor. The group all starts turning on each other while one of them dies with no answers.

The interesting part of the book is that it’s about an author writing a book and this book is almost like her outline. I love the format and made a heavy plot pretty light and entertaining. What I really didn’t like was the footnotes- for two reasons. One, it’s impossible to read on kindle without going back and forth and eventually I gave up. Two they made Eleanor extremely unlikable. I could have done without them.

The middle did drag on, and the group members were memorable enough to keep track at all times. The last 25% was great. It really picked up, I loved the writing style, and loved how it wrapped up. Overall it was a little chaotic for me but entertaining (especially the end).

Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies" by Catherine Mack is the ultimate summer page-turner that seamlessly blends mystery with a hint of romance. Set against the picturesque backdrop of Italy, this novel follows Eleanor, a renowned writer whose dream Italian tour quickly turns into a nightmare.

From the get-go, the reader is thrust into Eleanor's whirlwind of a vacation, where she finds herself accompanied by her ex-boyfriend and blackmailer, a persistent stalker, a plot-stealing fellow author, and her assistant/sister. Oh, and did I mention the attempts on her life? It's a trip that's anything but peaceful, as Eleanor navigates through a maze of danger, deception, and unexpected twists. Eleanor is a protagonist you can't help but root for. With charisma, wit, and a knack for finding herself in the midst of chaos, she's the perfect guide through this rollercoaster of a vacation.

I loved the use of footnotes, they really got my academic heart racing and I felt they didn't distract from the story as much as I expected them to. I also adored the fourth-wall breaks, it really added extra depths to the narrative and gave me some laughs.

In summary, "Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies" is a must-read for anyone looking for a light-hearted yet thrilling summer escape. Whether you're lounging by the pool or jet-setting on to your own adventure, this book is sure to keep you hooked from start to finish.

Thank you to Netgalley and Minotaur Books for providing me with an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

Eleanor is headed on book tour in Italy, and is finally ready to kill Connor off in her books. He has blackmailed her for a portion of her book sales for too long. But when a real attempt is made on Connors life, everyone on the tour is a suspect. Eleanor now has to deal with her stalker who someohow made it on the trip, her blackmailer, her sister, and her ex all in one place.

I did this one on audio and really enjoyed the listening experience. I liked that the story was written to include the fourth audience in solving the mystery of who was trying to kill Connor and why. It felt a bit dragged out for me at times, but I still enjoyed the story and the antics. I think I expected this to be more of a relaxing vacation with someone dying based on the cover, but I loved all the Italy references throughout the book. Also, now I need some pasta!

The Vacation Mysteries #1
Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies
by Catherine Mack, narrated by Elizabeth Evans

El's life is a mess. It might look like a nice mess from the outside but from the inside it's a deadly dysfunctional mess. On this latest research trip (an Italian tour) for her 10th book in her hit series, most of her dysfunction is along for the trip. There's her younger sister, Harper, who both depends on El for a living but resents that El is living the career Harper wanted to live. There are two ex boyfriends along on the trip, Connor, the cad, who has a strangle hold on El that she hasn't been able to break although she's finally going to do it by killing him off in the tenth book of her series. That is, if she can get away with doing so, because it looks like she might just die trying. Then there is Oliver, the former boyfriend that now won't get back with El and it serves her right for what she did to him.

Also on the trip are some of her super fans who won the chance to tail El's group and have scheduled contact with El and the other authors in her entourage (too bad one of the fans is stalking El). The authors are a competitive lot and if El wasn't snarky enough for us, just add in more authors with biting (or not) wit and the snipes, snarls, and snark abound. El has enough snark on her own to fill a book with footnotes galore (more about that later). Luckily it seems most of the folks have thick skin.

But figurative thick skin may not be enough to save this group when it seems someone is trying to kill Connor. Oh wait, maybe someone is trying to kill El. Or both? There will be bodies and the mystery just gets more mysterious as time goes on. El goes so far to wonder if her own sister is trying to kill her. Or one or both boyfriends are trying to kill her. Through it all she keeps working on her plot to kill Connor off in her next book (did I tell you he's the hero of each of the books in El's series?).

About the footnotes. There are lots of them. I was able to experience the book via both the audiobook and the ebook. I started with the audiobook and I must say that the narrator nails the 4th wall breaking El. She's talking right at us, letting us in on all kinds of dirty secrets and crazy thoughts while also holding back on us at times. She'll even give us spoilers for what's ahead so we don't have to fret too much about who might or might not die soon. Starting with the audiobook, I didn't realize there really were real footnotes in the book since they are delivered to us more as constant blabber, just El running at the mouth with all these asides. I liked this method of dealing with the footnotes in the audiobook.

When I switched to the ebook I saw there really were footnotes. Lots and lots of real footnotes as the end of each chapter. You can read them as they come up in the story, you can wait and read them at the end of the chapter, or you can skip them all together. Footnotes in an ebook can be pretty clunky so I just read them at the end of each chapter to avoid losing my place switching back and forth as I read. I think I'd prefer them to be written as asides throughout the story, the way I experienced them in the audiobook.

Overall, I didn't mind El talking right at me. She is funny, snide, and as much a cad as Connor. I'll let her tell you all about it, IF she will tell you. She doesn't always spill the beans right away and I'm pretty sure she's holding back on us half the time. There will be more to come in future books according to El. She's got books to write (or not) and a new crime to solve.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for this ARC.

This book, I predict, will be a lot like cilantro. You will either love it or hate it with no middle ground.

Pros
It’s set in Italy and the reader gets a glimpse at all the wonderful things that country has to offer.

The format was original and the author uses footnotes to talk directly to the reader.

Reader gets an inside look at an author’s world and publishing challenges.

The plot was campy and if you wanted to get swept away with the silliness of it all there was plenty of over the top scenes.

Cons

It was too clever by half. Like a person who overestimates their humor telling joke after joke while the listener rolls their eyes.

If improbable scenarios make you cringe…this may not be the book for you.

The footnotes, while clever were overdone. I think this may be format dependent but in the electronic version it was too hard to flip back and forth to understand the jokes.

The characters were all extremely unlikeable and the mystery wasn’t quite so mysterious.

The synopsis of this one interested me because who doesn’t love a who dun it set in Italy? Eleanor was an unreliable and at times unlikable character. Her stream of consciousness and the meandering way she narrated the story bored me at times. I did enjoy her character ARC though and she made some great pop culture references. The relationships between Eleanor and the other characters were highly entertaining, and I liked the way they shifted throughout the story. The banter and dialogue was well timed and made me laugh at times. The story within the story was an interesting angle at first, but eventually it felt contrived and in the end it was barely mentioned. The plot pacing was slow in the beginning, well timed in the middle, but felt rushed at the end. There was so much set up and not enough depth in the middle in my opinion. I did like the way you were meant to be suspicious of everyone and how many things were just thrown at the wall for you to parse out. However, I did sort of put together the pieces of the puzzle and wasn’t majorly shocked by the end reveal. The footnotes included were comical, but annoying for me. Since I was reading an ebook, I kept having to scroll back to find what the footnote was referencing. The ending felt a little underwhelming and rushed. I would’ve liked a little more resolution for Harper and Eleanor and Eleanor and Oliver. I can appreciate the set up for the next book, but it felt like too many loose ends.

This book was really cute and fun! I was excited for the opportunity to read it as we just took a vacation to Naples & Rome and all the scenery in Every Time I Go On Vacation Someone Dies was such a perfect Italian tread for a little travel longing heart. I totally called the killer early on (well, sort of), but the twists and red-herrings seriously kept me on my toes. I loved all the nods to classic mystery writers (though there are definitely some spoilers) as well as the current pop culture references. The language isn't totally PG, but the overall feel is pretty cute & clean. I really loved the third wall breakage with all the talks directly to the readers as well. This is a unique cozy mystery and I'll definitely read more in the series.

This was cute! It was a fast-paced cozy mystery, and I really enjoyed the way the story was written, but there were so many characters I found it hard to keep track of everyone's backstories at time. There were also a crazy amount of footnotes, and while I found it entertaining in the beginning, by the end of the book I ignored a lot of them.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for sending me this book!