This was such a fun read! I loved how the author (both the actual author and our main character author) didn’t take themselves too seriously. This had a very clue-esque/Knives Out/Agatha Christie vibe with the humorous narrative dialogue, multiple suspects, and intriguing connections. I enjoyed how the narrator involved us in solving the mystery and how it also explored more serious topics like loss, sibling dynamics, and love.

If you’re looking for a fun murder mystery full of direct narrator commentary (and footnotes), this is the book for you! I will absolutely be reading any books that follow in this series!

Thank you to Netgalley, Minotaur Books, and St. Martin’s Press for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Eleanor is a famous mystery writer. When she embarks on a vacation with fans, and apparently other writers from her publisher, she stumbles on a plot to kill her ex boyfriend. As the plot thickens, Eleanor finds herself in the middle of a real life murder mystery and hopes to get out alive.
Opinion
This books style was refreshing. Written in the first person, Eleanor has hints and tidbits for the reader as she presumably narrates her own story. I loved how she tried to give me hints and flat out told me what would or would not happen in certain chapters. This book was fabulous.
I did listen to the audiobook as well. The narrator had a beautiful cadence that kept my mind occupied while listening (which is a feat as my mind seems to go at a speed of roughly 1000 mph.)
Many thanks to Net Galley, St. Martins Press and Macmillan Audio for providing me with an ARC of the book and audiobook.

Thank you to NetGalley, Catherine Mack & SMP/Minotaur for an audio ARC of Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies in exchange for an honest review.

I was first turned on to this one with the fun cover & then the synopsis further sealed the deal. I just finished with this audiobook and it was an absolutely delight! I was not previously familiar with this author so I didn't know what to expect. I was so thrilled when it turned out to be fabulous!

I found this to be a bit similar to Benjamin Stevenson's Everyone in My Family series in how the narrator speaks directly to the readers at times. However, I LOVED Mack's version SOOOOOOOOO much more than Stevenson's (I'm not a huge fan of his - yes, I know I'm in a minority).

This book was LOL funny. Eleanor was such a fun, quirky character.

The entire cast of characters were expertly written. The dialogue was fantastic & the pacing was fast. This was a very engaging & fun story following Eleanor, an author on a book tour. Also on the tour are her sister, ex Connor, ex Oliver, Connor's ex-wife, a handful of other authors, Connor's current girlfriend and 20 Super Fans of Eleanor's books (one of which may be a stalker!).

The reader will have so much fun trying to figure out the whodunit and the "who tried to dunit." I almost always figure it out well in advance of the ending, 99% of the time. This one got me. I did not figure it out AT ALL. Kudos for surprising me!

Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the eARC of Everytime I Go On Vacation, Someone Dies by @catherinemckenzieauthor in exchange for an honest review!

📖📖 Book Review 📖📖 Does it get more meta than a mystery writer who is caught in a mystery in our cozy little mystery book? Eleanor Dash might be one eccentric lady but she sure does know how to write a good novel…with lots of footnotes (we cannot forget the footnotes!) Eleanor is on a book tour through Italy and references a lot of really fun places so it is a wild ride through her grand adventures personally and through her writing endeavors. Everytime I Go On Vacation, Someone Dies has a truly unique style and feels like you are truly inside the quirky yet brilliant mind of our leading lady Eleanor. This one is such a fun read!!!

Review is posted on Goodreads and will be on Instagram ahead of the publication date!

This had an interesting premise, a book within a book about a mystery writer trying to write off one of her characters. It took me a moment to get into this, but I ended up enjoying this story with its fourth wall breaking and precarious use of humor. It did often feel like it was trying too hard, so I'm not sure if I'll continue with the series because that feels really gimmicky, but it was fun for a one-off. Overall, this was a very solid mystery debut.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for gifting me with an ARC to review! All opinions are my own.

This was a really fun storyline. I usually don't go into reading a Murder Mystery expecting much humor but this book definitely had me laughing out loud at times.

I like when author's go against the norm and add in something to make their books standout so I thought the addition of the footnotes was a great touch.

If you love a light cozy mystery your going to want to add this one to your TBR.

Thank you Catherine Mack, Net Galley and St. Martin's Press - Minotaur Books for providing me with an ARC of this book.

It took me a little while to get into this one, not because it was bad, but because the way the document downloaded to my kindle was so wonky that I didn’t know what I was reading at times. The footnotes would appear in the middle of the page and disrupt the flow of the story. I basically had to ignore them (which was hard based on the formatting) and try to get lost in the story. I hoping the final copy, especially the physical copy will be much more reader friendly. Despite the struggles I had with the format, I don’t want to detract any stars for that reason because that is not the writer’s fault at all. I don’t necessarily think the footnotes added anything to the story but maybe I’ll feel differently with the physical copy

I will say this was a fun quirky book, perfect for a plane ride or a fun vacation read. You’ll definitely laugh in this cozy mystery

⭐️⭐️⭐️
This book has all the fixings of a fun mystery with an eccentric cast of characters and lots of humor set in the backdrop of Italy.
It took me a while to really get into the novel and it was almost a DNF for me, but I am happy I kept reading.
Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the ARC of this Novel.

Cozy mystery+ book with in a book

Eleanor is a best seller mystery writer with a series that is hoping to end her main money making series by killing off the main character. While she is writing this book she is on a fancy book tour/trip to Italy with some other writer friends and fans that won a contest AND her ex boyfriend. The ex is convinced someone is trying to kill him and needs her help.

I didn’t love this book but most of it is just personal preferences. I really don’t like breaking the fourth wall as a trope. I feel like it is gimmicky and I don’t have a fun time with it. That said if you find that fun I think you will love the book because it is silly, fun, a tiny sexy, with some twisty mystery throughout.

Thank you to netgalley and Macmillan audio for an alc

A tour to Italy where the attempts of murder seem to be as hot as July in Italy. Eleanor’s publisher has arranged a tour of authors and book fans to travel to Italy to see the sites. Eleanor is not quire as enthusiastic as the others about the trip, but the more she muses, it might just be the perfect opportunity to kill off one of her characters.

The only thing that may have been detrimental to the flow of the book for me, were the “footnotes.”

A quirky mystery. Not quite a cozy. Not quite a thriller. Just a good mystery in the likes of Agatha Christie and Columbo which I thoroughly enjoyed and even laughed at parts.Thank you Netgalley and Minotaur Books for an early copy. This review is my personal opinion.

This is a laugh out loud fun mystery. Catherine Mack has done a fantastic job, BTW, I loved the footnotes. This would be a great beach book.

DNF @ 14%. Couldn't get into the story at all. Thanks to NetGalley, St Martin's Press & MacMillan Audio for advance copies.

3.5 ⭐️!

This was a mystery/comedy that reminded me of the Finlay Donovan series and of "Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone" — just not done as well.

Eleanor is an author of a popular mystery book series and is in Italy on tour for the 10th anniversary of the first book release. As a narrator, she breaks the fourth wall and speaks directly to the reader in her storytelling, and I do like that style as a reader! What I didn't like were all of the footnotes. Almost 300 in the whole book (El tells us herself this is how many there are) and sometimes as many as 16 in a single chapter. One of the very first footnotes tells us that we can skip these (and I did) but what's the point of even having the footnotes if they contribute absolutely nothing to the story?

El is also supposed to be almost 40 years old, but in one chapter she speaks to the reader and uses words like "sus" and "fam" which just read as super cringey. Also not a fan of all of the pop culture spoilers in this novel. Way too many references to real-life pop culture, including Bridgerton and Taylor Swift, and other books where the plot/premise is revealed.

All that to say, it was a very fast read and I did enjoy reading it! It was silly, the ending made enough sense (though I don't think it's something readers would have been able to figure out on their own, like El made us think we could). It was fun if you don't take it too seriously as a mystery.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a DRC in exchange for my honest review!

Eleanor Dash is on a book tour of Italy with several other authors and super fans of her work. Sounds like a dream vacation…except that her ex and inspiration for the detective in her book series is on the trip as well, and is insisting someone is trying to kill him. Eleanor chalks it up to paranoia but then as the vacation goes on she has to wonder if there really is a killer out there, and if Connor is the only target out there…

I like a good cozy mystery and this was a fun one. The main character, Eleanor, gave me similar vibes as some of my favourite Sophie Kinsella characters in that she is slightly chaotic, has great energy and has a fun POV to read from. The plot was super breezy and mostly simple to follow (this is where I’d insert a footnote if I had the capability on this platform - more on that later).

The author chose to include a couple of interesting narrative choices, the first one being some fourth wall breaking. It was fun being included in her explanations of where we are at in the book, and I liked her stopping the plot and explaining that by now we have a lot of the clues needed - it felt much like a whodunnit.

The other interesting choice was the use of footnotes, which while a fun choice and a good fit with the main character’s personality also felt a bit excessive and overindulgent at times. At times they created a bit of a disjointed reading process in some areas when they were overused and I lost the plot a little (but picked it up again quickly with some rereading).

Overall I would recommend this for cozy mystery lovers - it feels like a great vacation read (unsurprisingly given the title). Initial rating was 3.5, upon reflection I’d rate it 4 stars. I will happily check out any future installments in this series and I am now interested in checking out some of the author’s other books, especially as I understand this style is a departure from her usual, and I’m interested to see the contrast. Thank you to Net Galley and Minotaur for making this ARC available to me!

I have had this book on my TBR for a while, so I was thrilled when it was available here on Netgalley. It seemed like it would be a fun, refreshing read.

I pride myself as someone who loves books where the main female character is "unlikable", but this proved that I was a liar. The main character seemed completely self-absorbed, and it kind of broke my heart when it came to her relationship with her sister.

I thought I would like the writing style. I thought the footnotes were a cute addition. I've enjoyed reading them in other books, but I had to stop reading them about halfway through because it was just all over the place. And then towards the end where the main character took kind of a chapter break to check in with the reader and make sure they were caught up??? I almost rolled my eyes.

I wouldn't have minded this book's averageness any other time, but I have so many other books I'm dying to read so I was just trying to finish this one as quick as I could.

This book was a lot of fun. There was a ton of humor in this murder mystery, and it had me laughing and wanting to keep reading, no matter how late at night it was. I liked Elenor and how flighty she was, and how she laid out the details in a way that kept me guessing from the very beginning to the very end. Even when she broke the fourth wall, it only added to the story.

The footnotes were… interesting. Sometimes I read them, sometimes I didn’t. Sometimes they added to the story, sometimes they were just random thoughts that only added to Elenor’s character. I did find it hard to follow some of the conversations—there was a big cast and when they all got talking together, the lack of dialogue tags made it difficult to know who was speaking. When part of the idea behind the book was for the reader to figure out who the killer was, not knowing who was talking got in the way of me enjoying it fully. Elenor also had a tendency to start talking, then stop or switch directions. It happened a lot, a LOT, and was also distracting. I think the point could have been made without doing it all the time.

All in all, I really did enjoy this book and definitely look forward to reading more.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The story itself is interesting, but like other reviews I've seen, the narrator's voice is not my cup of tea. It is very stream of consciousness with even more of that inner monologue featured in the footnotes. I found them more distracting than informative or funny, and I think it may be that there were just too many of them, giving a similar feeling to when you open a dense text and see multiple footnotes on every page and think, "Oh, no, this is going to be too much." This was too much of our main character's inside thoughts.

DNF at 30% - will not review on goodreads.

The premise of this sounded so intriguing. As a lover of cozy mysteries, I went in very excited for what this book would hold. I have two main issues:
1. The footnotes are excessive and took my out of the story. Although the first said you could skip them, I’m a completionist and have to read every word. Formatting was part of the intrusion, but I also found them to be pointless and disruptive in general.
2. When you have multiple characters without a ton of dimension dialogue without indicators becomes confusing. I just couldn’t bring myself to like or care for any of the characters.
This had such potential, but it just wasn’t the right fit for me.

Every Time I Go on Vacation was a Book Recommendation on Mystery Books Podcast Season 5, episode 5, which gave book recommendations for travel mysteries.

Best-selling author Eleanor Dash is on a book tour in Italy and is also plotting her next book, in which she plans to kill off a character who is based on a real-life person, but then the real-life version of the character has a brush with death and things get complicated.

I enjoyed the entertaining footnotes, the Italian ambiance, and the light tone. If you liked Finlay Donovan is Killing It, then you’ll enjoy this book.

Episode aired on Mystery Books Podcast on April 3, 2024 and is available for download on all podcast apps. Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for a review copy. All opinions are my own.

I absolutely loved the location of the book being placed in Italy. Although the location was nice the book was on the slower end. Took me awhile to get into it more near half way through the book it got interesting. I wish the book was shorter, the ending was very good. But in all honesty it was a little of a drag to get to the good stuff. Definitely had room for improvement.