What a great debut.

The author has a knack for being funny. I did enjoy the humor the most!

The plot was predictable, almost like a cozy beach read for those who want to escape in a book. Sort of like the cover.

This was a fresh, fun, fast-paced mystery with a side of romance. I enjoyed the author's writing style and the way she revealed the narrator's personality and backstory throughout the book. The footnotes were fun at first, but they did get tedious after a few chapters and unnecessarily interrupted the flow of the story.

I liked that the mystery was layered and complex, but not so much that it was convoluted or hard to follow. There are plenty of red herrings and suspects to keep you guessing. I admit I was overwhelmed at first at the amount of characters and keeping everyone straight, and the footnotes comparing each person to an actor made it even more confusing to track. Even by the end, I was still unsure who a few of the people were. Even so, I did figure out the "whodunit" pretty early on, but I definitely second guessed that throughout (literally everyone has a motive!), and in the end I was only partially correct.

All in all, a fun read from a new author, and I will definitely pick up the next book in the series!

Bestselling author, Eleanor Dash, sets off on a book tour to promote her book series. Accompanied by the last people she wants to spend her vacation with, Eleanor and her guests must solve a real-life murder mystery.

This book was laugh out loud funny. The author added increased humour with footnotes, further explaining Eleanor’s thoughts and insights. It was easy to read and threw in a couple fun plot twists.

While I enjoyed the book, I found some of the descriptive words too repetitive. I couldn’t count how many times something was described as a “pregnant silence,” but it was enough for it to seem odd while reading it.

3.5/5 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

*ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 stars, really. Mixed feelings here. The mystery portion of this book totally worked for me. The NUMEROUS footnotes and the breaking of the fourth wall did not work for me at all. I didn't enjoy my time with the characters either. Also, the title it just way too much. I think this book helped reiterate that I need to abandon a bit more ruthlessly. Ultimately, I'm left feeling like I wish I had spent time reading a book that I loved and this just wasn't it.

I was hooked on the title of this book and the story did not disappoint! A fast paced mystery filled with foreshadowing, a quirky narrator, comedy, and a sprinkle of romance! The footnotes were well executed throughout. The setting of Italy was delightful and the characters were all likeable and written well. I look forward to the next book in the series! Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for a honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Title: Every Time I Go on Vacation Someone Dies
Author: Catherine Mack
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books
Pub date: April 30, 2024

Reading this book was like sitting in a bar drinking with your bestie as she tells you how hilariously wrong her trip to Italy went! Not that murder is funny but, in this case it most definitely is. I was riveted waiting to get all the juice and hysterical commentary. Literally, I resented having to put this book down to do real life stuff.

The story is told by Eleanor Dash, a popular author, as she lets you in on all the details of her tour in Italy. Oh but, it’s no ordinary tour! (At least I hope not for all the real authors out there.). On this tour are a group of people all interconnected with Eleanor and her book’s real life main character. Alas, a mystery is afoot when it is believed that someone is out to get Connor the real life main character who lets just say doesn’t lack in the possible suspect list.

Eleanor’s storytelling/commentary will leave you in stitches at the same time she walks you smartly through her process.

Murder, secrets, dash of romance (after all it is Italy), gossip - what’s not to like? I was sucked in and want more!

Thank you #NetGalley and #StMartinsPressMinotaurBooks for allowing me to read this ARC and review it.

Very cute vacation mystery. Couldn’t decide if I liked the footnotes though. It was challenging to read on the kindle and keep track of what they were referencing.

Full disclosure, I only got two about 20% and the footnotes were very distracting. I’m going to continue this when it comes out on audio because I actually love the idea of footnotes, I just don’t think they work with e-books. However, the story is really cute and I am enjoying it so I definitely will continue it because I want to give this author a chance without the annoying format of ebooks.

This book was written in a way that I haven’t read before. I think it was a bit of a slow burn for me but I did enjoy some of the twists it had.

This was such a fun, clever, and unique read! I really loved the fresh take on a murder mystery with the “behind the scenes” glimpses of Eleanor’s thought process as an author, and as she’s working to solve a mystery in her real life. It kept me on my toes and I didn’t want to put it down. This was fantastic and I hope there’s a next book in the series!

It was a fun story, but the footnotes were very disruptive to my reading experience; would not read another book by this author if she did the footnote scheme

An absolutely delightful read! If you are looking for a light, fun, laugh out loud murder mystery with a twist, RUN and get this book on April 30, 2024!!

Catherine Mack may very well be my new favorite author! Her unique writing style captured me from the first page. The premise of "Every Time I go on Vacation, Someone Dies", is an Author, writing about an author on a book tour in Italy who desperately wants to kill her main character, who is also on the book tour. Only for this fictional author, things get messy when there's a murder on the tour. Think "Murder in the Building" meets "Murder Mystery", (you know, that movie with Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler), mixed with a little Ferris Bueller's Day off (breaking the 4th wall << if you haven't heard this before, don't feel bad, neither had I. It's when the main character speaks directly to the audience) ONLY SO MUCH BETTER!! And I loved it so much!

This book has an ex love, a struggling sibling relationship, a trip to Italy, secrets, an author stalker, a variety of characters and murder with a twist! What more could you ask for? It's quick, witty, mysterious, funny, and all the things I look for in a book. I could NOT put it down because I needed to know what was going to happen next!

I cannot wait to read more from this author and hope that this won't be the last we read about Eleanor Dash.

Thank you @Netgalley and St. Martin's publisher's for allowing me to read this ARC. This one is extra special to me because it's my very first ARC review for Netgalley. I hope I did ok. :)

This debut cozy mystery was an absolute delight! The story is told from the perspective of best-selling author Eleanor Dash, the protagonist and amateur sleuth, who speaks directly to the reader. I enjoyed her witty asides (assuming the footnotes make the cut :)) as the mystery unfolded and she tried to determine whether her ex was truly the target of a would-be killer while they are on promotional book tour in Italy. While she *would* like to kill off the character he is based on in her series, her plan isn't *that* extreme. At least that's what she assures the reader is the case. Is her fiction becoming the basis for a true crime story? It just may be.

The writing style was pitch perfect and I felt like the author played fair with the reader as I read the big reveal. I loved the Italian setting and look forward to finding out where Eleanor's publisher sends her next and whether any dead bodies appear. Something tells me her vacations are a lot more eventful than mine will (hopefully) ever be. And I can't wait to read all about them.

Many thanks to Minotaur Books for providing a NetGalley copy. I'm looking forward to continuing with this fun new series.

Loved the author’s way of writing; it made the main character seem like they were having a conversation with the reader and like I was really in her head. I would recommend this book to others!

✨ARC Review✨

📚 Every Time I Go On Vacation Someone Dies by Catherine Mack

Meet bestselling author Eleanor. Years ago on vacation, she met a guy, had some fun, and caught some bad guys. She went home and wrote a book based on all these events and especially based on the guy, Connor. Many books later, Eleanor is tired of all of it, mostly tired of Connor who showed back up to demand money for the main character being based on and named after him. Now, on a book tour in Italy, Eleanor is ready to kill off fictional Connor, but someone is trying to outdo her by offing real life Connor. Mystery and chaos ensues while the many characters on the book tour try to solve this new mystery!

What a great premise! What great side characters! But something about Mack’s writing style did me in. Mack is heavily relatable with a million of pop culture references, but being stuck in Eleanor’s head with her million of disjointed thoughts made her a very unlikeable main character. Especially when these chaotic inner thoughts led to 237 footnotes. Now, don’t get me wrong, the footnotes had generally funny or sarcastic remarks, but reading 237 footnotes on my kindle meant a lot of unnecessary jumping back and forth and the footnotes interrupting the text, sometimes mid sentence. I’m hoping this formatting will be improved come final novel release because I really wanted to read the footnotes! I really enjoyed the storyline and wanted the humor in the footnotes. I just couldn’t stand the constant back and forth and ended up skipping most the footnotes in the end.

Good twists made the storyline enjoyable, many characters made for interesting conflict. I’d be curious to see where Mack takes this series in the future as there is a lot of potential. But I’d prefer a less childish inner voice for the protagonist and less footnotes.

Thank you Netgalley for an ARC of this novel!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Release date: April 30th

This book was the first in a while that I couldn't stop reading. I had a digital copy and carried my tablet with me everywhere until I finished it. The story was so engaging, I was googling to see if it really was the first in the series because I wanted to read more. One of my favorite tidbits were the footnotes included throughout the book.

Ten days, eight suspects, six cities, five authors, three bodies . . . one trip to die for.

A great, cozy little mystery. Well done!

This was such a fun and different take on a murder mystery. It was fast paced, but kept everything pretty lighthearted with witty dialogue and ridiculous plot points. Kind of like the movie Knives Out, but in book form. Although even while reading it, it was playing through my head like a comedic mystery movie, which is a testament to the author’s writing capabilities. The writing is styled to where the MC is also the author and narrator, and at times she even breaks the fourth wall to speak to the reader. As far as the plot itself goes, we are following Eleanor, a famous author on a 10 day book tour around Italy, with an entourage of other authors, friends/frenemies, and a group of contest winners. They realize that someone is trying to murder one of them, or multiple among them, and it only progresses from there. It is full of twists that keep you guessing for a while, especially as the narrator doubts herself and makes you doubt yourself. I did feel like the ending was kind of like a “duh” moment rather than an “aha” moment, but still it was overall an enjoyable 4 star read, maybe even rounded to 4.5 due to the fun writing style. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I absolutely could not finish this book. After reading at least 2/3rds of it I couldn’t take it anymore. The idea was cute-I didn’t like the execution. The footnotes especially bothered me-maybe it was the kindle version I was reading but there was no easy way to go back and see what the heck she was noting and seriously, footnotes, in fiction work, come on! Also, I didn’t really like any of the characters as written, they were just ‘meh’. #everytimeigoonvacationsomeonedies for me is a 1 star-it actually kept me from reading!-don’t bother. Thank you #netgalley and #minotaurbooks for this arc to read and review, all opinions are my own

I’m hoping there will be a sequel! Every time I Go On Vacation Someone Dies was a fun book! Great location, family ties, old flames, and food. Eleanor is a writer on a tenth anniversary tour - a group that includes her sister, two exes, and other writers, as well as fans, in Italy. It becomes apparent someone is trying to kill her, so she spends most of the trip using life to develop the plot of her next book. At first the footnotes were annoying but quickly became my favorite part. Looking forward to the next one!