Thank for NetGalley for the ARC of The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year
by Ally Carter

Enemies to Lovers
Cozy Christmas Mystery
It was a fast pace cozy murder mystery that had so many twist and turns much like mystery writer, Eleanor Ashley's books that Maggie aspires to be like, she and Ethan are both writers and invited to attend Christmas at the home of Eleanor, along with her family, then she goes missing. I could not put this book down! I finished it in 2 days and am left wanting soo much more!!

Somehow successful both as an enthralling possible murder mystery with multiple suspects, someone vanishing from a locked room, and all manner of hidden motives and unusual seclusion, plus a surprisingly sweet romantic comedy with occasional flashbacks to add depth to the characters that have known each other for some time but hadn't really had the chance to talk much before they're thrown into the middle of a festive attempted murder spree.

Sadly a miss for me!

I almost didn't request this because the cover and title were so "twee," but I ADORED The Blonde Identity so I decided to give this one a shot. But TMWCY had a very different feel to it. It really was very twee and a lot cozier than I anticipated from an Ally Carter. I was hoping for the trademark witty banter from Ally's first adult book, but instead the dialogue and banter read cringey... the story was also very on the nose with the tropes--so many repetitions of "who did this to you" and alpha-male "I must protect her at all costs even though we're only just now actually starting to get together," and proclamations of love almost instantly, and it was just too much.

Still, very grateful to Netgalley and Avon for this one--I was a huge Blonde Identity fan so I did think I would love this one!

This was a pretty fun mystery. I definitely enjoyed the mystery element more than the romance element. Some of it was fairly predictable, but it still made for an enjoyable read that was on the lighter side.

I'd recommend for anyone looking for a cozy mystery/romance for the holiday season.

It's the first time that I read Ally Carter and loved it! The whole cozy Christmas mistery got me hooked from the beginning. And the banter betweet Maggie and Ethan... *chef's kiss*

Thank you NetGalley for the arc of the most wonderful crime of the year!

This is the perfect start to the holiday season, super enjoyable and difficult to put down! This is more of a mystery with a side of romance when I was under the impression it was mostly romance.

I haven't read Ally Carter since her YA spy novels but I sure did miss her. I loved this book. It was a Agatha Christie with a little romance.

This was so cute and a genuine surprise! I didn't expect myself to be so invested in the mystery, but I can say that the resemblance that kept being called back to Knives Out in all of the blurbs was spot on! It was fun and gave me the push to read more mysteries.

I can't stop smiling after finishing this literary gem! As a romance enthusiast, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself completely immersed in this Christmas mystery that perfectly combines the tension of a thriller with the warmth of a love story.

Find themselves trapped in a mansion during a winter storm along with a famous mystery author who suddenly disappears. The result? An electrifying adventure that kept me glued to the pages until the late hours of the night.

What captivated me most was the masterful balance between elements: the Christmas atmosphere subtly woven into the plot without being cloying, the sparkling chemistry between the protagonists (those moments when Ethan calls her "Marcie" just to provoke her!), and a mystery so well constructed that, although I tried to solve it, I was completely surprised at the end.

For those who, like me, enjoy a good story of "we need to solve this mystery while someone possibly tries to kill us," this book is an early Christmas gift. The romantic tension between Maggie and Ethan serves as the perfect counterpoint to the main suspense, creating an addictive read that made me ignore all my responsibilities until I finished the last page.

This book definitely deserves a special place on my favorites shelf! It's the perfect combination of cozy mystery, captivating romance, and Christmas spirit. I especially recommend it for those cold winter nights, accompanied by a cup of hot chocolate and a soft blanket.

3.5 stars

Enjoyable and fun, reminded me of watching clue or knives out.

A good quick read and perfect for those looking for a Christmas themed mystery

“If you were missing, I’d find you. I’d tear the house down stoned by stone. I’d rip apart every room and scour every field and I wouldn’t stop. I would never stop.”

This was such a fun read! I really enjoyed reading how Maggie and Ethan are stuck together for Christmas at Maggie’s biggest idol, Eleanor Ashley. Maggie and Ethan do not get along and I love all the biter and bantering we got with the two of them. The mystery was a fun one to read. I enjoyed all the adventures making Ethan go through to find Eleanor. While this book is a close door romance, we get a lot of steamy kisses, and I am all here for that! One thing I loved about this book was the fact that both Maggie and Ethan are deep with each other and I liked how they open up to one another about their struggles in life. I found Ethan to be so swoony! I love that there was no tiptoeing around their feelings for each other. The things that Ethan did for Maggie were so sweet. I loved how protective he was with her! While this book does take place around the holidays, it can totally be read any other time of the year as it’s more focused on solving a mystery than the holidays.

Read if you like:
Dual 3rd person POVs
Enemies to lovers
Hero falls first
Forced proximity
Protective hero
Closed door romance
Romantic suspense
Knives Out inspired

Do you like the enemies-to-lovers trope? Do you like locked-room cozy mysteries? Does a snowed-in scenario at an English countryside estate sound good? Does a story inspired by the famous disappearance of Agatha Christie intrigue you? Do you like a wounded FMC who has to learn to let her guard down and trust the sarcastic, yet eminently lovable MMC?

Welcome to Ally Carter’s newest book The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year, where you’ll get a solid cozy mystery and a charming rom-com all rolled into one!

Mystery author Maggie Chase hates Ethan Wyatt, a fellow author at their publishing imprint. He’s good-looking, popular with literally everyone and the guy can NEVER get her name right. Marcie? Margaret Grace? Margaret Olivia? Margaret Lavinia? (For the record, it’s Margaret Elizabeth). What she doesn’t understand is that Ethan knows EXACTLY who she is and has since the very first moment he saw her in that elevator years ago!

When Maggie and Ethan are unexpectedly invited for Christmas to the vast estate of Eleanor Ashley, the grand dame of their fictional mystery-writing world, Maggie thinks she may have died and gone to heaven! Her euphoria is short-lived when the eighty-one-year-old, whose books were Maggie’s lifeblood growing up, goes missing from her locked office

Trapped by a blizzard with an assortment of Eleanor’s other guests, including her son and daughter-in-law, her niece, butler, doctor, a lawyer, a duchess and duke and fellow author Sir Jasper, Maggie has to draw on her extensive knowledge of Eleanor’s books to try to solve the mystery of what happened to her, if she can avoid all those pesky attempts on her life. It’s a good thing Ethan used to be a Secret Service agent! Maybe he’s not so bad after all …

This was really cute! The mystery is decent and serves to move the story along and give a reason for our MCs to grow closer, but it’s not the strength of the book. Where the book shines is the romance arc and the sarcastic, playful banter between Maggie and Ethan, which was so fun. Each gets their own POV chapters, so you get both sides of the story, which is told in present and past chapters with short but hilarious police interview interstitials scattered throughout.

If you like a holiday rom-com with a little Agatha-inspired mystery thrown in, this is a fun one!

★★★★

I loved this book! It’s a great read, one that I’ll be recommending to my friends! There were a lot of moments where I couldn’t put it down! Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for giving me this opportunity to read this book!

Did you read The Takedown last year and fall in love with the Die Hard version of Christmas novels? Did you read Blonde Identity and adore Ally Carter's humor and writing style? Or did you love the cozy isolated resort aspect of The Writing Retreat?

If yes to any of the above, you're going to want to read The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year. Maggie and Ethan are author rivals trapped at a famous elderly author's mansion with her family for Christmas, following a mysterious invitation. Then the author disappears, a storm isolates the guests, and Maggie and Ethan are left to wonder whether it's a game or if Eleanor really has been murdered.

This was such a good holiday binge. @shopcoffeekids said it reads like a game of Clue and I couldn't agree more! I really enjoyed Maggie and Ethan as a couple, once they decided to trust each other. They had really great banter, and I especially loved the insights into Ethan's personality that were revealed as the story went on.

The ending is great as well!

5 amazing stars! A favourite of the year! A book full of joy.

“Of course, I’m not offended that you’d accuse me of murder. I’m offended you’d think I’d be bad at it.”

While this is sadly not a sequel to The Blonde Identity, Ally Carter is a new favourite romance author for me. Her adult releases have the perfect mix of comedy, mystery and romance. Accomplished with great character work, squee-worthy couples and a brilliantly funny and emotional writing style. And it’s always great when you’re only 10% into a book and already cry-laughing!

Where The Blonde Identity was a spy thriller, this book is a take on a classic country house mystery! It is slightly more serious and slightly less insane (but still very insane, in the best way) because Maggie is such a different protagonist and it's a single-POV narrative. The characters in this start out just a little bit more broken and need just that little bit more time to find their strength. But it's so beautifully done. I adored it! The balance between the heartfelt emotional component and the comedy is so brilliantly executed!

I can’t wait to re-read this and I desperately hope that Ally Carter keeps writing these kinds of books for many, many years to come!

An adorable mystery romance with two awesome MC’s! I loved following the thrilling g parts with the sprinkled in romance! It’s perfect for the winter holiday season! The cover is amazing!!!

I ADORE Ally Carter and as soon as I saw this cover, I had to have it. It's giving Archer vibes with the cover and with it being a Knives Out kinda mystery comedy, it's a need.

And, man, did she deliver. This is a delightfully clever holiday mystery-romance that perfectly captures the atmospheric charm of classics like the movie Clue and Agatha Christie novels, while adding its own fresh, romcom twist. The chemistry between cozy mystery author Maggie Chase and thriller writer Ethan Wyatt crackles with wit and humor as they're forced to work together to solve the mysterious disappearance of a legendary author from a snowbound English estate. I absolutely loved this romcom mystery, a genre I didn't know I needed, and was trying to stay one step ahead of the duo until the very end.

This was the perfect cozy mystery and sweet romance rolled into one. Ethan and Maggie make a great team, and the cast of characters gathered at an English manor for Christmas provides a perfect combo of suspects and red herrings.

I would say 3.5 rounded up! The cover threw me off, but the book was fun! It was a mix of Rom Com & Mystery.
Maggie Chase & Ethan Wyatt are both best selling authors, but they don't like each other at all. (At least that is what Maggie thinks.)
They both get invited to spend Christmas with a mystery "fan" who just so happens to be Maggie's idol author, Eleanor Ashley.
Eleanor Ashley lives at mansion called the Mistletoe Manor, where she ends up disappearing from. Maggie & Ethan ultimately learned that they are snowed in with someone in the house who caused Eleanor's disappearance. Are they able to put their differences aside to figure out what happened to Eleanor?

This was a fun one! Ethan made me LOL quite a bit!


Thank you Netgalley!

This was a lot of fun and I enjoyed every minute of it! When they say it's like Knives Out, they're not kidding. This definitely had major Knives Out vibes, but I still had fun and would definitely read more like this in the future.