Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me a complimentary ARC in exchange for an honest review.

DNF 30%-Drop Dead Sisters sounded like a fantastic, light romp especially when it's coming with an endorsement from Mindy Kaling and comparisons to the show Bad Sisters. This one falls short though. I only made it part of the way through before I had to put this one down. I have to agree with the other reviewers that the main character just broke this one for me. She was so put upon and woe is me that it made the story unbearable to continue on reading the entirety of the book.

I should have read some of the reviews before requesting this book as I was expecting a whodunit mystery book. While there is a murder that is definitely a sub plot and most of the book is about the dysfunctional family and their growing relationship into something healthy? Overall, it was still a solid 3 star read, but just don't go in it expecting a big mystery or you will be left disappointed.

Funny story of 3 sisters who finally start to build a relationship as adults after a terrible relationship in childhood. Also a quirky extended family and what they get themselves in to.

Thank you net galley and publisher for this ARC. Remi isn't close to her sisters. I was expecting a faster pace who-done it book.

Remi is living an okay life. Sure, she’s lonely, sure, she hates her job, and sure, she is barely in contact with her sisters. That’s all fine. That is, until she’s forced to go to a family holiday with them… and then they have to deal with a dead body.
This book features a quirky but admittedly dysfunctional family, with the three sisters in spotlight. All three of them were very well developed characters who had flaws but I found them moderately lovable. The book was funny and charmingly written.
However! Do not go into this one thinking it’s going to be a mystery book. It is a book about a family with a side storyline that happens to have a murder, which at parts was serious… but at parts was VERY comical. If that’s something you like, I definitely recommend it, but don’t actually expect a page-turning whodunit.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Mindy's Book Studio for the ARC of Drop Dead Sisters by Amelia Diane Coombs.

I read the entire story, and I am an absolute sucker for a cozy mystery. Unfortunately, it feels like a real reach to classify this book as a mystery. Yes, there is a dead body, and there are some questions around its appearance and location, but the Finch sisters put the absolute bare minimum effort into learning anything more about it and would have happily left the campground and ended the book with no looking back or wondering. It seemed like the scenes of finding clues were only background fodder for Remi to once again tell us how the sisters don't get along or how she is so different from her family and it's all on her introverted self that she must suffer through this weekend. When the questions about the death advance throughout the novel, the clues are either blatantly written on the page and Remi ignores them, or they are so far outside the scope of reality in how investigations and policing work that they are laughably ridiculous.

If we push harder on is this a mystery or not -- the tension of "Did we kill him and what will happen to us if we're caught?" exists, but instead of trying to solve the mystery the sisters instead want to cover it up - which feels very anti-cozy-mystery where we want the wrong doers to be named and brought to justice. It feels a bit like a very rough knockoff of Benjamin Stevensen's Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone where we expect bad behavior and loose morals, except in this case it is so overwhelmingly focused on Remi's near constant obsessing over her relationship with her sisters and not at all about the murdered person. When we do get to the mystery it's pretty obvious what has occurred, even though we get pretty limited interactions with the other players in the story.

I think I just found this to be unfulfilling, predictable, with far too much internal monologue from the main character -- but I could have been down for a sequel if not for the way this ended with the police and how crimes and evidence are viewed.

📚 PUBLICATION WEEK BOOK REVIEW 📚

Drop Dead Sisters By Amelia Diane Coombs
Publication Date: November 1, 2024
Publisher: Mindy's Book Studio

📚MY RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

📚MY REVIEW:

Drop Dead Sisters is the quirky family, cozy mystery I didn't know I needed in my life... Until I read it in one sitting and fell in love with it.

This book follows the story of our female main character, Remi, who must spend the long Fourth of July weekend camping with her family to celebrate her parents' 40th wedding anniversary. Remi grew up many years younger than big sisters, Maeve and Eliana, and has always felt like the estranged black sheep of the family. She's not an outdoorsy girl. She hates her job. She doesn't want to fake her happiness all weekend. To say she's not looking forward to this long weekend away with family is an understatement.

After an unexpected turn of events forces Remi and her sisters to work together in the wildest of ways, the story in these pages became a comedy-of-errors adventure, with the sisters finding themselves unwillingly - and secretly - trying to solve a whodunnit for the ages. This book made me laugh out loud so many times! It's one of those stories with such endearingly warm characters, you can't help but feel like you've been welcomed as an honorary member of their wild family. From Grandma Helen, to Aunt Lindy, to Remi's parents -- the quirks and characteristics in this family are reminiscent of everyone's extended family members, and I genuinely loved every one of them. And Remi's awkwardly flirty romance with the park ranger only added yet another cute layer to this read.

If the dark humor of Dead to Me and the quirky family of Schitt's Creek got married, this book would be one of their kids. Mood readers who enjoy lots of different genres, this book is made for you! It's a little bit cozy mystery, a little bit quirky comedy, a little bit heart-warming women's fiction, a tiny bit rom-com, and a whole lot of fun. Thank you so much to NetGalley, Mindy's Book Studio, and the author herself for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

#DropDeadSisters #TheFinchSistersBand1 #AmeliaDianeCoombs #MindysBookStudio #NetGalley #ARC #NetGalleyReviews #cozymysteries #quirkyreads #womensfiction #booklovers #bookaddict #bookreviews #bookrecs #bookrecommendations

Drop Dead Sisters by Amelia Diane Coombs

This is a murder mystery about three estranged sisters who reunite at a campground and accidentally kill someone. 👀

I had so much fun reading this story. It was definitely a light murder mystery with some comedic relief. It was fast-paced and flowed well. Every time I thought I had it figured out, a new twist would prove me wrong.

The story had some questionable and quirky characters, which I felt was perfect for the plot. We also get a hot park ranger, but can we trust him? And what better way to bring sisters together than covering up for each other? If you're looking for an easy to read light murder mystery, then pick this one up!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ a murdery mystery/comedy of errors/family dramedy/closed room mystery. Mindy Kaling, you haven’t led me astray yet.

Remi isn’t close with her sisters, soon-to-be-divorced mother Eliana and bisexual influencer Maeve. They don’t live in the same city nor do they invest much in their relationship, much to the dismay of their happily married parents. But when they go on a camping trip with extended family over the Fourth of July, they find that they’d hide a dead body rove without second thought. Fugitives from justice, a who dunit, quirky family characters and a seemingly unnecessary local boy romantic entanglement round out the narrative elements that keep the pages turning.

This was a fun, sister centered mystery that you will surely finish in one setting. You may or may not guess some of the reveal elements, but the pacing and conversations are great. The characters are all flawed yet likable. I have already added the second installment in the Finch sister series, to be published October 2025, to my TBR list. The murder victim is someone we get to know just well enough to intensely dislike. Not that he deserved to die, but that we aren’t sad he’s gone either.

Themes of family solidarity, career over family, and a lot of dark humor.

Thanks to @netgalley and @brilliancepubishing for the free copy in exchange for an honest review. #booksbooksbooks #bookstagram #booklover #arcreview #booktok #netgalley #bookrecommendations #DropDeadSisters

I am a sucker for mysteries with quirky, dysfunctional family dynamics. As much as dysfunction can be unsettling, it's the quirky characters and how they band together in a crisis that really draws me in.

Remi Finch and her sisters find themselves in a serious predicament. Though the older siblings don't usually get along with Remi, circumstances force them to team up to solve a mystery—or rather, to make one disappear!

Add a hot park ranger who's caught Remi's eye, her parents’ fortieth anniversary, Grandma Helen’s latest boy-toy, and more, and Drop Dead Sisters becomes a full entertainment package.

Amelia Diane Coombs’ storytelling shines, with each chapter unveiling new secrets, rumors, and twists, as well as a dash of romance and plenty of quirky charm. For a series debut and her first adult fiction novel, Coombs checks every box, making the mystery engrossing, entertaining, and intriguing.

I was hooked from start to finish and couldn’t put it down—I devoured this in a day! Every twist, every quirk kept me guessing, and by the end, I just wanted more. A captivating read from the first page to the last!

Remi has never been close to her two older sisters, so when they all must come together for a family reunion in celebration of their parents’ anniversary, Remi wonders how they will survive the weekend. But when Remi is unexpectedly assaulted by a companion from their childhood, the three sisters come together under the most terrible of circumstances. And as the hole in which they find themselves gets ever deeper, the women must learn to trust each other in ways they never have before.

This intense novel blends the family dynamics of a traditional women’s fiction story with the suspense of a murder mystery. Brief chapters and a compelling premise make the novel move forward with ease, and readers will be encouraged to continue turning pages to discover what happens next. Each of the primary characters is flawed, and since the narrative is told in the first person from Remi’s perspective, details are only revealed as Remi herself learns them. Readers easily connect with the challenges in which the characters find themselves, and this helps the plot of the book feel more real.

Written for a mature audience, this novel incorporates strong language, sexual references, and assault that may be challenging for more sensitive readers. However, the balance between the intense moments and the sweeter family connections help the book to have a wider appeal. Good writing, an engaging plot, and high stakes make the book one that will be enjoyable as an escape from daily life, whether on vacation or in the comfort of one’s home. This memorable and suspenseful story is a good fit for fans of both women’s fiction and dramatic storytelling.