Book 2 of Critters and Criminals is just as entertaining as the first installment. No sophomore slump here. Can't wait for Book 3.

Thank you to 8th Note Press and NetGalley for providing an ARC for a honest review.

Swamp Princess by Tara Lush

Rating: 4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A huge thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I always love a good cozy mystery and the Criminals & Critters series is one of my favorites! The blend of romance, action, adventure, and mystery all packaged in an interesting setting makes for a book that you won’t be able to put down!

The characters are all so wonderfully written and the storyline progresses exceptionally smoothly throughout. I had so much fun reading this one and I recommend it to all fans of cozy mystery/romance. You won’t be disappointed!

This book was gripping and hard to put down. It didn't feel like everything else you see out there, it felt very fresh. I really enjoyed this book!

This was such a fun book! i absolutely adored every single thing! the characters, the plot, the writing, the cover! it was such a wonderful book! definitely adding this to my collection

I just read the most fun romance book. Swamp Princess was such an amazing book. It kept me turning pages until the very end.

I am not a big mystery reader, but I love this series (helps that is is set in Florida and has gators)!

I was instantly interested in this book when I saw it involved Bigfoot and I also was excited to dive back into Maggie's story!

This book was super good and I was very invested. I couldn't wait to figure out who did it.
The romance aspect is great but doesn't overpower the mystery aspect of the book which is super nice.

I really hope we get a few more books in this series!

Definitely would recommend this series to mystery readers!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loooved that this book takes place in Florida and you really can feel the Florida atmosphere in this book. This book was so fun with it being about twin sisters, one works for the family wildlife trapping business and the other owns a romance only bookstore. The Bigfoot convention was an amazing touch and the mystery itself in the book, was great. This book also has an influencer in it, it really has everything. There was never a dull moment. I can’t wait to read more in this series!

Mystery novel, but the mystery doesn't make sense?

Characters who annoy the heck out of you.

For me this was hard to get into, there were characters I didn't like at all. The story was hard for me to get into. Being a Florida book, and then with Sasquatch, I thought this would be a funny light mystery book, but it just fell short for me.

Thank you NetGalley and 8th Note Press for my ARC.

*I received a copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this opportunity*

Twins Maggie and Vera Andrews are not only juggling their newly opened romance bookstore and thriving gator trapper business, but with the Bigfoot convention in their hometown of Wahoo, Florida a whole other world has opened up in front of their very eyes. Vera struggles to keep up with demands for supernatural romance books and Maggie has been invited to lead a gator-themed nature walk and seminar.

However, things start to go south when a popular Bigfoot influencer dies in Maggie's arms during her hike-- suddenly, the tight knit cryptid community starts to point fingers on who could have killed the beloved (and controversial) cryptozoologist and secrets from the past begin bubbling to the surface. Maggie finds herself, once again, in the middle of a murder investigation against her will; but this time her own personal life, and relationships, may suffer because of it.

Another fun installment to the Criminals and Critters series, SWAMP PRINCESS did not disappoint in the creative cozy mystery department. I loved the creativity of setting the story at a Bigfoot convention-- it was such a fun way to introduce a unique cast of characters and keep the story fresh. I'm a huge fan of the recent group of 'modern' cozy mysteries, and this was a fantastic addition to the collection!

Tara Lush knows how to make me laugh with her books, and this one was no exception. Maggie finds herself at a cryptid convention, leading a walk along a trail about gators, when suddenly one of the people on the walk dies. Along with her new *friend* Jack, they start investigating how the woman died and why. There are so many quirky characters at this convention, and so many people with conspiracy theories, that it makes for some laugh out loud moments.

I did find Vera to be a bit difficult to like in this book - she was so fixated on having her first date with Alex - that she didn't seem to care about Maggie's feelings. But Maggie's scenes with Jack more than made up for it - they had a fun and lighthearted sense to their relationship. I'm looking forward to book 3 and seeing where Maggie's life takes her as Gator Queen and Jack's love interest.

Swamp Princess by Tara Lush was a fun and easy book to read! This is the second book in the Critters and Criminals series.
Maggie and Vera are twin sisters, and they live in a small town in Florida. Maggie moved back to Florida to work in the family trapping business and Vera has just opened a bookstore where she sells only romance books.
The jobs they have and the things they can get into is a great combination for this book. I read the first in the series- Gator Queen and let me tell you this was a bit different but with Maggie being a speaker at a Bigfoot convention. This is a book and yes, a series you need to get and settle in for a great adventure with these two sisters.
Thank you NetGalley, Tara Lush and 8th Note Press for the copy of this book. This is my personal review.

Need a book that is bubblegum for your brain? Then this is for you as you take an adventure with twins Maggie and Vera. Vera just wants to find her happily every after and Maggie wants a bit of adventure.

In this adventure Maggie and Vera are at the Bigfoot convention. Vera selling her books and Maggie is a speaker. During one of her tours a star of the convention dies during the tour. Maggie finds herself in the middle of the investigation.

Thank you #NetGalley for the advance copy!

Ooh, Vera was making me so angry for the better part of this book! She asked her sister to come back to help with their dad's business and her new book store, then she just abandoned her sister to their dad's business. I am glad that Vera explained her side to Maggie and that they were able to reach an agreement.

I loved the inclusion of the cryptids and the cryptid convention in this book. I would totally go to a cryptid convention, it sounds like it would be really fun, except for the murder.

Looking forward to reading the next book in this series and seeing what trouble Maggie gets herself into next.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this arc!

What a good book! I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. This is a first by this author but will not be my last! I read this in one sitting because I just couldn’t put it down.

I unfortunately had to DNF this book as I could not get vested in the story at all. I wanted to enjoy it being from Florida and being a cozy mystery fan and a romance gal. The characters felt flat and I just found myself putting the book down more and more.

Thank you to NetGalley and to 8th Note Press for the ARC of Swamp Princess by Tara Lush.

I absolutely adored the first book in this series and thought it was a great start to a new cozy mystery series. As someone who lived in Florida for five years, and who is writing this while watching the new Florida based show Bad Monkey, I think the setting is really unique and really encompasses the expectations of Florida Man and associated crimes. Sometimes I'll start a cozy series and think, but this town is so nice, why does the protagonist keep finding dead bodies?! Not in the Critters and Criminals series! It makes total sense that there will be random murders all over because Florida.

I want to say this one is 3.5 stars, only because I think character growth stuttered/stalled a bit here in a way that held the story itself back. At first, the death of a famous cryptid influencer while on a nature walk with Maggie was a great start to another compelling mystery - but it seemed like the story kept getting stuck on her relationships with Jack and her sister, both of which felt really forced. Vera's disappointment and shaming of Maggie in every joint scene felt so disjointed. I know Vera is more sensitive and insecure, but nothing about their relationship in this story felt loving, and Vera's odd ways of acting like book characters was kind of offputting. She just felt very flat in this one until the very end. Nick and Maggie, while making progress in their relationship is great, seemed a bit childish together as a couple. They seemed a lot more like teenagers trying to sneak away to be together than actual adults. I get why they were curious about the crime, but their actions just felt like "wouldn't it be fun to insert ourselves in this?" when instead, sticking to the "people now think Maggie killed someone because the death was livestreamed and she's on the camera". For Nick, a criminologist, to be so lax about messing around with a police investigation just felt immature. Maggie too seemed to be pretty centrally focused on herself or herself/Nick.

I did like the mystery a lot - and the very, very Florida personalities and cryptid enthusiasts. I thought the culminating end scene with the murderer felt a bit forced and oddly violent (especially when one character is being harmed and the other ignores it to do something else), thought the murderer itself made sense.

I'm hoping this is just a growing pain with being early in the series, and that we will see more growth in the characters and their motivations/actions in the next book.

(rounded up from 3.75)

Swamp Princess is the second book in a cozy mystery series set in a small town in Florida and featuring (non-identical) twin sisters, Maggie and Vera. Maggie has returned to Wahoo, Florida, to continue her family’s wildlife trapping business (mostly alligators, given the location). Vera has opened a romance-only bookstore in town. As with the first book, Gator Queen, there’s a ton of Florida atmosphere and some really funny moments along the way, in addition to a murder mystery.

There’s a Bigfoot convention in town - more accurately, a “cryptid” convention, with Bigfoot probably the best known one. Others mentioned along the way are Mothman, the Loch Ness Monster (“Nessie”) and the Skunk Ape (that one is local to Florida). Maggie has been asked to speak at the convention about local wildlife (again, mainly alligators) and to lead a nature walk. Vera is one of the vendors at the convention and is selling a ton of “monster romance” books to the attendees. When a YouTube/TikTok influencer who hunts cryptids keels over on Maggie’s nature walk, Maggie once again gets involved in sleuthing, along with her neighbor, Professor Jack Bianchi, who is in the area to write a book. The two of them had a “maybe” romance starting in book one.

I really enjoyed the story and the people who attended the Bigfoot conference. There are a lot of possible suspects. The whole story is narrated by Maggie and the one thing that stuck out at me is that, given she’s in her mid-20s, her inner monologue felt very immature to me, more like a hormonal teenager. I also haven’t completely warmed up to Vera; she seems pretty cranky much of the time, but Maggie loves her anyway. I’ll be on the lookout for more books in this series in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and 8th Note Press for the opportunity to read a review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I've read and loved a handful of the author's romances she publishes under Tamara Lush, so I immediately wanted to check this one out! I didn't fully realize that this was a second book in a series, but not having read the first one didn't really affect my reading experience in any significant way.
The premise is super fun and unique -- a cryptid conference in Florida. There's a wide cast of characters and a solid murder mystery to solve. I'd categorize this mystery as more of the cozy type -- it's not too hard on the action, instead there's more of a focus on the sleuths investigating by asking questions and snooping around and talking to people. It's still fun and engaging, but more hard core mystery fans might be disappointed in the lack of action. I didn't mind though as the characters were fun and the quips were great. Think of it like a softer Stephanie Plum book set in Florida. I really liked all the main characters and the romance was super cute. Overall, a fun quick mystery read that hit a lot of buttons!

If you're looking for a very low stakes cozy mystery, this is for you! I thought it was a decent follow up for the first book in the series, with all the same players showing up. I enjoyed the lightheartedness of this book, and know that I will read more of these books in the future. It did drag a bit at times, but overall it was just a fine book to spend the day reading. The romance wasn't that believable, and honestly neither was the murder, but I was able to suspend belief enough to enjoy this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and 8th Note Press for an advanced readers copy of this book. All opinions within this review are my own.

*I received a free copy of this ebook from the publisher; the review is my own.*

3.5 stars

This sequel was on par with the first book, and I'm glad I was able to get a copy (thank you, 8th Note Press!) so I could continue the story. It was fun with a cute romance (or two), reptiles, crazy Bigfoot fans, and crime. In addition to trapping alligators, Maggie gets involved in another murder investigation when a social media influencer in the Bigfoot world dies on a nature walk she's guiding.

I'm not typically an age-gap romance reader, but I really do like Maggie (25) and Jack (35--finally got an age!). He's rather self-conscious about being older than she is, but it's pretty adorable. She's confident in who she is, including all her quirks, and he's crazy about all of her. We also get a little bit more progress on a relationship between Vera (25) and Alex (29), who are pretty much the opposite of Maggie and Jack. Vera and Alex are a lot more shy and unsure of each other's feelings, but I like them together, too.

This book focuses more on the relationship between Maggie and Vera, as well. They have to learn how to navigate the separate aspects of their lives, which is good.

Only one thing about the writing really sticks out as something that bothered me. Jack and Alex included "bro," "man," and "bruh" in their dialogue so much in this book that I thought they were trying to be honorary members of my teenagers' generation. I don't recall them speaking that way in the first book, and it was just odd to have it in this one. Not a deal breaker, though.

Although the book doesn't end with a cliffhanger, I definitely feel that there's room for more and hope that there's at least a third book. I would absolutely read it.

Note: Some swearing. I can't remember if this one had any f words in it--if it did, there was maybe one. Some sensuality. Closed-door sex.