Review to Come

I love the cover design ❤️
The description peaked my interest…
This is a new author to me.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC

Thank you to the publisher for the ARC of this book. This was such a fun and lighthearted read. Pomona Afton is like Paris Hilton meets Nancy Drew. She's spoiled (at first!) but good-hearted, and it was fun to watch her evolve as a character while working to solve her grandma's murder. The romance is also quite sweet. I can't wait for the sequel!

Pomona is a wealthy hotel heiress. She is also a social media influencer. Life is good, if not quite a bit shallow. But her grandma is killed. And Grandma suspected that one of her relatives would kill her. So, her will calls for Pomona and her family to be kicked out of the hotel until the murder can be solved.

Faced with dwindling options, Pomona goes to live with the son of her former nanny. Together, they set out to solve the murder so that Pomona can have her fortune restored. But she's also falling in love.

I really liked this book. The writing is fast-paced and entertaining. The characters are well-developed and amusing. My only criticism is that the author spends quite a bit of time dwelling on Pomona's feelings about her former life and where her life is headed. Let's get back to solving the murder! But all-in-all, the book is quite entertaining.

Wow! I really liked this one!!

It was engaging and fun. The author had a big task with making this Paris Hilton inspired character a likable and compelling character but she did a great job. The other characters were also super fun. Especially Gabriel. What a sweetie. I loved the conversational tone and the inner dialogue.

The mystery was pretty obvious but it was a fun ride to see Pomona get to the conclusion!’ Most fun was the development she went under and seeing her come to important realizations about herself and her place in the world. But I also appreciated that didn’t mean she lost who she was as a person along the way.

There were some sentences that didn’t quite make sense to me and I would have to reread several times to make sense of which is probably my main negative.

Pomona Afton Can So Solve a Murder was exactly the book I needed! It was suspenseful, full of humor and heart, and a great whodunnit! I highly recommend this for anyone wanting an engrossing can't-put-it-down book!

After the death of her grandmother Pomona "Pom" Afton is left penniless and on the street providing a much needed wake up call to this seemingly vapid character. The empathy that her character develops while hunting the murderer is admirable and could encourage readers to do their own soul searching. But this book remains light enough to provide a diversion for those of us wanting to read a mystery with a dash of romance.

Bellamy Rose’s (aka Amanda Eliot, author of “Love You a Latke”) newest book “Pomona Afton Can So Solve a Murder” features a delightful main character, who starts out as an entitled heiress, but when her lifestyle and inheritance are yanked away, we find her trying to reluctantly reinvent herself as she tries to reinstate what made her so self-unaware. Pom might seem spoiled, but she also has been put down over and over by her family who don’t think she could ever be successful and they stomp down the few opportunities she gets.

Pom’s uber-wealthy and unpleasant hotel magnate grandmother has died. Grandma was wise enough to stipulate that if she dies under “suspicious” circumstances (yep, she was murdered), EVERYONE is disinherited (including Pom’s parents, brother, and a few others) unless the murder is solved within a year. After being barred from her hotel suite home, Pom’s old nanny tells her that her son, Gabriel, needs a roommate and a new coffee shop employee. Pom is a disaster in the cafe, but Gabe suggests that she might be the right insider to solve Grandma’s murder. As Gabe and Pom team up, their banter and investigation skills are delightful and we see Pom starting to understand that her former world insulated her from real life, real friends, and real experiences. 5 stars for this rom-cozy!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): YES Best friend Opal and the cat have green eyes.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO The hotel’s large potted plants do endure a lot of drunken abuse

Thank you to Atria Books and Emily Bestler Books and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy!

Pomona Afton is connected and lives in one of her family’s hotels within their hotel empire. After finding her grandmother murdered, her entire family is cast out because her grandmother already had suspicions someone was after her. Trying to figure out what to do next, she’s made aware of an open room at her ex-nanny son’s apartment. Together, they team up to try to solve her grandmother’s murder.

My biggest gripe was Pomona herself. She has a lot to learn and needed a reality check earlier on in life. Someone. Maybe Andrea? There’s nothing wrong enjoying the nicer things in life, but they need to be acknowledged and there’s really no need to look down on so many things that are seen as lesser than. It’s demeaning and downright rude. Sure, she made some strides but mot very many!

The Afton family needs help and therapy. Lots of negative people, horrible parenting, old “traditional” values. Everyone pissed me off there. I understand how Pomona became who she was but still… yikes.

The best person, who seems to see the brighter side of things and would have loved to see a little more of, is Gabe.

I received an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a fun read! Very well done for a debut novel.

It was a great murder mystery with intrigue and a bit of romance sprinkled in. If you like rom coms and mysteries, then this is the book for you! Loved the main characters and the length of the book was a perfect rainy day length.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

Pomona Afton Can So Solve A Murder had me hooked with its quirky premise and sassy protagonist. Pomona is a fresh addition to the cozy mystery genre, and her sharp humor kept the story entertaining. The book delivers solid twists (I really thought I had it solved!) and a lively cast of characters that made for a pretty fun read!

While the mystery was intriguing, the pacing was a bit uneven—some sections felt like they dragged, while others flew by too quickly. At times, the dialogue leaned too much into the “snarky detective” trope, which, although funny, felt a bit repetitive by the end.

Still, if you’re in the mood for a lighthearted mystery with a protagonist who’s delightfully offbeat (think if London Tipton were on Only Murderers in the Building), this book hits the spot. It may not have been a knockout for me, but I’d definitely be curious to see what Pomona tackles next.

Thank you so very much to NetGalley and Atria Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

You know those Hallmark movies where the rich, spoiled heiress loses her fortune and has to mix with the common people and learn to get by on her own and grow as a person? Take that and add a murder. And baking too. It’s such a fun book.

I really enjoyed this largely because even though Pomona was self involved and spoiled, she had a good heart and a lot of moxie. She finds herself paired with Gabe as they try to unravel who murdered her grandmother. There a many reasonable suspects and most are close family members making the whole venture a bit awkward.

The mystery itself isn’t the most complex, but I was still wholly invested because of Pomona and Gabe’s charm and chemistry.

Cute and fun! Just what I needed for a post-work read, and I'd definitely check out Bellamy's books in the future.
Huge thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the ARC in exchange for a fair review!

3.5 stars!

This was a fun cozy mystery, and really gave me everything I was looking for at the time. Pomona Afton has very strong London Tipton vibes, and like London she might be a bit ditzy and spoiled, but her heart is in the right place.

I did feel like a lot of this book was filler and although I enjoyed hearing about Pomona's baking and her starting to figure out who she is as a person outside of being wealthy, a lot of the lessons she learned felt unearned. I also didn't really care about the romance in this book but that's honestly okay.

As for the cozy mystery part, I thought that's where the strength of the book came from. I liked watching Pomona slowly figure things out, and it was fun for her to interrogate the people around her. I would read more if the author decides to make this a series!

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

3.5 stars!

This was a fun cozy mystery, and really gave me everything I was looking for at the time. Pomona Afton has very strong London Tipton vibes, and like London she might be a bit ditzy and spoiled, but her heart is in the right place.

I did feel like a lot of this book was filler and although I enjoyed hearing about Pomona's baking and her starting to figure out who she is as a person outside of being wealthy, a lot of the lessons she learned felt unearned. I also didn't really care about the romance in this book but that's honestly okay.

As for the cozy mystery part, I thought that's where the strength of the book came from. I liked watching Pomona slowly figure things out, and it was fun for her to interrogate the people around her. I would read more if the author decides to make this a series!

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

For all of my friends who love Paris Hilton then this is the book for you!!! The main character gave off major Paris energy which I loved so much. This is a romcom but also a murder mystery which is super different from other books I’ve read. Pomona’s grandmother mysteriously dies and that automatically stops all of her bank accounts because of her grandmothers will. In order to get back to her normal life she must solve her grandmothers death.

It took me a little bit to get into this book and I found I shelved it as "read it later" often. I think I wasn't this book's target audience but it was well written and has an interesting premise.

Thank you Atria Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC! This book was so fun! Think Paris Hilton meets Only Murders in the Building ⭐️ This was so well written for a debut novel and I really enjoyed the storyline. Seeing Pomona grow as a character was nice and Gabe was so sweet.

Thank you, NetGalley and publishers, for this ARC!

3.75
I thoroughly enjoyed this read and was shocked that it was a debut novel! My favorite thing throughout the book is Pom's realization of what her friends and family think about her and the self-discovery she achieves in the end. All the characters felt realistic and thought out, and although the writing felt flat for me at times, the plot and characters tended to overshadow that. I liked the relationships in this book, paternal, romantic, and platonic, and how they changed and grew throughout the book alongside Pomona's self-discovery. But what really got me was the unexpected plot twist that I thought I had solved prior to the 80% mark. Overall, I would recommend this book. It was sweet, short, and entertaining.

What a fun debut novel! To me this novel read as a "Schitt's Creek" take on "Good Girls Guide to Murder" and I could not put it down!

Pomona Afton, Upper East Side hotel heiress, stumbled upon the scene of her grandmother's murder and her life is thrown upside down. Striped of her home, her monthly allowance and her fortune, Pomona is completely out of her element when she finds herself living with a roommate (Gabe) and working at a coffee shop. Pomona is determined to get her life back so she teams up with Gabe to track down her grandmother's killer and unlock her inheritance.

Full of LOL & cringe-worthy moments with Pomona experiencing "real life" for the first time, this novel also depicts amazing personal growth for Pomona. If you are looking for a fun mystery novel this is the one to pick in 2025!

Thank you Atria for the ARC

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Spoiled heiress Pomona Afton’s life's turned upside down when she discovers her grandmother murdered. So her grandmother wasn’t the nicest person, but it doesn’t mean she deserved to get murdered!!! It turns out that Grandma Afton had an ironclad will, and if her death was unnatural, everyone’s trust funds would be frozen.

Pomona finds herself evicted from her home, and she’s lost the support from all her ‘friends’. With no life skills to speak of, Pomona is stuck. She lands in a new apartment with her former nanny’s son, and together, they decide to solve Grandma Afton’s murder. What could go wrong?

I don’t usually love a spoiled heiress as a FMC, they can be very hard to root for - but I thought Pomona was just rootable enough without the character being unbelievable. I wasn’t expecting a romantic element to this book, but it was a nice surprise. I thought it was a sharp little mystery, and I really enjoyed it.