This was a light, entertaining read that felt like a cross between a romantic comedy and a whodunnit style murder mystery. The FMC, Kate, finds herself on a private island for the small lavish wedding of her boss, who also happens to be her ex-fiancé. Also in attendance is her old crush that never happened, and a few other key guests who all turn into suspects when someone is poisoned. It’s a comedy of errors as Kate tries to key into her sleuthing alter ego that she has built into a best selling detective series. It’s a fun premise and decently executed, although some of the characters and plot felt forced or out of place. The actual mystery part I do think was well-done and not completely expected. As an audiobook it was an easy listen, and the narrator can switch between accents with great ease. Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

She Doesn't Have a Clue by Jenny Elder Moke is funny and a joy to listen to. The novel combines a mansion-style murder mystery with the charm and wit of a romantic comedy.
Kate has agreed to go to her ex fiances/boss's wedding at an old estate off the coast of Washington. She gets immediately paired up with Jake her former best friend/crush she hasn't seen in two years. and it's awkward. Kate spends a lot of her time in her head solving her problems as her book heroine Loretta Starling whenever she's faced with something difficult. Things take a turn when the bride survives a poisoning that is set up to be just like Kate's book and it seems like she's being set up.
The cast of characters is very colorful and it was hard to figure out who was causing all the problems in the mansion. All the guests have motives for doing terrible things while at the wedding. Kate starts trying to unravel everything happening while everyone is trapped by the wedding. Jake is the only one willing to help her solve things.
I enjoyed Sarah Mollo-Christensen's voice. She did a good job differentiating the characters' accents.
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audion for this audio arc all opinions expressed are my own.

This book was provided as an ARC audiobook.

3.5 stars for the story, 4 stars for the audiobook.

This book was a great mystery book. I’m either not a good mystery solver, or this book was really good about keeping the “whodunnit” behind closed doors. I was sure several people were the one, because the writing was really good leading you down that path without being too obvious and forceful. But then when the big reveal happened, it was a moment of “them, really??” but also “yea ok, that makes sense.” I loved that it was a mystery book about an author that writes mysteries, with a splash of romance and a dash of spice all in one. That layered effect really added dimension to the story and kept it interesting.

The audiobook itself was so well done! It was duet narration, and I absolutely loved the narrators. The “hotstralian” was total ear candy to listen to. It may have just been the writing, but the way the dialogue for him was narrated fell a bit flat at times, and felt like the mfc was playing tennis with the drapes at times during their conversations.

Overall, this book was really good and made me realize I have a new appreciation for romantic mystery books.

She Doesn't Have a Clue
A Novel
by Jenny Elder Moke
Narrated by Sarah Mollo-Christensen

I received an ARC of this audiobook from Netgalley.

I loved everything about this book - the author, the narrator, the setting, the characters - all of it.

The writing was impeccable. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

This book is a romance-mystery or a romystery or a mysterymance or whatever and it works so well.

This book could have been a suspense/thriller if a few elements were changed. What I mean by that, is that the core of this book was so well done that the author could have made it into any genre, but I am so glad they chose romance!

Definitely recommend this one!

A murder mystery and a rom-com had a baby and this book was born. I loved every second of this book and was the perfect read for those who love a good rom-com but also want a bit more. Fantastic read and going to see what else this author has published after leaving this review.

If you're on the fence, just read it, it'll be worth it.

Audiobook/Book Review 📖🎧🕯️

thank you so much partner @minotaur_books @macmillan.audio for the gifted ARC and audiobook. #macaudio2024

She Doesn't Have a Clue
by Jenny Elder Moke
Narrated by Sarah Mollo-Christensen

About the book 👇🏽

A high-end wedding on a private island off the coast of Seattle sounds like something out of a magazine. But for bestselling mystery author Kate Valentine, it’s more like a nightmare.

Why Kate agreed to attend her ex-fiancé’s wedding is its own enigma, but she’ll plaster on a fake smile for two nights, with the aid of free champagne, naturally. And because the groom happens to be her editor, she’ll try to finish a draft of her latest Loretta Starling mystery as a wedding gift.

When the bride is poisoned and Kate stumbles across a dead body, she finds herself in a real-life mystery that eerily echoes the plot of her latest novel. And the only person who seems willing to help Kate catch the killer is Jake Hawkins, aka: the Hostralian; aka: Kate’s biggest romantic regret.

As the wine flows and the weather threatens to hold every guest hostage, bitter resentments and long-held grudges surface amongst the colorful crowd. Anyone could be capable of murder, it seems. What would Loretta do? Unfortunately, Kate doesn’t have a clue.

🕯️My thoughts:

Such a fun read! It’s a mystery but also a romance, and a second chance romance at that (my favorite)! It’s pretty fast paced so whether you are physically reading the book or listening to the audiobook, you’ll be able to get through it pretty fast. I hybrid read it and can say that I enjoyed both versions of the book. I’d definitely consider this a cozy mystery and would recommend this to cozy readers. The characters all have their own personalities making it easy to keep track of each of them and I didn’t even guess the culprit! If you’re looking for a cozy and swoony read that you’ll have fun with, give this book a shot. She Doesn’t Have a Clue is out 1/21/25!

Happy reading 📖🎧🕯️

I was super excited for this book because I love mysteries and I love romance books. But sadly this book faced the problem of being too much of everything it was not much of anything. This book was not one for me honestly. It seemed like the tone was all over the place, the characters kept just being comically stupid in a bad way, and the author seemed to struggle with knowing what was a serious moment vs a funny moment. The narration was confusing from the beginning as we didn’t start out knowing the first section was the authors character’s story. Over all the plot was meh, predictable, and just not my cup of tea.

Moving out of the YA genre, author Jenny Elder Moke has written an adult mystery rom-com that does make one laugh and attempt to figure out the solution to the murder. Narrator Sarah Mollo-Christensen makes the characters easily identifiable. ach has a unique voice.

Kate Valentine, mystery writer, has been invited to the wedding of her former fiancé, who also happens to be part of her publishing team. Just six months after their break up, he is marrying into the wealthy family that owns the publishing house. Also in attendance is Jake, the Australian on whom Kate has had a small crush since she helped write his travel/adventure books. Jake and Kate are assigned to the same room in the attic of the huge house. As the wedding preparations and festivities go on, Kate is repeatedly snubbed by the bridesmaids who seem to think she wants ruin the wedding and get Spencer, her former fiancé back. Kate does not. But circumstance seems to put her in the picture for attempting just that. Along the way, Kate and her Australian become partners in proving Kate is not and they stumble into one mishap after another. Literally stumble on several occasions as the creepy old house is full of secret passageways. The head of the family, Rebecca Hempstead, takes the gathering of family and friends as an opportunity to announce the restructuring of the family's redistribution of wealth after her demise. Not all family members seem to be overly happy with the announcement. In addition to dissatisfied relatives, the gathering includes disgruntled authors.

When the power blinks out, the water stops working, and the island and all communications are cut off by the storm, Kate imagines herself as Lorna, her fictional detective and tries to solve some of the mysterious happenings of the weekend.

Readers of Sophie Kinsella will enjoy this one, though it's a bit spicier. Recommended as a good escape.

She Doesn’t Have a Clue is a romance intertwined with a whodunnit mystery. As a lover of both of these genres, I was very eager to get my hands on this one. However, after finishing, I ended up at a 3 star rating so admittedly it wasn’t my favorite. I think for me, it was just the romance portion, I wasn’t a fan of the miscommunications and lack of backstories at the start. By the end, I didn’t hate where our romances ended by any means I just felt like it took awhile to for me to “fall in love with their love”. The rest of the story is what carried it for me, I enjoyed the mystery and our insight into the book industry. I’d consider reading more from Jenny cause I do feel like this one had enough to make me come back. Side note: I love the cover!

A nicely done audiobook, read well with great character differentiation, tone and intonation. Kate is such a mess, and Jake totally puts her in her place. Their dynamic was great and they really had to duke out past circumstances and emotions to get to their hea.

Overall a fairly lighthearted read and a fadt paced and complicated whodunit.

#netgalley #SheDoesntHaveAClue

This book was such a treat! Half Murder Mystery / Half Second Chance Romance. I truly didn’t know it could be done, but it really was the perfect combination of genres; comedy, romance, & mystery.

The female main character starts out a bit whiny & weird, but in all fairness who wouldn't be when they have to attend their ex-fiancé’s wedding to someone else? It all comes together when you start to see her adorable quirks & self-confidence return along with a slow burn, enemies to lovers, second chance romance that is it’s own tangled web to unravel. I think you’ll grow to love her, just as I did.

There are a lot of characters in this story, & at times I did get a little confused with who was who, which led me to getting lost in the storyline a little bit. I personally wish they would have included more backstory on the characters throughout the book. Many of them l have history together & it’s brought up often, but no real details.

If you’re looking for a contemporary romance with a little comedic murder mystery feel, then She Doesn't Have A Clue is a book for you! Mark your calendars, this one is released on January 21st, 2025.

First of, the narration of this book was excellent. It was so much fun to listen to this story and it definitely kept me coming back for more. . The book itself was not what I typically read, so listening to it was a must. The story was a little far fetched with a lot of different characters, which was a little confusing at times.
As far as the mystery goes, I was guessing until the end.

Overall, it was a lighthearted story that was easy to listen to.

The narrator of this book was Sarah-Mollo-Christensen. This was my first time listening to a book by this narrator. The narrator seamlessly moved between characters, and kept an easy and understandable flow between chapters. The narrator made the characters sound unique and relatable.

Kate Valentine is the author of the popular Loretta Starling mystery series. When she gets invited to her ex-fiancee’s wedding, she is a bit apprehensive. Kate has been in a bit of a slump writing the next book in her series. She is feeling the pressure, as her ex-fiancee is also her editor.

Jake, also an ex of Kate's, shows up at the wedding. The wedding happens to be at the remote Hempstead Manor during a storm. Things start to get strange as things start to happen that resemble Kate’s mystery books. There are lots of guests, some who have their own agendas.

This story is part mystery and part romance. It was unique to have this kind of mix in one story. I enjoyed the mystery part, and the laugh out loud moments. When the story came to an end and the mystery was solved, things got a bit chaotic.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the ALC, and for letting me share my early thoughts on She Doesn’t Have a Clue.

This book has all the makings of a cozy mystery. A remote island setting, a spooky mansion full of secret pathways, a cast of quirky characters, a scary storm, an unexpected power outage, etc. etc.

Protagonist Kate Valentine is a best-selling mystery author. Loretta Starling, the main character in Kate's best-selling series, is a crime sleuth of sorts. Kate channels Loretta throughout her crime solving journey and the result is a confusing, unnecessary framework that takes away from an otherwise OK book.

Jenny Elder Moke does strike a good balance between rom-com and cozy mystery...and some parts are quite funny. However the back and forth between Kate and Loretta was distracting and it really killed this book for me.

3.4 rounded down to 3.

This book was a lot of fun to read. I would describe it as a locked room mystery meet romantic comedy. I liked the premise, the mystery the FMC Kate, the setting of the remote island, and all the suspects. On the romance side I liked their banter, but I found their background history frustrating. I loved them together though and how they just worked. All in all this was fun and entertaining.

I read a bit of the story but mostly listened to the audiobook and the narrator was perfect!

“She Doesn’t Have a Clue” is an entertaining read that offers a lighthearted take on mystery and adventure. Jenny Elder Moke’s writing is engaging, and the protagonist’s journey is filled with amusing moments and relatable struggles. The book does a decent job of capturing the ups and downs of teenage life, along with the complexities of friendship and self-discovery.
However, while the plot has its fun twists, some parts felt predictable and the pacing could be uneven at times. Certain characters lacked depth, making it hard to fully connect with them. Additionally, a few plot points seemed rushed, leaving me wanting more development in key areas.
Overall, “She Doesn’t Have a Clue” is a charming read that has its strengths but also some noticeable weaknesses. It’s enjoyable for a casual read, but it may not leave a lasting impression. If you’re looking for something light and fun, this book could be worth your time!
3.5 stars rounded up to 4

Let me start with, I loved this novel. Like, immediately began looking up other books by this author because I found this one so enjoyable. I just felt like this one hit all the right notes - I enjoy a cozy-ish mystery, a love interest, a locked-room (or rather, a secluded island) element, and, of course, a quirky cast of characters. This was such a fun, engaging, and thoroughly entertaining book that I was so sad to finish because I kept wanting more!

If you’re looking for a book that’s equal parts romance and mystery, this is for you! There main character Kate is likable, somewhat disaster-prone, and entertaining, and the love interest is charming and adventurous.

The mystery had it all: secret passages, red herrings, inheritances and family drama, ex-lovers, and a slew of potential suspects. And to top it all off Mole weaves in various steamy scenes between characters.

Although it’s not my particular cup of tea, it would be great for someone who loves a romance heavy mystery! The narrator was fantastic too,

Thank you to #MacMillan and #NetGalley for an ALC in exchange for an honest review.

She Doesn't Have a Clue by Jenny Elder Moke was a cute read. I found it to be just fine, and the narration was good as well.

This book is perfect for fans of the Finlay Donovan series. It is a quirky mix of mystery and romcom. I enjoyed watching Kate figure out the clues and the second chance romance with Jake. There was a lot going on but it flowed well and I didn’t know who the culprit would be until the result was known. The spice was at a skippable level for me but if you are open door reader, it wouldn’t bother you. There are parts where she flips into an inner monologue with one of her book characters and that was a little hard to follow on audio but once I knew to expect it, it was less distracting.

The narrator was a good choice and performed all of the dialogue well including accents.

I received an advanced copy of this audiobook via NetGalley. The thoughts and opinions in this review are my own.

Content Notes: Some strong language, 2-3 open door romance scenes