Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. Virginia is 30 yrs old and still single. She decides to take a job at the Police Station as an operator for their tip line. What better place to find a husband that at the station. One day she meets Charlie and things start to go great he brings her coffee every morning but never get a chance to go out on that first date due to work and their schedules. Then one day she gets a phone call from a woman leading the dept to several bodies of women who have been killed. Virginia tries to get as much information as she can and starts to befriend the tipster. On the day of the Press Conference Chief Decklyn asks Virginia to go along with him to the conference and she agrees. Chief starts to become infatuated with Virginia and soon she is off limits to everyone else at the station as no one wants to mess with the Chief. Virginia tries to explain everything to Charlie but he is not having any of it. As more dead bodies turn up, and the tipster starts to provide information on who might be responsible, Virginia is growing increasingly concerned and doesn't know who to trust. Enjoy!!!!

The tip line - audiobook

2⭐️

Virginia wants to get married. That’s her main motivator for getting a job in the police station. She is tasked with answering an anonymous tip line. Tips start coming from a mysterious Verona who talks about murdered women. She thinks someone in the police is responsible. Virginia refuses to believe that all her potential husband material is suspicious.
It was hard to determine what happens in Virginia her head and what actually happens. She keeps making scenarios up in her mind and there is no difference in this or reality. In that sense she was a frustrating character. She also exaggerated everything. When she bumped into one officer she was immediately in love and dreaming of getting married to him. Maybe a bit much? I also don’t know who eventually killed the girls. Quite frustrating.
Thank you to @netgalley for giving me this audiobook to review!
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I found this story very confusing. I wasn’t sure what was actually happening or what was day dreaming from the main character which made it hard to follow. I also thought she was too fixated on the detective and i wanted more of the murder investigation

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This book was very odd and Virginia was crazy. I spent most of the book not knowing if anything she narrated was true or not. She was a very unreliable narrator and drove me crazy throughout the book. The premise of the book was different, than what I had expected.

Virginia is thirty years old and is desperate to land a husband so she takes a job with the police department answering the tip line. I mean who doesn't love a policeman??? Things seem to be going well as Virginia meets several nice and good looking cops but things take a drastic turn with she answers Verona's call on the tip line. Verona is a sex worker who give Virginia tips on sex filled parties being thrown by police officers and tells her of some of their strange requests and fetishes' To make matters worse Verona swears one of the officers is responsible for a string of murders that have happened. Is Verona telling the truth? If so then who can Virginia really trust among the officers she works with to tell and get help?.

This was a short read, but a good read nonetheless. I liked the complexity of the plot and how suspenseful it was for being a relatively short book. I didn't necessarily like the main character Virginia, though, which is what lowered my rating. I had two issues with this story, one the main character Virginia, is absolutely neurotic and the other was after the buildup I did not feel that the author delivered at the end. I would rate this 3 out of 5 stars. Give it a read and see what you think.

This book was not for me. I was expecting a thriller, but instead I got the annoying ramblings of an extremely unlikeable character.

I don’t feel like there was a resolution to any of the parts I did find interesting. I wish there was more focus on the murders instead of this woman’s delusions.

I did enjoy the narrator. Her voice was lovely and she did a wonderful job with what she had. Other than that I could not wait for this book to be over.

Thanks to Net Galley and Dreamscape Media for this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and to Netgalley for providing me with early access to the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Virginia Carey has a major inferiority complex when it comes to her “friends” who are happily married with small children.

Newly 30 and without direction in her life, Virginia decides to take a job as tip line operator at the local police department—and is determined to find a husband and the perfect future while she’s there.

We learn very quickly that our protagonist has a rich imagination that borders on delusion, and she very quickly envisions her happily ever after with the first detective that makes a kind gesture towards her. One day an anonymous call comes through on the tip line informing the station that a serial killer is disposing of the bodies of dead sex workers on a nearby beach. The tip is accurate and it appears that the culprit may have some connections to the very officers Virginia spends her days with.

Rather than following the trail of the murdered women, we dive deeper into Virginia’s mind as the mystery unfurls around her. The problem with this is simply that Virginia’s delusions and imaginings aren’t particularly interesting. She daydreams about her future with her new lover, Chief Declan Brady, daydreams about the woman who gave the initial tip about the dead bodies—and continues to call back sporadically.

There is an interesting premise somewhere in here, but in the end the characters and prose were not able to grab me enough to hold my interest in the book. Despite a very good narrator, I found myself looking at my phone multiple times to see how much time was left.

This book…
I don’t even know where to begin but it was not for me.
It was honestly ALL over the place. I feel like I was always confused and it just made me uncomfy. Half the time I thought it was reading poetry and the other half I was just like what is going on.

Vanessa Cuti’s debut, THE TIP LINE, is a domestic drama about a woman who wants to find love and marry. How far will she go to do so?

Virginia Carey seems obsessed with wanting to get married. She is 30 yrs old and lands a job as an operator at a police station where she handles the tip line for incoming crimes. The Suffolk Police Department is primarily male-dominated, and she is a civilian operator.

She thinks this should be easy since she is surrounded by cops that are guys. Charlie Ford is a homicide detective, and Declan Brady is the police chief and can envision the wedding ring and marriage proposal.

Then she receives a call from Verona, a mysterious woman (sex worker) providing a tip about four bodies on a remote local beach. (This is about the only exciting part of the book). She also enlightens Virginia about the scandalous parties attended by law enforcement officers.

Is there a serial killer on the loose? Is it a police officer who is responsible for the murders? Will the tip line uncover the truth about the murders?

Firstly, I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator, Sarah Naughton, gave an outstanding performance. However, the book—NOT so much!

The main character, Virginia, was so naive and, let me say, completely DELUSIONAL. She is living in a fantasy world. OMG! This woman acted like a young pre-teen, not a 30-year-old woman!

I thought the book would be about mysteries, crime, and suspense; however, the book's focus was Virginia wanting to get married. Is this the 1950s?

I wanted to learn more about the murders, not Virginia wanting to get married, which seems to be front and center.

I fast-forwarded to most of it to get through it. A very unlikeable character. Maybe this book will be for someone, but definitely NOT for me.

Let me reiterate. This is NOT a police procedural. It is NOT a psychological thriller. This story is about a crazy woman and her innermost thoughts, a delusional mind. The story is narrated from Virginia’s POV, and being in her head was absolutely tiring, nerve-racking, and eye-rolling.

I will have to agree with many of the other reviewers. The book description does not fit the book. It drove me nuts. There was so much potential for a different story here.

I am being overly generous with a 3-star rating only because the narrator did a great job with what she had to work with. The book alone would be much less.

Thanks to #DreamscapeMedia for an ALC via #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Blog review posted @
JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins |#JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 3 Stars (for the audiobook)
Pub Date: April 18, 2023

✨Audiobook Thoughts✨
The Tip Line by Vanessa Cuti
Rating:⭐️💫 1.5/5


Our FMC is a 30 year old looking for a husband who takes a job as a tip line worker at the police department solely to find a husband. A tip comes in and we find ourselves with murdered women and someone who’s tips can help find the killer.

This story was difficult to follow and I was so confused. I realized that our FMC was completely delusional and I thought that would make it easier to understand but it didn't. I still found myself wondering if what was happening was real or in her mind. Way too much of this story was spent in her delusions.

What kept me interested was the storyline about the murdered women and everything that was real in the present. However if you’re someone who likes resolutions in the books you read I hate to break it to you but you won’t find that here. Unless I got so wrapped up in the delusions, I’m pretty sure we never get an answer to who killed the women.

The audiobook was skillfully narrated by Sarah Naughtin. She was easy to listen to and if I found her narrating another audiobook I was listening to I’d be happy.

Thanks to Net Galley and Dreamscape Media for this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Summary: Determined to find a husband, Vanessa Carey takes a job at the local police department working the tip line. While there, she fantasizes about each and every potential candidate. Will it be the charming police chief Declan, or the sweet homicide detective Charlie, or any of the other eligible men in the department? When Virginia gets a tip from a sex worker that bodies are located on an isolated beach, and that members of the police department may be involved, Virginia decides to take matters into her own hands.

Thoughts: This one was a bit of a struggle for me. I think I enjoyed the premise of this book more than the execution. I had several issues with the story including the fact that our MC Virginia joined a police tip line purely to snag a husband (a bit dated for 2023 in my opinion). She then makes very odd decisions throughout the story that end up making it feel very predictable.

I listened on audio, and I think the narrator, Sarah Naughton, did a good job with what she had. Reviews are a bit all over the place with this book, so if you want to give it a try, I recommend the audiobook versus print.

Thank you Dreamscape Media for my advanced listening copy in exchange for my honest review.

30 year old Virginia is obsessed with getting married so she takes a job answering a police tip line solely with the purpose of finding a husband thinking there would be lots of eligible bachelors working at the station. One day, she receives a tip from a mysterious woman which leads the police to the bodies of four murdered women on a remote beach.

I listened to the audiobook which was skillfully narrated by Sarah Naughton. She has a lovely voice with excellent enunciation and did a great job voicing Virginia's crazy thoughts.

The premise of this one piqued my interest, particularly the aspect of the tip line, but unfortunately the execution missed the mark. <b>The Tip Line</b> is told in a first-person narrative. The issue for me is that it is told from Virginia’s POV and being in her head was exhausting. I didn’t like her one bit and way too much of the story is spent in her delusional mind going down rabbit hole after rabbit hole.

Th author was able to hold my interest because I wanted to see where the story would go with regards to the murders, but that storyline seemed to take a backseat to Virginia's search for a husband which was disappointing. I just wanted more of the mystery and thought the story would have been better without so much of Virginia's inner dialogue. There was just so much of it which made it difficult to tell what was real and what was fantasy. This made the story confusing at times. Perhaps this would have been easier to differentiate in the print version, I'm not sure. While this is stated to be a psychological thriller, it didn't f. It felt like a mixture of a mystery and psychological suspense or domestic drama. Seeing that this is Vanessa Cuti's debut novel, I look forward to seeing how her storytelling develops in her next book. 2.5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for allowing me to listen to an ARC.

Virginia is an unstable, unlikeable character, but that didn't stop me from loving The Tip Line. This is a strong debut that's addictive from start to finish. Because I had the audio, there were times that I was a little confused as to what was Virginia's devious mind imagining her future and what was actually taking place, but, once I got that straight in mind, I binged The Tip Line over the course of two days. I can't want to see what Vanessa Cuti comes up with next!

I gave this book 2 stars and I actually did not finish the entire book. As much as I wanted to love this, I just couldn't bring myself to. For starters, the main character was the worst. A grating personality that took a promising plot and absolutely ruined it. I am all for unlikeable characters who have real flaws, but Virgina was one character that I could not stand. She's very desperate for any sliver of male attention and validation, she lives in fantasy land, and she's so one-note that its not even funny.

In my opinion, if you're going to have an unbearable character at the helm of the story, you should have a fascinating plot to back them up. Unfortunately, the plot was all over the place. It is so sad because the synopsis sounded awesome. I really thought that I would pick this up, get out of my slump, and love it---but the actual plot is vastly different from what I was promised. Instead of focusing on the case and murders that are mentioned in the synopsis, we are focused on Virginia finding a husband at the Police Department. This is not the police department Bachelorette---this is a thriller, but I don't think the author and I were on the same page about that.

As I mentioned before, this was an audiobook copy that I listened to and I want to give the narrator some serious credit. Her narration was fantastic. She was clear, easy to listen to, and was really trying to add something to the story. The narration was the highlight of this book, and one of the only enjoyable parts, for me.

Overall, I am sure you gathered by now that I did not like this book very much. This is the book that has finally convinced me that sometimes its not worth it to power through. In the future, I'll be taking my own advice on not suffering through books I don't enjoy!
Though I personally didn't love it, you might really enjoy this book! If the premise sounds interesting to you, I would always encourage you to give it a try. Due to the adult language, dialogue, and situations referenced throughout, I would only suggest this book for readers 18+.

An incredibly original storyline with surprises all along the way. The Tip Line is billed as a thriller, but I would describe this more as a mystery with some psychological suspense. If you are looking for a fast-paced thriller, I would come back to this one. This is a slow-burn mystery that is heavily character driven.

Virginia Carey is anxious to get married, and her parents and friends seem to be as worried as she is that she won’t find a husband. Virginia takes a job as an operator at a police tip line, where her main goal is to find a husband. But what will happen when she takes a tip about four bodies that are supposedly dumped on a remote beach that turns out to be true? Who could be killing these people? And what will Virginia do when she makes a connection with the mysterious woman making the tips?

There is SO much potential with this storyline! Vanessa Cuti’s debut is full of potential; the characters are unique, the storyline is interesting, and a serial killer is on the loose. Virginia is a very unreliable narrator; you soon realize she is delusional, and you can’t always trust what she says. The audio narration of this book was well done – however I think it was a little hard to follow because Virginia narrates in first person while spinning through different scenarios in her head. I could never tell when Virginia was narrating her delusion or what was actually happening. This could have been a little easier to figure out in the print version.

For me, this was a 2-star read. There was so much potential there, unfortunately the execution wasn’t the best. The book focuses heavily on Virginia and her fantasies of getting married to anyone who even pays attention to her. I thought the main story could have been more fleshed out and other characters could have been developed more. I felt that Virginia’s stream of consciousness kind of pushed the storyline out of the way. I also wasn’t a big fan of the ending; it felt rushed and a little unbelievable.

I would love to see more from this author as she develops her storytelling, because she is clearly incredibly talented at coming up with unique and interesting characters and plot lines. Cuti also did a good job of keeping me interested in how the story would end, I was invested in the plot all the way to the end.

Thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media, and Vanessa Cuti for the audio ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This is a bit difficult for me to review, whilst I loved the writing and felt very engaged in the story, I also felt slightly confused and that the writing was a bit convoluted and the main characters thoughts were all over the place. Although I did enjoy this I also don't know what I think and what actually happened in the end so I'm a bit torn in how I feel.

This book was written in a very unique style that focused on the thoughts of the main character rather than advancing the plot or the mystery. I personally found the book too slow and I was constantly wanting the character to get out of her own head and just get on with her conversation or actions. However, I know some people really enjoy slow-burn books so I think this novel would be more suited for people who like character-driven narratives. I think this book would also be better categorized as a romance novel rather than a thriller.

Thank you Netgalley & Dreamscape Media for an ALC of The Tip Line by Vanessa Cuti.

My review for this one is tough, because while I binged this one (I couldn't wait to see how it would end), it was confusing for me and the ending - I still don't really know what happened.

The book follows Virginia, who just started a job as an operator at a police tip line. The MC's entire focus of the book is finding a husband. That's why she took this job. She goes off on these tangents of inner monologue of how conversations WOULD go in a perfect world, which was confusing at times and a bit dragged on. That being said, I think the author wrote her to be this way for a reason (She is a HIGHLY unlikeable MC).

One tip comes in which leads to 4 bodies being found on a beach - And another tip follows that leads us to believe a police officer is responsible. This still isn't Virginia's focus, though. She is after a big, shiny diamond. At one point, one of the men asks her how old she is and tells her to act her age, and I was screaming this internally the entire book. Temper tantrum central, Virginia.

Super confused about the ending, but to be honest, I binged this one in less than a day because I couldn't wait to see who actually did it. Unfortunately, I don't really know based on that ending. Anyone else? Narration was great!

I should get this straight, so my mind DNF'd this book at 52%, but my ears listened until the end.

Without further ado, let's begin the review.

SUMMARY:
This is a story about a woman named Virginia. One day she gets a job as a tip-call operator at the police station. She wanted to find a husband rather than work in here. She did well with her assignment, until there's one mysterious call from a woman named Verona. Verona gives her a tip that there were girls murdered on a remote local beach. And she thinks it was done by a police officer. Then, long story short, they're about to unravel who murdered these girls and why?.

👁️‍🗨️This story told in first person POV (Virginia)

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW🔊:
Narrated by: Sarah Naughton👩
Length of audio: 9h 47m
She was great (truly), her pronunciation was clear, her voice was beautiful when she sang, and how she expressed each character and the tone she used to describe the scenery was incredible. The voice changer was also very nice and clean. She deserves all the stars; it's just the story that sucks. And no matter how good she was, she couldn't save this.

MY THOUGHTS:
📌I should have picked up an e-book, don't get me wrong. The narration was excellent; she was great; however, the story line was just all over the place. is a bit hard to understand. Some parts are boring.❗️

I even played chess on my iPad to get over her delusional mind. And FYI, I played more than 10 rounds.

📌 To be honest, the story of this book is such a breath of fresh air to me. Tip caller workers—i don't recall ever reading a main characters as tip caller workers.

📌 The premise was good however the execution...💀

WHY IT DIDN'T WORK OUT FOR ME:
☠️ I'm speechless (not in a good way) at how delusional our main character is. She's literally on the next level of delusional; I didn't even know which was her fantasy and which was her reality; I got drowned in her fucked up mind. Worse since I chose audiobooks instead of e-books.

- How delusional she is is way more than you can imagine. Every time she met husband material at her work place, she kept picturing: how will he kiss her?, his touch?, her wedding?, having babies with him?, he accompanies her at the labor?, how many kids they will have?, their kids' names?

- She is the most unlikeable character I have ever seen. Ahh.. right, she is not only picturing things with guys, but every aspect of her life. Picturing this, picturing that.

- Despite being in her thirties, her character is like a teenager who is still in heat and wants so badly to have sex.

☠️ When she was having a phone call with Verona (our tip caller), I thought they would have that kind of intriguing, serious, and tense dialogue. BUT HELL YEAH! They most likely talked about men, and when Verona talked about her job as sex worker, there was once when her client was a police officer, and they were having sex in the car when he was on his lunch break, and he told Verona to suck his gun. That's my limit. I'm off, and I'm done (Adios).

☠️ The main focus of this book, if you think the main focus is about  the on-going case, how this 4 girls dead and how they will unsloved and catch our bad guy oh hohoho.....you're deadly wrong!.   The main focus of this book is "How's Virginia Find Her Material Husband at the Police Station?" and talks about her friend and her mother asking her, "Have you met someone yet?" That's It.

And let me tell you, when Charlie asked Virginia for a date and he canceled it due a tip about four girls dead on the remote beach, it turned out to be true. She was pissed! Okay, okay, i will explain it again: someone murdered these 4 girls and dumped them like garbage on the beach; Charlie canceled his date; and then SHE WAS PISSED! 4 girls were dead, and she was pissed (I said "she was pissed" 3 times; I hope that is clear enough about what kind of character she is).

☠️ Now move on to men in this story, what i recall there were two men.  One is named Charlie; he is a homicide investigator, and the other is named Deck?, Decky?, Becky?, Brady? Well, whatever. He is a chief of police. Whenever I'm not paid enough attention, I get mixed up between those two guys. I don't know which Virginia with or who's she picturing with.

Virginia was as high as a cloud in the sky. You will never understand her. I think her brain cells were damaged when she used drugs back in college.

☠️ What I remembered most of this book is the way he kissed her, hugged her, touched her, had sex with her, and kept saying Jesus whenever he was with Virginia.😓

☠️ Overused "I said, she said, and he said."

☠️ The ending... don't ask! One star literally represents everything. When I listened to about 93% of the audiobook, I increased the speed from 1x to 2x, because I couldn't stand to hear this sick character for any longer. I didn't want to hear about her thoughts for even a second longer.

WHAT THIS BOOK MADE ME FEEL:
▪️MAD
▪️FRUSTRATED
▪️STRESSED
▪️WANTED TO SCREM

CREDIT:
Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media, for providing me with this audibook ARC in exchange for an honest review.

🐥