With the world currently being grounded, this was a great book to fulfill my wanderlust! Ava is an airline pilot whose friend was brutally murdered years ago causing her to leave her hometown. As an adult, she now returns and has to face what’s left of her past. This murder mystery is a great way to kick off the new year. They characters are all hilarious and fun. Though there is murder, you will also get a good laugh!

ARC for honest review with no compensation Received from NetGalley

Truth, Lies and Second Dates by Mary Janice Davidson is a laugh out loud, lots of chemistry, murder mystery but with lots more going and at times became somewhat confusing. Eventually figured out what was happening and overall was a good book.

MaryJanice Davidson has a very unique voice and perspective and I love it. The humor and quirkiness her characters bring to the table allow me to overlook minor plot flaws. She is a must read for me, and I loved this one! Ava and Tom had a mystery to solve, but more importantly, they had to find each other.

I'm so sad over this book. I wanted to love it. I really did but instead...

Sure it was filled with typical MJD snark and tropes which I normally LOVE. Also I was so excited to read in her author's note at the start of the novel that the book had horror tropes. Sadly, these so called "horror" tropes really bummed me out and didn't fit what I was expecting.

It didn't help that I HATED the opening pages and LOATHED and I mean LOATHED Ava. However as with many of MJD's books, it's the secondary characters that I really shine and make the book for me.

I’ve enjoyed the author’s paranormal stories before (most recently Bears Behaving Badly) so I thought I’d try out one of her contemporaries. The author specifically states that this book is a mashup of both romance and horror tropes, some subverted and some hilariously not. It’s a bit of weird mix that worked wonderfully for me in some ways and not at all in others.

Captain Ava Capp (yes, Captain Capp) has been avoiding her home state of Minnesota ever since her best friend was brutally murdered. So it’s awfully bad luck that lands her back there on the ten-year anniversary of her death – and that her best friend’s brother is a passenger on the flight. Drug along to the memorial against her better judgement, she suddenly finds herself at the center of the unsolved mystery, and even worse, the killer may be looking to strike again.

“THE LIST
Kill everybody who thinks I’m a killer
Prove I’m not a killer
Rinse
Repeat”


The one thing I have to say for this author’s books – the characters are always, well, characters. They’re generally quirky and funny, and they are extremely fun to hang out with. Ava loves flying, and the book is sprinkled with lots of pilot trivia. Ava’s also obsessed with lists – each of her POV chapters is topped with one of them – and is, like your classic horror movie heroine, mostly unaware of how much danger she’s in until someone else points it out. In this case, it’s Tom, the excruciating literal medical examiner. Up until about halfway through the book, though, Tom believes Ava may be the killer – which is uncomfortable since he’s attracted to her. While there is a romance, it does feel overshadowed by the mystery portion of the book.

“Okay. I still feel like you’re not internalizing this—”
Yawn.
“—so I’m gonna go over it again: you’re about to be the murder victim of a grisly murder because you’ll be murdered.”
Redundant.”


As for other cons, the main issue for me is that the author has a distinctive writing style – quirky characters and almost stream-of-consciousness writing – that didn’t work for me with the whole grisly murder storyline. It works well with a frothy paranormal romance but not so much for a book chockfull of horror tropes. There’s also a lot of rep (Tom is demisexual and he and his precocious niece are on the spectrum), and I’m not ownvoices for either. While I liked how accepting Ava was of his neurodiversity, some of the humor around it felt a bit off-putting. For instance, when Tom shares that he often has difficulty with responding appropriately to certain social situations, she jokes about bursting into giggles at her parents’ funeral. Tom’s reassured by this, but to me it felt a bit like Ava didn’t quite understand what Tom was trying to express.

Overall, this was funny and a quick read, but it didn’t really work for me. I think I’ll stick to the author’s paranormal romances from now on.

I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Fun and quirky characters. A little mystery. A little romance. A lot of over-the-top zaniness. 100% pure MaryJanice Davidson craziness. Loved it!!


I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. My thoughts and opinions are my own and without bias or favor.

This book kind of reminded me of Stephanie Plum. You know if Stephanie was a pilot instead of a bounty Hunter, lived in Minnesota instead of New Jersey, and only had one man after her instead of two. I do have to say though this book would have definitely benefited from Lula and grandma. this book was very quirky, goofy, campy, and over the top. A blend of mystery, romance, and humor. The book pokes fun at itself, the genre, all the over used tropes. at times I found the book quite amusing while other times I found it all a bit annoying. this style of book I’d imagine is really hard to right, because it’s a hard line to balance between humor and overdoing it. As I mentioned above reminded me of Stephanie Plum, just wasn’t quite as authentic, if that makes sense? I guess I felt at times it was just a little too forced. this is not to say I didn’t like the book I had a good time reading it, but I do recognize that this book is definitely not going to appeal to everybody.

*** Big thank you to St. Martin’s Press for my gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own. ***

I loved the characters in this book. The camaraderie between the flight crew was hilarious, particularly since the crew from this airline primarily stayed together. I also loved the medical examiner, Tom Baker and his niece, Hannah. I felt that the author went more into the depth of these two characters. Hannah is a true genius, and her comments were hysterical. Although I enjoyed the mystery portion of the story, I felt that it moved a little slowly for my taste. All in all, I enjoyed this book.

Also reviewed on B&N under 1IrishEyes430 & Kobo under IrishEyes430

This book was so much fun to read. Ava Capp is headstrong and afraid to commit to anything but her job. Being back in her hometown for the reunion of her best friend's mysterious murder is the last place she wants to be. I absolutely love her character. She's snarky and a bit abrasive which makes her less likable to the characters but more likable to the reader. This was an easy read as a standalone, and I'm looking forward to reading more of Davidson's books.

3 1/2 stars

There is a good idea here but it doesn't completely stick the landing.

This is a send up of common romance and horror tropes,a cozy,chick lit,women's fiction and a contemporary romance.

The characters are quirky,the situations are ridiculous, the paring unusual, and the banter never ending.

It grew tiresome after awhile.

Like those shows were everyone has a comeback,knows all the references and people communicate with banter.

This is a fun,escapist book. I enjoyed it but I probly won't read it again.

Captain Ava Capp finds herself flying back to her home state of Minnesota and the memories that she has tried to leave behind. She is surprised to find her best friends brother on her flight. It is then she realizes he is there for the ten year memorial for his sister. When she agreed to go to the memorial, it sets off a new chain of events. Dr. Tom Baker is a medical examiner who has been fascinated with Ava's story for as long as he can remember. He steps in to help her find out who killed her best friend ten years ago, only to have sparks fly between them. Will the killer be after Ava now and will they figure it out before he is successful?

This was a fun and easy book to read. Thank you to Netgalley for the Arc in exchange for my honest review.

Captain Ava Capp is a pilot with a willing man in every port. She is trying very hard to outrun her past and the murder of her best friend, Danielle, when they were teenagers. But it all caught up to her when she bumped into her friend’s twin brother, Dennis, on a flight to Minneapolis. The last place that Ava wants to be. She is roped into attending an anniversary memorial for her friend.

Ava met Tom when he helped her get a very drunk Dennis in the car and the two of them ended their encounter with a scorching kiss. She ran into him again at the Medical Examiner’s Office, and it is revealed that Tom is a medical examiner. He has also taken an interest in Danielle’s case and that throws the two of them together.

I enjoyed the funny comments and banter and interjections by the author in the beginning, but later on it became a bit too much. I still liked Ava’s lists at the start of many of the chapters. Tom is a great character, but Ava was a bit too all-over-the-place. Levity is an effective tool, but it can be too much, especially when the characters start acting childishly. I found Danielle’s family’s reaction to Ava a bit unrealistic and crazy. Apart from the fact that they grieved their lost daughter, there wasn’t a good reason for their extreme animosity.
The romance between Tom and Ava worked well, and I also enjoyed the supporting characters. The flying details built into the story was interesting.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Truth, Lies, and Second Dates is Mary Janice Davidson's third book in her Danger series. The book is what I would consider a romantic comedy/suspense/chick-lit.

This book is funny at times; however, the writing is off in other areas regarding the romantic comedy elements necessary for this to be an absolute hit with me.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishing house and the author for the opportunity to read a complimentary advance reader copy of this book in return for a review based upon my honest opinion.

This was a quirky cute read. I like this authors tongue-in-cheek writing style and like the repartee between Ava and Tom in this book. It was a quick read, with a mostly good storyline; I did not like the ending of the mystery part of the book, but enjoyed the rest of the book.

Captain Ava Capp is pilot who is famous for a recent belly landing, hates flying through her hometown of Minneapolis and was a previous pill popper. And oh, her best friend was brutally killed 10 years ago and the crime is still unsolved. She has a flight attendant sidekick named G.B. and meets Dr. Tom Baker, a medical examiner, when she becomes entwined in the cold case of her best friend. The author shares her love for tropes and it was fun looking for them throughout the book.

I was happily surprised by how much I enjoyed this witty romance mystery. It was laugh out loud with a very unreliable narrator who is snarky, odd and definitely does not take herself seriously.

If you enjoy wacky, laugh-out-loud reads, don't miss "Truth, Lies and Second Dates" by MaryJanice Davidson with a cast of quirky characters and situations that kept me entertained and engaged from start to finish. I loved the instant attraction and undeniable chemistry between airline pilot Captain Ava Capp and Dr. Tom Baker from the Ramsey County Medical Examiner's office. The secondary characters enhanced my reading pleasure. I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

I was very excited to read this book by this new to me author and while I can't say I'm mad at it and can't say I loved it either. In the end I'd guess I'd say that I was stuck somewhere in the middle with my personal opinion of it. There were some things I can honestly say really appealed to me and a couple things that simply didn't work for me. As for the things that really worked for me: The main and secondary characters, the clever banter, a good amount of humor and a solid mystery to try to sleuth out. So, what didn't work for me? The actual time given to this couple's romance. I found it not only slow-burning but too much confined to the backseat of pretty much everything else featured in this book. For me that is a big issue because I read books for the romance and while I felt there was a ton of potential here; it never got the chance to step into the spotlight and shine.

This was fun read. You will laugh out loud reading this book. This was quick read for me. You most likely won't completely like either Tom or Ava but even the weird ones need to find love. You might not like them because they aren't your normal hero/heroine but I enjoyed reading them because they weren't like that. This book is quirky and a good mystery to figure out. So sit back and enjoy this read.

*I received this free book from NetGalley and am leaving my honest opinion*

I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review.

I have historically always really enjoyed Davidson's books (with a few exceptions) - they're snarky and sassy and hilarious. I really enjoyed this book, the characters were all so funny. I especially loved Hannah, and having her be a genius level IQ made her precociousness make a lot more sense for a six year old. Ava and Tom were adorable together and I loved their banter. Their chemistry was good but I wouldn't say it lit the page on fire or anything. Tom's character was so endearing and interesting - I always love a romance hero who's on the spectrum and takes everything literally. Honestly all of the characters in this book were very entertaining. There was a lot going on in the book but, as noted in the author's note, this was kind of done on purpose to make this a trope filled, romance reader's fun read. I definitely enjoyed it and I'd recommend it!