I received this ARC via Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books, in return for an honest review. This is the next book in this series and easily read as a stand-alone. I really enjoy this gentle, cozy series. Set in the North Carolina Outer Banks, Lucy works at the Bodie Island Lighthouse Library. She also lives in a very, very small apartment on the upper floor of the library. Newly engaged to local dentist and town Mayor, Connor McNeil, they’re enjoying a family engagement party (yah, no nasty pandemics in cozy world!!!) when unwanted visitors from New York show up. As her father’s law partner’s wife and son, Lucy and her parents have to exhibit graciousness while wishing them gone. When a member of the family turns up dead, things get difficult on the island. Adding in searching for an affordable home that Lucy and Connor can buy on the island and strange doings among the library staff, Lucy has her hands full with work, friends and family! Oh, and she’s reluctantly agreed to dog-sit for a spoiled little dog which doesn’t go over well with Charles, the library cat.
This is a delightful series and well worth reading. Lucy and Connor are a sweet couple and I recommend time spent with them.

Loved this cozy mystery about two of my favorites, libraries and female amateur detectives.
After her father's law partner is murdered, newly engaged chief librarian, Lucy, follows her intuition solve the case. The characters in this Outer Banks, North Carolina setting, including a happy dog and clever cat, add to the charm of the story.
I finished this book on Presidential election night to maintain my sanity. Will now read through lol of Eva Gate's library mysteries.

This was a great cozy mystery describing all of the misfortunes befalling the protagonist as she prepares for her wedding. A real life murder, combined with the reading of a murder mystery, will definitely make her hands full! Highly recommended!

For me, this was my introduction to this cozy mystery series. I enjoyed it so much I am now reading the backlist.
Lucy and Connor are enjoying their engagement party but her ex boyfriend and his overbearing mother show up as uninvited guests. Both are determined to derail this marriage.

Plans go awry when a dead body shows up - the exboyfriend's father. Lucy is on a mission to find out who done it, all while being challenged of her commitment to her engagement.

This 8th book in the Lighthouse Library series is yet another terrific installment in this long-running series which rates among my favorite cozy series. Lucy Richardson and the usual (and wonderful) cast of supporting characters are back but, in this book, Lucy's parents are visiting Nags Head, NC, from Boston, along with Lucy's old boyfriend, Ricky, and his mother.

All of this makes for a very entertaining cozy. Very unputdownable and one I'd highly recommend.

Lucy Richardson and Connor McNeil have announced their engagement. Their friends throw a party for the couple at Coquina Beach, close to Lucy's beloved Bodie Island Lighthouse Library. As they're packing up the presents and the (few) leftovers from Josie's Cozy Bakery, who should arrive, but Richard Eric Lewiston III, Lucy's former almost-fiancé and his overbearing mother Evangeline who makes no secret of why she's here: to get Lucy and Ricky back together. Lucy isn't temped in the least, and Ricky is nothing but embarrassed at his mother's desperate ploy. Before returning to Boston Evangeline throws a dinner party at Jake's Seafood Bar for a reluctant Lucy and her family. Lucy hopes to get the dinner over with and see Evangeline and Ricky returning to Boson. But when a body is found at the restaurant's kitchen door, Lucy is again forced to unwillingly put on her detective's hat and do what she can to save her family and her engagement. Meanwhile, the classic novel reading club is reading The Hound of the Baskervilles, and open war breaks out in the Lighthouse Library when Lucy agrees to temporarily take care of a dog named Fluffy, but Charles the library cat has other ideas.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read the newest book in this series as I have read them all up to now and have thoroughly enjoyed them.

One of the best things about Eva Gate's Lighthouse LIbrary Mystery series is that the reader has no idea who the killer is until they are revealed. Lucy & Connor are celebrating their engagement with her family, when Ricky (ex boyfriend) & his mother arrive & invite themselves along. After dinner, Rich (Ricky's dad/Evangeline's husband) is found murdered. No one knew he was in the area, so who did it? Twists and turns, ending with a plot twist and exciting home news for Lucy & Connor. Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane books for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. Looking forward to see what happens next!

I have enjoyed the other books in the series and was looking forward to revisiting these characters. This was a fun mystery and I loved to see where the characters were at.

Thanks to #NetGalley & Eva Gates for an ARC for the newest addition to a favorite cozy series, #LighthouseLibraryMystery. This was a fun read that finds our heroine, Lucy, trying to make plans for her upcoming wedding while negotiating the unexpected arrival of her ex and his mother who wants to get back together. Soon enough her ex's father turns up in town - murdered.

There's a lot happening & it makes for a fast-paced, easy read. While it's not necessary, I do recommend readers start & read the series in order. It makes it much easier to keep track of characters & understand relationships that play a part in this mystery.

I am a librarian. Cozy mysteries are very popular at my library. As I had never read a cozy mystery, I thought I would give this one a try. After all, it is part of the Lighthouse LIBRARY Mystery series :)

I enjoyed reading this book. It was well paced and held my interest. As I said, it is part of a series, but I didn't feel like I had missed anything by not reading the previous books in the series. The mystery was shrouded enough that I had NOT solved it before the murderer was revealed in the book.

I think I will explore more books by this author.

Deadly Ever After is the eighth installment in the A Lighthouse Library Mystery series set in Nag's Head, NC and featuring librarian Lucy Richardson. Lucy and Colin McNeil are celebrating their engagement with friends and family on the shores of Coquina Beach and the day is absolutely perfect - until two people and a little white dog come trudging through the sands.

Lucy is not happy to see Richard Lewiston III and his overbearing mother, Evangeline. Lucy had dated Ricky for years (mostly to appease both of their parents) but realizing they weren't meant to be together, she fled Boston just when Ricky was getting ready to propose. Now it seems as though Ricky wants to get back together and Evangeline is going to do all she can to make sure that happens.

Following a family dinner with tensions rising high, a scream from the parking lot leads to the discovery of a dead body. Lucy is shocked at the man's identity and finds herself embroiled in another murder mystery. Gambling addictions and shady business dealings seem to be connected to Lucy's family business and she must act quickly to save her father's reputation and her engagement.

A fast paced plot features the return of many familiar faces including the furry Charles. Big changes are in store for both Lucy and the Bodie Island Lighthouse staff so readers will want to stay tuned for their next adventures.

I received an advanced copy of Deadly Ever After from NetGalley via Crooked Lane Books. While not required to write a review I am happy to offer my honest opinion.

Librarian Lucy's wedding is at stake when a murder interrupts her engagement celebrations. To make it down the aisle, she'll have to find the killer to save the date in the 8th book in the Lighthouse Library mysteries.
This is one of my favorite series and I am so happy to see this wedding happening! Or will it? Of course Lucy's wedding would get bogged down in murder and of course it's her job to solve it. The usual cast of characters is here and they assist as always. While this is the 8th in the series, you could read it as a standalone but I highly recommend you start at the beginning to better understand how everyone has developed throughout the series. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy for review.

ARC Kindle Copy from Review from Net Galley and Crooked Lane Books.

I received a free, advance copy of this book and this is my unbiased and voluntary review.

Lucy and Connor are engaged and their friends throw them an engagement party but before they could leave there were two unexpected guests her ex-fiancé and his mother. His mother wants them back together but Lucy does not want to get back with her ex.

His mother even throws a dinner party but soon things get deadly as a body is found at the restaurant. Once again Lucy will be caught up in the murder as she tries to save her engagement.

A charming storyline with a meddlesome mother.

This is a quick read...character driven...cozy mystery...get a soft, cozy afghan and curl up with this book. I read it for Netgalley review...didn't take long...if I could change anything in the book, it would be that the protagonist and her beau would marry in the book...another bothersome detail-too many characters to remember which person was with which other person...chaotic at best. That being said-a fun read...Enjoy

Love the atmospheric settings in this book; it indeed is cozy in the Outer Banks, around a library lighthouse, various beach type bars and restaurants, lonely roads and marshes, and a cat and dog, Oh, and of course a dead body, obviously murdered, and no one knows why or who murdered him, but there is a link to the families!

That certainly rains upon the engagement party that Lucy and Connor are having., but even before that headache, uninvited guests, Richard (Ricky) Eric Lewiston III (Lucy's former almost-fiancé), and his overbearing mother, Evangeline, crash the party. Evangeline makes no secret of why she's here: to get Lucy and Ricky back together. Lucy isn't temped in the least, and Ricky is nothing but embarrassed at his mother's desperate ploy.

However, before returning to Boston, Evangeline insists on throwing a dinner party at Jake's Seafood Bar for a reluctant Lucy and her family (super uncomfortable situation!). Lucy wants to get the dinner over with as soon as possible so that Evangeline and Ricky leave and return to Boston. But when a body is found at the restaurant's kitchen outside door, Lucy is forced to put on her detective's hat and find some answers. Who is this man? Why was he killed? And most importantly, by whom? Will she somehow be more involved in this than she realizes?

This is a fun cozy mystery. If you've been reading the series (this is the 8th installment), you are sure to enjoy this one as well. Recommended.

My thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher, for providing a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

This was a wonderful installment to the Lighthouse Library series! The same characters we love and a great new mystery. Ms. Gates keeps this series fresh and I was thoroughly pulled into this story.

Lucy's finally getting married to the love of her life, dentist and mayor Connor McNeil. She's happy and content...until during her engagement party there are party crashers - specifically, her ex-boyfriend Richard Lewiston III and his mother Evangeline. It's soon obvious to everyone that Evangeline is there for one purpose only: to get Lucy back together with her son, But Lucy has no intention of doing so, and even Ricky knows it will never happen. Evangeline isn't about to give up, and throws her own little dinner a couple of nights later.

But after the party a body is discovered behind the restaurant, and it changes the entire game. Now there's an investigation, and everyone who knew the man is on the suspect list. With ties to Lucy's father Millar, things get heated and it's Lucy who has to figure out why he was there and who hated him enough to want him dead. Unfortunately, things at Evangeline's hotel get hot, too. They've demanded she remove her barking dog, and Lucy is the lucky person who needs to take Fluffy. Now if she can get her to get along with her cat Charles, everything will be fine. Or will it?

This is the eighth book in the series, and I've read every one of them. I do believe that the series just keeps getting better, and this book proves that. We have Lucy trying to plan her wedding and it's interrupted by a murder. No surprise there, but the victim is one. (And, because this is an early ARC, I am not going to tell you who it is). Things are getting dicey because of it, and soon Lucy discovers that more than one person who's involved has a secret or two; and those could disrupt more than one life. Lucy, however, is good at keeping secrets and does so again.

Then there are a couple of visiting professors from England, and her friend and co-worker Charlene seems drawn to one, but Lucy is concerned, wondering if he has secrets of his own, and vows to warn her, but every time she tries to, something gets in the way. There's also little Fluffy, whom Lucy had thrust upon her, and Charles isn't happy about it; and Ricky - whom it appears isn't quite over Lucy at all.

There are plenty of secrets and lies, and everything is woven together in an intriguing tale that draws us in from the beginning and keeps us reading in one sitting. It's an enjoyable story that's a great addition to the series, and I really had a lot of fun reading it. Lucy has turned out to be a great character, and even though I have never warmed up to Louise Jane, she's toned down a bit in this story and I really liked that. I also liked the fact that Lucy and her mother are growing closer, which is also welcome.

All in all, when the murderer is discovered, everything comes together in a neat little package and the reason why is, of course, as old as time. The book was very good and I enjoyed it tremendously. I hope others will, too. Recommended.

I had a difficult time caring about the outcome or the characters. Perhaps it's because I didn't read any of the previous books in the series, but I wasn't attached to anyone in the book. I found the side-stories distracting, rather than interesting. For example, the "love triangle," in my opinion, didn't really add to the storyline, nor did the house hunting. As a matter of fact, I found myself getting a little annoyed each time Lucy said how she would miss the lighthouse.

I did enjoy the relationship between Lucy and Detective Watson, and I did like the cat. I also love lighthouses, so I was really hoping to like this story.

I won't be publishing public reviews of this book since it is less than a stellar review.

Lucy Richardson and Connor McNeil is finally getting married. The engagement party is everything Lucy dreamed of except the dead body. The outer banks is a perfect setting for this series. It was a fun and exciting mystery.
#DeadlyEverAfter #NetGalley

'Deadly Ever After', Eva Gates latest in her A Lighthouse Library Mystery series met my expectations and then some. Lucy and Connor are back after their surprise engagement at the end of the last book and wedding plans are slightly stalled. Lucy's former boyfriend shows up with his mother at her engagement party and from then on chaos ensues. There is a crisp mystery, many secrets revealed, progression in family relationships along with romance and humor. I love the quirky yet solid characters in the series and enjoy my visits with them all. I just loved it, and recommend the entire series.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.