Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Katie True sees people in the form of tarot cards.
Her brother, Owen, will always be a Page of Wands..
Max, the owner of a wannabe Hot Topic store, is such a Knight of Cups.
And Officer Bailey, he's totally a Three of Swords.
But Katie is having trouble pinning down her new friend, Marley. Marley is such a mystery, which probably why Katie is so intrigued by her.
After Katie sees a picture of Marley dead during a particularly weird tarot reading, she's determined to find out what really happened to her friend. Along the way, Katie will find out that her friend's life was even more a mystery than she thought.

This probably won't be a story for everybody, but I absolutely loved it. There characters were so quirky and fun that it kept me invested in their journeys. Were some of the circumstances farfetched? Sure, but that's part of the magic of the storytelling. I was fully invested in the weirdness and would love to read more books featuring Katie True.

Also, the book cover is so eye-catching and vibrant. I'm obsessed!

A murder mystery with a tarot theme? Sign me up! Katie is a classic middle child, overshadowed by her ambitious older sister and special needs younger brother, floating from one dead end job to another. Most recently, she finds herself working in a Russian imports gift shop in a downtrodden mall in the Illinois suburbs, passing her downtime playing with her tarot cards. Not one to make close friends, she recently befriended the slightly older woman who works at the novelty store across the aisle, Marley. One night, a bloodied and disoriented man comes into the store just before closing, and curious about his situation, Katie offers to read his cards. When he leaves briefly to wash up, she snoops on his cell phone, and sees he has a picture of an apparently dead Marley outside the mall near a dumpster. Katie gets rid of him, and then gets involved with the police to try to solve the murder of her only friend, which no one seems too concerned about because her body was missing from the dumpster when they went to investigate. I love how the tarot element was woven into the story, with Katie cycling through each card to assign personality traits to each person she meets in the course of her investigation. Am I guilty of doing this as well? Yes, yes I am. I found Katie to be a relatable character in this sense and other personality traits Not quite a cozy mystery, but it did have some of the traditional elements, which I always enjoy. Not sure if this is a one off or the start of a series, but I would definitely be interested in continuing with these characters if it is.

This was a fun and entertaining mystery. I really liked the characters and I LOVE the cover for the book.
Many thanks to Random House and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I was in Chapter 18 of this book when I realized I couldn’t remember the main character’s name. (It’s Katie.) That’s not to say that she isn’t interesting — she’s the black sheep of an affluent family who works in a Russian tchotchke shop at the mall and reads tarot cards to entertain herself (and sometimes others). When she looks at people, she sees the tarot card that would represent them. She has a lovely relationship with her brother and a tense relationship with her sister, who thinks she should quit her job and come be a real estate agent. And there are parts of Katie that were relatable, even as annoying as I sometimes found her. It’s just that I didn’t care enough about her, or the story, to really get invested.

I’m not quite sure what vibe Lina Chern was going for here. There are bonkers aspects of the book, but it’s dark and gritty, too. So maybe this is a screwball-new-noir mystery? Regardless of what it is, it didn’t quite work. Katie is investigating the murder of her “friend,” a woman she’s essentially been having lunches with five days a week for maybe a month. Katie then gets herself embroiled in the investigation and gets involved with a handsome, troubled cop (who doesn’t seem to actually play much of a role in the story). The plot in the first third of the book was really interesting, and I was curious to see how the story would play out, but then the book just went off the rails and felt rushed. There wasn’t really much danger, and the mystery — and how it wrapped up — felt meh.

And, yes, I had to open the book back up while writing this review to once again remember Katie’s name.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Random House/Ballantine for providing me with an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Play the Fool is a captivating read. Lina Chern's writing style is sharp, unique, and unforgettable. The story follows Katie True's thrilling and intricate investigation, which will keep readers on the edge of their seats. Chern's voice is captivating, and her storytelling skills are exceptional.

Katie Tru is back in the suburbs after failing in her attempt to be an adult. She uses her tarot cards as her life guide, but can they lead her down the right path? When her best friend is killed, she decides that tarot may not have all the answers, but can she find the answers for herself?

Play the Fool is a novel that I instantly wanted to read due to the eye catching cover.

Kate True knows that Marley has been murdered. Getting others to trust her and find the killer: that's a problem no one is ready for.

Marley is mysterious, hard to read and captivating to Katie. The two are each other's yin and yang. Marley has even convinced Katie to start tarot card reading again. Interesting enough, that is how Katie leads to find a picture of Marley on a guy's phone with a gunshot wound to the head.

Katie is a mission to solve who killed Marley and nobody will be able to stop her. Not even a threat that she couldn't have seen coming her way.

I really enjoyed the First Half of Play the Fool by Lina Chern. I was captivated by the writing style and the mysterious elements at play. However; the second half of the novel seemed far fetched and had too many hijink moments. I will give Lisa Chern another try though and recommend that those who enjoy a myserious novel try this one out.

Thank you Random House Ballentine and Netgalley for my earc in exchagne for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Play the Fool; A Mystery by Lina Chern was a unique book that I enjoyed. The cover art is EVERYTHING and sucked me in from the beginning! I felt so lucky to get a copy for myself! I have shared on my goodreads, bookstagram, and booktok!

First things first - the cover just grabbed me! This was such an eye catching look. Love it. Then I read the synopsis, and I couldn't pass up a chance to read this.

This is a story about a girl, that gets herself deep into a mystery of her missing friend after she reads tarot cards to a very suspicious person. Her missing friend, Marley worked at a store across from where Katie works in the mall. They struck a friendship during their breaks. Katie doesn't have much going for her in her life. She can barely hold down a job, nothing interests her, and she's just basically just floating along. Till she comes across this mystery.

Katie becomes an amateur sleuth. With the help of a real cop, she starts to figure out what Marley was up to, and how she got herself killed.

It was a humorous book. Though a slow burn if I may say so. Katie is very mediocre person, with seriously failing at everything. She forgets important things, like locking the door at her job, she doesn't care how she looks, she doesn't have any friends. At times I felt like I didn't really care about Katie, but the tarot cards and constantly reading people with them helped move this plot along. Also, all the bad luck just hitting her constantly brought some levity to her boring life.

I didn't love this book, though the twist was interesting. It just kind of moved along slowly till everything is revealed. Sprinkled with some funny moments, and some mobsters had me wanting to finish this book, though it won't stick with me any longer than that.

Thank you to Penguin Random House for my gifted copy of the book. All opinions are my own.

I thought this mystery was well thought out and the pieces fit until I got to the end of the book. And then it kind of went off the rails.

I really liked the character of Katie True. I liked her personality quirks, her tarot readings, and her refusal to let the mystery go. I thought she was a believable character and I felt a kinship with her inability to move herself out of the rut she was in. I thought the character of Jamie was a bit harder to get a read on, but I liked their chemistry together.

The plot moved along briskly and there weren't any wasted scenes. The mystery made sense and while I wasn't enamoured with the end and the wrap-up, it didn't ruin the book for me.

This one was fun. A sympathetic character takes us on a murder mystery, and it's a good one. And also, the tarot card meanings are described correctly, which was a nice bit of detail.

Honestly, kind of mid. Nothing super egregious but also nothing that made me care about our main character or the story as a whole. Nothing much to say here, but I can see how some people might enjoy this.

This was a fun and quick read! Katie True is stuck working dead end job after dead end job. Her real talent is tarot card readings- that and her friend, Marley, a fellow mall employee, are the only things in her life that she really seems to enjoy. One day, a disheveled man stumbles into her shop and skittishly agrees to a reading - and when he is in the bathroom, she sneaks a peak at his phone and sees a picture of her friend, Marley, dead. Who is this man? And why does he have a picture of a dead Marley on his phone? Katie seems to be the only person who believes this story, and wants to figure out what happened to her friend- aside from a detective named Jamie, who gets sucked into this mess with her. This was a cozy mystery, with some humor sprinkled in as well. It started a bit slower for me, but really picked up as the book went along, and I enjoyed it! I liked the unique aspect of tarot card readings being mixed in as a theme as well. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine for an ARC of this book!

Play the Fool is a cute mystery about Katie True, her tarot card and people reading skills, and how she solves the murder of her friend Marley. This story was quite entertaining, and I found myself really enjoying seeing where the story was going and how Katie was going to save the day by solving the crime. While the ending wasn’t as overwhelming as I hoped for, I enjoyed this story overall and though it was a great debut novel.
Thank you to Netgalley and Bantam for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest opinion.

I so enjoyed and loved this book!! I enjoyed the characters and loved Katie True (and lover her name!). I liked her humor and how she did own herself flaws and all. I found some messes she got herself in while trying to find out what happened to her friend hilarious and laughed out loud (the library, lol). I liked her friendship with Jamie and how he seemed to just get her. Her brother Owen was my favorite character and I loved her relationship with him and the friendship he developed with Jamie. I am secretly hoping we get a second Katie True book with a new adventure and all the characters again…Katie, Jamie, Owen, Bear, Jessie.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and Linda Chern for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion and review.

I really think I liked the set of up Play the Fool but at the end of the day, the execution wasn't my favorite.

I was definitely intriguied at how the main character saw people as different cards, and I originally picked up this book with the mindset that she was going to mainly use her tarot card experience to help her crack the case. Which I suppose she did, but after a while, we slide straight into "amateur detective who gains the interest of a detective working the case and they work together despite the fact that I'm pretty sure that isn't ...okay." Yeah! No, I should've realized we were going there.

It also felt whacky in a way that isn't terrible (I've read whackier and those enrage me), but I definitely thought where the plot went to was a little... figured out too neatly.

Overall a fine read. Not my fav, but it was fine. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3.

Thank you to Ballentine/Bantam and NetGalley for a chance to read and review.

An attention-grabbing romp with street smart Katie True as she attempts to uncover what happened/who killed her friend Marley. I enjoyed Katie’s loyalty to her friend Marley, along with her Gen Z skills as she gets herself right into Marley's murder scene. Katie uses her skill/manipulation of Tarot card readings to dive headfirst into a path she never saw coming. Katie reaches out to law enforcement where she meets a detective who is both cynical and helpful to Katie. So many, I didn't see coming surprises. Enjoyed reading.

Play the Fool has such a great cover, it immediately draws you in. Katie True is a loner gal who is not very successful in life, working in a Russian knick-knack shop in a dead end mall whose only friend works across from her in a goth store. The only thing Katie is good at is reading Tarot cards. When her friend doesn't show for work and then a strange man enters her shop, things begin to happen. Katie peaks his curiosity when he sees her playing with the Tarot cards and asks her to do a reading for him. Trying to get the edge (or con) the man, she reads his phone while he steps away and sees a picture of her friend, dead near a dumpster. Katie sets out to discover how this man is connected and as she follows him, gets more than she bargained for her. In this crime thriller mystery, Katie's life is now at risk and there are twists and turns that may surprise you or not. However, it is so far-fetched and truthfully, not very exciting to become invested in the story. Katie True is not an admirable character that I really cared about. I found myself skipping through just to see how it ends. So, I have to give this just a s0-so rating of 3 out of 5.

Play the Fool by Lina Chern ⭐️⭐️💫

Many thanks to @netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. This one came out yesterday!

I struggled with this one, but there were some really cool elements. First - my struggles. I didn’t like the characters. Katie came off as a mess and playing the victim card. If you’ve read many of my reviews, you’ll know I don’t enjoy amateur detectives, and Katie fell into that trope quickly. Jamie felt like he was thrown in there just because someone else was needed.

I also struggled with the realism. Everything was so outlandish. Once I realized we weren’t coming back to the land of actuality, I was able to enjoy it a bit more. But so many things just felt forced and not realistic.

I really enjoyed the tarot cards and how they played into the first third of the book. If that would have continued, I would have enjoyed it much more. I also enjoyed some of the witty descriptions; they made me giggle. I also found the cover amazing!

All in all, if you’re looking for a cozy mystery with some very flawed characters, this one would be enjoyable!

Thank you to NetGalley, author Lina Chern, and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Bantam for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

This was, unfortunately, a major let down for me. I was drawn to this book both based on the stunning cover (I love the neon witchy vibes!!) and the description; I dabble a bit in tarot myself, and a murder mystery that a tarot reader uses the cards to solve sounded so intriguing. I do give Chern big props for writing a unique story because I did enjoy that this book wasn't as cut and dry as other mysteries out right now. I felt that the integration of the tarot cards were a bit too on the nose, but I do commend the creativity overall. There were also a few twists I wasn't expecting that I appreciated! However, that's about where my enjoyment of the novel came to an end sadly. I simply could not get past the main character, Katie, and her "quirkiness". She was practically insufferable to read between her self-proclaimed "lazy and aimless" tendencies and sheer stupidity of behavior that is exhibited in her actions trying to solve the case independently. I could not connect to her as a reader and wish that Chern would have made her a little more likable and/or relatable; instead, I just ended up kind of pitying her, which is not a good feeling as a reader. At the very least, I wish her and Marley's relationship was established a bit better and/or deeper because the fact they were barely acquaintances made it really hard for me to believe that Katie would literally risk her life for this person. The relationship between her and Jamie was a bit strange too, and I didn't like how much she got away with overall. Not everything has to be super realistic, but the things she got away with as a normal citizen just because she had a budding romance with a cop didn't make sense in terms of the story. If you're looking for an easy mystery read, this might interest you, but if you're looking for mysteries with better developed characters, then I would suggest trying something else out.