I enjoyed the first quarter of this book while we were still being introduced to Katie, the main character. Quickly this book started loosing itself and lacked everything needed to fully keep my attention and make me want to read it. 3 stars was being generous due to there nothing being overtly bad about it, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

If you are looking for a book that has a mystery AND is fun, then this book is for you! Katie is working at the mall in a dead end job when she befriends Marley. Unfortunately, Marley ends up dead and Katie is the only person who cares to figure out what happened. Enter Jamie, the cute cop with a troubled past, who is willing to find the murderer.
This book has relatable characters! I also like Katie’s brother Owen. It is good to see a character on the spectrum who is an integral part of the story.
Many thanks to the author, Random House Publishing and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
"Play The Fool" was an entertaining mystery by debut author Lina Chern.
The characters were well developed & interesting & the use of tarot cards
was unique.
The cover art for the book was stunning.
I would love this to be a start of a new series.

Play the Fool by Lina Chern is a fast-paced murder mystery, leaning toward cozy, but with an entertaining, edgy vibe.
The protagonist, Katie True, is a young woman who has been through a series of dead-end jobs in Chicago, and is now back living in her suburban hometown, and working at a gift shop in the local mall. While she has been an underachiever, her “gift” is telling fortunes with her grifter Aunt Rosie’s Tarot cards. When her new, and best, friend is killed, Katie feels compelled to rush head-long into discovering the identity of Marley’s killer, and of course, runs into all kinds of dilemmas involving gangsters and dangerous situations!
While Katie is a flawed heroine, with a quirky, world-weary cynicism, she is a sympathetic character with a warm heart and fierce loyalty to her family. No spoilers here: the action is pretty much non-stop, and the snarky humor is reminiscent of Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum mysteries.
I enjoyed the pace of the story, the ancillary characters, and the cheeky, contemporary, irreverent prose. Ultimately, this blundering heroine is rather endearing, and the story is engaging and enjoyable!

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC. This is my unbiased review

Play the Fool was a weird one for me. The most interesting thing about Katie True is her pack of tarot cards and her brother Owen. (Neither of those things featured enough) Oh and her so-called best friend is dead.

The story started off okay and had me hooked immediately. But then things just flattened. The characters are all one-dimensional, like card board cutouts. We have the slimy mob guy, the lugheaded criminal, a bumbly police force, and a protagonist that is impulsive and annoying. Honestly, I had trouble believing she was a late 20 something, and not a sixteen year old. The only character I truly enjoyed was Owen, the main characters brother. I did continue to read and finished to see how things played out and if my suspicions were right.
I am not sure who I'd recommend this to... not really a thriller, maybe a cozy mystery? It's not really cozy, though. Maybe a young adult cozy mystery... it's that a thing?

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read and review honestly an advanced digital copy.

Katie sees Marley as her best friend, someone who helps her through her life of constantly losing jobs, her parents’ and sister’s never ending pressure, and her general dissatisfaction. But when Katie sees a picture on a customer’s phone of Marley shot through the head, her whole world upends. Suddenly Katie is trying to solve a crime, with the help of her tarot cards, her brother, and a police officer, and she is putting herself into more danger than she realizes.

This was a fun read, with a main character you really root for, and a great supporting cast. The ending was really well done. I recommend this book, and hope it becomes a series.

This is one of those debuts where you can sort of tell it’s a debut, in that the writing felt a bit forced at times and there’s kind of a lot going on. While I enjoyed the story and the mystery, the pacing was a bit off. Some reading sessions I couldn’t put the book down for wanting to know what came next, while other times it felt like a bit of a slog. 

Katie herself is a bit hard to pin down, and I would have liked to have a better sense of our main character and what she wants. Some of that feels intentional, since Katie doesn’t really know what she wants, but other times I just felt frustrated by wanting to know her better. I did enjoy how she sees the world through Tarot cards, and I felt like the author did her research and got those elements right, for the most part. It was fun to see the cards play a role in the plot and in Katie’s life. 

The plot is engaging and definitely kept me guessing about what would happen next, in a good way. It does all come together relatively quickly, but in a way that I personally found more or less satisfying, if a bit far fetched. I got the vibe towards the end that Chern might be setting us up for a sequel, and I think I’d definitely pick up a second book if so. 

In all, this was an engaging book but most definitely one that feels like a debut novel. I’m interested to see what we get next from Chern and hope that some of the things that made this less than a 5-star read get ironed out over time. 

I recommend Play the Fool to fans of mystery novels, Tarot lovers, and those that enjoy a novel that asks for some suspension of disbelief. Play the Fool comes out this Tuesday, March 28th.

3⭐️

This was an interesting read. I did enjoy the writing and there were some pretty unique turns of phrase that had me laughing. But the plot a bit flat for me.

Katie lives with a pretty mediocre life. She works a dead end job at the mall, lives in a crappy apartment, and avoids her family because she doesn’t want to deal with their disappointment that she isn’t living up to her full potential. Until one day she sees a photo of her best and only friend dead. When a he can’t get the cops to take her seriously she decides to start investigating on her own with the help of the one cop who believes her. But Nancy Drew she is not and more often than not ends up in hot water or handcuffs.

I really liked the idea of this book. I was excited by the idea of a perfectly ordinary person investigating a murder. I expected things to go horribly wrong and for mistakes to be made. I didn’t expect her to make the worst possible decision every single time. Like following a murder suspect into a house they just broke into.

I also didn’t really like Katie. I think as readers we like it when characters are flawed and relatable. But she was too flawed, she kinda just depressed me. She was just such a screw up stuck in a vicious cycle of constant self sabotage. And for the love of all that is holy, she needs to buy a second cell phone charger. The number of times her phone was dead drove me batty.

I did really like that she read tarot cards. It made her interesting. I also liked her overall growth throughout the book but thought the pacing was off. There were times when it felt like nothing was happening. But I would give this author another try.

I mostly read fantasy and science fiction but cosy mysteries are my second choice. The cover art for this one said it wasn’t going to be too serious or bloody a read. The description sounded cute too. I’m glad I got to read this ARC. It was a fun read watching the lead character bumbling through the mystery. I finished it in a single day.

🔮🔮🔮🔮 / 5

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Group for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

This was a great debut! I loved that the main character has a passion for tarot-card reading, which was a big part of the story/plot. The writing was great, and the story was pretty fast-paced. I enjoyed the banter between Katie (MC) and Jamie (cop), and Katie’s knack for getting into trouble was wild. Though some occurrences seemed unlikely, I didn’t get too caught up in that because I was thoroughly entertained!

I don’t know as much about tarot, so this was a very interesting read! I really enjoyed it though, and I don’t usually enjoy mystery. (Just my own preferences!) Very fun, and will definitely recommend!

A big thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Play the Fool by Lina Chern is a fantasy novel that was graciously recommended and gifted to me by the publisher. It follows Katie True, who all her life, has been considered a failure. Until Marley hops into her life, and persuades her to work as a clairvoyant with a knack for the cards. And all is well for Katie, until she stumbles upon a customer's phone that has a picture of Marley with a gunshot wound in the head. Thus sparking an insane adventure filled with tarot and trickery.

No. Just no. The first half of the book was amazing, in the sense that it kept you hooked on trying to find out what was even happening. But the later half was a swan dive into disappointment. Honestly, just skip this book unless you likes these kind of ones. I didn't even really know what was happening half the time. And don't even get me started on the writing style.

I had high hopes for this book, sadly I just didn't connect with it. I think it's a case of it's me and not the book. It started off a little unbelievable and with too many side stories going on in the main characters reflections. Additionally, feel like you never really get to know the characters the way you wish to.

Adulting is hard for Katie True. She is the only one in her family who is having trouble finding a lucrative career path, she lives in a run-down apartment, and she jumps from one job to the next. Right now, she is working at the mall selling Russian tchotchkes, which is where she meets Marley. Marley works at another store at the mall, and they strike up a friendship. One day, as Katie is playing with the deck of Tarot cards she keeps on her at all times, a man stumbles into the store with a head wound, looking like he is going to keel over. He eventually asks Katie for a reading, but leaves in the middle to stagger off to the bathroom, leaving his phone. Katie takes a look at it, and discovers a picture on there of Marley, in the alley behind the mall, with a gunshot wound to the head. The bottom falls out of Katie’s world. Her best friend is dead? Who killed her? She quickly realizes there are some things her tarot cards can’t foresee, and she must put her razor-sharp instincts to the ultimate test. But Katie’s recklessness lands her in the crossfire of a threat she never saw coming. Now she must use her street smarts and her inner Strength card to solve Marley’s murder—or risk losing everything.
This was fairly good for a debut novel. The writing reminded me a bit of Lisa Lutz's novels. The storyline was a bit over-the-top and you definitely had to suspend disbelief in order to just sit back and enjoy it. Overall, this is a solid 3.

Play the Fool is a debut novel from Lina Chern. This novel has rich elements of a mystery, thriller, and romantic elements all rolled into one.

Katie True is a quirky, complex character that is easily relatable, and at times a little frustrating. She’s working a dead end job, not meeting her parents expectations, and fumbling along the way.

During a tarot reading she realizes her new friend is murdered and she becomes an amateur sleuth to solve the crime. She dives in head first and chaos ensues. There’s also an unexpected twist!

Character development is solid. The cover is eye catching.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group- Ballentine for the opportunity to review this eARC!

*3.5 rounded up

Katie works in a Russian souvenir store in the mall, occasionally reading tarot for customers. Her only friend is Marley, who works at the store across the hall. When Marley disappears and Katie sees a picture on a client's phone of her dead body, she becomes determined to find out what happened. If Marley is dead, who killed her and why? And where is her body?

This is a fun investigative novel where a determined young women tries to solve the case of her missing friend. Katie is a deeply real character, who struggles with things most young adults will recognize from their own lives: what you want to do with your life, feeling like you're "behind" your peers, struggling to define your own definitions of being successful and happy in a world of mainstream societal expectations of college and career. This all backdrops a compelling mystery, adding depth to the story beyond the whodunit. Kate's understanding of people through tarot cards and their meanings was also a unique character touch that I liked.

Personally, I wasn't a huge fan of the romance subplot and I was more interested in Kate's character development than the development of their relationship. I don't tend to enjoy the "traumatized cop love interest and civilian main character work together to solve the case and fall in love" when it appears in mystery/thriller books, so it just didn't work for me; but that's more personal taste than anything. It ultimately didn't take away from the book. If you like that kind of dynamic, you'll enjoy this!

You'll like this book if you like mysteries, and it will especially resonate if, like me and Kate, you're in your twenties and trying to figure everything out.

Katie True, a down on her luck tarot card reader who is working at a Russian tchotchke shop in the mall, tries her luck with an impromptu card read that changes her life as she knows it. When she discovers that her (maybe only) friend Marley is murdered, a wild ride begins as she inserts herself in the investigation. Will she be able to figure it out, or will she become a victim herself? More importantly, did she know her friend at all?

This was an entertaining book, one part thriller one part crime novel. I enjoyed the character of Katie, however it seemed that she didn't grow from her experience. Some of the scenarios in the book seemed a little far fetched as well. Do we really think a random civilian could help with a potential murder investigation and the cops would be okay with it? Seemed a bit unbelievable at time. The relationship between Katie and Jamie the detective is one that I wish would have been explored a bit more as well, it just seemed to kind of fizzle before any real resolution was had. If I suspended some of my beliefs, that was an entertaining read. I feel like this book isn't one to be taken too seriously; it's just there for a quick afternoon entertaining story.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book. All opinions within this review are my own.

I'm a sucker for a wise-cracking, down on her luck hustler, er, I mean, fortune teller with a gooey center full of family resentment and self deprecation. This one's got quippy dialogue and tenacity that one wouldn't expect from a middle child syndrome-d daughter.

The prose falls flat but can be forgiven as the story goes along. Sometimes the cozy in this cozy mystery is so placid it dips its toes in banality. Protag Katie True is uninteresting up until the halfway point, when her amateur sleuthing ups the stakes and gives her a reason to get her shit together.

The tarot themes will either be stupid to you as it plays up as both deux ex machina and omniscient 3rd person narrator, or real fun if you're into the topic/like when prose gets meta. Overall, <i>Play the Fool</i> has fun twists with dialogue that made me crave more character moments.

What a way to tie together tarot cards and police investigations!

In this story, we meet Katie, a down on her luck gal who has had multiple dead-end jobs and now finally meets someone fun and exciting while working at a shop in a mall. That’s just where everything begins though!

She is staying semi-afloat with her day to day until she spots a photo of her new friend, Marley, dead on a strangers phone. What would you do?

This paints a pretty vivid image of Katie’s life and all the twists and turns she comes across as she’s trying to get to the bottom of what happened to her newfound friend. I could easily picture the mall, the town they were in as well as the people themselves; from their hair color/texture, to their shoes.

It started slower, but really ramped up and I sped through the second half of the book. I’m a novice when it comes to tarot, so that aspect was fun to have sprinkled throughout the book. It gave a cool thought process to the main character.

Thank you so much to the author, Lina Churn, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Bantam, and NetGalley for the eARC of Play the Fool!

Good, quirky, mystery fun! Loved the vibe of the main characters and the flow of the story. The writing created a very vivid visual scene in my mind.