Play the Fool was just ok for me. The first part of the book was decent. The story, setting and characters were well set up and it seemed like it would be interesting, but at the same point the story took a turn and became not that great. We were introduced to so much all at once halfway through the book and it all felt rushed and discombobulated. This book started off promising but most definitely fell flat

Man, I really, really wanted to love this book! The cover and synopsis drew me in fast!! However, the main character just left me wishing for a different personality or storytelling.

Throw out all your expectations when you read Play the Fool. Katie True is not your average amateur detective.

Katie True thinks Marley Callaghan is her best friend, maybe her only friend. They work in two stores in a dying mall and meet on their breaks. Then a man walks into the store where Katie works and she accidentally see a picture of her friend——murdered—-on the man’s phone.

Katie follows him to the house where Marley lived and follows him in. It’s clear the place has been tossed. The police show up. Katie is cornered and subsequently interviewed by a handsome detective but she doesn’t believe he’s taking it seriously. You see, the body isn’t by the dumpster that was in the picture. There is no body. So of course Katie thinks she has to investigate by herself.

I suspect Katie True is intended to become the next Kinsey Milhone or Stephanie Plum. I think author Lisa Chern has a shot at pulling that off. Katie is an original.

Katie’s gimmick (I mean that in a good way) is that she reads tarot cards, having been taught by her aunt. Actually, she thinks in tarot cards. When she interacts with people, especially those she doesn’t know or is just getting to know, pictures from a tarot deck float into her mind, and that tells her about how that person interacts with life. I’m making that sound weird, but actually it’s quite a charming part of the story.

This is not the kind of book I would normally pick up (amateur detectives are more my husband’s thing). But Chern drew me in and drew me along. It’s a fairly quick and enjoyable read. I’m happy to have been given the privilege of reading an advance copy.

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for an arc in exchange for my honest review.

Publication: March 28, 2023

This turned into a case of I loved the cover and the synopsis drew me in but this book and I didn't get along. First off, I do have to say that looking at the cover for this book, it's gorgeous in my opinion! It looks like the old school fortune teller shop windows plus a tarot card!

The beginning of the book hooked me so that I was interested but not fully invested. Then it slowly tapered off for me as a reader and I found myself putting this down more than picking it up.

Overall, I've read better mysteries personally but this would be good for Halloween season or readers new to the mystery genre/amateur sleuth trope.

This book had a little bit of everything that I enjoy and it hooked me so much that I binge-read it, Katie is working a dead-end job when she does a tarot card reading for a flustered guy who walks into the shop she's working at. Little does Katie know, this reading is going to change her own life as she quickly ends up getting involved in solving her best friend's murder. Katie is a strong female lead who is both witty and absolutely scattered, sometimes I didn't know whether to strangle her or cheer her on. Her relationship with her brother Owen is fantastic (can I get an Owen centered book?) and it helps show a softer side of Katie. There's a ton of other characters that are introduced and while I didn't particularly vibe with most of them, I was intrigued by Jaime and the "will they" tension I felt between him and Katie. Are there parts of the book where you have to suspend belief? Absolutely. Do I think it detracts from the story? Not at all! This is a quirky thriller that won't keep you up at night but it will make you laugh out loud.

Katie moves back to the suburbs close to her parents. She tried living in Chicago but it didn't work out. She reads tarot cards all the time. Katie meets Marley while working at the mall. They become fast friends. While reading cards for a man who comes into her work, she sees a picture of Marley dead!!!! What happened to her friend? I enjoyed the friendship between Katie and Marley. The mystery surrounded Marley's death kept me guessing. I received and advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.

Get yourself a sweet and sugary drink and a day at the beach h. Not a terrible way to spend an afternoon. Predictable who done it. It goes down easy.
Thanks for the ARC.

Thank you Random House and Netgalley for a copy of Play The Fool by Lina Chern, in exchange for my honest opinion.

If you like the wittiness of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum character, you may like this. Katie True, who comes from a family of successful people, finds herself in and out of work constantly, with the worst of luck. Working dead end jobs. This one is at an antique store. She reads Tarot Cards as a hobby. One day, a guy walks in, frantic, with blood on his face. Katie tries to calm him down by telling him that she could read his cards but ends up finding herself in a whirlwind of a mystery, murder. With the help of a very attractive police officer, she gets to the bottom of what has happened to her only friend.

A quick, easy, fun read.

This book was pretty cute!! I was 100% drawn in by the tarot card theme and I stayed for the cozy mystery. I love a good underdog sleuth and really liked a lot of the mystery aspects of this story.

There was one thing that persistently bothered me and that was how the main character continued to have a dead phone or an unusable laptop and never a way to charge her phone or anything. I completely understand being too poor to get nice electronics but you can still get a cheaper simple tablet or a refurbished older model for like $100. Which of course is still not cheap but it just seemed ridiculous to me that the main character couldn't seem to just get SOMETHING in that realm. That's not even to mention that she didn't have a phone charger at work (which they explain away) but then she doesn't have one in her car either? And she can't even get a cheap $15 portable charger to charge her phone for work when she knows there's no where to plug it in? The craziest incident though was towards the end of the book she uses her phone and then a couple pages later she says she wished she could text someone but her phone was dead... I didn't notice any mentioning of it dying or having low battery that time but it also just became so annoying I kind of wish they just broke her phone at the beginning of the book and left her phoneless.

That being said, it was still a cute story and I'm definitely a sucker for cozy mysteries. I did also get invested in Katie's life - her family dynamics, love life, and professional aspects as well.

Overall it was a decent book!! I can understand and appreciate how hard it is to write a mystery in this day and age of cellphones etc, but I just feel the route that the author chose in regards to this wasn't the best.

3.5 but rounding up to 4 :)

Thank you to Lina Chern, NetGalley, and the publisher for the eARC.

Katie True is at another dead-end job when she meets Marley, a woman who also works in the mall and becomes Katie’s friend over lunches.

While Katie isn’t good at holding down jobs, she is good at reading tarot cards. When a man comes into the store she works at with a wound bleeding from his head, she tries to read his cards to give him guidance on what to do. When she takes a glimpse at his phone—because reading tarot is about reading people—she sees a picture of Marley dead. Now Katie is determined to figure out what happened.

NetGalley provided an advance reader copy of this cute mystery, which RELEASES MARCH 28, 2023.

This book was an absolute blast to read. The mystery and magical elements kept me glued to the pages. For fans of Stranger Things or Nothing to See Here.

Where was the "delicious blend of suspense and madcap humor" located? The "twisty and gripping investigation" throughout the book?

You got a main character that wasn't even fun, terrible at the niche job that gravitates you to the novel and frustratingly self-sabotages the whole time. A mix of cartoon side characters. Weird writing in some of the transitions between the past and present chapters that felt very jarring. No humor and what I guess is supposed to be a romance in the works but was grasping at invisible straws.

The plot had the potential to be really good but lacked in execution that left everything feeling flat.



Thanks to NetGalley and Bantam for providing a copy for an honest review.

The cover of this book is beautiful. But honestly it just didn’t do it for me and I did not finish it.

The cover is gorgeous, the plot is great, and the writing is good. Not much more to ask for in a book honestly. I truly loved the concept of the book, I’ve never read a book about a tarot card reader, but I’m glad I did. This book is great, I definitely recommend.

The cover drew me in and the description hooked me. I’ve been dabbling in tarot for a bit now, it intrigues me and helps me to see things from different perspectives. So I thought this would be a fun mystery. I liked it. I found Katie relatable, like the Fool, a free-spirit. Not exactly sure where she’s going, but she’s going to follow her heart and no matter how crazy the leap of faith may be. Sounds a lot like me. Take a chance and see what happens. Growth happens when you charge forward and learn lessons. It can be scary, but so rewarding.

Katie has dropped out of school and working in a store at the mall. There is not much foot traffic anymore so she mainly shuffles her tarot cards. Then one day a suspicious man comes in. He decides to have his cards read but has to go the bathroom. Hurrying off, he leaves his phone by accident. Katie wanting extra help when she reads his cards opens his phone and finds a picture of her friend Marley who appears to have just been murdered.
Cherm does a great job of keeping the story moving. There were a few places in the beginning that seem to drag but once most of the background was given it picked up. Katie’s relationship with her brother was meaningful and real. Great twist throughout the story.
Thank you Random House, Ballantine imprint, for the ARC of Play the Fool by Lina Chern.

I enjoyed this fun mystery. I guessed the outcome pretty early so I rated this as a three. I think this book would be perfect to read by the pool.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book!

Play the Fool is a fun mystery full of twists that keep you guessing. Katie makes friends with fellow mall employee, Marley, who one day disappears. Marley's boyfriend the gets a text indicating Marley has been murdered and this sends Katie on a chase to find out what happened to her friend. Katie is good at reading tarot cards and people, which boosts her investigation skills. She ends up working Jamie, a (hot) cop, who has a mysterious past of his own.

This was a very entertaining mystery to try and solve along with Katie. Her dedication to finding her friend is admirable and heart warming. Unexpectedly, Katie's brother, Owen, became my favorite side character, even though the book is full of a unique cast of side characters. Katie may have been a little reckless, and I am honestly surprised nothing worse happened to her in the course of her search. I did guess the main plot twist quite early on, but it was still fun to read. I recommend this book for mystery lovers who are looking for an alternative to a cozy mystery.

3.5

This was a different kind of mystery/thriller book and I actually really enjoyed it. I actually really loved the physic/ tarot cards of this book. This book kept me hooked from the start. I was a little nervous to read this one because it sounded a little strange. But I would suggest this one.

I really enjoyed this cozy mystery. There were many twists and turns that I didn't see coming and the protagonist was easily likeable.

Katie is an early 20-something who is in a bit of a rut and the 1st person narration reflects that in the frequent use of self-deprecating humor. She finds herself in the unexpected role of detective when, after snooping into a customer's phone during a tarot card reading, she found a picture of her best (and arguably only) friend's body next to the dumpster outside the mall where they work.

Practitioners and fans of tarot will enjoy the frequent references in this book.