So this started a little slow for me, but then at about 30% I really got into it. And I really enjoyed the characters. I liked the promise with the Taro cards I like Owen and Jamie the great side characters that really support Katie. I meant it took me a little bit to warm up to Katie, but once I did, I thoroughly enjoyed her. I am hoping that this becomes a series because I will absolutely read the next one. I have to find out where her hi-jinx lead.

I received this book as an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) through NetGalley. I received this copy free in exchange for my honest review.

In this entertaining contemporary mystery, we meet Katie True. Katie’s currently working in a failing mall outside Chicago, the latest in a string of jobs headed nowhere. She didn’t like college and has never found her passion – except for reading tarot cards. She can’t stand her parents and older sister; the bright points in her life are her brother, Owen, a brilliant, neurodivergent college student, and Marley, who works in the shop across from Katie’s. But then Marley disappears. And Katie sees a photo of what looks like her corpse on a stranger’s phone…

Likes: Katie narrates the novel, and I loved her voice. It’s sarcastic, self-deprecating, at times hilarious. The mystery had plenty of twists, with several convincing red herrings. Katie’s ability (or lack thereof) to investigate rang true. Owen’s a great supporting character! And I’m interested in tarot, so I found those bits intriguing.

Dislikes: The backstory for the cop character was a tired cliché. Also, Katie talks a lot about her Aunt Rosie, who taught her about tarot but moved to the West Coast during Katie’s teen years. In an age of email, text, and mobile phones, I was surprised Katie never tried to contact her.

FYI: violence, murder, criminal acts.

An ending can make or break a book. You could write a book that holds a readers interest and one that keeps them fully invested throughout and still ruin it with an ending. That’s why I’m a reader and not a writer. I would definitely ruin it all.

The cover is a rare one. The bright neon colors pop out at you and catches your eye. You come for the neon lights and stay for the tarot card. I saw the cover and quickly added it to my tbr. Then I read the synopsis (lesson not learned) and I was fully invested.

I loved the first thirty percent of this book. It held your interest and left you wondering what the hell was going on. The rest was like sliding headfirst down the side of a mountain. And we all know where that leads, disappointment. (Okay, more like devastation but we won’t go that far) The ending was obvious and overplayed. I wanted something weird or Goodfellas style but we get this lackluster ending.

Not everything was terrible. I loved that the main character was an expert tarot reader. That added a different element to a mystery novel. That’s one I would love to see again. I also liked how she knew something was wrong with the disappearance of her friend and she made a decision to not rest until she got answers. We all need that kind of person in our lives.

The mystery wasn’t much of one. I really didn’t care about it all that much. I was way more invested in seeing what kind of mess Katie got herself into next. That’s what kept me around.

Play the Fool was an okay mystery novel but not for me. There was too much that I didn’t enjoy and the ending wasn’t one I liked. I admit, I’m extremely harsh when it comes to endings. I can see other readers loving this, it just wasn’t my style.

In Play the Fool by Lina Chern, the main character Katie True is passionate about two things, tarot cards, and not working for her sister's real estate agency. She chooses instead to stay on the edges of life, working in a struggling gift shop in a mall, where she has one friend. Marley is edgy, strong, and stylish. Katie finds herself drawn to her. One day Marley doesn't show up for work, and after a series of events Katie believes Marley to be dead, but her body is missing. She immediately jumps into action to try and solve her friends murder, distrusting of the local police's ability to find the murderer, even if she is drawn to the head detective.
This book would be perfect for readers who enjoy Stephanie Plum and Finlay Donovan novels. It has the same quirky attributes of a main character who goes all in to find the murderer without following any semblance of protocol. I did enjoy the relationship aspect with the head detective and how this book had no spice, since so often that doesn't happen. I was confused at first with the novel and thought it possibly could be considered YA but after reading it does gravitate toward more adult fiction. It really could be either. The main aspect of Katie's character was that she loved reading the cards and called herself "Psychic", however those parts didn't add to the story very much in my opinion. I found the descriptions of the cards and meanings relatively tedious, but I believe this is more personal preference, it seemed more of a side show instead of an important part of Katie's personality. Overall, Play the Fool is great for lovers of comedic mystery.

I want to give not just a huge thank you to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for this eARC, but a huge, gift basket, and cake!!!

It’s been so long since I’ve read a book that I’ve loved this much! It’s definitely a new favorite and one that I know I’ll reread over and over! I’ve read 122 books so far, and of the ones that were not retreads this is my favorite!

So, I don’t like to give a lot away with reviews, and I’ll be doing a full review on my blog soon.

So, here’s a quick summary and review. We follow Katie as she’s recently moved back to the suburbs close to her overbearing family (her brother is amazing!). She’s working a dead end job at a dying mall. Katie is smart, she’s witty, and so relatable! What like is that she’s so smart, but she does not have it all together. She has amazing gut instincts but also makes bad choices. She’s determined, and she’s full of fight and heart but not in a sickening cheesy way! I seriously love her!

She meets Marley, this cooler older girl who’s comfortable in her skin, and is worldly and mysterious. They become friends. Marley gives Katie inspiration and she likes the feeling that Marleys her friend. She also supports Katie’s skill of reading tarot cards!

One day Katie’s doing a tarot card reading of this sketchy guy and she sneaks a look in his phone and finds a photo of Marley with a gunshot to the head.

Katie soon dives head first into finding what happened to Marley. But in the process she might just become the next target.

Seriously, the writing is top notch! I pretty much read the majority of this book in one day because I couldn’t stand to leave this world/ I had to know what was going to happen.

There is some romance and it’s perfect. It’s not the main plot, it’s just a really nice added element that works perfectly. The chemistry is perfection!

This book is perfection! I want more! I want a series!

This book comes out March 28th, 2023! I already have my copy preordered! I really hope there’s signed editions!

I’ll be talking about this book soooo much! I’m still processing my love and obsession of this book!

tl;dr
One party cozy mystery, one part coming of age tale, with plenty of twists along the way.

Thoughts
Lots of fun twists in this one! The first chapter caught me off guard with it's immediate plunge into the murder case. We don't even get to know the victim first? Ah, as it turns out, we do get to know her through the used of well-timed, interlacing timelines. The main plot and the flashbacks move quickly, making this a really easy read for anyone looking to devour a book in a few sessions. Genre-wise, it's paced out like a cozy mystery, with our amateur detective heroine and her circle of friends solving a case that the local police seem largely uninterested in.

Katie is a scrappy protagonist, with just enough curiosity to get into trouble, and a genuine desire to do good. Her family is realistically frustrating without swinging all the way into Cartoonishly Terrible, with her brother being my absolute favorite character by far. Jamie fills the role of "hot and interesting police officer" very well, and I appreciated that he got a bit of his own story as well. Their relationship never shifts into romance, something I am genuinely grateful for.

The mystery itself has a lot of twists in it, some less believable than others, but nothing that isn't reasonably foreshadowed by the clues provided. Woven within is also a thoughtful story about embracing yourself, and finding a way to succeed in a world that isn't one size fits all.

Okay, so I enjoyed the first half-ish part of the book, but after that it just felt…flat? It just felt a little too unrealistic for me to really get into. It wasn’t terrible, but I definitely rolled my eyes a few times /:

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own, this review is being left voluntarily!

I will start by saying I love the cover of this book!

The first part of this book was very interesting. I loved getting to know Katie, her friends, and her life. However, I started to lose interest halfway through this book. It came to a point where the story was no longer believable, the whole police case was too much, and I wasn't feeling the love interest whatsoever. It wasn't a terrible read, but wasn't my favorite either.

Katie True'a life is rough. She works at dead end jobs and relays on her tarot cards to guide her (and make an occasional extra cash). When her friend from work dies, she attempts to find out what happened to her friend. This mystery has it's up and downs and finding out the truth to what happened to her friend.
If you are interested in Tarot, like mystery books or reading new and up coming author's, Play the Fool is for you! I cannot wait to read more books by this author!

Katie True works at a mall selling Russian knick-knacks. To say her life is a complete mess is an understatement. Katie has been fired from every job she ever had, didn’t finish college, she is living in a dump, her sister Jessie calls the Sketchy Pines. The only thing Katie feels she is good at is reading people while she reads their Tarot cards and her friendship with Marley. So, when she sees a picture of Marley dead, she has to figure out what happened to her best friend. This starts a whole cycle of screw-ups, being chased by mob types and run-ins with the police, specifically a hot detective named Jamie.

The story has a few flashbacks of Katie and Marley for background but otherwise builds from the death of Marley. What was Marley involved in to cause her death? Who was Marley? So many things Katie didn’t know about Marley. The author does a good job, of leading the reader down the mysterious path of Marley. The simmering tension between Jamie and Katie is sweet. The way Katie takes care of her autistic brother, Owen is heartwarming. Characters are well developed, the story is an enjoyable read, I found myself rooting for Katie, wanting her to succeed, to feel good about herself. If you like a good mystery, fun characters, a little romance, some family dynamics and an underdog then this story is for you. If you don’t like any of those things, still read the story, you’ll enjoy it.

Katie True is a young woman who just can’t seem to get her life going. Her impulsiveness often creating more problems for her. She is rudderless and seems to be anchored by her fondness for tarot.

A chance meeting sends Katie on a Who-Done-It quest to solve a local murder.

The book has some uneven pacing but if the reader can stick with it, they’ll find a fun mystery with many twists and turns.

I am not quite into mystery but I was curious with such a eye-catching cover. I can say I enjoyed reading it. A whodunit that took me on twist and turns, I loved the storyline. It was entertaining from the very beginning.

Thank you Lina Chern, Random, House Publishing, and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. Play the Fool comes out March 28, 2023.

Play the Fool is a murder mystery novel about Katie, a tarot card reader that has been bouncing from one dead end job to another. Her most recent job is a sales person at the mall, there she meets Marley, a women who also bounces from job to job and city to city. They start a friendship and everything is going great until Katie is doing a tarot reading and while he is in the bathroom she finds a picture of Marley shot in the head on his phone. What ensues after that is a race to find her killer, with the added complication of a angry crime family and the fact that no one can find Marley's body.

I thought this was a interesting novel, I am usually a romance reader but thought I would try something different. I think the author's writing style keep me interested, the beginning is a little slow but once you get into it it picks up. I also think that Katie was able to go through a little character growth, and have a start of a little romance. In the end though the ending was a little predictable and I felt like the way things unraveled all of the struggle Katie went through was for nothing. Overall though I found it a very enjoyable read.

I really enjoyed reading this thriller-mystery about Katie True who is a skeptical tarot card reader. Katie’s semi-friend Marley has gone missing, and she stumbles into the middle of a mystery. While some of the details in the story seem far-fetched, I’d definitely say this story feels very small-town mystery in the reading. Something that I haven’t experienced very often in writing was having a main character hyper-focused on an object in the way that Katie is hyper-focused on her tarot cards. While she calls herself skeptical, she still relates each interaction she experiences directly to the cards in her mind, and I found it fascinating and enjoyable.

While I was slightly confused with her relationship with the detective Jamie (a lot of will they/won’t they), I very much enjoyed this book and the way the story wrapped up in the end.

I’d like to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the E-ARC.

I enjoyed this mystery that shares the life of Katie True, a hard on her luck twenty-something, that spends her days working at a tchotchke shop in a dying Chicago area mall. We learn through a card reading in her store that Katie's friend, Marley, is dead. That is not a spoiler!! This is the point where the fun and adventure begins.

I loved Katie as the far from perfect protagonist. Some of the decisions she made had me cringing and I was totally questioning her decision making ability. These decisions made this book fast to read and full of adventure. The supporting characters are really fun and you see a lot of character growth during this who done it! This book reminded me of Lisa Lutz's Spellman Series.

I really enjoyed this book and thank Netgalley for the ARC.

Katie True (yes, that’s her real name) is a tarot card reader. Well, she’s mostly a people reader. When trying to scam a customer out of $20 by going through his phone, she instead finds a picture of her friend Marley with a bullet in her head. Determined to find out what happened, she launches her own investigation into Marley’s death and makes some enemies along the way.

I certainly enjoyed this book, though it lacks the polished feel of some books. The concept was fun and felt original because of the addition and references to tarot throughout. The writing felt true to Katie’s personality, misguided but genuine. I was intrigued by the storyline, though parts felt predictable. The twists and turns of the book keeps the reader on their toes along the whole book.

In terms of characters, I loved seeing the juxtaposition of Katie and Marley as characters. Laid back, searching for herself Katie vs. the ever confident and sly Marley. The characters themselves and their voices were written well, distinct but both relatable. I understand the addition of Jamie as the cop in the picture, but didn’t care much for his character or his romance with Katie.

While the book felt a little slow, overall it was a fun little who-done-it mystery that kept me on my toes.

A dead beat tarot reader living in the suburbs, jumping from one dead end job to the next has to solve the murder of her best friend...and things are going to get messy. Katie True has one good talent: tarot reading, she’s not motivated to do much else and just seems to be chilling in her dead end job, living in the suburbs close to her overbearing parents. She then meets Marley, a mysterious and worldly older woman who befriends Katie at the mall. They become fast friends and Katie finally has a best friend, or what you can call someone you eat lunch with a lot and know for two months. Yet when a sketchy guy comes into Katie’s job where she sells Russian tchotchkes she gives him a tarot reading, only to look at his phone while he’s gone to get a “better reading” on him and finds a photo of Marley with a gunshot wound to the head. Things quickly spiral as Katie makes it her job to find out what happened to Marley and who killed her. Throw in a dorky but cute cop, an autistic brother, and the fact that Marley isn’t actually who she says she is and soon Katie is on her way to going down a rabbit hole her cards never foresaw. The book started off fun but quickly lost momentum by the 2/3 mark. I found the mystery to lose itself a bit and the fun of the initial part of the book faded. I was hoping for a bit more but it honestly just fell off for me and I found myself not really caring about the mystery or the characters by the end of the book. While it didn’t work for me, definitely give it a go if you are a fan of tarot and mysteries.

*Thanks Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Bantam for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.
Play the Fool is Lina Chern's debut novel. This novel was a good murder mystery type and I loved it! We follow Katie True as she tries to uncover the truth about what happened to her friend. I loved Katie, she was different from the usual main character who always has it together or knows exactly what to do. Katie does not have life figured out and doesn't really know what she wants out of life either. She is quirky, calls herself lazy, which she's not, she gets distracted from the mundane, do it all the time routine easily, forgets simple things and isn't a clean fanatic, but when she's focused she really goes for it.
I had a hard time putting the novel down. I would read a few chapters and keep telling myself, one more chapter. The pacing was great, a lot of the chapter endings left me wanting to know what happened next, it was not easy to figure out exactly what was going on, and the characters are great. Really hoping we get more Katie True stories.

i went into this thinking i would love it and i did! up until the romance thing started happening and the mystery wasn't really being solved and you know the drill the mystery spirals into some wack ending whatever
but the author has a great writing style that really drew me in and made this book fly by

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the advanced reader copy of Play the Fool! I absolutely loved this book. The plot was original and had me gripped. I especially loved the rich characters, whose development was central and parallel to the mystery plot without taking away too much.

The protagonist was flawed in a very believable, post-pandemic world kind of way, just trying to keep one foot in front of the other. Various other characters represented neurodivergent folks with differing behaviors and personalities that informed who they were without being plot devices, which was heartwarming and refreshing.

Lina Chern has mastered human behavior, human emotion, and tarot, and she’s wrapped them all together in a beautiful and thrilling work that I’ll remember for years to come!