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Unfortunately, due to the lack of response from St. Martin's Press for the racist, Islamophobic, and queerphobic comments made by one of their employees I cannot review this title.I tried holding off on sending this "review" to give SMP time to do the right thing in response to this boycott, but I can't have this continuing to hurt my feedback ratio when it's out of my control.

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This is book 1 in a new cozy series, The vacation mysteries.
All that bestselling author Eleanor Dash wants is to get through her book tour in Italy and kill off her main character, Connor Smith, in the next in her Vacation Mysteries series―is that too much to ask? Eleanor has written a very popular series of books with Connor Smith as the sleuth. Not she's paying him big time so he won't sue her and reveal some of her secrets. A wonderful book 1 with great core characters and lots of insight into traveling in Italy. Can wait for #2.

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Catherine Mack has created an interesting heroine in Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies. This cozy mystery featuring a mystery writer on a book themed vacation is entertaining, even when it is sometimes confusing to follow because the character breaks the fourth wall a lot.
It hits all the right notes for a cozy mystery-a beleagured writer looking to shake things up, the villanous, blackmailing ex, and an eclectic cast of characters who are murder suspects which include a stalker and rival authors.
This story reminds me of Elle Cosimano's series of cozy mysteries. It's witty and a fun adventure that takes you on lots of twists and turns and leaves you guessing who the culprits are until the end.
I honestly could have done without all the footnotes although I appreciate the creativity from Ms. Mack.
Overall it was an enjoyable read and I will definitely read more from this author.

Thanks to NetGalley for the chance to read and review this title.

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3.5 stars
I decided to listen to this book after reading quite a few negative reviews regarding the footnotes. They were not an issue in the audiobook at all and flowed seamlessly. This was a fun and quirky cozy mystery. The mystery itself was good and the characters were likeable. I plan on reading more in the series.

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I just finished Eleanor Nash's latest mystery and must tell you about it.

So, here's the deal: Eleanor's had it with this guy, Conner Smith—not just any Conner, but the character she created, who also happens to be a real person cashing in on her success. She's ready to get rid of him—well, at least his character.

As we dive deeper into the story, we start to see why Conner is such a pain and why Eleanor would want him gone. But as she tours Europe with her sister Harper (who's also her assistant), it turns out someone else wants Conner dead, too. And this time, we're talking about the real guy, not just his fictional counterpart.

But wait, there's more! Eleanor has a stalker named Cathy to deal with, and her ex-lover Oliver (also an author) is on the same tour. Oh, and did I mention people start dying along the way? Now, Eleanor has to play detective while managing all these distractions. Talk about a chaotic book tour!

This debut mystery has humor and engaging dialogue that keeps you hooked. And there are footnotes – you'll either love them or find them a bit much, but that's for you to decide.

Overall, it's a fun and entertaining read that I highly recommend. Enjoy!

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I got hooked on this book immediately - I especially loved the humor and the way the main character spoke to the reader through the footnotes especially. Unfortunately a little over the halfway mark the story started to drag for me. I can’t pinpoint exactly what made my interest wane - maybe it was just a bit too long. The mystery wrapped up cleanly though and I enjoyed the ending.

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You're in for a ride with this mystery set on the coast of Italy. A best-selling author and a few associates--her sister/assistant, a fellow author/ex, the ex who is the lead in many of her novels, etc.--go on a tour with some fans to promote her book and find inspiration for the next one. When people start nearly dying for a variety of different reasons, some coincidental at first, the group looks at it's own to find the perpetrator.

This is a fun, fast read that takes you through some of the beautiful landscape of southern Italy. The author often breaks the proverbial fourth wall by talking directly to readers via copious footnotes and the occasional few pages talking about novel structure and the clues she's written into the part of the story already told. I found the style fun at times and annoying at others, though using a Kindle made it a bit more complicated than simply glancing at the bottom of the page. The plotline itself was neatly woven with plenty of twists and turns that left me guessing until the end. Some moments felt a bit contrived, and I'm still not sure why they immediately thought they were being targeted when they got stung by a jellyfish or nearly fell into traffic. That said, I really enjoyed the way character information was slowly introduced that threw a curveball in everything we'd read up to that point.

Check it out! I'd say it's worth a read. A great beach. It's like a Knives Out novel.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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Thank you St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for e-ARC of the book.

Eleanor Dash is on her book tour in Italy with other authors and some fans. She decided that it’s time to kill the main character of her book series. Meanwhile in real life someone is trying to kill off the person who the character was based on - Connor Smith. Too many suspects and dangerous situations keeps guessing who will die and who will be the killer.

Catherine Mack used new and interesting approaches while writing this book. The most memorable were footnotes, they were fun and felt like an inside joke between readers and Eleanor. I can’t wait for more books in this series.

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I read this book over the course of nearly 3 weeks. I normally read a book a week, or every 2 weeks. So this was really slow for me, & the reason it was slow is because it was really bad. I kept picking it up and vowing to DNF it. But the books I get from Netgalley, I try to finish. I got this in March, and it's now August so that tells you how many times I picked it up & put it down before finally committed to reading it.

But, I couldn't with this one. The "heroine" was self centered, mean, immature, & unlikeable. I finally gave up and read the ending. Even the ending was convoluted & inexplicable, but I'd correctly figured out "who done it" (in the first 50 pages no less) .

I haven't gotten to the worst parts of the book - the FOOTNOTES. There were over 200 of them, some were just a "Duh, you saw that coming, right?!" Or a long explanation of something that happened 5 pages ago & 10 years ago. With the unformated ARC copy I got, the FOOTNOTES would sometimes be in the middle of a sentence! Just terrible. The editor should've told the author no, no you can't add foot notes, it doesn't work.

But, I guess this author is headstrong & thinks she's always right about her ideas & so footnotes it was.

If the writing had been good, it might not have been so annoying & distracting. But, it wasn't good writing. The story stunk & so did the writing. Why would anyone famous go on a tour of a foreign country with 25 super fans - for a week?! Plus 2 of the touring group were ex's, 1 of whom was blackmailing her, & one was the ex wife of one of her ex's! Confused? Yup. Ridiculous? YUP.

How did this book get published?!

I do NOT recommend this book. Save yourself a headache & boredom & don't read this book.

#EveryTimeIGoOnVacationSomeoneDies by #CatherineMack

Thank you to #NetGalley, & St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for the ARC of this book in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

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This book contains many of my favorite things: mystery, author, Italy, heavy drinking. But it also includes one of my least favorite things: too many characters. I had trouble getting into the book and the attempts at zaniness felt more like disjointedness. Nonetheless, it got better toward the end.

Eleanor Dash is a mystery writer with a huge fan base. She agrees to go on a tour to Italy with her fans, because...Italy. But Connor, her ex-lover and the inspiration for her first book, is there with his new girlfriend. She is determined to kill him off in the book series, but unfortunately, it seems someone is trying to kill him off in real life and she becomes the main suspect. Trying to prove her own innocence, Eleanor soon suspects everyone. Including her own sister and assistant, Harper.

Reading this book over a several-month period did not improve its fluidity for me, so I recommend starting and finishing it in a few days. #EveryTimeIGoonVacationSomeoneDies #NetGalley

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A clever mystery, funny hijinx, and a plethora of footnotes made this a fun start to a new mystery series. I loved the setting and the book-series-within-the-series, and all the many red herrings kept me guessing. It took me a while to get through, but I’m glad I pressed on and the ending made me looking forward to book 2, as while the mystery was wrapped and revealed, there was enough left hanging to get the reader primed for more. The footnotes were funny, but essentially unreadable in the ARC. I had to wait for publication and read a finished copy because the formatting was so bad (especially with the footnotes).

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What a fun summer read! This was a great murder mystery! I loved the unique perspective of the narrator being the author as well as the victim and trying to solve the crime. Great idea! The footnotes were fun, but at times a little much, especially trying to scroll back and forth on the uncorrected proof version, but still a fun almost whimsical touch. I will definitely recommend this book to my book club members!

Thank you to the publishers for allowing me to read and review a copy of this book!

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I had been looking forward to this book ever since I first saw the title and it did not disappoint. The setting alone was enough to give it a couple starts, but the plot was fun and interesting. Eleanor Dash has become an accidental author, taking over her sister's dream job. Eleanor starts writing best selling novels about murders that occur in Italy with the dashing PT, Connor Smith. Connor is not only a ficticious character, but a real life man who has immersed himself in to her success. The problem is, after 10 years, she is getting kind of tired of Connor. She decides she wants to kill him off, in writing of course.

Eleanor decides to go on a book tour to Italy with several other authors and the notorious Connor Smith. While on their trip Connor tells her that someone is trying to kill him for real. Eleanor laughs Connor off, until members of their party start dying. Eleanor starts to wonder if maybe Connor isn't the intended target, but she is instead.

I loved the twists and turns of this book. The author manages to immerse wit and seriousness in to the story at the same time. One of my favorite parts was the footnotes. I couldn't help but laugh at Eleanor's snark and cynical explainations of things.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of this book.

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This was a really fun read and I really enjoyed it the whole time. I thought the banter between the characters was very witty and I found myself giggling several times. I also really enjoyed the second chance romance storyline. I think it definitely helped add to the story.

I loved the mystery. It was full of twists and turns and I definitely look forward to the next book in the series.

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A fun cozy mystery that is perfect for a summer beach read! I loved the European setting and the funny footnotes, but nothing really to write home about.

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While on a book tour in Italy, Eleanor plans to work on her latest novel Amalfi Mad Me Do It. She is with her younger sister Harper, who brings lots of humor to the story, some other authors from her literary group, and Connor Smith, the protagonist of her novels and now, the angst of her life

The trip turns exciting when Eleanor mentions that she plans to kill Connor, the character in her book series. Soon after, Connor informs her that someone is trying to kill him. She doesn’t take him seriously until one in their traveling group is killed.

This is a cozy vacation mystery with a touch of originality in the writing style. This may not appeal to everyone, but I liked the idea of risking in the presentation style.

What Concerned Me
I was reading this on my phone and Kindle. The originality that I mentioned above concerned 1) the fact that this was told in first person and at times she talked to the reader, and 2) there were lots of footnotes that would tie certain things together.

While I liked these ideas, they made reading distracting and hard to keep track of with footnotes.

Final thoughts
At times it felt confusing, like I was missing the first book, and hard to be drawn into the story.

On the other hand, it had some fun writing and was an easy, light cozy that many will fall in love with, especially if you like Finlay Donovan books.

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I wanted something more. When I reach the synopsis I was excited and thought this would be a fun vacation read. I struggled to make any progress and found it corny (especially the footnotes.) I liked the humor but the plot was a definite slowburn

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This was ok. I wouldn't say it was overly compelling for me to recommend to someone else, but I didn't really have anything bad to say about it either. I just wasn't overly connecting with it.

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The narrator Elizabeth Evans captured this book perfectly. The accents, the snark, the emotions- I switched to print at one point and immediately switched back to audio because she brought the story to life. And the story was wonderful. I'm so excited that it's the start of a series. I loved the cozy mystery combined with humor and great travel writing!

Thanks to the publisher for sharing a copy with me. All opinions are my own.

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I did not like this book, but it could be that it was just a personal preference. I did not enjoy the conversational, "oh-yeah-did-I-mention-this?" tone. I felt like the narrator was just "talking" to me, and I did not feel like a story was unfolding. That in turn made me feel impatient for her to get to the point--it was like I had to wait for her to drop information and it didn't make me want to wait and stick with the story to see what would happen next; I just got frustrated. As I said, this may just be a personal thing, and others may like this style of storytelling. But it was not for me.

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