BAD TOURISTS
Caro Carver
The Maldives sounds like an incredible place to visit this time of year. Instead of spending hard-earned cash on long flights to wait in even longer lines, I traveled there with the help of Caro Carver’s new thriller BAD TOURISTS. Out next week.
Three women on a celebratory divorce vacation collide worlds with a desperate woman on her honeymoon with a man she had doubts about marrying. Camilla, Darcy, and Kate are traveling to the Maldives after Darcy finalizes her divorce. Looking for rejuvenation and relaxation in the summer sun, the women arrive with thoughts of fruity drinks and resort massages.
Jade has just given her vows to abide and worship forever when she starts to think she’s made the worst decision in her life. After running into one of the women she starts to think the women are there to serve a higher purpose and help her in some way.
A few days into their vacation a body washes ashore and puts an end to their luxurious vacation. What does the body have to do with the three women and most importantly, what does Jade have to do with solving the mystery?
Although Caro Carver has published before this is my first time reading one of her books. I thought BAD TOURSITS was good, but not great. The story was fairly straightforward. Maybe overly so.
The mystery wasn’t that mysterious and picking out the bad guy from the handful of characters wasn’t that hard. I felt like the book could’ve been set anywhere and instead of the location and setting being a feature it was simply a backdrop.
I would check out Carver in the future and perhaps with a different story and set of characters I might have a better experience. As it is I gave BAD TOURISTS three stars.
Thanks to Netgalley, and Avid Reader Press | Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster for the advanced copy!
BAD TOURISTS…⭐⭐⭐
THE UNRAVELING
Vi Keeland
Someone is unraveling and it’s not the patient.
Meredith the therapist, fresh from a devastating personal and professional loss, goes to therapy to get her license unsuspended and back to rebuilding her torn-down counseling practice. Gabriel the patient is going to Meredith to recover from his loss.
Somewhere behind the walls of a therapist’s office, their grief combines to create the perfect atmosphere for what happens. And what happens will have everyone talking. THE UNRAVELING by Vi Keeland comes out on July 9th of this year and I can’t wait for you to read it so we can talk about it in the comments.
Wow, I was not expecting that!
THE UNRAVELING was surprising and unbelievable. This will either shock you or confirm what you’ve been imagining about your therapist’s personal life and fantasize about what goes on behind the white noise in your counselor’s office.
Finding her picture under “p” for “psycho-therapist,” Meredith is a kick of a character to read about. And I get to be in her head…what a trip that was. There was a stalker plot, a REAR WINDOW-like fixation, and an obsession unlike any I’ve ever read.
I had fun with THE UNRAVELING and read it in an afternoon. It’s quick and the only thing missing from your well-planned vacation by the shore.
Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books | Atria/Emily Bestler Books for the advanced copy! It was a pleasure!
THE UNRAVELING…⭐⭐⭐⭐
LENNY MARKS GETS AWAY WITH MURDER
Kerryn Mayne
In my mind, we’ve already done this.
Lenny is not the first person you invite to a party or the first person you think of when you imagine having a good time. She spends more of her time at home going through her days according to one well-planned routine after another.
Lenny is a 5th-grade teacher and homebody who prefers the planned to the unexpected. She spends most of her days grading papers and playing scrabble against imaginary opponents.
One day a letter arrives that sets Lenny on a perilous path that has us questioning why Lenny is the way she is. What happened to her to make her become the woman she is living the existence she does?
There is a word association game that Lenny is plagued with playing and as readers, we are also subjected to this quirk. That was unfortunate. It was extremely distracting and took away from my enjoyment of the book.
I cannot imagine this on audiobook!
Outside of that, I thought the storyline was basic and had been passed around quite a bit. LENNY MARKS GETS AWAY WITH MURDER was relatively unoriginal and Lenny as a character has been done a few times over. There really wasn’t much left besides the story and the characters, as the writing wasn’t that impressive either.
It didn’t do anything wrong and didn’t do much right. I ended up rating it right at a three and I think you will too.
“There must be more to life than this!”
Queen
Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy!
LENNY MARKS GETS AWAY WITH MURDER…⭐⭐⭐
Elsbeth Series (2024) Comedy
