by Allison Brennan
Release Date: June 17, 2025
2025 MIRA
Ebook ARC; 390 Pages
ISBN: 978-0778387251
ASIN:
B0DFGM1CPX
Audiobook: B0DLHKFS45
Genre: Fiction / Mystery / Romance
Source: Review copy from publisher
2 / 5 Stars
Summary
Mia Crawford is responsible to a fault. Between her high-demand job and taking care of her grandmother
and her cats, she has little time for anything else. What time she does
have, she pours into reading. Mysteries, romances, thrillers…books
filled with women who are far more impulsive than she would ever dream
of being. Now, forced into taking a long-overdue vacation, she finds
herself on a luxurious private island where she just might have a chance
to reinvent herself—for a little while, anyway. She can explore the
island. Flirt shamelessly with a cute bartender. Have a vacation fling.
Live like a heroine in one of her favorite novels.
But when gossipy notes written in the margins
of an old book turn out to be clues to the disappearance of another
guest, Mia finds herself diving headfirst into a dangerous adventure.
With everyone at the resort hiding secrets of their own, she’ll have to
solve this real-life mystery before she becomes the next target.
My Thoughts
Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds had a lot of potential, and I really enjoyed the setting as it made me want to hop on a plane and head somewhere warm and tropical, but honestly, what ruined this book for me was the heroine. She was insufferable. For a book that was supposed to empower women, she had probably the worst personality for this as all she did was compare herself to other women and constantly critique and criticize and put them all down. And I mean EVERYONE. And the number of times she refers to herself by name, just give it a rest already.
So, let's start with Miss Mia Crawford. From the first page we meet this woman, I couldn't stand her. We see her on a ferry heading to tropical paradise and all we hear are her criticisms with regards to other women. I almost DNF this book within the first two chapters because of her attitude, and honestly, I should have. And unfortunately, she didn't grow on me like other characters have because she didn't actually develop and change throughout the book. When the big 'reveal' happened, and only anyone blind couldn't see that one coming, she acted like a petulant child, had a big fit, and went running. I would have dumped her sorry ass in the sea at that point.
What did keep me reading were the other characters as I found them so much more likable than Mia. They were such an eclectic group with such interesting backgrounds, I really wished the author had focused more on their stories.
This author is quite well know for her mysteries and I really love her Costa & Quinn mystery series, so it's no surprise the actual mystery was actually intriguing and was the most interesting part of this book. The mystery did have its twists and turns and I did rather enjoy it which is what kept me going. But, I just couldn't get past Mia and her attitude, something that threw me out of the story quite a bit. It's unfortunate as the other guests do a lot of shady things and the tension was quite high when it came to the mystery elements, so it's too bad Mia's obnoxious attitude destroyed all of that for me. And don't even get me started on the 'romance'. I just can't go there. Ugh!
Verdict
Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds had a lot of potential, but the main character and her obnoxious attitude was such a huge flaw that it ruined a lot of the story for me. I did think the mystery was intriguing and I absolutely loved the setting as it reminded me of my own beach trips, but Mia's snobbishness and her way of making everything about her destroyed so much of the story. Luckily, I have read enough of this author's work to know how good her thrillers can be, so I think I will stick with those in the future.
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