My Killer Vacation by Tessa Bailey
Genre: NA Realistic Fiction/Mystery
Blurb (on back of book):
An all-new, spicy murder mystery from Tessa Bailey, New York Times bestselling author of It Happened One Summer... It was supposed to be a relaxing vacation in sweet, sunny Cape Cod—just me and my beloved brother—but discovering a corpse in our rental house really throws a wrench into our tanning schedule. Now a rude, crude bounty hunter has arrived on the back of his motorcycle to catch the killer and refuses to believe I can be helpful, despite countless hours of true crime podcast listening. Not to mention a fulfilling teaching career of wrangling second graders.
A brash bounty hunter and an energetic elementary schoolteacher: the murder-solving team no one asked for, but thanks to these pesky attempts on my life, we're stuck together, come hell or high tide.
I'm just here to do a job, not babysit an amateur sleuth. Although…it is becoming less and less of a hardship to have her around. Sure, she's stubborn, distracting and can't stay out of harm's way. She's also brave and beautiful and reminds me of the home I left behind three years ago. In other words, the painful hunger and protectiveness she is waking up in me is a threat to my peace of mind. Before I sink any deeper into this dangerous attraction, I need to solve this murder and get back on the road. But will fate take her from me before I realize the road has been leading to her all along?
MY OPINION: **
I am so sad about how this book turned out for me. I wanted so badly to love it especially since I've liked most of the other Tessa Bailey books I've read so far, with a few exceptions. However, I was sorely disappointed by this book and think the entire story, characters, premise, and setting was just not where it needed to be. The cover should honestly tell you enough about how this book went...
This book was honestly sub-par. The only thing I liked about it was how short it was. I was able to finish it in one night and found the pacing to go very fast.
I hate insta-love. I hate it. It's the worst thing to come out of romance novels and this one was so sickeningly saccharine that I could not stand it. Reading from Myles's POV, I felt almost sick to my stomach with the way he described his feelings for Taylor when he first lays eyes on her. Like, they haven't spoken one word and he's already describing lecherous, sickening things. I found the instant attraction thing boring and so pointless. There was no buildup and I don't remember how long of a time period this book covered but it felt like two days, which is 100% not enough time to fall in love.
Their first conversation is no better.
I hated Myles. His "grumpy" attitude was laughable. Every word he said I was laughing at with cruel derision. Is that rude? I'm sorry. He was too much for me. He was too much for anyone. He's some bounty hunter or whatever but I didn't get that vibe from him at all. He acted like a 16 year old "bad boy" from Wattpad who thinks they're the sh*t but are in reality absolutely nothing. The way he was described did not sound hot either. He makes a lot of assumptions about Taylor and about women in general that did not sit well with me. He was reading very misogynist. I am not here for misogynist men.
Taylor. I don't remember too much about her character, which says a lot. Granted, I finished this book 17 days ago but I feel like I should be able to remember something about the main character. She was so forgettable, boring, and mundane. I didn't like the way she stuck her nose in business that clearly wasn't hers, no matter what she saw. Like, girl, leave it to the professionals and GTFO. I think she was a teacher... I honestly could not tell you but whatever she was, I clearly was not interested enough to care. She did listen to true crime podcasts, though, which I've recently become obsessed with, so that was interesting ish.
Taylor's little brother was legit a full-grown adult and she still treated him like he was five. His PANDA died or something and he's throwing a temper tantrum. She babies him as if he's not old.
The "murder mystery" aspect was fairly interesting but it gave me no thrills of suspense. I was not dying to know who did what. I was not sitting on the edge of my seat, biting my fingernails, aching to know. I simply did not care. It was very boring and while I did not see the ending coming (that much), I didn't even feel surprised. Like, it felt very anticlimactic and unrealistic. At least in Verity, which kind of veers in the mystery/romance subgenres, I was very interested to know WTF was going on and who did what. Here, I did not care in the slightest and the big reveal felt more like a blasé, worse rendering of some thriller movie from the early 2000s.
Also, don't be afraid. This book was not scary at all. Despite the murder.
Overall, this was clearly not for me. The grumpy x sunshine trope is also clearly not for me. I read passages aloud to my sister while dying of laughter at how bad it was. I can't stand the "I'm bad for you" thing either. I can't recall one grumpy x sunshine book where I've been so obsessed I would have died for the characters. I expected more from Tessa Bailey, especially since I liked so many of her other books but nope. This was not it. I would not recommend.
I honestly felt kind of mean in this review and I just want to say that maybe this book was just not for me and that others might like it (as seen by so many of my friends rating it highly on GR) but me personally, just no.
Main Character: Taylor, Myles
Sidekick(s): Family, friends, etc
Villain(s): Murder, etc
Realistic Fiction/Mystery Elements: This book was all very real to life and was based around a murder mystery.
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