Title: Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds 
Author: Allison Brennan
Publication: June 17, 2025
Publisher: MIRA
Genre: Mystery, Suspense
Pages: 393

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SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads)

Mia Crawford is responsible to a fault. She has to be. 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. 

Or she can curl up with a good book on the beach. Turns out reinventing yourself is easier planned than done. 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. 

REVIEW:

**A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

I don’t know what I was expecting from this book, but I absolutely loved it! It was fun, flirty, suspenseful, and mysterious! All my favorite things! Allison Brennan hit it out of the park with this.

The first thing I noticed was that Brennan gave us a lead character that is a strong, intelligent, beautiful woman. Yes, women can be all those things. I love when there is a strong female lead. I think Brennan does a fabulous job of intertwining a really twisty mystery full of suspense, while balancing it out with fun, flirty romance. I’ve never enjoyed one quite like this before. Mia was a great character to be able to read. She was inquisitive and acted much how I feel I would have in that situation, which made me relate to this book more. I enjoyed the friendships she made. Bri was a fun character and all the side characters in this were suspects, but also just added a lot to the story! It really built a nice world for me to fall into.

I have zero complaints! I read this book faster than I was anticipating. I wanted to know what happened next! I wanted to know if she gets the guy! I was NOT expecting that ending. When I tell you my mouth literally dropped open at moments, I am not lying! I was shook! What a fun twist Brennan delivered! Don’t worry, I won’t tell! I strongly encourage you to check it out yourself, because you will be entertained, surprised, and joyous all at the same time!