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No one is this horny in real life. (charot lang)
- Jhanya&Ria's Corner
- Jul 30, 2022
- 6 min read
“Let’s do some morale building. On three, let’s both say something we dislike.” – Taylor
My Killer Vacation
Tessa Bailey
Amazon Kindle, Audible
06 June 2022
295 Pages
Synopsis:
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?
cw: sexual content, murder, violence
Table of Contents:
First Impressions
Ria: I’ve always known Tessa Bailey’s works to be romance with a lot of spice, so I was intrigued when I first heard about My Killer Vacation. It’s a romance and a mystery, all wrapped in a book. And with me trying to get into the mystery a bit more, I was excited. Unfortunately, most of my expectations were let down.
Jhanya: I was never too much of a fan of Tessa Bailey’s books because of how cliche their premises are, but I also don’t hate them. Her books are usually the ones I like to read when I want something better than a Wattpad book, yet I still want better relationships, drama, and spiciness. My Killer Vacation intrigued me because she’s finally trying out the mystery-suspense genre, so I wanted to see how she’ll add it to her usual style. However, I’m not as impressed as I wanted to be.
Plot and Themes
Ria: I had always known Bailey to be famous for her spicy scenes, but seriously, the romance in this book was exactly just that. There were attempts at an emotional bond, with the main leads opening up and talking more about themselves, but each scene was rushed. And, quite frankly, they’d rather just have sex than solve their problems and the mystery itself. I swear, 70% of this book was them trying to get into each other’s pants.
Jhanya: “All spice, but not very nice” is something that could describe My Killer Vacation. There was potential for the characters to have more depth and a deeper connection, but all the physical attraction between the two got in the way of the whole thing. It made it seem that Taylor and Myles’ romance was purely based on their natural urge to get into each others’ pants and didn’t get me on board.
Ria: Like Jhanya, I was highly let down by the book's romance because I had come to love some of Bailey’s romances – aka Hook, Line, and Sinker! That book was full of depth, communication, and just mature characters trying to figure out their relationship. Here, it’s them jumping each other.
Jhanya: I swear. There was a pattern in how events take place in the story. Taylor and Myles meet; they try to figure out the case and argue. Make out, get close to doing it, then a major story event stops them, they settle the issue, go home, then repeat the next day. This pattern goes on for a significant chunk of the book and it got tiring halfway through. As most reviews, I’ve seen. The mystery was put in the back seat for most of the book as the romance and lust fest took the wheel.
Ria: The mystery was mediocre. Although I wasn’t a hundred percent shocked at the outcome, it made me pause and think back about the past scenes when we got to the big reveal. I also did enjoy the scarce moments when they did actual investigation. I would’ve loved more of this aspect, and I think it could’ve been more developed. Still, this aspect of the novel was done pretty good and I thoroughly enjoyed the mystery and thinking aspect of it.
Jhanya: Unlike Ria, the mystery aspect of this book was meh for me. I was like every other beach house murder mystery I’ve seen in both books and film and had me predicting what was going to happen.
Writing Style
Ria: The writing was quite alright. I was pretty enthralled at the scenes where they talked about the case and when they did investigations. I wouldn’t say it was phenomenal, but it did pull me in at certain times and at the right times. I would’ve loved more descriptive writing when the mystery was being talked about. I think that would’ve done a lot more to the story and hooked readers more.
Jhanya: Overall, the writing was good. As expected from Tessa Bailey, there were some lines during the spicy scenes that made me laugh at how unrealistic they were. I also struggled with finding a good quote from the book. The mystery aspect was Bailey’s opportunity to prove how good her writing style is as a whole and she missed it. The whole thing just goes over your head while reading. Nothing really stuck to me in general.
Characters
Ria: I actually quite love Taylor. She’s strong, and confident, and she knows what she wants. She also stands up for herself and I love her for that. Despite her insecurities, I love how she still tries to get out of her comfort zone and try new things. She also isn’t afraid to be blunt and brutally honest, and I love how she approaches situations. She was one of the redeemers of the book, and I think she deserves better.
There’s a fine line between swoon-worthy protectiveness and overbearing protectiveness. Unfortunately, I felt Myles went over the line and became too overbearing too many times throughout the book. I also felt that the depth the character was supposed to show was very inconsistent. On one hand, he would try to set a distance between him and Taylor, and a few seconds later, he’s trying to get into her pants. I mean, COME ON?!?! CHOOSE WHAT U WANT?!?!?
Jhanya: I hate to say it. But Myles Summers felt like every brooding Wattpad bad boy I’ve encountered. Overall, Ria summed up very well how I also thought of our 2 main leads. It was a full-on lust fest between the two right from the start, and even though I liked it at the start, it got too much when that was all they thought about throughout the book.
Ria: Jude’s romance is something I am waiting for!! Yes!!! I’d love to learn more about him, his story, and his character. He’s someone that is protective of his sister and loves her so much. I love that about him. He also isn’t going to let up those who try to hurt her sister and my respect for him skyrocketed at that. I’m really really interested to know more about him and his story with Dante.
Jhanya: Jude had to be the most interesting character in this book. He surprised me the most, to be honest. He acted opposite of what I expected to half of the time and he had me laughing at his words at times. I also loved how good of a brother he was in the few scenes that he had.
Final Thoughts
Ria: Overall, this story was lackluster. It revolved too much with the characters trying to jump each other rather than on character development or the plot itself. The potential for this book to be so much more and it being not the good book it could’ve been is what disappoints me the most. I think what went wrong for me were the characters and the romantic plot. I particularly prefer books with more emotion, angst, and depth which is why this book didn’t hit the mark for me. I personally would recommend this book if you’re in for more spice, less plot kind of story.
Jhanya: The Goodreads reviews lied to me. There. I said it. 5 Stars for this book??? This has to be the most hyped-up book I’ve read in a long time. Even Every Summer After wasn’t this pointless of a read. At least ESA had me engaging and reacting to the characters’ actions and overall plot but with My Killer Vacation? I barely felt anything other than questioning the characters’ life decisions in a mediocre way because I already saw it all coming. Like Ria said, if you want a book with all spice and pretty good writing, sure, go for it. But if you’re looking for a proper plot and characters, just read Emily Henry or Chloe Gong books instead.
Rating
Criteria | Jhanya | Ria |
|---|---|---|
Story / Plot (2) | 1 | 1 |
Characters (2) | 0.75 | 1 |
Writing (2) | 1.25 | 1.25 |
Morale (1) | 0.25 | 0.5 |
Originality (1) | 0.25 | 0.25 |
Relevance (1) | 0.25 | 0.25 |
Reread Value (1) | 0.25 | 0.25 |
TOTAL | 4 | 4.5 |
Final Score | 4.25 | |
FINAL RATING:
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