I liked Tara Holloway. This series has an inept main character who has a cat - who “speaks” for a page or two every couple chapters. I think it’s a problem when you think the cat is the brighter of the two. Skip it.

DNF

This book and I did not get along. The main character feels like she's a teenager rather than nearly 30 with the way she acts. The romance portion of this left a ton to be desired. And the cat chapters were absolutely pointless.

All of that AND the murder doesn't happen until almost 35% into the book. This was mostly about Whitney's life and not that much about an actual mystery. And about 20% of this book could have been eliminated (the cat chapters) with absolutely no effect on the story whatsoever. Not sure how any of this got past several editors, if I'm honest.

I only picked it up because I accidentally requested book 5 on NetGalley recently. I thought I'd start the series and before I read that one, but I think I'll just skip to #5 for review - which doesn't feel promising.

I came for the mystery, but instead I learned a lot about home renovations. What cozy doesn't have a dead body until 34% of the way through?! This one apparently...

Nor was having the cat's perspective helped add to the story or atmosphere.

Also, the MC thought it'd be a good idea to follow suspects to their house, and then get them to open the door and yell questions at them like "Did you murder this person!?" It never worked for her to gain info that way, but that didn't stop her from trying.