Shot Through the Book by Eva Gates

Available: May 6, 2025

Rated: 4 stars

The library is hosting a YA (young adult) book festival and when the headliner turns up dead there's no telling who might have done the dirty deed. A jealous local author tired of playing second fiddle to an author she considers her inferior? His bougie wife who loves nothing more than making drama, no matter who she has to take down to do it? A lunatic fan, angry that the author is discontinuing the series that made him famous? Or someone else entirely?

I've been reading this series since it first began and I have to respect how the author has allowed the characters to move on with their lives, not leaving them suspended in the same place. I loved the beginning of the series when Lucy is getting on with her life, moving to the lighthouse and living upstairs, single with her cat and finding her way in life. It's true to life that she would find love and need to leave the lighthouse, get married, etc., but it's still hard to watch/read. I miss the good old days. Colin is fine, kind of blah, but fine and he brings with him new storylines and angles. The new house is nice, but it's nothing like the lighthouse. Louise Jane being around all the time now that she lives in the lighthouse is not my favorite, but does make for good tension in the story.

In this book there's constant references to Lucy's stomach being upset or her being tired, thinly veiled hints to an impending pregnancy announcement. To avoid sounding like a giant B, I will say that the pregnancy thing is a trigger for me and it seems to be all the rage in cozies right now so seeing it here was kind of ugh (though I hope this doesn't go the way of the Blue Ridge Library mysteries where in the next book the babies are suddenly 5 years old and all this time has passed that we completely missed out on).

Overall, the story was not my favorite but although I can't say I'm crazy about the direction things are going, I did enjoy the book and I will definitely be continuing the series.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.