Lydia's career may be taking off as she lands the much-coveted advice columnist role at The Post, but her personal life is a mess.

Her unsupportive girlfriend dumps her via text message, and having spent far too many years being what everyone else needs, Lydia has no idea who she is anymore.

Finding what makes her happy as she grows closer to Sofia, who she knows from her nights of volunteering and teaching, is interwoven with a cosy thriller storyline following a serial killer on the loose.

After a series of strange letters are sent to Lydia's advice column, she draws a connection between them and the murders. Can she solve the mystery before she becomes a target?

I felt this book walked a very fine line between romance and thriller, never stepping strongly into either genre.

It's a superficial read but perfect for a brief piece of escapism. Pick this up as part of your summer read pile and enjoy an afternoon of advice column crime-solving.

*I received a free copy of this book from Bella Books via NetGalley, and I'm voluntarily leaving a review.*

I love anything by this author! This book was engaging and kept me flipping pages well into the night.

Lydia gets a great new job as a newspaper advice columnist, and also has a rewarding voluntary role at a language school. Her personal life isn't so good after being dumped by her nasty girlfriend Carrie, who we only get to know through her aggressive text messages and calls.
Following the publication of some replies, Lydia and her team start getting letters which seem to be from the Red Scarf Killer operating in the area. Lydia passes the information to the police and to the paper's crime reporter, and she continues to investigate. In the meantime, Lydia meets Sofia at the language school and starts a new friendship with her. This is a fun book, a combination of murder mystery, and romance, Lydia's supportive friend Jen is the voice of reason, and her work colleagues are nice. Recommended for the beach

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

lydia swann is on top of the world not only has she been coveted for her dream job of being an advice columnist at The Washington Post but life is going brilliantly she has an amazing girlfriend .... until she doesnt....

after being dumped by her girlfriend by text she now has to settle for being single until she finds the right one.... but when will the right one be there....

lydia is also a volunteer teacher and likes nothing better than seeing her adult students learn english and excel and is looking forward to the next academic new year

with that and her advice column its full steam ahead for lydia well it should be but the mail bag has been getting some very strange messages lately should she be concerned....

not a bad read...

I really wanted to like this. I did. Perhaps I feel a little less satisfied as I expected more depth and more integration of the plot elements. Cade Haddock Strong has set out on a bold path here, one that has to tread the right tone throughout and feature a strong lead character. For me, Ms. Strong’s reach has exceeded her grasp, alas. If you’re going to have a serial-killer overt subplot, then probably the tone is going to have some substantial gravitas. I felt the tone was off throughout as the mix of self-discovery, romance, and thriller-suspense didn’t gel as cohesively as I’d have expected.

If it was my choice, I’d have wanted Lydia to be more adult than she felt to me. She’s set up as the next big thing in advice columnists, gets offered the lead job at a prestigious newspaper, and yet is on a journey of pretty basic self-discovery all while holding an M.Sc. (I think it was) in psychology. Lydia feels more like 20 than 30. And as a result, her actions and reactions as the suspense ramps up feel like a younger woman, and thus I felt frustrated as I expected more depth of reaction and involvement.

To me, this reads more like YA than a full adult novel in terms of character behavior and development. That means Lydia feels young and how the relationship with Sofia develops is not one of how more mature adults’ might develop. Readers who enjoy YA, and the genre’s nature of character depth and development vs. focus and pace, will quite probably feel differently to me. I hope so; I’ll admit I couldn’t get passed my issues and biases due to my expectations, alas. But that’s me.

On the plus side, the set up and environment are good. I enjoyed a peek into the worlds of advice columns and of teaching. And there’s a lovely sprinkling of ethnic heritages throughout that I really enjoyed. And food! Lovingly described—always a plus. Add to that, there's a cast of supports who are also interesting and engaging.

Many readers will doubtless enjoy the suspense and thriller elements here. Like I said, the author has attempted to reach high, and even if I didn’t feel she did so as successfully as I’d hoped, there must be kudos given for the attempt and partial success. And many readers will likely not feel the same about my issues as I do. And if so, they’ll likely enjoy the story’s mix.

3.5 stars due to my personal bias vs. expectations but bumped up to 4 stars for a) the freshness and attempt to create something more notable than the “next lesfic romance.” And b) since Ms. Strong finished the book after a period of inactivity, I understand. She ventured, and boldly so. And that’s to be congratulated.

Thank you to the author, to the publisher, Bella Books, and to NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC and give my honest opinion.

A cozy mystery from Cade Haddock Strong. As the blurb says Lydia Swann takes over as the advice columnist at the Washington Post. It is her dream job. A serial killer is on the loose in the DC area and she begins to suspect that a letter writer has a connection to the cases. There is more going on in this story than just the mystery. Lydia is a people pleasing character and after a recent break up she is trying to find herself and it is hard to break old habits. She also volunteers at a center that helps teach English as a second language. There she meets Sophia who has gone from being a student at the center to a teacher in a few years. With Sophia there is new friendship and possible romance.

I like the personal character arc for Lydia and her finding and valuing herself. The mystery itself is fairly straightforward. Lydia originally gets involved more out of concern for a letter writer. There is wondering about a connection, suspicion, some coincidental menacing. It fits that she can use newspaper resources for example to find an IP address etc.. Overall, I liked this romantic mystery. I would have liked the romance to go further but closed door is normal for the cozy mystery genre. I’ve read the author previously and know that this is her first mystery and I would be interested if Lydia stumbles into another case.