Invitation to Die - Helen Smith

4 Stars!

ABOUT THE BOOK (from Amazon) -

Twenty-six-year-old Emily Castles is out of work… again. So when famous romance author Morgana Blakely offers her a job helping out at a conference in London, Emily accepts. Just as eagerly, American blogger Winnie Kraster accepts an invitation from Morgana to attend as a guest, not realizing she has, in effect, accepted an invitation to die.
As a cast of oddball characters assembles at the conference hotel, grievances, differences, and secrets begin to emerge. When Winnie goes missing, and then is found murdered nearby, Emily begins to suspect that someone involved with the conference is responsible. Could it be one of the organizers, one of the authors, a member of the hotel staff, or even the supplier of the chocolates for the conference gift bags? Emily teams up with guest speaker and eccentric philosophy professor Dr. Muriel to find out.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR (from Goodreads)-

Helen Smith is a member of the Writers Guild of Great Britain and English PEN. She travelled the world when her daughter was small, doing all sorts of strange jobs to support them both - from cleaning motels to working as a magician's assistant - before returning to live in London where she wrote her first novel which was published by Gollancz (part of the Hachette Group).

She writes novels, poetry, plays and screenplays and is the recipient of an Arts Council of England Award. She's a long-term supporter of the Medical Foundation for the Victims of Torture and mentors members of an exiled writers group to help them tell their stories. She likes knitting but she doesn't like driving. She likes dancing. 

Visit her blog - HERE

MY REVIEW -

Very fun little mystery! I read two others by Helen and enjoyed them but I liked this one much better. This one really flowed very nicely and was easy to follow. It was a fun, light and very up-to-date story. 

Helen used quirky characters which made it fun to get to know them. You never knew what to expect next from them, but they were also very likeable and real.

What I really liked most about the story was the use of a very timely subject - blogging! I love that Helen took something so current as blogging and book reviews and ratings and based her book around it! This made it so much more fun to read! This book is full of great lines, I was giggling through the book.

I have 8 quotes highlighted, but I won't post all 8! Here's just a few great lines for you -

"Bloggers!' M. Loman's horrified expression suggested he might be getting them confused with something he considered unrefined, like truckers. Or muggers, or joggers."

"Blogathon! There's a blogathon!' Morgana seemed to be genuinely frightened. Emily looked around the bar, but she couldn't see anything. What on earth was a blogathon anyway? It sounded like a made-up creature. A dragon in a kids story, something like that. And then the blogathon roared and all the flowers in the garden shuddered and closed their petals in fear..." hahahaha funny!

"It was like a romantic comedy, without the romance or the comedy." hahaha still giggling about that one.

"Now with purple lips, without a scrap of make-up on the rest of her face, she looked like a zombie in a YouTube video made by eleven-year-olds." that quote I dedicate to my friend Jen! lol (inside joke).

Oh! and I almost forgot - this book had me won over on the first page - there was a Maine Coon cat, Martina would be proud!

So if you are a big fan of mysteries, especially the fun quirky ones, you will love this book. And if you are a fan of stories using current themes like blogging, you will love this one!

A big thanks to the Author for sending me this in e-book to read and give my review!

Get your copy from Amazon - HERE