She Doesn't Have a Clue by Jenny Elder Moke

Synopsis (via Goodreads):  With a colorful cast of characters and a cellar full of wine, anything can happen―from murder to a second chance at love―in Jenny Elder Moke's half mystery, half romance adult debut set at a lavish destination wedding.

A high-end wedding on a private island off the coast of Seattle sounds like something out of a magazine. But for bestselling mystery author Kate Valentine, it’s more like a nightmare.

Why Kate agreed to attend her ex-fiancé’s wedding is its own enigma, but she’ll plaster on a fake smile for two nights, with the aid of free champagne, naturally. And because the groom happens to be her editor, she’ll try to finish a draft of her latest Loretta Starling mystery as a wedding gift. But when the bride is poisoned and Kate stumbles across a dead body, she finds herself in a real-life mystery that eerily echoes the plot of her latest novel. And the only person who seems willing to help Kate catch the killer is Jake Hawkins, aka: the Hostralian; aka: Kate’s biggest romantic regret.

As the wine flows and the weather threatens to hold every guest hostage, bitter resentments and long-held grudges surface amongst the colorful crowd. Anyone could be capable of murder, it seems. What would Loretta do? Unfortunately, Kate doesn’t have a clue.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts and opinions are my own. Any quotes I use are from an unpublished copy and may not reflect the finished product.

She Doesn't Have a Clue was messy. The main character, the plot, the everything. It felt like a bad game of Clue. Honestly, this book might have been more enjoyable had everyone been playing a game instead of trying to solve an actual murder. Then the cutesy rom-com aspect would have made more sense. As it stands, the romance in this one felt forced and happened at the most inopportune moments. Don't even get me started on their "fights" and the lack of communication for 98% of the book.

It was also impossible to take anyone seriously. The characters were so over-the-top and exaggerated, I couldn't believe they were real people. Again, their personalities would have been better suited to characters and people acting out a game. The author was also trying too hard with the list of suspects, so it was obviously the least obvious person. The only reason I didn't DNF this one halfway through is because I wanted to see if I was right (I was). 

There were also things that just didn't make sense:

"Kate could barely put her arms out with Jake wedged in the space, though, much less feel her way around for a secret latch or hidden release."

"He grabbed her thighs and lifted her up, wrapping them around his waist as he gently pushed her back against the opposite wall, bracing her on a cross beam that put her mouth on a level with his."

Where did all that room come from? They went from barely being able to move in a super confined space (Kate even mentioned being claustrophobic and needing to scream), to having plenty of room for sexy time??

Also, why did she keep touching dead bodies?? If she doesn't want to be accused of murder, she should stop leaving her DNA and fingerprints all over the place. Furthermore, no one should be that calm when finding a body. Yes, she writes murder mysteries or whatever, but that doesn't mean she's chill as a cucumber when it happens in real life.

I also understood the Loretta comparisons, but thought that entire aspect of the book detracted from the story. Kate would end up thinking like her character, or playing out scenarios in real life as if she were in one of her books, and it just didn't work for me. She was too scatterbrained and very much the "bumbling idiot" she's compared to later on. Kate herself lacked substance and didn't have much of a personality, which made her hard to relate to as the main character.

Kate honestly didn't have the brain cells to solve anyone's murder, and the clues just happened to fall in her lap whenever she needed them to. She also found herself in the strangest predicaments and somehow managed to get herself accused of being the murderer on several occasions. Despite this, everyone seems to carry on with their personal lives and only hash out problems when the author needed to move the story along. It was all too convenient.

She Doesn't Have a Clue has an interesting premise, but I think it would have worked better as a lighthearted rom-com. They should have been taken to some rich person's island for an eccentric game of Clue - complete with fake murders - and the focus been on developing a realistic and authentic relationship between Kate and Jake. One without the dreaded miscommunication trope. (★★⋆☆☆)