NetGalley November 2023 - The Rosewood Hunt

Oh, the joy of going away on a well-needed holiday. Time to catch up on some much needed reading, especially for my NetGalley To Be Read List (see why I choose to do NetGalley November now?). Much needed time to escape the huge issues of real life (one was dropped on my head over 24 hours before I got on a plane. So that was fun!)

One of the things I wanted to do this month was tackle some of my older backlist. Did I do that? NOPE! I went for something a little newer (and I have loads of newer titles to tackle). But seeing as I was on holiday, I wanted to tackle some fun, light, fluffy. And after a few other titles that I picked up, read the first few pages and went “Not in the mood”, this came up and I devoured the first few chapters at breakneck speed. 

Title and Author: The Rosewood Hunt by Mackenzie Reed

Publisher: Harper360

Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Gifted via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review/reaction

Buy From (Affiliate): uk.bookshop.org

Lily Rosewood has been living with her grandmother for the past year and, over that time, the two have become close. Lily hopes one day to her grandmother with her fashion business. But when Grams suddenly and unexpectedly dies, Lily is in completely shock. And when, at the will reading with her uncle and cousin, she discovered a her grandmother’s quarter of a billion dollar fortune is missing and all three are banned for the estate, Lily doesn’t understand. 

But Gram loves her little games. So, when Lily receives a letter written in invisible ink, she begins to question why Grams would hid her fortune. And when three random teens come to Lily, all with a letter from Gram, the unlucky four are forced to team up and go on a real life treasure hunt. But treasure hunters are coming for the fortune also, and someone is willing to go to extreme lengths to get that cash…

When I finished by the pool, my first thought was “Imagine The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes meets a US teen soap opera like Dynasty and this would be the love child”, and I feel that this description is right. 

Ok, I admit it: I haven’t read The Inheritance Games. I actually rage-quit this around the 35% mark. On paper, it would have been totally up my street but, for some reason, I couldn’t fully get on board with the characters. And while I still felt the same way about several characters (there was one or two characters have are in huge privilege and yet, don’t truly realise that there are people who aren’t that fortunate), I managed to get away from that as I found this a escape read, perfect for what I needed in this moment which was holiday and work-related issues. 

Yes, this book isn’t perfect and yes, it’s very frothy soap opera of a mystery (very different from Maureen Johnson’s Truly Devious series or more adult crime-thrillers), but this was fun and perfect reading-by-the-pool with a Long Island Ice Tea…