If Books Could Kill by Kate Eberle
Publication Date: July 21, 2026
Summary from NetGalley:
When Roxie makes a tongue-in-cheek wish to live out the plot of her favorite author’s next novel, she has romance in mind—namely, the sweet, safe, swoon-worthy storylines Anna Matthews is known for. It should be a dream come true when her wish is granted and she finds herself swept into a first date with a handsome stranger who seems designed to take her breath away.
Except for one little hiccup: That handsome stranger tries to take her breath away. Literally. With a knife. The thing is, Roxie may be the new Anna Matthews protagonist—but this time, Anna is writing a crime thriller.
Thrown into a perilous genre she’s never read, Roxie is desperate for help. So when her escape takes her straight into the path of Grant Hoffman, an anxious English professor with a convenient love of crime novels, she decides that kidnapping a grown man is a small price to pay for her own survival. Together, Roxie and Grant navigate a madcap story in which the lines between fiction and reality blur. They’ll find out if they have what it takes to make it to The End—or maybe even Happily Ever After.
ARC provided by Viking Penguin via Netgalley for an honest review.
Confession:
I have some mixed feelings about this one. It started off pretty strong but somewhere in the middle I lost my enthusiasm for it. Not quite sure why, as the plot was interesting and the characters were likable enough, but I just found myself no longer invested in it on the whole. I did want to finish it though, as I really wanted to know how it was all going to end.
Roxie was certainly a character that most women will be able to relate to. She has some skills due to her taking self defense lessons for seven years, so she is no damsel in distress. She does struggle with commitment both in her job and her love life. Her backstory on why was a bit on the weak side. But I loved her sense of humor and how quickly she was able to get herself out of some situations. It did take her a long time to start to have feelings for Grant, or even admit that he might be the love interest in this story. I’m all in for a slow burn, but this was more like she woke up one day and realized that this guy she been doing dangerous things with was kind of cute. The romance just never really worked for me.
I did really like Grant though. He was great, and such an english professor with some hidden talents. I would have loved to see him take a more active role in the story, he at times just seemed to be there in the background of the constant speed train that was Roxie’s inner dialogue. But he does support Roxie and helps her figure out some major plot points.
While I liked this author’s writing style for the most part, there were some weak points in the overall story. Much of the story went the way that I would imagine a romance writer might go if they were trying to write a thriller with no real experience with that genre. There were a lot of tropes from the thriller genre that were used effectively. The middle of the story sort of lost that plot line though and turned more into a strict romance story, and that didn’t really work for me as it slowed the story down. The story was humorous though, and many of the jokes were subtly woven into the story well. The big reveal of who was behind the facebook page was a good twist, but it sort of lacked the build up and the edge of your seat expectation that a thriller normally would have.
Overall, this wasn’t bad for a debut. I did like the writing and the story for the most part. I did find myself wanting to find out what was going to happen to the characters even when I no longer felt a connection to them. Don’t totally judge this story just from my review though. There are a lot of people who loved this story. It unfortunately just didn’t totally work for me. I will probably give this author another chance though, as I think there is potential here.
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