Customer Reviews

Death By Student Loan (A Time-Travel Mystery)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is great little book for those looking for a light-hearted romp into the past via an old trap door in the back of a closet in a beachside cottage. I especially enjoyed this author's humor. But I think the best thing about this murder mystery is that it surprised me at the end! I can usually guess where a book is headed, but this ending floored me. It completely wraps up every question and leaves nothing dangling. And I promise you, you will laugh throughout, and come to love the characters in this novel. Hope to see a sequel soon!

I absolutely LOVED this book! I don't often take the time to sit down and review a book. But this one was worth it. If you like reading a book that is packed with humor, action, and a whirlwind trip into the past--this one's for you! Tight writing, tongue-in-cheek, irreverent at times--Death by Student Loan is for anyone who wishes they could escape from NOW into a much more interesting time. Can't wait for the sequel! Don't keep us waiting LC..!!

The title of this book caught my eye and I'm glad that it did..! The author's voice is fresh and her humor is contagious. The characters are real and the kind of folks I like to hang out with. I like too that the setting of the book is real--Surfside Beach is a place I've been going to since my parents took my sisters and I as kids. But the best part of this book is that it is a refreshing change from the "cozy" formats of food and knitting. This one travels back into time. Without giving away too much--let's just say that 1957 seems like a great place to visit, not so much "Happy Days" as "Deadly Doings."

I love books about living at the beach and anything about Victorian houses. But what really got me to read this book were the words "Student Loan." Of those three things, I am intimately familiar with the latter. So, I figured for $.99 I would download a copy of Death By Student Loan and see what this author was all about. I'm so glad I did! The main character (Mariah Garrett) is a person I'd like to coffee with, but "The Sea Hag" and her best friend Phoebe makes me want to find that tiny Texas island just so I can tumble down the stairs into "the nifty fifties." This book is a really fun (and funny) romp that can be read in one sitting. I found it engaging from the first page, and happily I didn't even think once about my own student loan woes along the way. Glad I stumbled upon this book. Hope to see a sequel soon!

This novel starts out fresh and breezy and holds your interest from the first page. Mariah Garrett is a teacher who was shot by a student and goes to her recently deceased aunt's beach cottage to recuperate for the summer. Once there however, she is so wounded she finds herself with a bad case of Agoraphobia. Over the next four years she lives on student loan money and earns a PhD online. The book begins with the delivery of her first bill on the $100,000 balance. Unable to leave the house, she is desperate to earn some money to pay the huge payment and so goes snooping in closets to find something Aunt Mae left behind that is sellable on ebay. What she finds instead is a boarded up doorway in the back of a linen closet that opens onto the past--1957 to be precise, and a whole 'nother world of quirky characters and situations, most notably the murder of a young woman who went missing at a debutante's ball. Russell's writing is tight, her humor fresh and the plot (though otherworldly)is believable. Dialogue is as real as your last conversation with a friend and the situations and characters are so much fun you think you're actually there! I hated to have it end. And end well it does--with a surprise twist that even this jaded old mystery buff didn't see coming. Read this--you'll want more!

I have to admit that, as someone else has already stated, it was the title that caused me to buy this book, being a suffer of student loans myself. But it was the story that kept me reading! This book grabs you from the first and carries you along for the ride. With characters that are so alive you want to go and meet them and a series of situations that will make you laugh out loud. The time-travel element is handled well and the dialogue sparkles. I'm hoping there will be a sequel, or that this book is the first in a long series. It's a keeper! The only reason I'm not giving it five stars is because it is too short. I wanted to keep reading!

The title of this book caught my eye and I'm glad that it did..! The author's voice is fresh and her humor is contagious. The characters are real and the kind of folks I like to hang out with. I like too that the setting of the book is real--Surfside Beach is a place I've been going to since my parents took my sisters and I as kids. But the best part of this book is that it is a refreshing change from the "cozy" formats of food and knitting. This one travels back into time. Without giving away too much--let's just say that 1957 seems like a great place to visit, not so much "Happy Days" as "Deadly Doings."

Great read for a weekend adventure or road trip. The time travel was something we would all love to experience if possible and the detail of the past and present transitioned very well. The authors sense of humor had me chuckle out loud a few times which is always good! You will find yourself turning page after page with no concern of your surroundings or things you need to get done. Looking forward to the next mystery in Seaside.

"Death by Student Loan" caught my attention immediately out of sympathy for those out there with student loans having had the experience also.

The story begins with a woman with multiple degrees living in a beachside Victorian house burdened with the stress of the student loan payment. She gets hurled into the past of 1950s America, where she meets some relatives she never knew and high-profile people when they were younger. With a twist of solving a decades-old murder mystery, the book ends on a positive, fun note. I think this is entertaining, light reading, and my only critique is that the story could have been taken down other routes to drive home harder the message of the stress of student loan payments. However, the critique is more likely preference on my part and not against the creativity of this well-written book. Three stars!

This was an all around great read! Russell has created wonderful characters and an exciting time-travel story. Mariah, suffering from agoraphobia due to a school shooting four years prior, lives alone in her family's cottage, refusing to attend to daily life outside her home. When she accidentally discovers a portal back in time, her life takes a turn down "memory" lane as she begins to connect events in 1957 to the newly uncovered skeleton under the pier in the present. Torn between two lives, two men, and a murder mystery transcending time, Mariah must decide what actions to take in order to do the right thing, including breaking through her agoraphobia and leaving the comforts of her own home.

I really enjoyed this murder mystery. While the synopsis does state that there is a human head stashed in the pantry, I never expected this novel to take the twists and turns that it did. I was both shocked and pleased as I read Russell's wonderful novel. The characterization and mystery within the story were extremely well written and I really enjoyed Mariah's complex disposition. Russell has written a novel for all ages to enjoy, and I highly recommend reading it! Four and a half stars!