Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

Best Laid Plans by Gwen Florio is a twisty mystery with interesting protagonists. Just when I was sure I knew what had happened it changed, making this a fun book to read.

This is the first Gwen Florio book I have read and while it took me a while to get into the story, I did enjoy it. I really connected with the characters and loved the setting. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

This is the good start of a new series that has a lot of potential.
I liked it and found it engrossing and entertaining. Like any book in a new series you get to know the character and their background. I liked Nora and will be happy to read again about her.
The mystery is solid and, even if it wasn't hard to guess the culprit, it kept my attention.
Look forward to reading the next installment, this one is recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Best Laid Plans by Gwen Florio is the first book in A Nora Best Mystery series. Nora Best has just turned fifty and is about to make some big changes. Nora and her husband, Joe have quit their jobs and sold their home. They have purchased a truck and an Airstream. They are going to travel around the country with Nora writing her second book, a travel blog, and taking freelance writing assignments (which will pay for their adventures). During the farewell party, Nora enters the bathroom to find her husband and his best friend’s wife in a compromising position. Nora decides to begin her adventure early by taking off with the truck and Airstream. Nora soon finds herself arrested for murder and she needs to uncover who is setting her up. I was taken with the concept of this series. Our protagonist traveling around and solving mysteries. I liked that Nora is a woman my own age (a rarity in cozy mysteries). I was, though, put off with the significant amount of foul language, alcohol, and talk of intimate situations. The story is told from Nora’s point-of-view which turned me off because of her thoughts (and they say men have a one track mind). I can understand that Nora has had some shocks, but I wish she had acted logically. An example is when the attorney tells her that the police will soon have a warrant and will be searching her Airstream for further evidence. I would go through the trailer with a fine-tooth comb. Nora heads off to the lake to enjoy the view. I was hoping the whodunit would redeem the book, but I was disappointed. It can easily be solved early in the book thanks to one little detail. I thought the book contained many unneeded details along with repetition of information and the second half was a little off the rails (headed to crazy town). As you can tell, I was not the right audience for Best Laid Plans. Nora is an unlikeable protagonist who I would not let near my husband (if I had one). She begins ogling a man less than two days after leaving her husband and has thoughts of doing more than sharing a dinner with him. I also tired of hearing about the husband’s perfect tush. Best Laid Plans is an outrageous mystery tale with a missing man, a ravenous bear, a razor-sharp axe, an awesome Airstream, scrumptious pie, and a remarkable ranger.

Reviewed for BookBrowse here: https://www.bookbrowse.com/mag/reviews/index.cfm/ref/pr270208#bookbrowse_review

Just turned 50, Nora Best is about to undergo a massive life change. She and her husband Joe have quit their jobs, sold their home and bought a beautiful Airstream trailer and a truck to pull it, trading in the corporate rat race for life on the open road. Until, at their going-away party, Nora catches Joe in the bathroom with his former boss’s wife.

Suddenly, everything is up-ended. On impulse, Nora takes off with the truck and the Airstream, driving through the night and finally winding up in a remote campground in deepest Wyoming, parking up next door to sweet Miranda and her handsome husband Brad, the camp managers. The couple are kind to her, but things take a turn for the weird after Nora’s first night when Brad disappears, leaving behind only a massive bloodstain on the grass. Has he really been eaten by a bear? Nora planned to move on, but Miranda’s distraught, she can’t just leave her. And then suddenly, Nora’s a suspect…

This had some really fun twists and turns. Nora’s in a state of shock for pretty much the entire book, and her state of mind does lead her to do some things which someone operating entirely rationally might not do, but as I said, she’s in a state of shock and though she doesn’t realise it until later, she’s being deliberately kept that way, off balance and having to react to the blows that keep coming.

Nora’s set up as a sympathetic protagonist from the beginning when she finds Joe cheating on her, and to be honest, it was necessary, because there were definitely places where I struggled to like her. She came off as entitled and rich (and considering both she and Joe had good careers and no kids, how the hell did they end up at 50 with no assets but the car and trailer?) and there was a bit of backstory mentioned a couple times where in her previous job, she apparently helped four male students ‘spin’ their way out of a gang rape charge, which absolutely horrified me. It didn’t seem necessary and it REALLY needed cutting, because I was suddenly very much not rooting for her when I read that. I wondered if the ‘villain’ was going to turn out to be the victim or a family member looking for revenge, actually, but it seemed to be a red herring because it didn’t come up again.

This is the first in a series about Nora - presumably travelling around with her Airstream and stumbling into crimes - and while it’s an interesting concept and I did like the twists of the mystery here, I’m not sure I care about or like Nora enough after reading this to really want to follow her adventures. I might pick up the second book if it happens to cross my radar, but it’s not something I’m going to put on my Must Read list. I’ll give this one four stars.

This was such a fun read that was enthralling from beginning to end. I love the protagnist was 50 plus which is rare in books today. Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley for the opportunity.
My review opinion is my own.

First we are introduced to Nora and her long time husband planning a long overdue trip in a fancy air stream. They throw a going away party and during said party she catches him cheating. She impulsively takes off by herself in the air stream with no knowledge of how to pull a trailer or what she is doing. She is not without
misadventures and fun ensures as well as a murder in a Wyoming forest she is now blamed for. She meets a couple who become friends but are they are are they not involved in the murder?

I kept turning pages rooting for Nora and her new life of freedom. This is a fun read and I look forward to the next in series. The sleuth was well crafted and kept me guessing to conclusion.

Nora and Joe had plans for the next part of their lives- traveling the US with an airstream. Unfortunately, Nora finds Joe cheating on her at their bon voyage party so she just takes off without him. A stop at a campground in Wyoming seems great due to the hosts Miranda and Brad until it's not. Brad goes missing (has he been dragged off by a bear?), Nora is accused (she's a stranger) and then someone seems to target her. Joe turns up to help, the trailer is stolen, and more, Whew. There's a lot in this intro to a new series but it establishes Nora as an intrepid woman who keeps going . You, like me, might figure out what's going on before the big reveal but that's ok. There's local color, tidbits about the trailer, and nice writing. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I'm looking forwar to the next one.

Folks, I have just been to crazy town and it was a wild, wonderful trip! Take one 50-year old woman giving up the corporate life to travel the country with her loving husband in their new truck and silver camper, Electra, throw in husband’s infidelity, followed by wife’s madcap escape in said truck and camper, and you have the recipe for a raucous adventure!

The wife, Nora, ends up in a Wyoming campsite where she intends to lick her proverbial wounds for a few days. What ensues are a man’s suspicious death by bear, her arrest for killing said man, a strange woman hiker, and a lovely wildlife officer who helps her find her own way. She quickly learns she has the inner strength to survive, especially after one harrowing night in the woods fighting an unknown enemy and the elements.

I devoured this book and I thank Net Galley and the publisher, Severn House, for the opportunity to read it for my honest opinion. I gave it four stars and look forward to the next book in the series!

I enjoyed the concept and characters of this novel despite solving the mystery really early on. I rarely solve the crimes but this one was abundantly transparent. I also love a twist or two and there were none to be found here. But as I said, I still enjoyed this and was entertained by the dilemmas the main character found herself in. I related to the 50ish age bracket and was captivated by the idea of life in a luxury caravan. This was a light read with a dose of drama thrown in. I will be buying this for our library and I'm sure there will be an audience for this style of comedy adventure. I like the cover but I feel like it would suit a different style of story, something more serious and without the humour and hijinks evident in this series starter.

I received this arc from netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

I wouldn't normally pick up this book but I'm glad I did. I was hooked in from the very beginning and then when things took a turn for the worse, I really couldn't put it down. Such a great mystery.

Nora Best seems to have it all, perfect long marriage, advance for a second lifestyle book, and a plan to travel the USA with her marvellous husband for the next year. At her ritzy farewell party she discovers her marriage isn't as perfect as she and her fanbase think, and she takes off cross country without him, discarding plans as she goes. At the first campsite she sees, she meets a seemingly perfect, younger couple, who offer her hospitality. When the husband disappears suddenly, Nora is under suspicion and things get very complicated and dangerous very quickly.
This is sometimes confusing to follow, and some of the plot holes are big enough to drive an Airstream through, but it rollocks along and Nora is very engaging. I enjoyed it immensely.

Nora and her husband Joe have both been let go from their jobs. They decide to sell their house and get an Airstream trailer and see the country. Nora was really excited about it until she caught her husband with a friend of hers in her home. She gets a few things together and leaves without Joe...

Severn House and Net Galley let me read this book for review (thank you). It will be published February 2nd.

She's driving a big pickup with the trailer behind and her husband was supposed to be the driver but she manages. She goes for miles before finding a park she can stay in. She finds a spot she can drive into and camps.

Then the campground hosts husband goes missing. They think a bear got him. But they haven't found anything yet.

Then Nora gets attacked by a man and just barely stays alive. The sheriff thinks she did the damage to herself. Then her husband shows up. He says he'll represent her in her trial. They are accusing her of killing the missing man. Then Joe goes missing.

Nora gets attacked again but she defends herself.

There is a lot going on and things get mixed up but somehow Nora makes it out alive. Others are not so lucky...

I was excited to see that Florio started a new series, this time with Nora Best, who just turned 50 and had planned on quitting her day job and traveling the country with her husband. They sold their house and used the advance for Nora’s second nonfiction book to buy a top-of-the-line Airstream. When Nora finds her allegedly perfect husband banging the neighbor on the night of their going away party, she takes off in the truck, dragging the Airstream behind her.

She ends up in Wyoming at an out-of-the way campground with friendly park managers Brad and Miranda. But when Brad goes missing, the clueless town sheriff accuses Nora of murder. Not only to clear her name but to survive, Nora needs to find out what happened to Brad.

This is a mystery, but it’s also a novel about second chances and trying to heal with the help of nature. Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book, which RELEASES FEBRUARY 2, 2021.

Nora and Joe have sold their home, and taken early retirement, (though Nora has just signed a book contract to write about their upcoming travels). They are throwing the party to end all parties, prior to them setting off for a new life, in their classy, but expensive Airstream trailer - that is until Nora catches Joe in a compromising situation with his best friend’s wife Charlotte.

Distressed and not thinking straight, she grabs the keys to the Airstream, leaves Denver, and drives through the night and finds herself on a campsite in the middle of The Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming.

The area is idyllic, and Nora spends her first alcohol fuelled evening as dinner guest of the campground hosts Miranda and Brad Gardner. That night however, Brad disappears in the middle of the night leaving just a small patch of blood and a torn piece of shirt outside his camper.

It’s suspected initially that a bear may have taken him, and the search parties are out in the forest for days - that is until the local sheriff decides to hold Nora in connection with the disappearance, and possible death of Brad Gardner.

The backdrop is evocatively described, with the campsite and forest as centrepiece, and the nearest inhabited area giving a sense of small town claustrophobia.
Nora makes for an interesting character, who has to face up to some pretty challenging situations, ones that far exceed the travel book that she was originally commissioned to write, and it actually made for a unique and enjoyable read.

To be honest, this is the kind of book I’d normally pass by on my Netgalley browsing, A Severn publishers thriller tend to be a pretty mediocre and formulaic, but it grabbed me with a dream, a dream of hitting the road in an RV. In this case, a very fancy one. Slick and shiny metal happy place to call your own. Like living inside you’re a very commodious robot. In a word, awesome. And so Nora Best and her hunky spouse with the perfect ass (direct quote) have decided to start living their dreams. They sold their place and bought another one on wheels and a truck to drag it around. But when at their going away send off, Nora discovers her man’s perfect ass between the chunky thighs of his best friend’s wife, she takes off on her own. Barely able to drive the thing, she manages to end up camping in Wyoming, when she promptly finds herself accused of kidnapping and possible murder. In facts, she steps into a large steaming pile of doodoo, one that has nothing to do with local bears no matter how much everyone seems to want to blame it on them. Suddenly the dream turns into a nightmare and Nora has to go into survival mode just to get through it all. Pretty dynamic, but those looking for a suspense thriller might be disappointed, the plot twists here are about as subtle as a 100K worth of a luxury RV with custom artwork in Wyoming. The entire thing is super predictable to most anyone with triple digit IQ and from lamentably early on in the book too. Presumably not to Nora, it takes her a while to get up to speed, but then again she’s right in the midst of it, Also, she is surprisingly dense for a seemingly smart person, which results in doing things of (her words) monumental stupidity. Signing off her truck and beloved RV to a random person she’s just met who is in obvious need of money is pretty epic. You’d think it would make Nora a pretty tedious protagonist, but she actually does all right. It’s nice and refreshing to have a protagonist of a certain age, although savvy and intelligence don’t always figure into it, there’s still a certain level of self possession the hipper youth might not have. The entire book actually has a nice steady mature thing going on, it might have easily veered into chicklit or women’s fiction, but it admirably manages not to. It stays away from cozy in the same way too. There’s a certain degree of quaintness that comes from writing small town set fiction, but overall it toes the line and stays pretty decent, consistently, writing wise. Plotting, yeah, that might have used some work, it’s all just entirely too…unsurprising. But it gets by instead on character appeal and narrative quality and, of course, the dream. The shiny dream of free roaming. Read it not as a suspense thriller, but as a character drama with crime elements for maximum effect. Reasonably entertaining and a pretty quick read. Well done middle of the road sort of diversion. And here I am, first person to be reviewing this. Thanks Netgalley.

Turning fifty has granted Nora Best a new lease on life. She’s traded in her husband for an Airstream trailer, a step up in her opinion. It was a trip the two were supposed to take together until she caught him with his pants down, literally. Suddenly a carefully planned trip across the country becomes an angry drive off to nowhere. She winds up in a campground in Wyoming, where she hangs out with the managers, Brad and Miranda. The next day, Bard has disappeared, blood is found on the campground, and Nora finds herself a prime suspect in a potential murder investigation. Kudos to Florio for having a heroine that isn’t an ingenue, this book will resonate with a lot of more mature readers looking for excitement and adventure