Welcome to Litsy!

Mrs. Plansky is a the perfect protagonist - likable, flawed, eccentric, unreliable. She loves her family and supports them to a fault, so when she receives a call from her grandson asking for money, she immediately complies.

I became frustrated about halfway through when a few too many happy coincidences took place. For that reason, I find it hard to imagine a second book in this series, as the first already required a lot of implausibilities

Ready for February. 🩷📚🩷#bookspinbingo

This is a madcap adventure story with a feisty older protagonist and some surprisingly sympathetic scammers. It‘s an undemanding but generally fun read if coincidences and unlikely happenings don‘t overly bother you. Full review at http://booknaround.blogspot.com/2023/10/review-mrs-planskys-revenge-by-spencer.h...

"Hello it is I, your grandson, insert name here," said Dinu.
Two young men are tuning up their English & phone scam skills. But, widowed former successful business owner Mrs. Plansky refuses to remain a victim & follows clues to a small town in Romania. Witty repartee, & charming characters make for a fun, fast, escapist read. Thanks to Reading Group Choices and Forge Books for my free copy. #FirstLineFridays @shybookowl

Loved visiting Thunder Road Books while at the Jersey shore. And proud that I limited myself to one book and a few goodies. #SpringLakeNJ #summerreading #ThunderRoadBooks

Based on the premise, I thought I‘d love it a lot more than I actually did. That said, it was a cute read; if you suspend disbelief.

This one was kind of disappointing. I like Quinn's Chet and Bernie books, so maybe my expectations were too high, but I didn't enjoy the story. The audio narration was decent and fit with the main character well, but I honestly just didn't care about her by the end. So-so is generous.

Book 3 #rushathon
#netgalley #ARC
@DieAReader
@Andrew65
@GHABI4ROSES

Oh my gosh, this so completely charming and fun to read, I loved it!
Ok yes, this requires a great deal of suspension of disbelief, but what an amazing premise, and I have not rooted for a character as much as I have for Mrs Plansky in a really long time. I'm not usually one for cozy mysteries (and this isn't that either, but a somewhat similar feel), but I absolutely loved this and couldn't wait to see how it all unfolded.

I‘m a fan of Quinn‘s Chet & Bernie series, so I was thrilled to jump into this standalone! The titular character, widowed & in her 70s, still supports her family financially- from her own 98 year old father to her adult children but when a middle-of-the-night phone call turns out to be a scam, Loretta falls for it. On the other end in Romania, Dinu enjoys learning English- even if his skills are for crime! Adventure more than revenge ensues!

Throughout the story Mrs. Plansky is referred to as Mrs. Plansky. I found this to be almost disruptive to the flow of the novel, bordering on annoying. I also found her family to be maddening and exasperating. I cared about Dinu and his life more than I did her‘s, and his story is what kept me reading this book. The narration wasn‘t much better than the novel, and I think a lot of that had to do with her always being referred to as “Mrs. Plansky.”

Starting this one today.

What I Enjoyed:
- The fast paced nature of the prose
- Mrs. Plansky, a complex woman full of rich personality traits and some good zingers
- The dual storyline with our main antagonist; you can‘t help but love him in the end

Major Critique:
For this story you would expect the ending to button up nicely. However, I wanted a little more on screen action to really drive the revenge home.