Kat O'Hara returns home penniless, heartbroken and without a job. When the magical Landers sisters hire her to run their new Enchanted Cafe little do they suspect that a gruesome murder is about to take place in the small town of Kissing Bridge Mountain. Things bubble over at the big chili cook-off when a crockpot goes missing and a body is found.
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I came across this book sitting on my Kindle and was in the mood for a cozy mystery, ala Murder She Wrote, so I dove right in...
The Good:
I really enjoyed most of the characters in this book. The Landers sisters especially made me smile and I would love to see more books with them and their family as the focus. I loved the small town feel to the book. It felt like someplace that I might live. Heck, if you're around my site enough, you'll know that I love recipes and crock pots.
The Bad:
The author has a serious love of adjectives and describing things, even when they don't need to be described. For example, there's a UPS driver that she describes and he's nothing more than a blip in the book as he drops off 5 boxes full of crock pots. The author also makes some odd formatting choices, such as putting a recipe smack dab in the middle of the book and then having an entire recipe section in the back. There are editing and formatting errors galore, as well, which really threw me away from the story. The main character talks about being in France and how she was drunk most of the time she was there...and then I'm not sure one chapter went by when she wasn't drinking and she seemed almost proud of the fact that she was somewhat of a lush. She also mentions twice that she's a writer. The first time, I honestly thought it was a typo and the author meant waiter. The second time wasn't until chapter 33 and at no point in the book does this information have any relevance.
The Summary:
I know I seem like I'm being pretty harsh here, but I guess I just have expectations when it comes to things that could be fixed, should have been caught, but haven't. There's no excuse for something like the font size changing randomly for a few pages and then changing back and then changing again. As for the story itself, it could use some work. When the author contradicts her own story, there's a problem and that's something that an editor should catch. If a casual reader caught it, a good editor should have as well. I really wanted to like this book. I loved most of the characters (the main character was a turn off for me), the setting, and even the premise of the story. I loved the references to things like Murder She Wrote and taking to ones bed. I may give this author another chance, but I'll go in with lower expectations.
If you'd like to jump into a light mystery that I did love, check out The Case of the Cat Show Princess.
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