Genre: Mystery
Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781496709790
Kensington Publishing
352 Pages
$7.99; $5.99 Amazon
November 27, 2018
✮✮
With her wedding day mere weeks away, home stager Caprice De Luca is busy arranging every last detail for the reception at Rambling Vines Winery - a stylish venue she redecorated two years earlier. But the closer the bride-to-be gets to saying, "I do," the more a celebration at Rambling Vines seems like a terrible mistake. As financial mishaps and unhappy customers put the winery in the red, an unidentified criminal plots to sour the business's already ailing reputation. Dodd's past could leave a permanent stain on Caprice's best friend's current love life. When Michelle's aloof husband is found stabbed to death on a chaise lounge in the tasting room, Caprice vows to name the calculating culprit and set things right before her dream nuptials dissolve into a deadly nightmare...
✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽
Caprice De Luca is finally getting married to the love of her life, Grant Weatherford. She's got everything arranged - or at least think she does - when one of the owners of the winery where she's going to have her reception is murdered. Now she wonders if his wife killed him, and if not, who did. If she doesn't figure it out in a few short days, not only will her wedding be a disaster, but the wrong person might be arrested for the crime...
I used to love this series so much, and I hate to say that in this last book, which I am guessing is an end to the series since another hasn't been written since last year and the author is carrying on with a new one; had a disappointing finale. So much so, I couldn't even read it all the way through and wound up skimming the pages.
The plot was weak. There is a scene where a teenager is about to pour something into a vat of wine (that will obviously taint it) but when he is caught, states he didn't know he was doing anything wrong. And for this he was going to get $500. Right. A teenager is offered $500 to pour something into a vat of wine, and he thinks it's on the up-and-up? Is he the dumbest kid in this city?
Then, when Vince received the phone call about Travis's murder, he would have stated that he was going to act as Michelle's attorney, not as her lawyer. Attorneys do not refer to themselves as lawyers. Lay people refer to them as that. Vince also should have found her another attorney immediately since he was once involved with her and that could give the prosecutor ammunition in the case (even if he didn't think it would go to trial). If you've dated or are dating a client, you should never be the one to defend them as it's a conflict of interest. I would think even this author would know that.
Roz was acting like a 16-year-old with a new boyfriend who found out another high school girl was making a play for him. Doesn't she believe that Vince loves her? Has he given any indication that he was still interested in the ex-girlfriend? I don't think so, considering that Roz never knew Michelle existed. Which tells me that Vince has never even mentioned her. Which says that Vince hasn't thought about her since they broke up. So why is Roz in a panic? Doesn't she trust Vince? Maybe Roz should have just walked away from Vince right then and there if she didn't trust him. You can't have a decent relationship without trust. But then I soon began to realize the reason there was distrust. It was the main plot of the story, not the murder. It was here the book lost me.
Not a moment too soon, either. Caprice is way too dependent on her family and what they think. She even states that she wants a 'perfect' marriage like her parents or grandparents. Really? So her parents have never had a single argument? Have always acted like roses and sunshine around each other? No marriage is perfect, and I think Caprice needs to get the blinders removed from her eyes. She's also 'breathless' over Grant like a teenager (maybe that's why she likes Roz so much). She's an adult and is mooning over him.
She also didn't want to sell her small home and move into a bigger one with Grant so he could have room for a home office, so what does she do? He's going to build an addition to the house. His office will be...behind the garage. Not an additional room onto the house itself, but behind it. He doesn't even rate having an office in the main part of the house. She thinks this is a compromise (!) for them. No; no it's not. It's Caprice getting her way again, as in all things. I would have liked to have seen them start their new life together in a new home. Selling both their places could have given them enough to do so. After all, I'm guessing Grant has furniture, too. Is he going to sell all his stuff? Because it won't all fit in one room, and Caprice's house isn't that big. (Whatever are they going to do if they have children? Just keep on adding additions?)
I'm also slightly suspicious about her family and wondering if her sisters are going along with them on their honeymoon, since she does everything she can with her family. One sister is even making her dress because she couldn't find a vintage gown. I guess she never heard of the Internet. Out of curiosity, I searched and even found ones near my home. I'm also wondering if Bella has had 'the talk' with her about her wedding night. It's just so weird that she won't make a move without them, and I've noticed this in other books but always let it pass. I had to laugh out loud when I read about her gown, "the sweetheart neckline did not show cleavage." Really? (I'm saying that a lot here). She's afraid to let anyone know she possesses breasts? That will make her wedding night interesting. Caprice is a prude!
Unfortunately, I think I've given enough of my opinions of this book, which is corn on the cob of the worst kind. The mystery wasn't enough to hold the book together - it was more of a device to further solidify the relationship between Roz and Vince. Caprice is childish, boring, selfish, and self-centered. Grant is practically non-existent unless he’s fawning over Caprice and doing everything she wants. It’s like he’s got no mind of his own. This series used to be so good but I'm guessing this is the last one; it just became so saccharine that it was difficult to read. It was a sad ending to what once was a good series. If it does by any chance continue, I will not read another.
https://www.amazon.com/Cut-Chaise-Caprice-Luca-Mystery/dp/1496709799/ref=
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2776137637
More on Karen Rose Smith's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/s/karen-rose-smith/
No comments:
Post a Comment