Author: Cindy Bell
Genre: Mystery
Trade Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781517065850
CreateSpace Publishing
254 Pages
$10.99; $2.99 Amazon
September 18, 2015
Trade Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781517065850
CreateSpace Publishing
254 Pages
$10.99; $2.99 Amazon
September 18, 2015
⭐
Ally Sweet is happy to be returning for a short break to the small town where she grew up. She is planning on using the time off to get over her messy divorce and she is looking forward to spending time with her much-beloved grandmother and relaxing making chocolates and anything chocolaty. But then...the delivery driver for her grandmother's chocolate shop is found murdered. The detectives investigating the crime have a prime suspect. Ally's high school sweetheart, Brent. Ally believes that Brent would never murder anyone, so with the help of her trusted feline friend, Peaches, she tries to uncover the truth. The search for the killer leads Ally straight into the line of danger. Will she be able to find the murderer before she becomes a victim herself?
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When Ally Sweet returns home to her grandmother, she's surprised that an old school friend, Connor, is the delivery driver for her grandmother's chocolate shop. He asks her out for a drink and she agrees, but he never shows up. When they find out that he's been murdered, and her high school boyfriend is arrested for the crime, she's sure he didn't do it. But finding out who to trust is another story altogether...
I thought this started out okay, but I have to say that Ally and Charlotte are two of the dumbest women I've read about. First, they think Julian is absolutely wonderful for the mere fact that he's grown up in Blue River, but yet the townspeople easily suspect her high school boyfriend Brent of committing the murder. How does that work? Faith in one person but not another? Then, she hates Luke and thinks he's a dirty cop because he was rude to her. Yep. that's it. R-u-d-e. How dare he? So that automatically in her book thinks he's a bad guy.
FYI, if you're writing about chocolate, please at least know your products. You don't dip caramels in chocolate unless you want to break your teeth. It would have to be really, really hard caramel for the warm chocolate to attach to it. You pour the chocolate over the caramel. Just sayin'
MeeMaw? Seriously? I know this is stereotypical, but whenever I hear 'Meemaw' I think of some old crone sitting in a rocking chair cackling while chewing on a piece of straw. Maybe people still do, but it sounds hokey to me and I can't imagine the grandmothers like it. Also, where is Blue River? We're never given a state or surrounding countryside or any description of anything to pull us into the story. I would like to know what part of the country it's located in.
Now for the spoilers:
Ally smells the tobacco on Julian and thinks it got there because he was trying to see what Luke was up to, but she didn't ever smell it on Luke? Is she completely besotted or completely oblivious? Your choice.
From what I could tell, the entire book was how Ally was trying to get Julian away from Luke, so that pretty much sealed the deal on the fact that Julian was the bad guy, not Luke. There was no reason at all that she should suspect Luke of being a dirty cop: nothing pointed to it, and Ally was allowing her emotions (to wit, her unrequited crush on Julian) to tell her what to do. She is a stupid woman with the intelligence of a twelve-year-old having her first crush - still. 90% of the book was Ally going 'Julian, Julian, Julian'...it got nauseous after awhile.
Why would both Charlotte and Ally suspect Luke was up to something? Because he didn't grow up there? I had no idea growing up in the same town as you automatically makes one person trustworthy, while someone who moves there must be evil. Is this really how they size people up? How small-minded is this? No, I will not waste my time reading about moony women who act like teenagers and haven't got a brain in their head.
Speaking of which, who goes into an abandoned building without telling people if you think it’s used for illegal activity? This actually shows how moronic Ally is. Then when she gets stuck, calls her grandmother (I refuse to use the appellation that Ally gives her) to find her - not even thinking that if someone followed her grandmother, she could be in danger, too.
I also wasn't pleased that the author killed off a seemingly nice person. It begins the book on a sour note, and that didn't help.
In finale, here's a recap if you haven't read what I've written that, for the most part, explains the entire book:
Luke was mean to me. He must be a dirty cop and I hate him and don't trust him.
I've had a crush on Julian forever, so Julian, Julian, Julian, Julian, Julian. I love you, Julian (heart, stars in my eyes, deep sigh, flutter eyelids).
Oh, no! I was wrong! Well, I guess I'll transfer my affections to Luke instead.
The End.
That, my friends, sums up this book. I need to stop reading self-published books (but I probably won’t).
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