Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Book Review: Death, Taxes, and Peach Sangria

Death, Taxes, and Peach Sangria (Death and Taxes, #4)Author: Diane Kelly
Publication Date: January 29, 2013
Publisher: St. Martin’s Paperbacks
Series: Death and Taxes # 4

When it comes to exposing tax fraud, Tara and her partner Eddie are really cleaning up. From their brilliant takedown of the disappearing “Tax Wizard” to their perfectly planned downfall of the “Deduction Diva,” they’ve earned the respect of their peers at Criminal Investigations. Now Tara’s ready to celebrate with an ice-cold pitcher of peach sangria—even if her next case is totally the pits…

Tara’s looking forward to a challenge but, back at the office, everyone’s looking for love. Her boss Lu “The Lobo” Lobozinski and office virgin Josh Schmidt are signing up for an online dating service, and—to Tara’s dismay—so is her crush, Special Agent Nick Pratt. Tara’s trying to act chill. But when she learns that her next case involves cash-funneling to terrorists, it’s not just her love life that’s on the rocks. It’s her life, period.


“Dig a little deeper, though, and you’d find Eddie and I shared quite a few similarities. We’d both kicked academic asses in college, graduating at the top of our classes. We’d both taken jobs as special agents in IRS Criminal Investigations when we’d discovered that sitting at a desk all day didn’t suit us. And we both wanted to see tax cheats get their due. Especially the Deduction Diva. She’d been cheating the government for years. The Diva’s due was long overdue.” – Paperback Copy pg. 2

 
“Yes, as ashamed as I was to admit it, to a certain degree I was one of those people who’d rather stick her head in the sand and pretend the world is a happy, sunshiny place full of nice people. I knew it was naïve and wrong, but the alternative was to be upset and depressed all the time, wasn’t it? Who wants to live like that? Besides, it wasn’t like I was doing nothing. I contributed to human rights groups. Just take a look at the charitable deductions on my last tax return.” – Paperback Copy pg. 31

 
“It had been a while since I’d broken up with a guy, so I was a little out of practice. One of my college boyfriends had made breaking up with him easy. Telling someone you never wanted to see him again was fairly easy when he showed up at your door with a hickey on his neck that you hadn’t put there. Jeez. Did the guy think I was blind? Most of my other breakups had been relatively amicable, the fact that the relationship wasn’t going anywhere obvious to both of us. But with Brett things would be difficult, especially since I wasn’t exactly breaking up with him for good. Rather, I’d just be seeking permission to date another man and evaluate my feelings before making a more definite decision.” – Paperback Copy pg. 41

 
“I pulled back my blazer to reveal the gun holstered at my waist in case the biker had any thoughts of getting violent, ‘I’m Special Agent Tara Holloway with the IRS. Can I be of help here?’” – Paperback Copy pg. 108

Tara Holloway is a riot and can rival Stephanie Plum any day. In fact, I think they would probably be best friends were they ever to meet. Once again, Diane Kelly takes us deep into the world of IRS Tax Fraud and we follow Tara, along with her partner, Eddie on a wild goose chase for some tax cheating hussy! This book starts with a recipe for Peach Sangria and only gets better from there. I just have to say that I love the covers of these books and I think they get better each time. I am forever a fan of this series and will push them off onto anybody who is willing to listen.

 
Tara’s relationship with Brett still remains out in left field and with the help of her best friend and some strong Peach Sangrias, Tara tries to work out the kinks in her love life. Tara and Brett have been trying for a good while now to work things out and to be honest I am to the point where I am tired of it, so I know they are. Then we have Nick, who is perfect in every way and who I desperately want to see Tara with! I love watching Tara chase after tax cheaters with names like, “The Deduction Diva” and “The Tax Wizard,” while trying to balance out her love life. It just makes the wild goose chase that much more fun!

 
Tara’s character and I would obviously be best friends if we were to ever meet. I love Tara’s spark and her spunky personality and I swear it gets better with each and every installment in this fast-paced series. I love the dialogue between Tara and most of the other characters because her personality just comes out so vividly through her language. Tara’s love life, her career, and her charming personality are all reason enough for me to recommend this series to anyone and the reason why I will follow it as an avid reader all the way to the end!

 
***A big thank you to the publishers for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review***







No comments:

Post a Comment