Book Review: The Wedding Soup Murder

Author: Rosie Genova
Publication Date: September 2, 2014
Publisher: Signet
Series: An Italian Kitchen Mystery # 2

Victoria Rienzi came home to the Jersey Shore to write a new book, learn the family restaurant business, and practice the fine art of Italian cooking. But when delicious dishes are paired with murder, Vic has a little too much on her plate…

When Vic asked her nonna for more responsibility in the kitchen, she didn’t mean forming a thousand tiny meatballs by hand for the family’s famous wedding soup. The dish is to be served at the reception for a close family friend at the exclusive Belmont Country Club. And once there Vic has to deal with a demanding bridezilla and clashes in the kitchen—between the staff and servers, between two egocentric head chefs, and between the country club president and…well…everyone.

The wedding comes off without a hitch—until the body of the club’s president is found on the beach below a high seawall. Now Vic will need to use her noodle to find out who pushed whom too far…before she’s the one who lands in the soup!

“C’mon, Vic, you don’t need my help. You’re the girl who’s got it all under control, right?” “Right,” I said through my teeth. But I couldn’t have been more wrong.

I swung around at the sound of her voice and came face-to-face with the Iron Lady herself – Elizabeth Merriman.

Great, I thought. I can’t even have the satisfaction of hating her.

In book two of the Italian Kitchen Mysteries series, Victoria Rienzi is working diligently preparing for her dentist’s daughter’s wedding. She is slaving away making Italian meatballs and fanciful desserts all to be served at the lavish wedding at the Belmont Country Club. All is going well, the soup that Vic prepared is a hit, and everyone is having a great time, until the club president, Elizabeth Merriman, is found dead. Victoria spends a lot of her time writing her beloved mystery novels, but here lately she finds herself starring in a lot of them as well. This mystery is the best one in the series yet!

What makes these books so interesting to me is the fact that Vic aspires to be a mystery writer herself, but she can’t catch a break from solving mysteries long enough to write one of her own. For some reason this just makes the story and plot so much more interesting to me. I love that Vic has ambitions and this makes her character all the more real for me. The fact that Vic also has Sofia, her sister-in-law, is another plus. These two leading ladies are the perfect duo and together their wit and charm cannot be beat.

I have to give it to Rosie Genova; this is the second book in the series and the second time she successfully fooled me. Three-fourths of the way through this book I was convinced that I had it all figured out; she proved me wrong. Genova has a clever way of throwing in those crazy twists right at the last minute, and this murder mystery definitely showed me that not all cozy mysteries turn out the way I think they will. I was pleasantly surprised by the end and I am so ready for the third book in this amazing Italian Kitchen Mystery series! Thanks for a great read, Rosie!

***A free copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at Signet in exchange for my honest review***

Book Review: Feuds

Author: Avery Hastings

Publication Date: September 2, 2014

Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin

Series: Feuds # 1

In this breathless story of impossible love, perfection comes at a deadly cost.

For Davis Morrow, perfection is a daily reality. Like all Priors, Davis has spent her whole life primed to be smarter, stronger, and more graceful than the lowly Imperfects, or “Imps.” A fiercely ambitious ballerina, Davis is only a few weeks away from qualifying for the Olympiads and finally living up to her mother’s legacy when she meets Cole, a mysterious boy who leaves her with more questions each time he disappears.

Davis has no idea that Cole has his own agenda, or that he’s a rising star in the FEUDS, an underground fighting ring where Priors gamble on Imps. Cole has every reason to hate Davis—her father’s campaign hinges on the total segregation of the Imps and Priors—but despite his best efforts, Cole finds himself as drawn to Davis as she is to him.

Then Narxis, a deadly virus, takes its hold--and Davis’s friends start dying. When the Priors refuse to acknowledge the epidemic, Davis has no one to turn to but Cole. Falling in love was never part of their plan, but their love may be the only thing that can save her world...in Avery Hastings's Feuds.

The FEUDS – which technically stood for Fights Established Under Demolition Sites – were held in various arenas that had been hastily constructed in the basements of the crumbling buildings that used to comprise the city, before reconstruction and modernization efforts made Columbus one of the wealthiest and most powerful cities in the New Americas.

Heat coursed through his body. Music pounded in his ears. The kiss wasn’t what Cole had thought it would be. It was way, way better. He’d heard more times than he could remember that Prior girls were cold. But that kiss had left him reeling, his head thick and foggy like he’d had too much to drink, and he could feel a sharp wetness of his lips where the nerves were still reacting.

Winning would mean the world to her dad. It would make him smile. It would bring her mother back to life, if only for an instant. And that was everything.

This story reminded me so much of Romeo & Juliet, only the story is set in the future. Davis, the main character, is a prior which means she is part of the genetically enhanced upper class that lives in wealth. Then there is Cole, who is the opposite of a prior, also known as a gen. They are also referred to as “imps” by some of the priors, this word is meant to be derogatory. A relationship between a gen and a prior is of course forbidden, and the punishment for anyone involved is imprisonment or possibly death by hanging. A lot goes on in between Davis and Cole meeting, but inevitably they do and inevitably they realize they share an instant connection. Their relationship has to remain hidden and in the end Cole has to decide if he is willing to betray Davis and all of the feelings they share for one another.

The beginning of the story started off slower than I would have liked, but I completely understood because of the world building that was necessary. Davis didn’t jump right off the page at me, and this shocked me because usually the heroines do, but once I had learned her entire past and realized her dream to be a dancer and how much she had worked for it, she became a lot more likeable. I can always back characters if I know they have ambition and determination. Her world became interesting to me once I began to put things together and see how influential and powerful her father was within the city they lived in. The action, adventure, and romance definitely picked up towards the middle and end of the book.

Not only did Hastings have to build Davis and her story but Cole’s story as well. The story between these two characters is magnificent and I am curious to see what happens next, seeing as this is a series. The book ended with an enormous cliffhanger and I must say that I was left unsatisfied. So many questions were left unanswered and I am going to be waiting very impatiently for the next book to release. I do not say this with dislike, but rather with this overwhelming anxiousness because of the extremely complex twist that Hastings threw in right before she ended the story! This was a great series opener that kept me intrigued and pulled me in more and more as the story and the characters developed.

***A free copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at St. Martin’s Griffin in exchange for my honest review***

Book Review: A Little Night Murder

Author: Nancy Martin

Publication Date: August 5, 2014

Publisher: NAL Hardcover

Series: Blackbird Sisters Mystery # 10

Murder under the stars... 

Nora Blackbird—pregnant at last!—is spending summer afternoons wallowing in the Bucks County pool of her best friend, Lexie Paine, who has just been released from prison. At night, Nora is covering Philadelphia’s high-society events for the local newspaper. And this time she doesn’t have to look far for a good story.

Next door, a Broadway show is in rehearsal at the estate of Toodles Tuttle, the long-deceased but ever-legendary composer. Reigning over the estate is Toodles’s diva widow, Boom Boom. The demanding old broad still rules with an iron fist, and considering the chorus line of enemies she’s racked up over the years, her death has been a hotly anticipated event. So imagine everyone’s dismay when it’s her beloved daughter, Jenny, who drops dead—from a cause that is anything but natural—just as the lights are set to go on for the lucrative new Toodles musical.

Yet murder is only an overture to the drama to come.... 

Nora’s sister Libby, a soon-to-be-grandmother, has gotten herself into a sticky situation, wooed by both a lowly bug exterminator and a cheesecake-loving Broadway impresario. Edgy sister Emma has a dangerous new boyfriend who may jeopardize her show-jumping exploits. And the love of Nora’s life, Mick Abruzzo, has been desperate to prevent Nora from meeting the most notorious member of his mobbed-up family—his mother.

Now Nora has to deal with the bump-and-grind of her personal life, and also bring the curtain down on a daring killer—before he forces her to exit stage left, permanently.

The good news was that if my batty sister was focusing her considerable energies on Ox Oxenfield, at least she wouldn’t be planning my wedding.

We walked through a small bathroom and into another bedroom. And found Michael’s mother on the bed with a man.

“Good God, Nora, what the bloody hell happened to you?” I lifted my arms to better show off my enormous figure. “Do I need to explain the facts of life?”

I have followed the Blackbird Sisters series religiously since Nancy Martin started writing them. I can never get enough of Nora Blackbird and her sisters, Emma and Libby. This book was no exception. It was probably one of the better books, or the best, in the series. I fell in love very quickly with the fact that Nora was pregnant with a little girl. I thought this added a very exciting twist to her character and to her and Michael Abruzzo’s relationship. Nora and Michael are also planning a secret wedding in this book, which is always fun. I love watching their relationship grow. I am sure not a lot of people root for Michael since he has the bad boy persona, but I for one am a big fan.

Nora stumbles across yet another murder in this installment, and this time she feels a little connected to the victim because of their past and the victim’s involvement with Nora’s family. Her death looks to be a heart attack, but we all know Nora can’t stop there. She soon starts to find grueling details and clues that just don’t add up. Of course, you can’t have a good Blackbird mystery without a few crazy characters being involved and helping Nora solve the case. Nora’s friend, Lexie Paine, has just recently gotten out of jail and Nora is trying everything to protect her from the press. Lexie is Nora’s best friend, so these two girls find lots of trouble and adventure together.

I loved the idea of Nora being a mom, and she fits that persona so well. Her character has really grown and came a long way since the first Blackbird mystery. She is also learning to deal with things a lot better now that she has matured and grown up dealing with her two crazy, and sometimes deranged, sisters. A new character steps on the scene in this book that gives Nora quite the run-around. Enter Michael’s mom, and Nora’s soon to be mother-in-law, Bridget. Of course Bridge brings a lot of drama to this novel and boy is she good for a few laughs. This cast of silly characters is one you just have to check out for yourself!

***A free copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at NAL in exchange for my honest review***

Book Review: How To Handle A Heartbreaker

Author: Marie Harte
Publication Date: August 5, 2014
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Series: The McCauley Brothers # 2

It’s lust-at-first-sight when Brody Singer first sees Abby Dunn. Abby looks a lot like a woman he once knew, one who died years ago. But Abby’s definitely different—shyer but sexier.

Abby’s still trying to put her last disastrous relationship behind her and overcome the flaws her ex wouldn’t let her forget. But somehow Brody isn’t getting the hint. It doesn’t help that when writing her steamy novels, she keeps casting Brody as the hero.

Only Abby can write her own ending—will she choose her own happily-ever-after, or stay safe in her shell?

She hated overthinking things. One of her biggest flaws.

And then he had to find a way to figure out just where the hell this thing was going. Because it felt anything but casual.

She’d started to step off that cliff, and if she fell this time, she didn’t think she’d recover.

Brody had won their contest. She was well and truly hooked. Hell.

It was so enjoyable getting to read Brody’s story. Brody is the adopted McCauley brother and has quite a twisted past, but thanks to the McCauley family he got a chance at a better life. Abby Dunn is his love interest and she has quite a few insecurities of her own, mainly because of her ex. I think Brody and Abby’s story is my favorite so far. They really even each other out and are a great fit. This series is very captivating and I am very excited to see where it goes next. We all need those books that allow us to escape, if only for a day. These series is steamy and full of drama. It’s a nice little treasure for a rainy day!

These two built up a lot of sexual tension in this book, but finally they gave in to temptation and have quite a few adventures together. They have a lot of commonalities, which makes their relationship even more likeable, because they both come from harsh backgrounds. They have obstacles to overcome and must learn to trust each other. Brody is a fascinating character because of all he has been through with his biological family; his issues are much more severe than Abby’s. Harte really built Brody’s character by showing how he has overcome his past. I really enjoyed seeing that and seeing him become a man.

Abby had a lot of confidence issues, but I must say that I came to love her even more than I loved Maddie in book one. At first I thought Abby was going to be extremely shy and meek, but she quickly learned to fight past all of that. I really enjoyed the trials that Brody and Abby both overcame that led them to each other. Once they started to work as a team, this book became even better than it already was. I am very excited for the next book and I don’t think I have to wait very long for it to come out.

***A free copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at Sourcebooks Casablanca in exchange for my honest review***