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3.36 AVERAGE
3.36 AVERAGE
mysterious
fast-paced
What a great series!! I'm looking forward to reading more!!
"Never drag your past into your future." Said by Jack to Lucky. I think this is my favorite line in the whole book.
"Never drag your past into your future." Said by Jack to Lucky. I think this is my favorite line in the whole book.
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Soup and murder are two of my favorite things. It’s not the next great american novel, no, but I reiterate—soup and murder. Can’t go wrong. For readers looking for this type of silly, lighthearted read, I’ve certainly read worse.
Surprisingly readable and quirky restaurant-based mystery. The protagonist is disorganized in an awesomely authentic late-twenties kind of way, and her ex-Navy grandfather nearly stole the whole book, and I'd definitely read more of their crime-solving adventures.
The author did that thing where the protagonist doggedly pursues her investigation to protect her business but is spectacularly bad at crime-solving, basically running around shouting "Did you kill her????" at each suspect, but with the clever twist that her actions have repercussions, such as innocent people getting their feelings hurt and getting annoyed with her. It works.
Some quibbles: 9/10ths of the story was told from the protagonist's POV, but there were two 3-page POV switches, spaced a hundred pages apart that were basically Here, Have All This Backstory, and a good editor could have fixed that. The story's slow to start, and I could've used more food-related content; despite being set in a restaurant there's only one basic foodie scene three-quarters of the way through, smelling of panic, and the included recipes were kind of unrelated.
That said, I live in Vermont, and drive Rt. 7 for work quite a bit, passing numerous tiny, aging diners, and the setting felt both authentic and deliciously detailed. And that matters more to me than what kind of soup gets served at the end of the book.
The author did that thing where the protagonist doggedly pursues her investigation to protect her business but is spectacularly bad at crime-solving, basically running around shouting "Did you kill her????" at each suspect, but with the clever twist that her actions have repercussions, such as innocent people getting their feelings hurt and getting annoyed with her. It works.
Some quibbles: 9/10ths of the story was told from the protagonist's POV, but there were two 3-page POV switches, spaced a hundred pages apart that were basically Here, Have All This Backstory, and a good editor could have fixed that. The story's slow to start, and I could've used more food-related content; despite being set in a restaurant there's only one basic foodie scene three-quarters of the way through, smelling of panic, and the included recipes were kind of unrelated.
That said, I live in Vermont, and drive Rt. 7 for work quite a bit, passing numerous tiny, aging diners, and the setting felt both authentic and deliciously detailed. And that matters more to me than what kind of soup gets served at the end of the book.
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
http://girllostinabook.blogspot.com/2012/10/review-spoonful-of-murder-by-connie.html
excellent book!! I loved the characters, setting and storyline. Excited to see where this series goes.
was hoping for more humor from this story, but it was rather dry. Lucky started out kinda whiny (ok, so it's understandable, her parents just died), but she never stopped feeling whiny. She kind of fell into solving the mystery presented, but it never seemed like she was very good at putting together the clues, and wound up kind of falling into the correct answer as to who the murderer was, as well. The potential relationship with Elias felt fake and forced.
Multiple editorial errors (calling characters by each others names, repeating sentences & paragraphs) made for some obnoxious reading as well.
I think the author saw a successful formula and ran with it, but I wish it'd come across as authentic.
Multiple editorial errors (calling characters by each others names, repeating sentences & paragraphs) made for some obnoxious reading as well.
I think the author saw a successful formula and ran with it, but I wish it'd come across as authentic.
This was very much a first book, and had HORRID copy editing as well, especially in the first half of the book. That said, it was still good. I found it predictable (in that I could actually guess whodunit, which usually I don't even try), but not in a bad way, and to be fair, while I'd gotten the who, I did go back and forth as to the why for a while. Still, it was a good read, good enough that I'll look up the next one, at least.