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twstdtink's review
3.0
I liked Susan Breen's writing style. Her characters, though, were lacking for me. I didn't find a single one very likeable. Breen was so focused on making them realistically flawed, she missed out on making them lovable. Maggie Dove, the lead, is a 60-something-year-old widow who teaches Sunday School. Dove has been through some loss, and this (at least) really resonated with me. Having lost someone young to a tragic accident 8 years ago, I felt Breen really nailed the emotional journey of that. I believe Dove was supposed to come off as an every-day hero, someone who would get down to business and sleuth out the answers, even when the police failed. But Dove appeared sort of hysterical to me, a busy body who "reluctantly" got involved in drama and secretly liked it. The murderer in this book (no spoilers!) was obvious from the start. There's one glaring outlier and he/she did it. Also, the mode of death (spoiler!) was Ecstasy and I could tell the author had no genuine experience with the substance. Ecstasy is a crap murder weapon - it's expensive, it creates side-effects that would be obvious before being fatal, and it expands the pupils to cartoonish proportions (which would be a dead giveaway during autopsy).
jambrea's review
3.0
#RHMysteryPack #Sponsored
This was an interesting mystery. I guess it's called a cozy mystery. I didn't figure out who did it until it was reveled which is always good. The characters were good, some flawed. The main character was interesting. It was very Murder She Wrote. If you like cozy mysteries, I think you'll enjoy this.
This was an interesting mystery. I guess it's called a cozy mystery. I didn't figure out who did it until it was reveled which is always good. The characters were good, some flawed. The main character was interesting. It was very Murder She Wrote. If you like cozy mysteries, I think you'll enjoy this.
adierose74's review
3.0
I'll start by saying that the premise of this book was somewhat interesting and I thought it had a lot of potential. Unfortunately for ME, it just didn't do it.
I like the cozy mystery genre and this pretty much falls into it. Maggie Dove is an unlikely amateur detective. She helps solve a mystery with a bit of humor and a dash of romance.
I think if I had been a little bit older and could have related more to Maggie on a peer level (she is in her 60s), I may have enjoyed the book more. I just couldn't see some of her experiences happening in real life. Also, the description used when calling her and her friends "old" was a bit over the top. My mom is in her 70s and I still don't consider her old. Wishful thinking, maybe? I have no idea what I even mean.
There were a few Lifetime Television for Women moments which turned me off and just some annoying behavior in general. Creepy relationships (Maggie and Pete??) and a bit of flippancy about her dead daughter also annoyed me.
Anyway, the book was not horrible and I can see it appealing to much better people than I. Good writing. Good grammar. Good spelling. Those are all important to me and this book did well at all of them.
I received this book from Chatterbox, House Party, and Alibi books in exchange for my honest opinion. All comments in this review are truthful and my own.
I like the cozy mystery genre and this pretty much falls into it. Maggie Dove is an unlikely amateur detective. She helps solve a mystery with a bit of humor and a dash of romance.
I think if I had been a little bit older and could have related more to Maggie on a peer level (she is in her 60s), I may have enjoyed the book more. I just couldn't see some of her experiences happening in real life. Also, the description used when calling her and her friends "old" was a bit over the top. My mom is in her 70s and I still don't consider her old. Wishful thinking, maybe? I have no idea what I even mean.
There were a few Lifetime Television for Women moments which turned me off and just some annoying behavior in general. Creepy relationships (Maggie and Pete??) and a bit of flippancy about her dead daughter also annoyed me.
Anyway, the book was not horrible and I can see it appealing to much better people than I. Good writing. Good grammar. Good spelling. Those are all important to me and this book did well at all of them.
I received this book from Chatterbox, House Party, and Alibi books in exchange for my honest opinion. All comments in this review are truthful and my own.
minseigle's review
3.0
(I received this book for free, from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.)
This book was quite entertaining. It read like a mystery, but also had a bit of contemporary fiction, comedy, and romance. I liked the plot overall, but was a bit disappointed at the conclusion. I felt like it was rushed and that the author was wrapping the story up with just enough details to be believable. I give it a solid 3.5 stars though. (Note after the fact: One other thing about the book....it has a little religious tone in it. Not too much to draw me away from the book, but I thought it was totally unnecessary to the story.)
This book was quite entertaining. It read like a mystery, but also had a bit of contemporary fiction, comedy, and romance. I liked the plot overall, but was a bit disappointed at the conclusion. I felt like it was rushed and that the author was wrapping the story up with just enough details to be believable. I give it a solid 3.5 stars though. (Note after the fact: One other thing about the book....it has a little religious tone in it. Not too much to draw me away from the book, but I thought it was totally unnecessary to the story.)
bookapotamus's review
3.0
I thought it started slow and dragged a bit. But once it got going it was a great story. The end was a little to quick and forced, and I didn't relate to the Church stuff - so I could have done without it. I wish the conclusion "whodoneit" part was thought out better- it was a great concept but it all seemed forced into one page of dialogue. #RHMysteryPack #Sponsored
kittyg_23's review
2.0
I received an ARC from NetGalley for Chatterbox. If it wasn't for that I probably would not have picked up this book. I found the main Character Maggie unlikable. She is very judgemental, and I feel still grieving for her dead daughter. She hates her neighbor who ends up dead on her lawn and the "who done it" begins.
It was very slow reading, and didn't hold my interest.
It was very slow reading, and didn't hold my interest.
mcbeezie's review
3.0
This book was a nice, charming, cozy mystery. Maggie Dove is a relatable character, who used to write mystery novels for a living. Given her background, I thought she would be more suspicious of the too good to be true man, but she has been out of the game for a long time. I thought Agnes was a good balance to Maggie's goodie two-shoes type character. More cynical and suspicious, which balances Maggie's trust in humanity. I think this series will develop well over time. I plan to read more of this series as it comes out. I received this book for free as part of the Random House Mystery Chatpack through Chatterbox by House Party for my honest review. #RHMysteryPack #Sponsored
angnay01's review
4.0
I received a copy of Maggie Dove from NetGalley #RHMysteryPack #Sponsored. Maggie Dove was a good mystery book. Not only did it have a nice mystery plot, but there was also a nice story about lessons learned about how we judge people. I enjoyed the book and was surprised at the end to find out who was the actual killer. I would recommend this book.
faerietxn's review
2.0
I had such a hard time finishing this book. It is so slow, there is nothing interesting happening. Someone died and although it seems like the main character thinks everyone hated him and anyone could have possibly done it, there's not much to back that up and there is just as much saying he was a good guy. The main character is not likeable, she seems annoying, stuck in her past. She's a writer but hasn't written anything in 20 years? More people die, the main character tries to solve the mystery but fails miserably and then finally all is revealed and the story ends. Had I not received this book free and had to review it I wouldn't have ever finished it.
eawsmom's review
2.0
Maggie Dove's neighbor has a vendetta against her oak tree. When the man is found dead under the tree, her good friend and village police officer Peter becomes a suspect because he insists the man died of a heart attack but the autopsy reveals the death was caused by an overdose of Ecstasy. Before long, Maggie's lifelong friend Winifred, who is bedridden with Parkinson's disease, dies--also from an overdose of Ecstasy; Peter is also a suspect in this death because he had argue with Winifred shortly before she died. Maggie is convinced that Peter is innocent and sets out to prove it. She brings the case to a successful conclusion, but not before facing peril herself.
This book was okay. There was no graphic violence; the deaths were handled off-stage, so to speak, and there was no undue gory descriptions. There were a few puzzles to figure out, particularly about relationships within the village, which made the book more interesting. However, I felt too much time was spent dwelling on Maggie's agonizing and fretting over the past, much of which did not pertain to the current mystery. I did succeed in figuring out who the culprit was but not what that person's relationship was to the two victims.
I received this book free from House Party in exchange for a fair and honest review.
This book was okay. There was no graphic violence; the deaths were handled off-stage, so to speak, and there was no undue gory descriptions. There were a few puzzles to figure out, particularly about relationships within the village, which made the book more interesting. However, I felt too much time was spent dwelling on Maggie's agonizing and fretting over the past, much of which did not pertain to the current mystery. I did succeed in figuring out who the culprit was but not what that person's relationship was to the two victims.
I received this book free from House Party in exchange for a fair and honest review.