Category: Reviews

[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. This book releases on September 8, 2020.]

Summary

Summer is back in her home community of Brigid’s Island for her mother’s funeral. And nothing is right. First, her mother was too healthy to have a heart attack with no warning. Also, her funeral is in a church. No one who knew Hildy would have planned a funeral for her in a traditional church. And then there are the threatening notes Hildy, and now Summer, receive saying to sell Hildy’s bookstore, Beach Reads, or die. Maybe Summer’s mom didn’t die from natural causes….

When someone sets Summer’s childhood home on fire – with her inside – she feels that clinches things. Someone is after her family. While the police chief is disinterested in Summer’s theories – there’s just too much history and bad blood between them – at least the cute fire chief is willing to consider that Summer might be right. Now, she just has to find proof, and the murderer.

Review

I have mixed feelings about this one. There were parts I liked – Summer’s relationship with her family and her mother’s bird, the book store, and a twist right at the end. But there were numerous other places where I struggled.

Passages felt repetitive – things said by the same person, statements rehashed, and sections that didn’t seem to move anything forward. Some of the spots felt like filler. Also, one of the book club women had an alibi for the time of the murder, but she kept weighing in on the details of the day as if she had been there. I was confused by it several times in the story. Then, the book club meeting, which was going to be a significant moment in the story, was “tomorrow” for almost a week. I started counting how many times it was “tomorrow” and then how many “next mornings” there were before the next time someone said the meeting was “tomorrow.”

I was surprised by these issues. This is a seasoned mystery author. My hope is that the above issues were addressed in the final edits between the production of my review copy of the finalization of the novel. Usually the ARC has been edited more tightly than this.

While those issue may be resolved by the release date, I ran into other issues. Summer was hard to like. As a romance and cozy reader – in the act of reading a cozy mystery – I was put off by Summer’s snootiness about “real literature” vs. genre literature. It didn’t endear her to me. The author worked to soften her over the course of the book – this was intentionally part of her character at the start. But I personally read cozies because I like the protagonists. Summer made that difficult. Also, her phobia was a quirky thread in the story that never clicked for me. It didn’t feel integral. I was disappointed that the potential love interest disappeared in the latter parts of the book. Also, as a matter of personal preference only, the new age/tarot/goddess pieces aren’t a good fit for me as a reader.

Regarding the mystery, I was sadly disappointed here, too. I felt like the killer was obvious from the beginning. I zeroed in on this person and never second guessed my choice, even as other suspects were presented. None of the rest felt like real possibilities. And in the end, I thought the motive could have been stronger, especially for when Summer became the target.

If the edits I mentioned have been addressed before publication, my rating would maybe be a half point higher. Otherwise this just wasn’t the right fit for me. But the series has potential if some of these pieces are developed in the future. (Some language, new age/occult references)

Rating: ♥♥½*

*♥♥½ – Mostly solid to solid, some issues