[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Midnight Ink in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]
Summary
Whitney is a little stunned to think one feminine hygiene ad could cause so much trouble. But sure enough, here she stands, in front of her old agency, selling cherry treats that she baked in her kitchen, begging her old boss to give her her job back. To no avail.
When Whitney’s mom calls to say someone has been murdered in the family cherry orchard – and Whitney’s dad is the prime suspect – Whitney drops what little bit of a life she has in Chicago to head home to Wisconsin.
There’s a lot to love about Cherry Cove. The family inn and cherry orchard are precious places to Whitney. Her two best friends and her parents and grandmother live in Cherry Cove. On the down side, so does Tate, the guy who broke her heart, and Jack, her high school nemesis. But the only thing that really matters is finding out what’s going on with her family’s business and clearing her dad of murder charges before it ruins both her family and their business. So Whitney is willing to ignore Jack’s encouragement to stay out of police business and start digging into the people around the inn and the mishaps that started up a few moths ago. Somewhere in all of that is a murderer.
Review
What a fun story! The Wisconsin setting is terrific. I also enjoyed the cherry pieces woven throughout the book. Part of the fun of cozy mysteries is the different themes that set the series apart from the rest. I enjoyed this theme. There were no recipes in my review copy of the book. I don’t know if there will be in the final published product, but it would be a big oversight if there aren’t.
Characters are a huge factor in my enjoyment of a book, and these characters were a lot of fun. I enjoyed Whitney, her best friends in Wisconsin, and her gay best friend from Chicago who drives up to help. Whitney is spunky and smart, and I enjoyed her somewhat reckless antics. I could have done without the love triangle which is often a part of cozy mysteries. That’s the only part of this I didn’t enjoy. That’s just a matter of personal preference.
The mystery was excellent. The tension and suspense were distributed throughout the story and amped up to a great climax. The wrap up to this was everything I love from a great cozy mystery. I will definitely be sticking with this series in the future. A great kick off to this series.