Tag: Darci Hannah

REVIEW: Cherry Scones and Broken Bones by Darci Hannah

REVIEW: Cherry Scones and Broken Bones by Darci Hannah

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received an electronic review copy of this from Netgalley and Midnight Ink in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Whitney is happy to be home at the Cherry Orchard Inn. And she’s happy to have the murder business from the Cherry Blossom Festival behind them. That mess has done the family business no favors. Whitney has had to drop the price of rooms at the inn as low as she can to get people to try a resort where someone died.

Then she gets the “thrilling” news. Silvia Lumiere the painter has booked a room at the inn for the entire summer! Silvia often paints portraits in Cherry Cove, and the summer reveals are a big deal. The art community is ecstatic to have Silvia close by all summer.

Not everyone is ecstatic. Silvia has a very high opinion of herself and strong ideas of what she is entitled to in her business and personal life – and also at the inn. When the woman is found dead, there are several potential suspects, people Silvia regularly abused with her words and expectations. Unfortunately for Whitney, she’s at the top of the list.

Review

Another fun mystery from Cherry Cove, Wisconsin! Whitney and her friends and family are a lot of fun. The love triangle is alive and well in this book, but by the end it seems to have run its course, which makes me happy. I feel like I have been “burned” by love triangles in other series before, so I don’t usually care for them.

The mystery is well done. The victim is infuriating, and there are plenty of suspects who want her dead. Instead of juggling through 4-6 suspects all at the same time, Whitney seems to dig into one at a time in this book. This felt different from the typical cozy, and I liked it! There are some nice twists along the way to the end that made this a great read.

The final copy will include recipes, although I didn’t get to see them in my review copy. I hope there’s one for cherry scones. They sound amazing.

If you enjoy cozies in general or food-based cozies in particular, don’t miss the Very Cherry Mystery series. Book one is Cherry Pies & Deadly Lies; you can read my review of it here.  This is a not-to-be-missed series for me.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥

REVIEW: Cherry Pies & Deadly Lies by Darci Hannah

REVIEW: Cherry Pies & Deadly Lies by Darci Hannah

Posted on by Jaymie

[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.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥