Perfect for fans of Janet Evanovich and Diane Mott Davidson, Caroline Fardig’s captivating new mystery novel takes readers behind the counter of a seemingly run-of-the-mill coffeehouse . . . where murder is brewing. After her music career crashes and burns spectacularly, Juliet Langley is forced to turn to the only other business she knows: food service. Unfortunately, bad luck strikes yet again when her two-timing fiancé robs her blind and runs off with her best waitress. Flushing what’s left of her beloved café down the toilet with her failed engagement, Juliet packs up and moves back to her college stomping grounds in Nashville to manage an old friend’s coffeehouse. At first glance, it seems as though nothing’s changed at Java Jive. What could possibly go wrong? Only that the place is hemorrhaging money, the staff is in open revolt, and Juliet finds one unlucky employee dead in the dumpster out back before her first day is even over. The corpse just so happens to belong to the cook who’d locked horns with Juliet over the finer points of the health code. Unimpressed with her management style, the other disgruntled employees are only too eager to spill the beans about her fiery temper to the detective on the case. Add to the mix a hunky stranger who’s asking way too many questions, and suddenly Juliet finds herself in some very hot water. If she can’t simmer down and sleuth her way to the real killer, she’s going to get burned.
Whoever thought to compare this author to Janet Evanovich or Diane Mott Davidson has surely never read a book by either one of these authors. I do have to admit though, that the similarities to Evanovich's books are eerily similar: a choice of two men, a crazy elderly woman, sarcasm... Need I say more?
I've made it (and with great difficulty) to the 50% mark. Though some readers think that this book gets better later on, I won't try to get any further. A book and its characters should attract you from the start or at least pique your curiosity and pull you in. This story line and the main characters did none of that for me.
I found the main character of Juliet Langley to be a whiny,immature, overly impulsive and fairly ignorant character. One with a loud and foul mouth who is trying too hard to act like she is 20 instead of a mature 30. She grated on my nerves from the very first full chapter.
In what I did manage to read, I found absolutely nothing humorous and nothing that compelled me to finish this book and to see who the murderer is.
ARC supplied by publisher.
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