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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A film is being shot in Lake Eden. Stage mothers. Walk on roles for extras and 25-pound orange cats. Oy vey! Hannah is reeling after being proposed to by two men. There may be a third suitor waiting in the wings. And her cherry cheesecake may be the only thing that can keep an overly picky and at times creepy director under control.
This mystery had at interesting format because Bonus points for delicious recipes and the cow scene!
Trigger Warnings:
Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader.
This mystery had at interesting format because
Spoiler
it was one of those where the murder didn’t take place until most of the way through the book. Still there were lots of great scenes with familiar Lake Eden residents and Hannah’s personal life is always fun. Not sure I’m such a Ross fan. I think we’ve got enough men in Hannah’s life with just Mike and Norman. I’m having enough trouble deciding who to ship between the two of them… personally my money’s always been on Norman… hard to pass up a man who loves your cat!Trigger Warnings:
Spoiler
sexual assaultPlease excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader.
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This one was kinda boring again. I didn’t like the structure of the book and the ending was really predictable. I also had hopes that the love triangle would’ve ended but no…
Hannah is the black hole at the center of town that everyone orbits around. That's what the book is really about. There isn't much mystery solving. Hannah gossips with her friends about who had motives for almost a week, and then the murderer makes a very obvious play that anyone would notice.
The book is also weirdly condescending to the people around Hannah, but the knowledge and skills that are supposed to make Hannah seem smart are really basic and widely known. If she were an unreliable narrator, you might infer that Hannah actually isn't very bright, but she's not self aware enough to see that the things that she applauds herself for, like reading upsidedown* or knowing that small cakes bake differently than large ones, aren't actually impressive. But nope, Hannah truly is the smartest person in the book... it makes me wonder if Hannah's level of intelligence is simply the upper limit that this author can depict. Like, she goes to the trouble to explain "script edits" as though she thinks that's a difficult concept.
*The passage about hannah's upsidedown reading thing is actually hilarious: she's reading her sister's grocery list from across the table, so we get a generous paragraph of flashback describing how she taught herself to read upsidedown as a child by helping her sisters read. Then when she mentions the items on her sister's list, her sister is shocked that she could read it upsidedown. Wow, what cunning!
Mean book club pick btw
The book is also weirdly condescending to the people around Hannah, but the knowledge and skills that are supposed to make Hannah seem smart are really basic and widely known. If she were an unreliable narrator, you might infer that Hannah actually isn't very bright, but she's not self aware enough to see that the things that she applauds herself for, like reading upsidedown* or knowing that small cakes bake differently than large ones, aren't actually impressive. But nope, Hannah truly is the smartest person in the book... it makes me wonder if Hannah's level of intelligence is simply the upper limit that this author can depict. Like, she goes to the trouble to explain "script edits" as though she thinks that's a difficult concept.
*The passage about hannah's upsidedown reading thing is actually hilarious: she's reading her sister's grocery list from across the table, so we get a generous paragraph of flashback describing how she taught herself to read upsidedown as a child by helping her sisters read. Then when she mentions the items on her sister's list, her sister is shocked that she could read it upsidedown. Wow, what cunning!
Mean book club pick btw
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Fun cozy mystery! The town's people are a great bunch. Eden Lake is the location for a film. Most of the town's involved and of course there's a Murder. Hannah puts her skills as a sleuth to use to find out who killed the director and why. I have enjoyed this series so much!
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I wanted to quit this book a few times. I keep reading these hoping they’ll get better, but they don’t!
Hannah is a know-it-all, but most of the information she likes to spout off is common knowledge - and the other characters are ridiculously dumbed down in order to be impressed. If Hannah existed in real life, she’d be someone people make fun of behind her back. And speaking of dumbed down characters, how does Andrea, who is a real estate agent in a small Midwest town, not know how barns work? Or what a cow pie is? The jokes are horrible, and the characters all feel the need to over-explain them, and continually point out how funny and smart Hannah is. It’s like the author thinks her readers are beyond stupid and won’t get subtext or understand words longer than two syllables without an explanation.
And this weird love triangle between Hannah and her two boyfriends is getting really old. She keeps stringing them along like it’s totally normal to have two proposals to choose from, and then even picks up another guy for this book!
Also, I don’t know what year this book is supposed to take place, but if it’s the same as the publication year (2006), it’s ridiculous that Hannah doesn’t own a computer. Especially as a business owner.
These books are old-fashioned and silly. And I keep reading them.
(Insert quote about insanity and doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.)
Hannah is a know-it-all, but most of the information she likes to spout off is common knowledge - and the other characters are ridiculously dumbed down in order to be impressed. If Hannah existed in real life, she’d be someone people make fun of behind her back. And speaking of dumbed down characters, how does Andrea, who is a real estate agent in a small Midwest town, not know how barns work? Or what a cow pie is? The jokes are horrible, and the characters all feel the need to over-explain them, and continually point out how funny and smart Hannah is. It’s like the author thinks her readers are beyond stupid and won’t get subtext or understand words longer than two syllables without an explanation.
And this weird love triangle between Hannah and her two boyfriends is getting really old. She keeps stringing them along like it’s totally normal to have two proposals to choose from, and then even picks up another guy for this book!
Also, I don’t know what year this book is supposed to take place, but if it’s the same as the publication year (2006), it’s ridiculous that Hannah doesn’t own a computer. Especially as a business owner.
These books are old-fashioned and silly. And I keep reading them.
(Insert quote about insanity and doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.)
funny
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No