Reviews

Deadly Valentine by Carolyn G. Hart

sharonsueg's review against another edition

3.0

Easy read. Good travel book. Read in order to understand the characters and relationships better.

carolwk's review against another edition

I couldn’t warm up to the characters enough to get interested in the plot, and the lengthy digressions into lists of classic mysteries and their authors was just annoying. I might like some of those; I didn’t like this one.

debjazzergal's review against another edition

3.0

Love the characters in this series. However, stores are a bit formulaic.

wombat_88's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

ferrisscottr's review against another edition

2.0

I was pretty disappointed in the last book I read in this series so it's been about three years but I wanted to give it another try since the first couple were so good.

Sadly it wasn't and I'm thinking this will be the last Hart book that I read.

A mystery that wasn't interesting (local floozy gets murdered).
Characters that did nothing for me (other than questioning about the murder there was not much character interaction or development.
Pacing that just dragged on and on.
Almost no time spent at Death on Demand.
And worst of all....many times I found myself counting the pages left so that I could be done with the book and move on to something better.

smiley7245's review against another edition

3.0

I have really big gaps in between books in this series and I forget why until I start reading each book. I HATE Laurel. I don't think there is a benign character that I despise as much as her. She is absolutely ridiculous and not in a charming way. Frankly, I don't know how Annie stands her, or Max when he's around his mother. Her character is so irritating that I lose interest in and focus on the story, which is a shame because they are good stories. A murder at a Valentine's Day party was a great idea. It was fairly obvious that Sydney was having an affair with Joel, but who the other person he was sleeping with was a surprise. I should have expected Eileen, her husband couldn't so it makes sense that she was having an affair. Still, the fact that Eileen killed both Sydney AND Joel was a good twist. The ending, with the General killing his wife and then himself was even more unexpected. But Laurel, who I now despise more than Henny, almost ruined the whole book for me. Frankly, between those two I'm considering not reading any more in this series.

ssejig's review against another edition

3.0

The book opens when Max, Annie, and Laurel attend a Valentine's Day party, a masked ball hosted by another couple in their neighborhood. It's well known that Sydney (the wife) freely shared her... favors... both before and after her marriage to Howard. What isn't as well known is that Laurel and Howard (the husband) are having a relationship. But when Sydney turns up dead, that, and a lot of other not so well-buried secrets start cropping up.
Not my favorite DoD book but it was okay.