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thephdivabooks's review
4.0
This was a delightful twist on the cozy mystery! Very different than any story I’d read before and so much fun!
In Cleo Coyle’s Brewed Awakening, a coffee-shop owner and expert barista awakens on a park bench with no memory of the past fifteen years. And unfortunately, she also has been missing for several days and seems to be the sole witness to a missing person’s case—if only she could remember it! A fun, sweet, and unique cozy mystery that I highly recommend!
So, I haven’t read any of this series and I was shocked to learn that Brewed Awakening is book 18 in the Coffeehouse Mysteries! It easily read as a standalone and I felt completely caught up on the character back stories, while unspoiled on the previous 17 mysteries (which I definitely am reading after loving this so much)!
Opening with a glimpse into Clare’s proposal, the book flashes forward two months to Clare waking up on a park bench with no memory of how she got there. And pretty soon we realize that her memory gap may be even larger than we thought, as she runs into a pedestrian with a smart phone and seems to have no idea what it is. Returning to the coffee shop that she thankfully worked at fifteen years ago and still does today, Clare is greeted with open arms. Everyone was worried because she has been missing for several days!
And they are even more worried when they realize that she has no memory of the last fifteen years, including her engagement, current role running the coffeehouse, and her daughter growing up. But the more pressing issue arises when she gets locked away in a memory ward and her friends need to bust her out. On the run, Clare holds the key to the missing heiress, if only she can remember!
I loved the way this mystery delved into memory and sensory memory in particular. Clare’s very clever friends quickly are able to test that her memories are locked away somewhere, as she can remember specific coffee beans that her ex-husband brought back in the years after her memory went away. As she has built her life and passion around coffee, it seems to reawaken bits of her memory. It was fun and scary watching Clare try to remember. I worried she might not remember anything!
The conclusion to this was a lot of fun, and I loved that we got a healthy explanation of how the case was solved and what happened in the aftermath. Did Clare recover her memories? Was the heiress found? What about the person or people behind the kidnapping???
A fun read that I can’t recommend enough! Thank you Berkley for my copy. Opinions are my own.
In Cleo Coyle’s Brewed Awakening, a coffee-shop owner and expert barista awakens on a park bench with no memory of the past fifteen years. And unfortunately, she also has been missing for several days and seems to be the sole witness to a missing person’s case—if only she could remember it! A fun, sweet, and unique cozy mystery that I highly recommend!
So, I haven’t read any of this series and I was shocked to learn that Brewed Awakening is book 18 in the Coffeehouse Mysteries! It easily read as a standalone and I felt completely caught up on the character back stories, while unspoiled on the previous 17 mysteries (which I definitely am reading after loving this so much)!
Opening with a glimpse into Clare’s proposal, the book flashes forward two months to Clare waking up on a park bench with no memory of how she got there. And pretty soon we realize that her memory gap may be even larger than we thought, as she runs into a pedestrian with a smart phone and seems to have no idea what it is. Returning to the coffee shop that she thankfully worked at fifteen years ago and still does today, Clare is greeted with open arms. Everyone was worried because she has been missing for several days!
And they are even more worried when they realize that she has no memory of the last fifteen years, including her engagement, current role running the coffeehouse, and her daughter growing up. But the more pressing issue arises when she gets locked away in a memory ward and her friends need to bust her out. On the run, Clare holds the key to the missing heiress, if only she can remember!
I loved the way this mystery delved into memory and sensory memory in particular. Clare’s very clever friends quickly are able to test that her memories are locked away somewhere, as she can remember specific coffee beans that her ex-husband brought back in the years after her memory went away. As she has built her life and passion around coffee, it seems to reawaken bits of her memory. It was fun and scary watching Clare try to remember. I worried she might not remember anything!
The conclusion to this was a lot of fun, and I loved that we got a healthy explanation of how the case was solved and what happened in the aftermath. Did Clare recover her memories? Was the heiress found? What about the person or people behind the kidnapping???
A fun read that I can’t recommend enough! Thank you Berkley for my copy. Opinions are my own.
butterfly_in_the_sky's review
4.0
3.5. I still completely love this series. This wasn’t my favorite though, sadly!
melinda1962's review
4.0
Matt was a bigger jerk than usual in this book. I actually wanted to slap him. I wish Clare would already. Anyhow, between Matt and the ending I had to drop this a star. Why do villains yap off their whole plan at the end? We the readers should find out through the story, not an 11th hour admission of guilt.
jklbookdragon's review
5.0
This addition to the coffeehouse mystery series has an interesting twist - Clare is suffering from amnesia and can't remember the past 15 years, so she is hostile to Matt (the jerk she just divorced) and has no idea who Mike is (other than a cop with intense blue eyes), although she's impressed that both they and many others seem to really care about her and want to help her recover her memories ... and figure out what happened to the rich woman she was with when they both disappeared a week ago. 4.5 stars, and definitely one of my favorites of the series.
machadofam8's review
5.0
So I have been a fan of this series for many years and I eagerly await each new addition. This one is 100% perfect in every way. I could not put it down, even though i did not want it to end.
demi_sewell's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It was such a different approach and one that I never would have suspected! Well done Cleo Coyle 👏 I can't wait to devour the next book!
laurybye's review
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
Enough character development to be concerned for their welfare.
onlyjennifer0's review
4.0
Just picked this book up randomly not realizing it was a part of a series. Going to have to see if the library has the rest of the series.