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3.44 AVERAGE
3.44 AVERAGE
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-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
Francesca (Fran) is back at it... Overall, I liked this book better than the first one. Fran is coming more into her own. Perhaps because the murder victim in this one was not someone she was close to, she seemed my logical, with one exception, Todd. Too many protestations of his innocence when she has not seen him since high school.
It was nice that the murderer was introduced early unlike in book 1 where they "showed up" to close out the story. Also, there are some new friends. I wonder if they will appear in later stories.
As a tea drinker, I liked that sidebar as well as the business bits.
It was nice that the murderer was introduced early unlike in book 1 where they "showed up" to close out the story. Also, there are some new friends. I wonder if they will appear in later stories.
As a tea drinker, I liked that sidebar as well as the business bits.
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I have to say that the mystery portion of the story was definitely better then in book 1, although if the author padded out the story a little more it would be better. At least the perpetrator was introduced during the narrative and didn't just arrive in the last scenes. I like the 2 main characters and am going to start on book 3 now.
Not as good as the first one, but not bad either.
Earl Grey... *sigh* Earl Grey is flavored tea. It's not ordinary black tea. It has bergamot oil in it. Now, if you put only a little of that thing in the tea, it enhances the flavor of tea, but most Earl Grey teas have too much of the thing in them, and it has an artificial flavor to it. I refuse to drink Earl Grey nowadays as it tastes like someone has poured a flask of perfume into my teacup.
I also didn't know iced tea isn't necessarily sweetened.
Oh, and the "how DARE you suspect me?!?!" reaction. I can't stand it. How DARE you assume you are somehow above everyone else? How DARE you get offended by being treated as a human being? How DARE you assume criminals are somehow recognizable just by looks?
And the damned argument about whether Todd was guilty or not. All Matt wanted was Franny to admit he COULD have been guilty. That she didn't KNOW he wasn't. I think her behavior was really bitchy and I resent that.
I like how Matt and Franny's relationship evolves. :-) Makes me happy :-)
Earl Grey... *sigh* Earl Grey is flavored tea. It's not ordinary black tea. It has bergamot oil in it. Now, if you put only a little of that thing in the tea, it enhances the flavor of tea, but most Earl Grey teas have too much of the thing in them, and it has an artificial flavor to it. I refuse to drink Earl Grey nowadays as it tastes like someone has poured a flask of perfume into my teacup.
I also didn't know iced tea isn't necessarily sweetened.
Oh, and the "how DARE you suspect me?!?!" reaction. I can't stand it. How DARE you assume you are somehow above everyone else? How DARE you get offended by being treated as a human being? How DARE you assume criminals are somehow recognizable just by looks?
And the damned argument about whether Todd was guilty or not. All Matt wanted was Franny to admit he COULD have been guilty. That she didn't KNOW he wasn't. I think her behavior was really bitchy and I resent that.
I like how Matt and Franny's relationship evolves. :-) Makes me happy :-)
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Franny is contending with another death when a local man is murdered outside a gym. She is bemused to discover that the man who owns the gym was the big man on campus from her high school, Todd. She's even more surprised to find that he's more handsome than ever. He also seems to be the prime suspect. And that, Franny decides, is a shame. So she's going to investigate. Because Todd's too hot to be a killer.
This was a two and a half star book for me. Franny was ridiculous, Matty was being kind of a jerk, and the killer came out of nowhere. I would probably stop this series and concentrate on Harper Lin's others which I like better, except that I do have the third book already from the library.
This was a two and a half star book for me. Franny was ridiculous, Matty was being kind of a jerk, and the killer came out of nowhere. I would probably stop this series and concentrate on Harper Lin's others which I like better, except that I do have the third book already from the library.
Why I picked it up: It’s the second in a cozy mystery series I started the other day.
How I read it: On audio at 1.5x speed. It was three hours of listening or so and almost feels like cheating.
What it’s about: There’s another murder in the sleepy coastal town! Fran, the cafe owner, and Matt, her handsome neighbor, go after solving it again! And they do!
What I liked: I like a non-gruesome murder story that has great tea references and a slight romance feel.
What I disliked: It’s not high literature but it does just what I need: gives me a story to listen to while driving, doing laundry, and getting ready.
Genre: Cozy Mystery.
Rating & Recommendation: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ and if you need some easy listening, yes.
How I read it: On audio at 1.5x speed. It was three hours of listening or so and almost feels like cheating.
What it’s about: There’s another murder in the sleepy coastal town! Fran, the cafe owner, and Matt, her handsome neighbor, go after solving it again! And they do!
What I liked: I like a non-gruesome murder story that has great tea references and a slight romance feel.
What I disliked: It’s not high literature but it does just what I need: gives me a story to listen to while driving, doing laundry, and getting ready.
Genre: Cozy Mystery.
Rating & Recommendation: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ and if you need some easy listening, yes.
The Cape Bay Cafe series is what it is - cozy, quiet, pleasant. Francesca, our amateur detective/cafe owner/ heroine is a sweet and polite and honestly a little over the top in her internal monologues. And some...maybe a lot of what she does is eye-roll worthy. But she's never in your face. And I appreciate that the mystery itself isn't full of padding and misdirections just to add another 50 or 60 pages. I could have done without all the "how to make tea" padding (as a tea drinker, it was ridiculous the amount of babbling Fran did concerning black tea. Just steep it for 3 minutes already. Yet she never mentioned herbals or matcha or chai). I also could have done without the attempted but never quite got all the angles connected love triangle.