Reviews

Flipped Out by Jennie Bentley

Only show reviews with written explanations

Murder in Maine. Avery and her boyfriend, Derek, have been having really good results with their house flipping, which is taking a house, renovating, selling and moving onto the next project. This time there's a television crew recording it all. To include the murder of the owner of the house. Flipping a house and solving the murder are now both in the works.
This is another one of my favorite cozy series. Neat town, nifty characters, and swell house renovation tips included in each book of the series. And an excellent mystery.

hstorkel's review

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2.0

Might be time to give up this series. The mystery consisted mainly of throwing out random hypotheses about how every character was the killer. Much of the interactions between the continuing characters were repeats of prior interactions (very formulaic and predictable). It’s also that point in a cozy series where I start to wonder why are there so many deaths in this quaint town? Why does this random person not involved with law enforcement seem to play a key role in solving or just being near these crimes? Why doesn’t anyone think she’s a serial killer? Time to move on!

tsmetak's review

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emotional informative mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

nursenell's review

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5.0

Another great Do It Yourself mystery. Avery and her boyfriend Derek have agreed to flip a house for a TV show. Think Sell This House on HGTV. A local TV newscaster offers his small house. From day 1, when a dead body shows up when the crew comes in to film, things go wrong. There are no shortages of suspects, both within the crew and in the community, including the victim's fiancee. Several others involved in the house flip have close calls with death, including Avery. I was surprised by who the guilty person ended up being.

cj_mo_2222's review

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4.0

Avery Baker and her boyfriend and business partner Derek Ellis are beginning their fifth home renovation project together. Their latest project is to update the 1930s cottage belonging to local news anchor Tony “the Tiger” Micelli. This isn’t just any renovation project. The crew of Flipped Out! Is coming to Waterfield, Maine and will be filming the whole project. If that isn’t enough pressure, the entire project must be completed within one week. Further complicating the situation, Tony’s girlfriend Melissa James plans on making frequent appearances to the home and the beautiful Melissa just happens to be Derek’s ex-wife. Things start out better than expected until the second day when Tony is found murdered in the cottage, a victim of a vicious stabbing. All evidence is pointing at Melissa, and while Melissa is guilty of many things, such as constant flirting with Derek, even Avery thinks she is innocent of the murder and reluctantly agrees to help clear her rival.

I really enjoy the home renovation theme in this series. Derek is believable in the role as doctor turned handyman and Avery’s design expertise comes in handy for their projects. There are some interesting design ideas in the back of the book, as well as some really useful tips on improving the curb appeal of your home. However, the tips aren’t just relegated to the back of the book. Derek and Avery offer information about remodeling a home throughout the book in a way that is smoothly integrated into the story.

Adding to the enjoyment of this installment is the reality TV element. The inside look into the production of the show is fun to read. Many of the supporting characters involved in the show, such as Nina and Fae, are actually more interesting than some of the series regulars, especially Avery’s friend Kate who doesn’t come across as a fully developed character. Kate seems nice, but with the exception of a few scenes involving her daughter Shannon, she seems to be a part of the background and not vital to the series.

I have read one other earlier book in this series, and am glad to see that Avery is maturing and has stopped pouting (one of the reasons for her nickname “Tink”) when she doesn’t get her way. I am disappointed, however, that Derek still seems to be fixated on his ex-wife Melissa. While he is adamant that their marriage was unhappy and he would never get back together with her, Derek still drops everything whenever Melissa needs anything. Melissa always seems to have a plan to stay involved in Derek’s life, whether to win him back or just to goad Avery. In this case, I agree with Avery that she and Derek should keep their distance from the demanding and self-centered Melissa.

In spite of things often revolving around Melissa, I think the series is improving. I was interested in the renovation storyline as well as finding out the solution to the murder throughout the book. It is a suspenseful story, and the full solution isn’t revealed until the very end of the book. Fans of Juliet Blackwell’s Haunted Home Repair mysteries as well as mystery lovers who enjoy watching the DIY Network will want to read about Avery and Derek’s latest project in Flipped Out!

This review was originally written for The Season E-Zine. The book was provided to me in exchange for an honest review.

wildflowerz76's review

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2.0

Number five in the Do-It-Yourself Mystery series has Avery and Derek doing a remodel on a small rental home. But this time, it's for a TV show and they only have a week to get it done. But a wrench is thrown into their plans when a dead body is found inside the house on their first day.

Y'all, this was pretty terrible. The ending was seriously silly. The whole book was endlessly coming up with more and more plausible scenarios that don't pan out. There were too many characters in this one that were referred to a lot, causing me lots of pauses to think, "Which one are we talking about?". One obvious thing that no one mentioned in the book is that the letter to the dead guy was mailed to his rental property. That was a clue. But along with that, if you have a rental property, wouldn't you have all the mail sent to your regular residence? He got a tax bill there too.

I'm disliking Derek more and more too. He's not an alphahole, but he's certainly annoyingly misogynistic about a lot of things and the way he's talked about from Avery's POV make it sound like she's noticing too. But she never actually says anything about it to him or even Kate. Ug. He is TOO solicitous if Melissa.

And one minor thing: Avery makes this Adirondack check look like swiss cheese and she's going to make a pillow and her thought is to make it look like a Jarlsberg label. The house is on Cabot Drive (or Lane, Road, whatever)!

I have one more of these on my shelf that I'll definitely read, but I'm liking each one of these less and less.

maggietoussaint55's review

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5.0

A Maine couple who are do-it-yourselfers take on the renovation of a cottage and then agree to do the entire renovation in a week with a TV crew filming them. Instead of flipping the house quickly, they are stymied by the appearance of a corpse, which flips everyone out and wreaks havoc on their schedule. Lovely DIY tips at the end. A fun read!