yetanothersusan 's review for:

Bitter Alpine by Mary Daheim

3.0

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I think it is funny that after reading all the books in this series, the things that start sticking out to me. Emma is always the one to cook dinner. And most of the time they are eating steak. Between that and the hamburgers they frequently eat for lunch, I worry that the next book in the series might be Coronary Alpine. But the book is set in 2007 so maybe her and Dodge get more health conscious later? I doubt it! Another thought regarding the book being set in 2007, as is stated before the story begins, is that the Seahawks did not get to the SuperBowl that year (obviously not a spoiler). They did in 2005, 2013, and 2014. Apparently Ms. Daheim's sources weren't credible. The other thing I noticed was the excessive amount of foreshadowing in the book. This seems to also be new or maybe I am just more likely to notice. It wasn't overbearing, but caught my eye a few times. However, after having recently read a few less than stellar books, it is always nice to come back to a well loved cozy series with people and places that are familiar, though continued reminders of events and characters got a bit excessive. Maybe that is the upside and downside to a long running series? The author needs to find the balance between letting new readers know back story without alienating those who already read that book. But overall, similar to all that steak and potatoes, this series is comfort food.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for a copy of the book. This review is my own opinion.