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A review by aconitecafe
Beaches, Bungalows, and Burglaries by Tonya Kappes
3.0
I'll be honest, this is a hard review. I have a lot of mix feelings about this book and I'm not sure how to rate it or explain them. At the end of the day I liked it.
The side characters in the book are fantastic. All have personalities fitting for a small town. Just as moody or welcoming or gossipy as I'd expect. I loved the town, and the camp ground. There is a ton of potential with this world just waiting to spill out onto the page.
I read this book by using my kindles text to speech feature, so the grammar issues mentioned in many of these reviews were lost on me but in looking that the text it's pretty intense and if I were to manually read it I would have a hard time with the abundance of them. I did have a hard time realizing when someone was talking because the word "said" isn't used enough, and there is an action beat with almost every word spoken, many times without the word "said" there to signal someone is speaking.
The main characters backstory is really confusing, at times she acts like she has never been poor a day in her life, but then she also thinks back to living in foster care. At one point she says "she has never sat on a curb before" but also says "she was only with her husband for 5 years". She has a degree in economics, but is also clueless about how to run a business or finances. These types of contradictions happen throughout the book with her character. So it was really hard to connect with her. But aside from that, her wanting to right her husbands wrongs, and all the confusion about if she should sell or stay, or how to start over after being bamboozled were well written emotionally.
Finally, the mystery. Time moves strangely in this book. I can't actually say how many days or weeks go by from start to finish. At times it feels like the whole book took place in a week, but then other times it feels like it took months. This is mostly shown in the time it took to get the camp into shape vs. the time passing in the mystery investigation.
I enjoyed the final twist, and it all seemed really logical but many aspects of it were hard for me to suspend my disbelief. From the detective to the weapon, then the bank stuff to the culprits actions at the end of the book. It was all just hard to buy I guess. And kind of pulled me out of the story.
There does seem to be a set up for a love triangle which is probably my biggest hold up in if I will move to book two. Love triangles just aren't believable for me and both of these interests happened the exact same way. Enemies to flirts, which is hmm. But on the same note, I really do love the side characters and the town, so I do want more books with them.
It's a quick read, and funny in parts so if you're a cozy mystery reader, and can get past grammar issues, it's worth the read.
The side characters in the book are fantastic. All have personalities fitting for a small town. Just as moody or welcoming or gossipy as I'd expect. I loved the town, and the camp ground. There is a ton of potential with this world just waiting to spill out onto the page.
I read this book by using my kindles text to speech feature, so the grammar issues mentioned in many of these reviews were lost on me but in looking that the text it's pretty intense and if I were to manually read it I would have a hard time with the abundance of them. I did have a hard time realizing when someone was talking because the word "said" isn't used enough, and there is an action beat with almost every word spoken, many times without the word "said" there to signal someone is speaking.
The main characters backstory is really confusing, at times she acts like she has never been poor a day in her life, but then she also thinks back to living in foster care. At one point she says "she has never sat on a curb before" but also says "she was only with her husband for 5 years". She has a degree in economics, but is also clueless about how to run a business or finances. These types of contradictions happen throughout the book with her character. So it was really hard to connect with her. But aside from that, her wanting to right her husbands wrongs, and all the confusion about if she should sell or stay, or how to start over after being bamboozled were well written emotionally.
Finally, the mystery. Time moves strangely in this book. I can't actually say how many days or weeks go by from start to finish. At times it feels like the whole book took place in a week, but then other times it feels like it took months. This is mostly shown in the time it took to get the camp into shape vs. the time passing in the mystery investigation.
I enjoyed the final twist, and it all seemed really logical but many aspects of it were hard for me to suspend my disbelief. From the detective to the weapon, then the bank stuff to the culprits actions at the end of the book. It was all just hard to buy I guess. And kind of pulled me out of the story.
There does seem to be a set up for a love triangle which is probably my biggest hold up in if I will move to book two. Love triangles just aren't believable for me and both of these interests happened the exact same way. Enemies to flirts, which is hmm. But on the same note, I really do love the side characters and the town, so I do want more books with them.
It's a quick read, and funny in parts so if you're a cozy mystery reader, and can get past grammar issues, it's worth the read.