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A review by mswocreader
Tart of Darkness by Denise Swanson
1.0
I decided to request this book because I was interested in seeing how the writer would weave typical college town life into a cozy mystery. I wondered just how quaint the town could be. Having left college a few years ago,worked at a different college a year after, and making monthly visits to another college town; I have a picture of college life in my head that doesn't necessarily fit into most cozy mysteries. There were some parts of this story that felt like the author just browsed buzzfeed to find out what ‘The kids are saying’.
Dani was so pretentious it was hard to imagine the girls described in the book thinking of her as a big sister when she acted much more like their mother. Her judgmental ways at times made it hard for me to tolerate her. She often treated these adult women like they were young teens. She was only 9/10 years older than them.
She was also so preachy when it came to anything involving alcohol. I don't know if the author knows but in most states you do not have to be 21 and over to serve alcohol at an event. And we're these girls not almost 21? I just found it strange to emphasize her servers not being old enough to handle liquor. It was also incorrect as Illinois where this story is set has a legal serving age of 18.
The descriptions of Regina were so over the top she felt like a caricature. Definitely inspired by Regina George from Mean Girls. The funny thing is Dani was very pretentious herself but not in an as overt way. But at the story went on Regina’s past actions became more ridiculous as the author tried to hammer that everyone had a reason to dislike this young woman.
And then there was Uncle Spencer. His lust over Dani was annoying after this sentence “The naturalness of her beauty was like a cold glass of water after being forced to drink nothing but artificially flavored soda his whole life”.
If I had to read about how he stared at Dani’s heart snapped bottom one more time……
I must say after struggling through the story the most disappointing part was the anti-climactic ending. Overall the mystery definitely took a backseat to the Chef-To-Go business and flirting attempts. I recommend giving this book a pass.
Dani was so pretentious it was hard to imagine the girls described in the book thinking of her as a big sister when she acted much more like their mother. Her judgmental ways at times made it hard for me to tolerate her. She often treated these adult women like they were young teens. She was only 9/10 years older than them.
She was also so preachy when it came to anything involving alcohol. I don't know if the author knows but in most states you do not have to be 21 and over to serve alcohol at an event. And we're these girls not almost 21? I just found it strange to emphasize her servers not being old enough to handle liquor. It was also incorrect as Illinois where this story is set has a legal serving age of 18.
The descriptions of Regina were so over the top she felt like a caricature. Definitely inspired by Regina George from Mean Girls. The funny thing is Dani was very pretentious herself but not in an as overt way. But at the story went on Regina’s past actions became more ridiculous as the author tried to hammer that everyone had a reason to dislike this young woman.
And then there was Uncle Spencer. His lust over Dani was annoying after this sentence “The naturalness of her beauty was like a cold glass of water after being forced to drink nothing but artificially flavored soda his whole life”.
If I had to read about how he stared at Dani’s heart snapped bottom one more time……
I must say after struggling through the story the most disappointing part was the anti-climactic ending. Overall the mystery definitely took a backseat to the Chef-To-Go business and flirting attempts. I recommend giving this book a pass.