Book 80, 2022

The Rocky Road to Ruin by Meri Allen

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Last night I finished the book The Rocky Road to Ruin by Meri Allen. It's the first in the author's "Ice Cream Shop" cozy mystery series. The narrative is in first-person point of view, and the main character is Riley Rhodes--CIA librarian and travel blogger.

After a mission in Italy goes awry, Riley needs a break. Nothing beats returning home, but she wishes it wasn't for the funeral of family friend Elizabeth "Buzzy" Spooner. Buzzy's adopted daughter, Caroline, is Riley's BFF, and Riley is eager to help in whatever way she can, especially if that means helping out at Buzzy's ice cream shop, Udderly Delicious. The night of Buzzy's funeral, Riley learns that Caroline and her brother, Mike, are at odds with how to go forward with Buzzy's assets. Mike is keen to sell, but Caroline wants to hold on to the family's organic farm and the ice cream shop. When Mike is found murdered the day after, Riley puts her investigative skills to work in an effort to find out who did it and why. There's no shortage of suspects, from jealous exes to those who didn't want Mike to sell, and even the players in a long-ago scandal. It's up to Riley to sort through the clues before anyone else is iced.

I was udderly enthralled with this story. Riley is someone you'd like to know. She's smart, tough, and loyal. Secondary characters were portrayed well, including the pets. Buzzy's snooty Persian, Sprinkles, was quite the diva! The plot was smooth and paced just right, with a good mix of Riley's sleuthing and her being engaged in other activities. When the hot cop was introduced, I rolled my eyes, but the author surprised me by having him be a romantic interest for Caroline, rather than Riley. Huzzah! I spent most of the book figuring I knew who dunnit, only to be surprised at the end.

Favorite line: She looked back at me as if to say, Give me some privacy. Understandable. I wouldn't want anyone watching me drink water out of a toilet bowl either.

Fun, engaging story, and I am eager to read more in the series. Five stars!

First in a series gets put to my ( Trope Test )

Book 81, 2022

Waiting for the Wolf Moon by Evelyn Vaughn

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



Finished my work book during my lunch hour today. It was Waiting for the Wolf Moon by Evelyn Vaughn. The book is part of the Silhouette "Dreamscapes" line of paranormal romances. The main character is witch Sylvie Peabody.

When grisly murders begin happening during the full moon in the small town of Stagwater, LA, Sylvie and her friends are left wondering if the attacks are from a werewolf. The police have been chalking them up to wild dog attacks, but the witches know better. Sylvie can't help but notice that the attacks began after mysterious Rand Garner arrived in town. He purchased a crumbling old estate and is intent on turning it into a haunted house. Sylvie can't help but be drawn to Rand, and the attraction seems to be mutual. Although her friends caution her to stay away, Sylvie finds herself falling for the enigmatic Rand, even as she fears he may be the werewolf.

Ugh. Sylvie is dumber than a box of rocks, and as for Rand, he came across as a cocky, immature frat boy. Although the story was in third-person pov, from Sylvie's perspective, a few times, toward the end of the book, the narrative was in Rand's pov with no discernible break to warn the reader. It was jarring and distracting. Sylvie takes the cake in idiocy for letting her vagina control her actions. She literally fled from Rand in sheer terror at one point, but when he caught up to her (because the best way to convince someone not to be afraid of you is to chase after them), he kissed her, then took her to bed, after which Sylvie is convinced that he's not the werewolf at all. Because sex solves everything. I need some brain bleach. The story was exciting, if not for the right reasons, and there was some humor laced throughout, but I spent most of my time reading it wanting to smack Sylvie upside the head. And kick Rand in the balls just to wipe the smug smirk off his face. The ending was confusing. ( Spoilers )

Favorite lines:
♦ One minute she didn't even have a relationship, the next minute it was doomed.
♦ "Or, as my mother used to say, um...Damn, I knew I should have listened to her."
♦ "Do you know what lousy gas mileage hearses get? It's no wonder that so few corpses take road trips."
♦ She couldn't run from what frightened her without leaving what fascinated her. Stupid slut
♦ "I sense tar and feathers in the future, and that's just not my look."
♦ "It slices, it dices, it makes honest-to-gosh Julienne fries. When you're lucky enough to have a hunk of Julienne."
♦ "For heaven's sake, you got laid, not coronated!"

And, here's one for my new hobby of cataloging the overdone line about releasing a breath that the person didn't know s/he was holding:

She released a breath, only then realizing that she'd been holding it.

So...yeah. The plot was interesting, but the characters were aggravating, and things were left unexplained at the end. I'm giving this a generous two stars.