Book 9, 2015
Jan. 27th, 2015 07:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chez_jaeOn my afternoon break today, I finished reading Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evie by Marianne Stillings. This was a departure for me, in that it was a contemporary romance without any paranormal elements.
Evie Randall's former guardian, millionaire author Thomas Heyworth, is dead. Lacking any heirs, he instead has chosen six people to participate in a treasure hunt, with the prize being the entirety of his estate. Heyworth has paired Evie with Max Galloway, police detective, lone wolf, and Heyworth's stepson. Max isn't just on board to participate in the treasure hunt, however; he is also working on solving the case of who murdered Heyworth. During the madcap search for clues, attempts are made on Evie's life, as someone apparently thinks she may be Heyworth's illegitimate daughter. Even Evie suspects that may be the case.
Overall, this was a fun story. I found myself laughing at some parts, while others were just harrowing enough to keep things interesting. The author did a good job of keeping the killer's identity a secret, and other characters had secret identities of their own.
If I have one complaint about the book, it's that the author prefaced each chapter with an excerpt from Evie's childhood diary. I saw no real reason for it, and I found it distracting. I wish I could say I'd watch for more from this author, but I no longer buy/read contemporary romance. This book has a print date of 2005, and chances are I bought it that long ago. Yikes. I would certainly recommend it, though, and I plan to hand it off to a co-worker now that I'm done with it.
Four stars:
★★★★
Evie Randall's former guardian, millionaire author Thomas Heyworth, is dead. Lacking any heirs, he instead has chosen six people to participate in a treasure hunt, with the prize being the entirety of his estate. Heyworth has paired Evie with Max Galloway, police detective, lone wolf, and Heyworth's stepson. Max isn't just on board to participate in the treasure hunt, however; he is also working on solving the case of who murdered Heyworth. During the madcap search for clues, attempts are made on Evie's life, as someone apparently thinks she may be Heyworth's illegitimate daughter. Even Evie suspects that may be the case.
Overall, this was a fun story. I found myself laughing at some parts, while others were just harrowing enough to keep things interesting. The author did a good job of keeping the killer's identity a secret, and other characters had secret identities of their own.
If I have one complaint about the book, it's that the author prefaced each chapter with an excerpt from Evie's childhood diary. I saw no real reason for it, and I found it distracting. I wish I could say I'd watch for more from this author, but I no longer buy/read contemporary romance. This book has a print date of 2005, and chances are I bought it that long ago. Yikes. I would certainly recommend it, though, and I plan to hand it off to a co-worker now that I'm done with it.
Four stars:
★★★★
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Date: 2015-01-28 03:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-02-02 01:07 am (UTC)