Helpful Score: 1
Recommended because friends were meeting on Cape May, for our High School Reunion. So how much fun would that be, reading something with a bit of local color ...?
Not much fun, to be honest. Among my many beeves with this slim volume is that Local Color -- zilch. Having done my homework, and read it before visiting, I learned that there is an ocean nearby, lots of old houses, and many places to eat brunch. Any sense of how Cape May is different from about a zillion other places that can tick those boxes -- zilch. Now that I've actually been there, I feel that so many opportunities were missed to show how Cape May is unique, and how it differs from all of those other ocean-side, quaintly pretty, brunch-delivering places.
I will freely admit that I did this book a terrible disservice, going into it with the mistaken idea that it was a Cosy Murder Mystery. When I reached 48% on my Kindle, with no sign of a body, or any mystery (or, indeed, much of a plot ...), I realized that, perhaps, I hadn't read the description with my full attention. And still, I lived in hope that a Body might appear (better late than never) -- wistfully hoping that, if the victim wasn't the Errant Husband (buried in the woods by the creepy, but oh-so-attractive handyman), could it please be the smug and obnoxious protagonist? Perhaps beaten to death by one of her own heirloom tomatoes? Please? No?
So, not a Cosy Mystery. My bad. But even as Light Romance, this is dire. The explication is unrelenting (we hear about every morsel anyone eats, what the children dress in for school, every thought that goes through the protagonist's head, every step that she takes and every word she says. And the words, oh, the words: the characters talk to each other in purest Wooden Speak -- the way that no one speaks to anyone, ever, anywhere.
So, a couple of bodies, Midsummer Murders style, might have both livened things up and been more realistic, but I don't think it would have saved it. My advice -- visit Cape May yourself. However many hours it takes you to get there will be hours better spent than reading this.
Not much fun, to be honest. Among my many beeves with this slim volume is that Local Color -- zilch. Having done my homework, and read it before visiting, I learned that there is an ocean nearby, lots of old houses, and many places to eat brunch. Any sense of how Cape May is different from about a zillion other places that can tick those boxes -- zilch. Now that I've actually been there, I feel that so many opportunities were missed to show how Cape May is unique, and how it differs from all of those other ocean-side, quaintly pretty, brunch-delivering places.
I will freely admit that I did this book a terrible disservice, going into it with the mistaken idea that it was a Cosy Murder Mystery. When I reached 48% on my Kindle, with no sign of a body, or any mystery (or, indeed, much of a plot ...), I realized that, perhaps, I hadn't read the description with my full attention. And still, I lived in hope that a Body might appear (better late than never) -- wistfully hoping that, if the victim wasn't the Errant Husband (buried in the woods by the creepy, but oh-so-attractive handyman), could it please be the smug and obnoxious protagonist? Perhaps beaten to death by one of her own heirloom tomatoes? Please? No?
So, not a Cosy Mystery. My bad. But even as Light Romance, this is dire. The explication is unrelenting (we hear about every morsel anyone eats, what the children dress in for school, every thought that goes through the protagonist's head, every step that she takes and every word she says. And the words, oh, the words: the characters talk to each other in purest Wooden Speak -- the way that no one speaks to anyone, ever, anywhere.
So, a couple of bodies, Midsummer Murders style, might have both livened things up and been more realistic, but I don't think it would have saved it. My advice -- visit Cape May yourself. However many hours it takes you to get there will be hours better spent than reading this.
