Leah R. reviewed on + 10 more book reviews
I was eager to read this book, but was very disappointed. Being a Southerner, I found the stereotypes (North & South) to be very simplistic and annoying - I mean who in the South doesn't understand the word "dibs" and how often do you really hear someone use the terms "by a country mile" and "youngin" or"knee-baby" repeatedly? And if the town is so isolated that basic terms like "pumped" are not understood, why would the bakery sell black & white cookies - which really are a Northern item? I felt like the author got a dictionary of Southernisms and just stuck them in for "authenticity".
I also got the feeling the author is not a seamstress because while other similar mysytery series - like Laura Childs' tea shop mysteries (which, while light reading, have better developed characters and do feel Southern) - evoke a real feeling for tea/food/catering, there was nothing about sewing that seemed real to me. The costumes made by the sewing circle could have been a great time to throw in some descriptive info that would not have bored non-sewers, but could have made those sections much more interesting.
A few other annoying things: why does the main African American character call her boss "Miss Sinclair" while the boss calls her by her first name? It's like the author watched a re-run of 'Heat of the Night' and took it to be authentic. And an emphasis is placed on the friendships formed (in a mere three weeks), but the "friends" refuse to call Tori by her preferred name, instead sticking to the full name "because that's the way it's done in the South". How long would you stay friends with a whole group of women who call you by a name you do not use? Weird.
So, those are the main reasons I could not wait to finish this book and will not read others in the series. My suggestion is to try Laura Childs or even the Ann B. Ross "Miss Julia" books for a true flavor of the South (in the quick-read, light genre).
I also got the feeling the author is not a seamstress because while other similar mysytery series - like Laura Childs' tea shop mysteries (which, while light reading, have better developed characters and do feel Southern) - evoke a real feeling for tea/food/catering, there was nothing about sewing that seemed real to me. The costumes made by the sewing circle could have been a great time to throw in some descriptive info that would not have bored non-sewers, but could have made those sections much more interesting.
A few other annoying things: why does the main African American character call her boss "Miss Sinclair" while the boss calls her by her first name? It's like the author watched a re-run of 'Heat of the Night' and took it to be authentic. And an emphasis is placed on the friendships formed (in a mere three weeks), but the "friends" refuse to call Tori by her preferred name, instead sticking to the full name "because that's the way it's done in the South". How long would you stay friends with a whole group of women who call you by a name you do not use? Weird.
So, those are the main reasons I could not wait to finish this book and will not read others in the series. My suggestion is to try Laura Childs or even the Ann B. Ross "Miss Julia" books for a true flavor of the South (in the quick-read, light genre).
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