A Good Day for Chardonnay by Darynda Jones

A Good Day for Chardonnay by Darynda Jones

by CarolNo Comments
First off, A Good Day for Chardonnay is the second in the series, and it really is better to read #1 first. It will give you a much fuller picture of our main characters and their backstories. I really enjoyed A Good Day for Chardonnay. Sunshine is a fabulous character, sarcastic, funny, loyal. She is surrounded by quirky but incredibly helpful and supportive friends, some of who are on her staff, and parents who are caring but have a bad habit of meddling in her life. She's got a smart 16-year old daughter, who has a boyfriend that is way cooler and competent than any kid I knew at that age. There's a lot going on in the book. Sunshine Vicram is still looking into a case from her past. Auri, her daughter, thinks she's on the trail of a serial killer who was active in the 50s and 60s. And then there's a stabbing in town that leads to a...
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A Bad Day for Sunshine by Darynda Jones

A Bad Day for Sunshine by Darynda Jones

by Carol3 Comments
Sunshine Vicram, new sheriff of Del Sol, more than has her hands full. It's her first day on the job and the cursed muffins arrive, the ones that always come before something majorly bad happens in town. There a few hints of the paranormal, a psychic, some prophetic dreams, but nothing that takes it into fantasy territory. This time around the muffins presage a kidnapping and an escaped convict being seen in town. This is the first in the series and there are a lot of people to meet: Sunshine and her team; her daughter Auri and the kids at her school; Sunshine's parents; the townspeople, including Levi, Sunshine's crush; a U.S. marshall and some other lawn enforcement guy who there to help with the cases. It's a lot of characters. They weren't necessarily confusing but it was hard to keep track of them all. I like Sunshine. She's funny and sarcastic and competent, but I wish she wouldn't drool over every...
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Wicked Charms by Janet Evanovich and Phoef Sutton

by Carol4 Comments
Wicked Charms is silly and funny and cute. It's an adventure story/ treasure hunt, but it's all over the top. Lizzie is pretty sane, but she is surrounded by oddballs, like a young man who tends to talk like a pirate and her friend who tries out spells with varying degrees of success. We've got a very rich man who wants to become a demon incarnate - if he can quit barking. Diesel is sexy and a bit dangerous, a typical character for this kind of story, but his monkey pal is rude and a riot. There are a couple of moments of true danger for Lizzie, but she keeps her head, and - surprise- Diesel rescues her. I know the whole thing is goofy, but it made me smile, just like candy. It's a short read too, so I don't want to give too much away. There's not a lot of meat to the story, but that's the style. I actually...
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Love in a Nutshell by Janet Evanovich & Dorien Kelly

by Carol3 Comments
I've been having some good luck with light romances lately. Love in a Nutshell is just fun - and guess what, Kate and Matt are actually honest with each other, well more or less. They make a good couple - instant attraction but a few issues keeping them apart, like he's her boss and owns the mortgage on her house, the one he had been planning to foreclose on. Matt is another almost -perfect guy, good business sense, sexy, protective of the people he cares about. Kate is a bit down on herself, but is making a go at starting a new life. Love in a Nutshell has funny moments, a slow courtship between Matt and Kate as far as romances go, and some danger. It's not a wonderful book, but it's enjoyable. It's definitely PG thanks to an overly possessive poodle, one of two dogs who are great characters in and of themselves. The narrator does a good job differentiating the...
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