carrieksnider's review against another edition
2.0
Rocky Road is the first book by Josi S. Kilpack that I have read. I had heard of her culinary series and wanted to try one. I was a little disappointed. The writing itself was quite plain and uninspiring to me. (I had just read an Agatha Christie mystery, which was quiet excellent. Agatha's writing is amazing, and it was hard not to compare the two.) Josi does a lot of "telling" of the characters instead of showing. Outside the overall writing of Rocky Road, the plot -- once I reached the middle to the end -- was actually fun. There were some unexpected turns, which was good. The characters I didn't find to be particularly interesting, except for the Dr. I am surprised so many people on Goodreads gave such great reviews for this book. It guess it just wasn't my thing.
llkendrick's review against another edition
2.0
I NEVER read books out of order but I was too tempted to read this one because it takes place in St. George and that's where I was about to be vacationing. I didn't like this one near as much as the first book in the series. The religious references, even though they are my own, felt out of place and awkward. The recipes that were in this book had me rolling my eyes....they were so "Utah" and most likely the top trending recipes on Pinterest. The only thing that saved this book for me was the story itself. The author can write a good mystery and she always adds a good twist at the end so you can't ever guess who the bad guy is.
andreagraves's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked this book! Josie is such a great author and I have enjoyed reading this series as it has been released book by book!
I was happy to see Sadie being a little more careful about the situations she gets herself into. She has entered many situations with reckless abandon, and been lucky to survive.
I love Caro (although, I hate the spelling of her name, it makes me think of karo syrup everytime...) and was quite bugged by Tess and her bratty attitude. I guess we have to have annoying characters sometimes.
I thought the plot was not predictable and I enjoyed seeing how it all played out. Well done, Josie!
I was happy to see Sadie being a little more careful about the situations she gets herself into. She has entered many situations with reckless abandon, and been lucky to survive.
I love Caro (although, I hate the spelling of her name, it makes me think of karo syrup everytime...) and was quite bugged by Tess and her bratty attitude. I guess we have to have annoying characters sometimes.
I thought the plot was not predictable and I enjoyed seeing how it all played out. Well done, Josie!
wakela's review against another edition
5.0
Disclaimer: I received this book free from Shadow Mountain Publishing in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive any form of compensation.
OMG! I think I gained 50 pounds just reading this book. Interspersed within the story are all these wonderful foods that they make or serve. Not only do they tantalize your taste buds with great descriptions, but they include the recipes as well. YUMMY!
As for the story, this is the tenth book is Josi S. Kilpack's cozy mystery series featuring Sadie. I absolutely loved the characters. I was as frustrated with Tess as Sadie was throughout this story. At one point, I was actually rooting for her to be the murderer so that she could be thrown behind bars for her attitude. Sadie was there out of the kindness of her heart. She didn't need to be there. She didn't need to help solve the case. Tess acted like it was a requirement.
Even though there is many mentions of religion, it wasn't overly preachy. I have no problems with religion or spirituality playing a part in stories. I just don't like it when I feel that the author is trying to use their books to preach to the reader. This book definitely didn't come across like that at all.
One really great thing about this book was that even though it is the tenth book in the series, I didn't feel lost at all. I didn't feel like I was missing a huge chunk of story by not having read any of the prior books. It was very easy to pick up the plot and characters from the start of the story. This book actually made me want to go back and read the first nine books. And I definitely can't wait until book eleven comes out.
There was one small, itsy, bitsy thing that annoyed me. The author's overuse of "zing". Every time Sadie looked at her engagement ring, thought about her fiance, or anything like that, the author would describe the situation then type the word "zing". It got to the point that I cringed because I knew it was coming. It was cute the first few times. However, it did get old fast. But like I said, that was a minor nuisance. I guess you could call it a personal pet peeve. I just got tired of it really quick. And if that is the worst thing I can say about a book, then you know it is dang good!
Oh and as for the recipes in the books, if you go to the author's website, you can see the recipes from some of her past books. YUMMY!!
OMG! I think I gained 50 pounds just reading this book. Interspersed within the story are all these wonderful foods that they make or serve. Not only do they tantalize your taste buds with great descriptions, but they include the recipes as well. YUMMY!
As for the story, this is the tenth book is Josi S. Kilpack's cozy mystery series featuring Sadie. I absolutely loved the characters. I was as frustrated with Tess as Sadie was throughout this story. At one point, I was actually rooting for her to be the murderer so that she could be thrown behind bars for her attitude. Sadie was there out of the kindness of her heart. She didn't need to be there. She didn't need to help solve the case. Tess acted like it was a requirement.
Even though there is many mentions of religion, it wasn't overly preachy. I have no problems with religion or spirituality playing a part in stories. I just don't like it when I feel that the author is trying to use their books to preach to the reader. This book definitely didn't come across like that at all.
One really great thing about this book was that even though it is the tenth book in the series, I didn't feel lost at all. I didn't feel like I was missing a huge chunk of story by not having read any of the prior books. It was very easy to pick up the plot and characters from the start of the story. This book actually made me want to go back and read the first nine books. And I definitely can't wait until book eleven comes out.
There was one small, itsy, bitsy thing that annoyed me. The author's overuse of "zing". Every time Sadie looked at her engagement ring, thought about her fiance, or anything like that, the author would describe the situation then type the word "zing". It got to the point that I cringed because I knew it was coming. It was cute the first few times. However, it did get old fast. But like I said, that was a minor nuisance. I guess you could call it a personal pet peeve. I just got tired of it really quick. And if that is the worst thing I can say about a book, then you know it is dang good!
Oh and as for the recipes in the books, if you go to the author's website, you can see the recipes from some of her past books. YUMMY!!
emiged's review against another edition
3.0
Rocky Road is the tenth "culinary mystery" by Josi S. Kilpack featuring Sadie Hoffmiller as a former private investigator, general unintentional meddler and all-around solver of mysteries. And it's a Whitney Award finalist in the Mystery/Suspense category.
While Rocky Road certainly hinted at events that occurred in previous books, it was fairly self-contained story. In other words, I didn't feel that I missed out on much starting with this one, even if there were nine earlier installments.
Sadie is on a "girls weekend" in St. George, Utah, with her friend Caro. The itinerary includes shopping, girl time, and helping with a breast cancer fund-raiser. One of the organizers of the fundraiser, a well-loved local physician, disappeared a couple of months earlier and, unsatisfied with the unsuccessful efforts of the town's police, Caro wants Sadie's help investigating the disappearance. Cautious because of recent experiences (which I'm sure are described in the last book in the series), Sadie declines Caro's persistent request that she get involved. Eventually, however, she finds herself drawn in, despite her desire to steer clear, when she meets the good doctor's ex-wife while helping to prepare the luncheon for his memorial and strikes up a sympathetic conversation. At the memorial, his current wife appears "a little bit too composed" and arouses Sadie's suspicions more. The pieces just aren't adding up, so Sadie starts asking more questions.
You see, Sadie believes that "truth is important" and "I found that I could discover important information and help find the answers that might help people." Good reasons, I think.
As any good mystery does, this one has clues, puzzles, twists and turns. People turn out to be not as they seem, both for good and evil. The mystery is solved neatly in the end and the bad guys get their comeuppance, though not without some additional heartbreak on several fronts. Rocky Road was a pleasant, somewhat frothy diversion for a day. I'm not so engrossed that I'm going to run out and read the rest of the series, but I may pick up another when I need something light.
To read the rest of this review, visit Build Enough Bookshelves.
While Rocky Road certainly hinted at events that occurred in previous books, it was fairly self-contained story. In other words, I didn't feel that I missed out on much starting with this one, even if there were nine earlier installments.
Sadie is on a "girls weekend" in St. George, Utah, with her friend Caro. The itinerary includes shopping, girl time, and helping with a breast cancer fund-raiser. One of the organizers of the fundraiser, a well-loved local physician, disappeared a couple of months earlier and, unsatisfied with the unsuccessful efforts of the town's police, Caro wants Sadie's help investigating the disappearance. Cautious because of recent experiences (which I'm sure are described in the last book in the series), Sadie declines Caro's persistent request that she get involved. Eventually, however, she finds herself drawn in, despite her desire to steer clear, when she meets the good doctor's ex-wife while helping to prepare the luncheon for his memorial and strikes up a sympathetic conversation. At the memorial, his current wife appears "a little bit too composed" and arouses Sadie's suspicions more. The pieces just aren't adding up, so Sadie starts asking more questions.
You see, Sadie believes that "truth is important" and "I found that I could discover important information and help find the answers that might help people." Good reasons, I think.
As any good mystery does, this one has clues, puzzles, twists and turns. People turn out to be not as they seem, both for good and evil. The mystery is solved neatly in the end and the bad guys get their comeuppance, though not without some additional heartbreak on several fronts. Rocky Road was a pleasant, somewhat frothy diversion for a day. I'm not so engrossed that I'm going to run out and read the rest of the series, but I may pick up another when I need something light.
To read the rest of this review, visit Build Enough Bookshelves.
nicolepeck's review against another edition
3.0
This one was tough for me. It was different a bit from the other ones in that it really focused a lot more on religion, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it just, to me, didn't feel the same as the other books in the series and I really liked that in the other books you knew Sadie was religious and attended a church, but that wasn't the focus. That said, I did enjoy Sadie's and Caro's adventures and the recipes all sound awesome (OK, except for the Cafe Rio pork one since I'm the only person on the planet who doesn't like it LOL). The Dream Cookies, Waffle Mania Waffles, and the 2 dutch oven recipes are going into my "must try soon" file. I did notice a lot of LDS/Mormon cliches in this book (including the recipes) and maybe that was the point the author was trying to make, expose her non-LDS readers to those aspects of her personal beliefs and Utah culture (fry sauce, funeral potatoes, and the LDS religion and lingo to name a few that made appearances). Definitely more along the line of 3.5 stars for me but still a very fun, entertaining, worth-the-time addition to the Sadie Hoffmiller series, which I was surprised to learn was not the last book in the series (I thought I'd read somewhere previously that the series was slated for 10 books), so the unresolved conflict from the 6th book has yet to be wrapped up and we can expect more adventures (and fabulous recipes!!) from Sadie and her friends and family!!
brookepalmer796's review against another edition
4.0
Good ol' Saddie does it again. I've always liked this character, but I really liked to see that she is normal and that she doesn't always get along with everyone. Great plot twists as well.
More...