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A review by keepingyouonread
Something's Guava Give by Carrie Doyle
4.0
3.5 stars
Anyone else ready for summer? Something’s Guava Give was the perfect escape to a tropical island and warmer weather. Book two in the Trouble in Paradise series, finds Plum starting her own luxury vacation rental business. When an acquaintance of an ex-co-worker ends up murdered, Plum is once again sucked into amateur detective work with the help of potential love interest Juan Kevin.
What I liked: I’m really enjoying this series; Plum is a little high-strung, abrupt and won’t appeal to everyone, but island life is forcing her to rethink her priorities and you see a bit of a change in her in book two. I like seeing her relationship with Juan Kevin progress naturally.
The mystery was interesting – eccentric billionaires, affairs, neighbors fighting, pseudo-celebrities… there’s a little bit of everything happening.
The pacing of most of the book is good and moves things along quickly. However, the last quarter did seem to slow down and drag a bit for me.
What didn’t work for me: There are a lot of characters and at times some of the secondary characters seem to blend together (at least for me). I had to flip back a few times to remind myself who was who. The author also refers to some characters by their full name which got a little annoying.
I think some small details could be cut – I don’t really need to know what everyone orders at a restaurant every time they meet up.
The author refers to one female secondary character as unattractive and questions why her attractive boyfriend would be interested in her. I feel like we should be moving past this assessment of characters and maybe focus on the female character’s personality.
I question why Plum even considered hanging out with Gerald and I think the author’s attempt at humor with him was a little flat (it mainly revolves around drinking and him trying to use the trip as a vacation instead of working). Gerald and a few of the other secondary characters felt a bit like caricatures at times.
Who should read it: You’re a fan of cozy mysteries, tropical mixed drinks and a crazy cast of characters. This would be a fun easy beach read.
Anyone else ready for summer? Something’s Guava Give was the perfect escape to a tropical island and warmer weather. Book two in the Trouble in Paradise series, finds Plum starting her own luxury vacation rental business. When an acquaintance of an ex-co-worker ends up murdered, Plum is once again sucked into amateur detective work with the help of potential love interest Juan Kevin.
What I liked: I’m really enjoying this series; Plum is a little high-strung, abrupt and won’t appeal to everyone, but island life is forcing her to rethink her priorities and you see a bit of a change in her in book two. I like seeing her relationship with Juan Kevin progress naturally.
The mystery was interesting – eccentric billionaires, affairs, neighbors fighting, pseudo-celebrities… there’s a little bit of everything happening.
The pacing of most of the book is good and moves things along quickly. However, the last quarter did seem to slow down and drag a bit for me.
What didn’t work for me: There are a lot of characters and at times some of the secondary characters seem to blend together (at least for me). I had to flip back a few times to remind myself who was who. The author also refers to some characters by their full name which got a little annoying.
I think some small details could be cut – I don’t really need to know what everyone orders at a restaurant every time they meet up.
The author refers to one female secondary character as unattractive and questions why her attractive boyfriend would be interested in her. I feel like we should be moving past this assessment of characters and maybe focus on the female character’s personality.
I question why Plum even considered hanging out with Gerald and I think the author’s attempt at humor with him was a little flat (it mainly revolves around drinking and him trying to use the trip as a vacation instead of working). Gerald and a few of the other secondary characters felt a bit like caricatures at times.
Who should read it: You’re a fan of cozy mysteries, tropical mixed drinks and a crazy cast of characters. This would be a fun easy beach read.