Book Review: Murder in the Mystery Suite (Book Retreat Mysteries, #1) by Ellery Adams

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Murder in the Mystery Suite (Book Retreat Mysteries, #1) by Ellery Adams is the first book in the Book Retreat Mysteries series and is set in western Virginia at a charming resort called Storyton Hall. This unique resort is designed specifically for book lovers who want to escape, unwind, and immerse themselves in their favorite stories. The resort’s manager, Jane Steward, decides to host a themed “Murder and Mayhem Week” inviting mystery enthusiasts to gather, role-play, and solve fictional crimes. However, the event takes a dark turn when one of the guests is found dead in his suite and a valuable prize goes missing. Jane must uncover which guest is responsible for the murder before the retreat is ruined . Before picking up this novel, I had only read one other book in the series. I decided to start from the beginning as part of my New Year’s resolution to finally read books I purchased years ago. I’m so glad I did. Starting with the first installment allowed me to fully appreciat...
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Book Review: Tricky Twenty-Two (Stephanie Plum, #22) by Janet Evanovich

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book review tricky twenty two janet evanovich stephanie plum

Tricky Twenty-Two (Stephanie Plum, #22) by Janet Evanovich opens with Stephanie Plum needing to apprehend Ken "Gobbles" Globovic, who is a fraternity called Zeta at Kiltman College, but he has gone into hiding. On top of that, Doug Linken, who has hired Rangeman to protect him, has been killed. What is the connection between Gobbles and Doug, and how is Stephanie going to solve this mystery?

When I first started reading this installment of the Stephanie Plum book series, I thought I was going to end up disliking Tricky Twenty-Two because of what happened in the beginning of the story. However, I ended up absolutely loving it. The story felt a little different the previous stories, and Stephanie didn't seem quite so inept at her job as a bounty hunter. 

Lula cracked me up with her bedazzling and wearing of flea collars . . . you'll have to read the book to find out why she does this and thinks she's going to be the next Martha Stewart. I think this was one of the first times in several books that she doesn't absolutely get on my last nerve, so that was extremely refreshing. There was no Randy Biggs in this story line, so my worries of him being in every book from now on were for naught . . . yay!

And, Stephanie's mom, Ellen, has had some major character development in this installment. I actually am beginning to like her, which is surprising. I think readers will be just as pleasantly delighted as I was by this character growth. 

The ending of Tricky Twenty-Two (Stephanie Plum, #22) has gotten my hopes up that Stephanie will finally settle down, get married, and have kids. However, I'm trying not to get too excited by the ending. All in all, it was a great read, even with it not being as fast paced as previous books in the series, and I gave it five out of five stars.

 


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