Book Review: Death of a Tom Turkey (Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mystery, #18) by Lee Hollis

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Death of a Tom Turkey (Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mystery, #18)  by Lee Hollis  opens with Tom Farley and his neighbors in a snit because he's the last holdout to sell his house to a property developer who wants to build a resort. When Tom is shot at a pre-Thanksgiving community gathering and hospitalized, Hayley Powell puts her amateur sleuthing skills to good use. Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishers for providing me with an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of this cozy mystery. I received a copy of this book for free in exchange of my honest opinion and review of the story. I loved the fact that this latest installment of the Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mystery  series had a theme around the Thanksgiving holiday and included live turkeys in the plot. It was good to visit some familiar characters. Since this is the eighteenth installment in the series, Lee Hollis didn't go into much detail of the background of those reoccurring characters; however, she...
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Book Review: Takedown Twenty (Stephanie Plum, #20) by Janet Evanovich

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book review of takedown twenty stephanie plum 20 janet evanovich

When Trenton's beloved mobster Salvatore "Uncle Sunny" Sunucchi goes underground after murdering a guy, Stephanie Plum is tasked with bringing him in for his court date. However, no one is willing to turn him in, especially not the Morelli family because Sunny is Joe Morelli's godfather. To top things of, Ranger has given Stephanie an assignment of his own . . . find the murderer of a client's bingo loving mother.

Takedown Twenty (Stephanie Plum, #20) by Janet Evanovich was not one of my favorites. I'm not sure if it's because I've binge reading the series or not, but the book was a bit of a let down. With that being said, it did give me an escape from reality and held my attention well enough.

One of the featured characters was a giraffe named Kevin that roamed the streets of Trenton, New Jersey. I found this to be a bit far fetched, especially when the reason why was given because it made it even more far fetched. Lula was also featured more heavily than she was in the last book, and this particular character is becoming annoying because it seems like her character development has stalled and is almost a caricature of herself. And, once again, Stephanie gets the "eye" from Joe's grandmother Bella and has multiple mishaps with cars. This is getting to be a bit old.

For one brief moment, I thought Stephanie was actually going to make a final choice between Joe and Ranger, but it didn't happen because she was interrupted by Joe's family. However, I did enjoy that we got a better glimpse into his family, which was refreshing. I am seriously hoping that Stephanie and Joe end up together as a married couple sooner rather than later.

I gave Takedown Twenty (Stephanie Plum, #20) by Janet Evanovich three out of five stars. Because this series gives me an escape from reality, I will continue to read on to find out what happens.

 

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