Book Review: The Reunion Dinner (Busybodies Collection, #2) by Jesse Q. Sutanto

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The Reunion Dinner (Busybodies Collection, #2) by Jesse Q. Sutanto is the second book in the Busybodies Collection on Amazon Prime. It opens to an Asian American family gathering to celebrate the Chinese New Year when one of the guest unexpectedly dies. The cops are called, and the family matriarch is trying to figure out who committed murder. I enjoyed the first short story in this series so much that I decided to read the next in the series. These are all stand alone stories by different authors and are available to borrow for free or purchase from Amazon Prime. Unfortunately, I didn't care for this installment as the first one as I didn't care for the characters as much, and the main character seemed a little overbearing. However, I did like learning a little about the Chinese New Year, some of the food served, and a tradition or two.  What kept me from rating this story higher is that I absolutely hated the ending of the story. I won't say more as I don't want to g
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Book Review: Staged (Busybodies Collection, #1) by Elle Cosimano

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prime reading staged busybodies collection elle cosimano

Staged (Busybodies Collection, #1) by Elle Cosimano is the first book in a short story collection and is available to borrow through Prime Reading. With only forty-three pages, it is considered a one hour read by Amazon.

Lyda, a broker, has roped her friend Dani into helping her stage a Victorian house to sell. When the landscaper is found dead inside the house, Lyda and Dani take it upon themselves to investigate the crime.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story because I loved that it was about fixing up a house and is a mystery. It reminds me of several shows that I like to watch on HGTV. 

Since it's such a quick read, there's not a lot of time to really get too deep into character development, but there was enough there to get a flavor of each character's personality. I'd say there was an equal mix of likeable and unlikeable characters. I wouldn't mind this particular story being turned into it's own full length series.

Additionally, there were lots of red herrings to keep the reader guessing as to who was the culprit. I certainly was thrown. Five out of five stars is what I gave Staged (Busybodies Collection, #1) by Elle Cosimano.

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