A cute cozy mystery with a bit of budding romance.  There are two mysteries in this novel, one that gets resolved and another that continues into the next book of this series.  This novel reminds me a bit of a Nancy Drew novel, only with adult main characters.  Light and fluffy.

SO I picked this book up randomly for my mom, and she can't read it since the print is too small so I decided to give it a read myself.

I'd say the biggest thing I didn't like about this book is that there's no real sleuthing. The mystery just unfolds by itself and I really wanted an amateur sleuth story. Other problems were the constant talking about calories and food and getting fat. Why is this such a big thing? Otherwise it was a good book. Nothing that really chafes me other than that and it has two female leads, one that's old which is nice to see. Not sure about the love triangle that will have to resolve itself.

Picture a molten lava chocolate cake.  Rich, decadent and oozy...

Now picture it covered in supermarket icing shaped like the little mermaid, complete with airbrushed colours and lifelike coral.

That's how this book ended up working for me.  The premise offered something richer, more sophisticated than your average modern cozy; the reality of the writing produced something more akin to the mass market confections that are a dime a dozen.

That's not to say it was a bad read - it wasn't.  The MC - Lena - was likeable, if irritatingly naive and way too hero worship-y not to want to occasionally smack.  Her boss, Camilla, is the quintessential famous British author of romantic suspense: smart, kind, resourceful, generous, wealthy.  (The hero-worship, the perfection of Camilla and comments made about how special authors are in general (because they have imagination) lead me to suspect that Buckley indulges in a bit of hero worship herself.)  

Two romantic interests are introduced, but no love triangle exists by the end of the book.  Both men are, of course, gorgeous and, of course, one is boy scout good and one is bad boy good.  Buckley gets extra points though for finding a more creative way of stringing out the romance than the tried and true tropes.

There were two plots running concurrently: the obvious omg-there's-a-dead-body one that is cleverly plotted and resolved neatly by the end of the book, and a longer more complicated missing-person plot that's left hanging (presumably because the author was offered a multi book contract).  

There are many dark and stormy nights throughout the book, but the mysteries and the overall atmosphere fail utterly to evoke the romantic suspense novels of Mary Stewart, Barbara Michaels, Victoria Holt or Phyllis Whitney.  I'll likely give the second book a go, because I'm quite curious about the longer mystery arc, but my expectations and hopes will be lowered accordingly.

This book completes my Dark and Stormy Night square for 2016 Halloween Book Bingo.

 ETA:  Edited to correct some really unclear writing concerning characters.

My postal haul - mostly pre-orders with a couple of books recommended by BL friends mixed in.  I've already finished and loved one, Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher.  There are so many good ones here it's hard not to blow off my TBR and just start reading these (which of course I'll end up doing).

Total new books: 7

Total read books this week: 6

Total physical TBR: 225

Hope everyone has a great weekend and good luck to everyone participating in the readathon!