Thursday, March 28, 2013

"Baked Alaska" by Josi S. Kilpack Book Review

While the blog tour is over (as is the giveaway), be sure to check out more about this book , including where to buy it.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I'll bet that my regular "readers" of my reviews grow very tired of starting a review this way, but I believe in always sharing my experience with you.  As far as I am concerned, I prefer reading reviews that tell me what the reader was thinking and feeling throughout the book rather than a rehashing of the actual story.  So here goes.

For the first one third to one half of the book, I struggled to get into this book.  I love mysteries, and I often judge them right alongside the Queen of Mystery, Agatha Christie.  I was hoping that Sadie would be a Miss Marple type, and when she wasn't, I was somewhat disenchanted.  And I struggled to truly drum up any interest for the other characters or even the story.  The mystery did not seem "mysterious," but it had two things going for it.  I had agreed to review it, and it was clean.

As I pushed onward through the book, I suddenly noticed the subtle twist the author had introduced.  Maybe I had misjudged the book.  Perhaps it needed a higher rating than 4 or 4.5.  As I continued to read, I wanted to do nothing buy finish the book.  I have to admit that action of the last third of the book sold me on this book.  Sadie was not Miss Marple, but she was one smart cookie.  And I seriously doubt that most would see the ending coming the way it did.

Since this book is part of a series, I am sure that one of the problems I encountered in the beginning was the fact that this is the first and only book from the series that I have read to date.  I certainly want to read the others after reading this one.  Though not impossible to connect with the characters if you have not read the other books, I think I can attest to the fact that reading the series chronologically works better.

If you like love and romance, I feel that you will enjoy this book, too--especially the ending.  I will admit that this got a little sappy for me and I could have used a bucket (just kidding), but it was pleasantly brief.  I can also recommend this book for its clean content.  No profanity and no sex.  Also, no gratuitous violence.

As a side note, I loved the recipes that were scattered throughout the chapters.  Some of them sound really good, and I may have to go back and pull some out to try pretty soon!

I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.  I was not financially compensated, and all opinions are 100 percent mine.


11 comments:

  1. I love that you feature clean books, I'd have to hunt down the first book to start with.

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  2. That sounds like a good book! I will have to check this one out! Thank you!

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  3. Sounds like a good vacation book. I need to pick a few up for my next trip.

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  4. I love that there are still clean books available so it sounds like an option for me to read.

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  5. This book sounds interesting to me and I love reading on vacation and at night! Unfortunately I don't usually read book with love or romance because of the content. Most are usually too graphic or too close to the edge and I've got a 14 year old in my home. There are plenty enough influences daily to battle in the real world already, I don't need to have him coming across things inappropriate for his age at home! I'll have to grab this book, finally a clean one that I can feel okay with having in my home! I'll start with the first book in the series though :)

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  6. I love clean romance and mystery books! I'd definitely want to read the entire series. This sounds like a fun series to get into.

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  7. I am not usually a mystery fan but this looks intriguing!

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  8. This book looks really interesting. I want to read it!

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  9. I love book reviews that share your experience while reading the book. It's so much more personal. Thanks for such a great review!

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  10. THese recipe mystery books are my favorite. I can't wait to check out this author!

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  11. this sounds like a really good read! thanks for sharing :)

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