By: Janet Evanovich & Dorian Kelly
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Narrator: Loreli King
Contemporary Romance
3 Heart Review
Kate Appleton needs a job. Her husband has left her, she’s been fired from her position as a magazine editor, and the only place she wants to go is to her parents’ summer house, The Nutshell, in Keene’s Harbor, Michigan. Kate’s plan is to turn The Nutshell into a Bed and Breakfast. Problem is, she needs cash, and the only job she can land is less than savory.
Matt Culhane wants Kate to spy on his brewery employees. Someone has been sabotaging his company, and Kate is just new enough in town that she can insert herself into Culhane’s business and snoop around for him. If Kate finds the culprit, Matt will pay her a $20,000 bonus. Needless to say, Kate is highly motivated. But several problems present themselves. Kate despises beer. No one seems to trust her. And she is falling hard for her boss.
Can these two smoke out a saboteur, save Kate’s family home, and keep a killer from closing in…all while resisting their undeniable attraction to one another? Filled with humor, heart, and loveable characters, Love in a Nutshell is delicious fun.
Classic Evanovich, this story features a quirky heroine who's a little off balance and a left of fitting in with regular society slightly. Also per usual it was the characters themselves that made this story stay with me and kept me listening to the audio.
I thought the mystery plot of the book was well paced and as the reader I didn't figure it out until much later in the story, which was really nice since some romances tend to very thinly veil the villain. The balance between the mystery and the romance was well done and both unfolded together in the story.
All in all, this is a average fun and cute read. BUT. Evanovich definitely has character traits that seem to almost always be present in all her characters and that makes them all start to run together. This is made worse by the fact that ALL of her stories include the same narrator and it makes the similarities of the characters that much more noticeable. It feels like all her heroines are Stephanie Plum, just in a new situation.
I will say that narrator Loreli King is ALWAYS excellent. It's not her fault as she does a really great job, which I'm sure is how she keeps getting hired to narrate Evanovich's books. But the audio publisher should really take note that this may not be the smartest decision.
Yes, there are some fans who will love the amazing job that Loreli does and not give a care about all of the books sounding like they have the same exact characters, but there are those of us who do. There are those of us who want something different from Evanonich, yet still "her". But by having the same narrator you are not helping readers to make that distinction between books and characters.
Again, this is a really nice read and works on both the romance and mystery sides of the plot. I liked the characters, but kept being drawn out of the book every time I thought to myself, "That's something Stephanie would say."
If you haven't tried any of the Plum series on audio then you should really stay away from them and just listen to all the non-Plum stories on audio - then they'll be excellent and would deserve 4+ Hearts.
Click here to listen to the audio excerpt, watch the book trailer or read an excerpt.
Happy Reading!
Cheeky Girl Sabrina
I thought the mystery plot of the book was well paced and as the reader I didn't figure it out until much later in the story, which was really nice since some romances tend to very thinly veil the villain. The balance between the mystery and the romance was well done and both unfolded together in the story.
All in all, this is a average fun and cute read. BUT. Evanovich definitely has character traits that seem to almost always be present in all her characters and that makes them all start to run together. This is made worse by the fact that ALL of her stories include the same narrator and it makes the similarities of the characters that much more noticeable. It feels like all her heroines are Stephanie Plum, just in a new situation.
I will say that narrator Loreli King is ALWAYS excellent. It's not her fault as she does a really great job, which I'm sure is how she keeps getting hired to narrate Evanovich's books. But the audio publisher should really take note that this may not be the smartest decision.
Yes, there are some fans who will love the amazing job that Loreli does and not give a care about all of the books sounding like they have the same exact characters, but there are those of us who do. There are those of us who want something different from Evanonich, yet still "her". But by having the same narrator you are not helping readers to make that distinction between books and characters.
Again, this is a really nice read and works on both the romance and mystery sides of the plot. I liked the characters, but kept being drawn out of the book every time I thought to myself, "That's something Stephanie would say."
If you haven't tried any of the Plum series on audio then you should really stay away from them and just listen to all the non-Plum stories on audio - then they'll be excellent and would deserve 4+ Hearts.
Click here to listen to the audio excerpt, watch the book trailer or read an excerpt.
Happy Reading!
Cheeky Girl Sabrina
