This was pretty average. I was expecting a lot from this - I always do for Penguin Berkley Crime - not least because they're always so expensive - but it just didn't quite deliver. I didn't hate it. I more or less didn't mind Shannon or the wacky cast of characters. The romance was absurd but thankfully didn't dominate the book. I didn't like either love interest. A lot of the romance was extremely juvenile. The plot line was enjoyable - if not majorly predictable. It got very over the top towards the end very Midsomer Murders with all the bodies/incidents but once I accepted that, it was easy enough to get through - it even managed to surprise a few chuckles out of me. It was rather long for a cozy mystery - or at least it seemed rather long. It dragged in the middle. And there isn't a lot of investigating persay. She talks to a few people but things mainly happen to her, so if you're looking for something a bit more than beach read, this isn't for you. 2.5 stars. ( )

This was a pretty good book. I like the mystery even though I figured out the killer at the beginning of the book. I look forward to reading the rest of the series. ( )

Conflicted.

Overall, I liked it a lot: great story, great setting, great characters, and a pretty good mystery (I was fairly certain about the murderer early on, but the author did a decent job of keeping the waters muddy and re-directing).

Shannon is a great MC: she's a successful building contractor specialising in restoring Victorian-era homes and building Victorian style new homes. I like that the author doesn't make it sound like her success in this field is special: in fact, she is one of two female contractors in the area and she employs both men and women and it's all presented matter-of-factly. She's surrounded by a posse of friends, only one of which is annoying and Shannon acknowledges the crazy in her friend.

My problem - my only problem really - is the freaking damn love triangle. Does anyone - ANYONE?!? - like love triangles? Besides the editors, I mean. Do these ridiculous love triangles ever actually happen in real life? No man I know would actively compete, out in the open, for a woman. One of them would walk away first. I'm not expecting my cozy mysteries to absolutely reflect real life, but I ask because the only other explanation I can come up with is that there are women out there that like the idea of two men fighting openly for her affections. Not a position I would ever want to be in. To be the one that has to choose one person, knowing I'm going to be hurting the other? No thanks!

The author is also a published romance writer, and there is some evidence of that here in how she writes her leading males. Both strong, beautiful, hero-types. One bears a striking resemblance to the love interest in her bibliophile series, the other one like Thor. Let me be clear: I'm not complaining about this; I would prefer my books' leading men be gorgeous: if I'm going to be asked to suspend disbelief, I'd just as soon suspend it for the ideal man than not. But it might strike other readers differently.

I'm definitely going to read the second book, coming out in January, because I did enjoy this one, and frankly, I'm in it for Thor. But if this stupid romantic device isn't resolved soon and to my satisfaction, I have to admit there are other, similar mystery series I'd just as soon read over this one. And they don't have love triangles. ( )

2.5? Kinda cosy, but not really. It was OK to fill in with something light and easy while I was recovering from a sinus infection. What can I say? ( )

Nice start to the series and I enjoyed it more then the Hallmark Movie that premiered last month.

Character List




High-End Finish - Kate Carlisle Fixer Upper #1


Shannon Hammer—contractor in Lighthouse Cove, California
Jack Hammer—Shannon’s father
Uncle Pete Hammer—Shannon’s uncle, winemaker and owner of the Town Square Wine Bar
Chloe Hammer—Shannon’s sister
Jane Hennessey—Shannon’s best friend and owner of Hennessey House, the newest small hotel in town
Lizzie and Hal Logan—Shannon’s friends and owners of Paper Moon book and paper store; their kids are Taz (11) and Marisa (13)
Emily Rose—Shannon’s friend and owner of the Scottish Rose Tea Shoppe
Marigold Starling—Shannon’s friend and owner, with her aunt Daisy, of Crafts and Quilts
Eric Jensen—the chief of police
Mac Sullivan—a famous crime novelist
Tommy Gallagher—police officer and Shannon’s high school boyfriend
Whitney Reid Gallagher—Tommy’s wife and Shannon’s worst enemy from high school
Jennifer Bailey—Whitney’s best friend
Penelope “Penny” Wells—the new bank loan officer
Wendell Jarvick—Shannon’s short-term tenant
Jerry Saxton—a real estate agent and Shannon’s blind date
Joyce and Stan Boyer—Shannon’s homeowner clients
Luisa Capello—a high school friend
Cindy—head waitress at the Cozy Cove Diner
Rocky—cook and owner of the Cozy Cove Diner
Augustus “Gus” Peratti—Shannon’s auto mechanic
Wade Chambers—Shannon’s head foreman
Carla Harrison—Shannon’s second foreman (husband, Chase, and daughter, Keely)
Todd, Billy, Sean, Johnny, Douglas—Shannon’s crew
Jesse Hennessey—Shannon’s next-door neighbor and Jane’s uncle
Mrs. Coleen Higgins—the neighbor across the street


( )