Title: The Azalea Assault
Author: Alyse Carlson
Publisher: Berkley (June 5, 2012)
Format: Paperback; Pgs 304
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Source: Library
Series:A Garden Society Mystery #1
Oh for goodness sake, why do authors feel the need to throw twist upon unnecessary twist in cozy mysteries? It is bad enough that they throw all twenty characters at you at once, but this genre is supposed to involve a smooth easy flow and in the end the reader feels that they have gotten to know new interesting people and a little about the town that they come from.
Other than the excessive characters and a never-ending conclusion, I have a couple generic complains about this book - one of my many pet peeves is the names that authors choose for their characters tend to distract me more than they should. For instances, in Azalea Assault, one of the male characters is named Neil Patrick. Sorry, but there is an actor named Neil Patrick Harris and every time I came to this name, I wanted to add Harris to the end. It does not help that the main character’s last name is Harris and I was forever trying to tie them together.
Second, when you have characters named after flowers there are many to choose from, so why use Petunia. Was not that the name of Porky Pig’s girlfriend? See, names tend to hit me wrong and it tends to distract me from the plotline.
Camilla Harris has control issues. She believes that if you put in the legwork, you could will something to happen so when the dead body of a prominent photograph shows up on the day of the Roanoke Garden Societies magazine shoot, she turns her frustration into anger and is determined to get everyone back on board. The RGS has hired her to be in charge of publicity and she will find a way to get the little matter of not one, but now two dead bodies spun in the right direction.
Knowing what to do and knowing how to do it are two different things, so when a person close to Cam is considered the favorite suspect, Cam in pushed to investigate on her own and clear this wrongly condemned person.
Just when you think that this book is done you realize that there are one hundred additional pages and the author keeps throwing more on the wall hoping to either run up the page count or completely overwhelm the reader. Why were so many scenarios thrown in? By the time I was finished, I swear there were three or four books worth of material smashed together.
No, this book does not standout as an impressive first book and I have no interest in putting in the effort to read anymore.
Other than the excessive characters and a never-ending conclusion, I have a couple generic complains about this book - one of my many pet peeves is the names that authors choose for their characters tend to distract me more than they should. For instances, in Azalea Assault, one of the male characters is named Neil Patrick. Sorry, but there is an actor named Neil Patrick Harris and every time I came to this name, I wanted to add Harris to the end. It does not help that the main character’s last name is Harris and I was forever trying to tie them together.
Second, when you have characters named after flowers there are many to choose from, so why use Petunia. Was not that the name of Porky Pig’s girlfriend? See, names tend to hit me wrong and it tends to distract me from the plotline.
Camilla Harris has control issues. She believes that if you put in the legwork, you could will something to happen so when the dead body of a prominent photograph shows up on the day of the Roanoke Garden Societies magazine shoot, she turns her frustration into anger and is determined to get everyone back on board. The RGS has hired her to be in charge of publicity and she will find a way to get the little matter of not one, but now two dead bodies spun in the right direction.
Knowing what to do and knowing how to do it are two different things, so when a person close to Cam is considered the favorite suspect, Cam in pushed to investigate on her own and clear this wrongly condemned person.
Just when you think that this book is done you realize that there are one hundred additional pages and the author keeps throwing more on the wall hoping to either run up the page count or completely overwhelm the reader. Why were so many scenarios thrown in? By the time I was finished, I swear there were three or four books worth of material smashed together.
No, this book does not standout as an impressive first book and I have no interest in putting in the effort to read anymore.
No comments:
Post a Comment