Darci Hannah
Pub Date: 8 June 2018
Book Blurb:
Cherry enthusiast Whitney Bloom is furiously baking her way into the heart of Chicago with her fabulous cherry pies when she receives a desperate call from her mother. The annual Cherry Blossom Festival has just kicked off at the Cherry Orchard Inn in Wisconsin and the manager of the Bloom family orchard has been found dead beneath the cherry blossoms. Worse yet, all evidence points to Whitney's father as the killer. After racing home to help, things really land in the pits for Whitney when she discovers that Jack MacLaren, her old high school nemesis, is Cherry Cove's only police officer. Putting her cherry-tastic treats on hold, Whitney matches wits against Jack. But will she have what it takes to clear her father's name and sift out the real Cherry Cove killer?
While I really enjoyed Cherry Cove, I was less charmed with elements of the plot. Over the last 20 or so pages, for example, Whitney goes from shaking from the shock of nearly being killed (again) to going on a picnic with her best friend's love interest. The killer is revealed with a somewhat contorted motive, Whitney saves the day, and then manages to forget that she has dinner plans with person A while eating with person B. All this over the last 20 pages! She also kept ignoring good advice, getting into sticky situations and screaming way too often. True, I did appreciate she was always able to rescue herself (and the occasional drugged man with her); I just wished she acted little more intelligent (maybe a little less gleeful about heading into dangerous situations?) or at least have the situation initially presented as being less dangerous than it turned out to be.
Despite my misgivings about the plot, I really enjoyed the book. I loved Cherry Cove and some of the quirky characters - Whitney's mother, grandmother, friends, and especially McGruff. There was some fun lines - Jack's comment about having kids; the reference to the Scooby Gang (complete with some possible romantic foreshadowing??). I look forward to reading future books in the series!
Highly recommended.
I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley and voluntarily chose to review.
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