Featured books

Featured Websites

.: Reader Views Kids

Provides book reviews, by kids, for kids

.: Inside Scoop Live

Provides live author interviews for podcast

.: Authors Access

Provides interviews with experts in the publishing industry

.: Midwest Book Review

Provides post-publication reviews

.: Reader Views

Provides book reviews and author publicity

.: LR Communication Design

Provides professional website design and development

.: Blogging Authors

Provides a place where writers and readers meet

.: Review The Book

Provides 5 books reviews on 10 different sites

.: Best Sellers World

Provides book reviews and author features

.: Feathered Quill Book Reviews

Provides book reviews and author features

reviews

Drop Dead Delicious: A Maggie and Odessa Mystery

Jill Brock
BookSurge Publishing (2008)
ISBN 9781439220344
Reviewed by Tina Avon for RebeccasReads (12/08)

Okay, I will admit it right off the bat! I am one of those people who fall in love with a book (partly) because of its cover.  So, of course, the first thing that hit me about the book Drop Dead Delicious was its delish cover!  It put me in the perfect frame of mind to read the book.

Now, to give you the ingredients for this book: half a cup of mystery with equal parts fiction, add in a huge dash of humor and a sprinkling of “chick lit,” mix it all together, and you get a delicious read!  Drop Dead Delicious is actually the second book featuring Maggie & Odessa (I have not read the first, but I plan on getting it).  You don't actually have to read these in order, so it was easy to dive right into this storyline.

Odessa and Maggie have both decided to put their former lives behind them and do something entirely new.  Maggie now finds herself an aspiring P.I. who is determined to learn all she can from an old "pro" who prefers to spend all his quality time at the casino.  Odessa, on the other hand, now has an aspiring career as the master of the desert table at her family's restaurant - she is also on an eternal quest...to find the best cake out there! (Now, this is a challenge I can stand behind!!).  However, bad news is back in town: that's right, Odessa's former swindling ex-boss is back and he once again manages to drag Odessa AND Maggie right smack in the middle of a murder.

"Oh my god this book is hilarious!" was my first thought as I read through the first chapter.  I loved the line where Odessa gets into a bit of a shouting match with a mistress in a hotel room as the mistress threatens:  "Hey, I know Taebo" and Odessa replies: "I just know plain old kick ass, so back up, lady." Loved it!  This book is full of funny exchanges.  Part of what I enjoyed so much, is that even though the characters and the plotline are funny, the book never goes into cartoonish or impossible situations.  There is a difference between funny and ridiculous, and author Brock obviously kept this in mind while writing this book; she manages to never cross that line.

What I also loved about this book is the undercurrent of affection and friendship that you can feel between Odessa and Maggie throughout. Although both main characters are extremely different on many levels, they share a deep love and respect for each other that I found added greatly to the book.

As for the mystery aspect of this book, the plot was interesting and easy to follow, with smart dialogue and just enough twists to make it difficult to figure out "who did it.”  To be honest with you, I enjoyed reading about the characters and the situations so much, that the mystery side of the book was just an added bonus for me.

I finished this book in 3 days and I was sorry to see the end.  Now, the real question is (and I won't reveal the spoiler: did Odessa manage to find THAT perfect cake?) you will have to read the book to find out; my lips are smeared with cake....

 

.: Blog
.: Author's website