Customer Reviews

The Chocolate Bridal Bash (Chocoholic Mysteries, No. 6)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Lee McKinney and Joe Woodyard have finally set a date for their wedding. The only problem is getting Lee's mother, Sally, to come. While trying to understand why her mother doesn't want to come, Lee unearths a family secret. Her mother originally left Warner Pier on what would have been her wedding day.

This is a chapter in her mother's life that Lee knew nothing about. Further investigating turns up that Sally's finacee was found dead in his car on their wedding day. His death was ruled a suicide.

Despite warnings that what happened is in the past, Lee's curiosity gets the better of her. She begins to spend time digging in the old newspapers, trying to make sense of events that took place before she was even born. Then Lee and Joe stumble over a very recent dead body. Whatever was having thirty plus years ago, someone still wants it to stay buried. But just what happened on that fateful night? Will Sally be in danger if she comes to the wedding?

This book is easily my favorite in the series. The action starts quickly and the pace never lags. While I can usually figure out the ending early, this one had me going until the very end. While I did put the pieces together a little before Lee, it was only by a few pages.

With the focus on the past, many of the characters from previous books are reduced to cameos. Giving the recurring characters more page time would have just slowed down the story, something I am glad didn't happen. The cast of new characters is engaging, and they more then made up for the reduced roll the regulars had.

About the only problem with the book is Lee's tongue tangles. While they had been diminishing in the last few installments, here they are back in force. While a few sprinkled throughout the book make me chuckle, here they began to get annoying.

I couldn't put this book down but raced through it to see how the story ended. Any fan of the series will love the latest tasty treat.

I enjoyed this installment of the series much better than the last few, mainly because Lee's involvement didn't seem that contrived. I just wish she had based her involvement more on her mother's history than on "curiousity."

The tongue tangling gimmick, however, has got to go. It's getting to the point where it's annoying and takes away from the story. With all the times it occurred, and then Lee called more attention to it by saying "I mean..." and restating what she'd been trying to say in its entirety, coupled with the other person's reaction, it started to seem like the author was cashing in on the gimmick just to fill a word count.

If you have read other titles in this series, and you think Lee's slips of the tongue are "charming", you'll be delighted with this book. If, like me, you view them as very annoying breaks in the narrative, run for the hills. The tongue tangles are just over the top this time around, MANY more than in previous books. I enjoyed the earlier books despite the slips, but there are just too many to ignore in this one.

I have read all the chocolate mysteries so far and I can say with confidence that Joanna Carl's wit and characters improve as the series goes on. I was not intrigued by the beginning of the book, it was a fairly slow start. As I dug into the novel, I began to become more and more involved to the point where I couldn't put it down. I will not give away anything as you can read the plot summary for yourself. I did find Lee's tongue tangling a bit more annoying than in the last books. I highly recommend this book and the rest of the chocolate mysteries, but you're going to need a box of chocolates beside you.

Lee McKinney is preparing for her wedding to her boyfriend Joe. As a study in contrasts, Lee's mother balks at the thought of coming from her Dallas home for the Warner Pier, Michigan, wedding ceremony while Joe's mother wants to take over the whole reception. While trying to plan the wedding and keep the mothers in check, Lee discovers some secrets which her mother has kept from her. Murder and kidnapping occur and Lee is challenged to find the perpetrators and keep her mother safe. In between these activities, she helps her Aunt Nettie at the chocolate shop and continues her wedding plans. Once again JoAnna Carl stirs up an interesting mystery with chocolate as a central theme. As a former Michigander, I am delighted with her descriptions of Warner Pier, a fictional town which has several real-life counterparts along Lake Michigan.

While not the most thought-provoking or intelligently written book, The Chocolate Bash is nonetheless a pretty good book. The main character, Lee, is a smart, curious young woman with an annoying knack for saying the wrong words when she gets nervous or talks too quickly. Other than that, this was an entertaining book and I would recommend it if you enjoy mysteries.

When the vast majority of your reviewers are telling you that they enjoy your books, except for Lee's tongue tangles, it is time for you to listen. This complaint has been made in reviews for all of your past books, yet the malapropisms continue. It is not a cute device! It detracts from the story, interrupts the conversational flow, and makes Lee seem like an idiot. I would enjoy your books so much more without them. Please have Lee see a Speech Therapist in your next book and dig yourself out of this literary hole you have created. Your fans will thank you.

The happiest times Lee MicKinney has ever known have all taken place in the Michigan summer tourist town of Warner Pier. She is working as the general manager for Ten Hugs Chocolate and lives in her house which might not be a mansion but feels just like home. She is soon getting married to Joe who loves her and means the world to her. Perhaps her problem is her mother who insists and entreats in the same sentence that the wedding occur somewhere else.

Nellie tells Lee that her mother left town the night before her wedding and her fiancé Bill was found dead hors later, an apparent suicide. Wanting to learn more about this unknown chapter in her mother's life, she starts investigating with some help from Joe. Her mother wanted to make sure that Sheriff Van Hoosier was out of office and had no power before coming for a visit so they go to the nursing home where he is living. They find him dead, the victim of a blow to the head and strangulation. When Lee's mother arrives for a visit she is almost kidnapped. Clearly someone has secrets to keep that involved Lee's mother and her dead former fiancé and that person is more than willing to keep killing anyone who gets in his way.

This is a very entertaining and stylish mystery filled with romance and chocolate trivia. Reading this on an empty stomach is hazardous to the waistline because the chocolate descriptions are the kiss of death so sensuously enticing that readers will crave the need instantly. Lee is very likeable without being too sweet and her brains and beauty make her a powerhouse to be reckoned with as anyone who gets in her way finds out.

Harriet Klausner

I enjoy this series, but got so annoyed with the tongue tangles I would just skip over them. I can understand how a person can confuse words when scared or nervous, but it was overdone this time. Besides this minor annoyance, the characters are fun and delightful. I'm looking forward to the next chapter in Lee's life, now that she is a married lady.

This is the 6th book in the series, and all have been wonderful, but this one is the best of all!!! I love this book so much that I wish I could just tell you everything about this book, but I can't, because that would ruin it. You have to read the book for yourself to find out how good it is. All I can tell you is:

Lee (the main character) was raised in Texas, but now as an adult lives in Michigan. (Her mom is from Michigan and her dad is from Texas.) She is going to have a wedding (in Michigan), and she wants her mom (who now lives in Texas) to come to Michigan for the wedding. (Weddings are the theme for this book.) It has been a long time since her mom has been to her hometown in Michigan. Lee wants to know why her mom hasn't been back to Michigan in a long time, so she sets to find out. She finds out lots of secrets about her mom in the process. Also lots of secrets about other people. All the pieces, all the secrets, come together for the perfect mystery, and you can't wait to finish the book in order to find out how and why everything fits together.

Lee solves a murder or two along the way.

And if you like chocolate, Lee works in a gourmet chocolate shop owned by Aunt Nettie. And I appreciate the fact that the ladies who work in the back making the chocolate are called "hairnet ladies". I am so glad that they wear hair nets. The biggest diguist and turnoff is when I get food from a restaurant and I find a hair in my food. This gourmet chocolate shop owned by Aunt Nettie makes the most wonderful chocolates.

Characterization is very well done and developed. This book is very well written. This whole series is wonderful.

Highly recommended for cozy mystery fans. If you haven't read this, you don't know what you are missing.

You don't want to miss this book, because as I said earlier, all the pieces, all the secrets, come together for the perfect mystery.