Customer Reviews

Cold Day In July

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I enjoyed reading Stella Cameron's "A Cold Day In July". The characters were compelling and the plot was intriguing. The culprit was cleverly disguised and the investigation was intelligent. The romance between Reb and Marc evolved slowly at first but really heated up at the end. It really had me going and then it just ended. I had gotten a used copy so I cursed myself for trying to save a few bucks and went out to find the complete story. Wasn't I surprised to learn that my copy was as complete as any other. What happened? Where were Cameron's editors? Okay, the book is good if you like to make up your own ending otherwise beware.

At first glance this book looked like it had all the elements - New Orleans, murder, romance - to make a fine mystery/suspense novel. However, this novel is basically rendered unreadable by poor plotting, horrible timing and confusing dialogue. I am a readaholic and almost always finish any book that I start but I couldn't even make it half the way through this pile of drivel. It is a terrible disappointment and I wish I could return mine.

Stella Cameron weaves her story will skill and suspense. Like any good mystery you are unable to 'guess' the ending until you arrive at those last few pages. Unfortunately Ms Cameron leaves the story line at a scene where you may have answered the "who did it" question .... however you are forced to leave the main characters in limbo. The reader has no closure for the group of characters you have grown to know throughout the story. You are left with a miriad of questions regarding their outcomes. I would give this story 5 stars right up to the last page...but reduced it to 3 stars simply because there was no closure. Having read all of Ms Cameron's other books I found this ending very atypical.

I would not recommend this book. The writing is so uneven, you don't care what happens to the characters. The ending is terrible. She ends without resolutions for any of the characters. The plot is so convoluted, it's pathetic. You will come away from reading this book feeling totally cheated! I expect more of Stella Cameron than this. I can't believe her publishers actually let this one pass through. They must be getting desperate.

I logged on to Amazon.com to see if this book really ended so oddly, or if I was missing pages. It was a very good read, with an unsatisfying ending.

This is the worse book I have read in a very long time, and I read a lot. It was a tease starting out with several interesting characters that were never developed. No character was truly likable because there was not enough information offered to make them 3-dimensional. Gaps and blunders abound. For example: Why did people hate Marc? How could Reb go from cold to hot so fast? What happened to Amy? Who was Bonnie Blue? What was the deal with the photograph? Why did Oribel think she was Cyrus' proctector? And the biggest blunder of all... what made the publishers think this novel was finished?

The worst Stella Cameron novel I've ever read, and totally not like her. It suffered from horrible pacing, the main characters' romantic encounters just seemed random, as though Cameron went back and just added them in later after the book was completed. As for the ending, I actually had to check the page numbers because I thought the printer had left a few pages out, but unfortunately that wasn't the case. The ending was jarringly abrupt. Completely unlike Stella Cameron, whose historicals have always kept my attention. I actually couldn't wait for this one to end.

I picked this book up as I had read FRENCH QUARTER and thought this novel would be of the same caliber. My review will be short as 2 other reviewers have summed up my feelings. This book was poorly written. The plot was a disjointed patchwork of subplots. The dialog was static. The writer would randomly hint that a character might have something forthcoming and then drop the thread. There was no flow from one chapter, really paragraph, to another. No explantion was given as to why Father Cyrus felt such anomosity towards Marc, for that matter what had Marc's father done to have a whole town hate him so much? It was never explained and became annoying and stupid when "town folk" treated the owner of at least one half the town with such open hostility. It didn't make a lick of sense and that sums up my review of the book.

I usually love anything that Stella Cameron writes but this book was very strange. The book was fast paced, but the ending was so awful...I still don't have a clue to what happened to anyone. If this storyline is going to continue in another book - that should have been noted . . Even so she should have done an epilogue to give the readers a clue of what happened..

I read FRENCH QUARTER a couple of years ago and was introduced to Father Cyrus. He now pops up very prominently in COLD DAY IN JULY. He is in the middle of a murder mystery and it seems like he knows more than what he is saying to Marc, the hero. Marc thinks the victim is his sister, but first, they need to find the body to determine that. Reb is the girl that Marc was attracted to years ago and now that he is back, he intends to kindle a relationship.The relationship between the two is sizzling hot and finds them in unusual places in which they explore their attraction. :)


Stella Cameron knows how to weave a suspenseful tale with intriguing characters. It moved very fast, the story did. I must admit I sometimes had to catch up with who is who and what is going on, but it was an enjoyable story. I will also admit that the ending seemed rather abrupt. I would have liked an epilogue that would have tidied up some things. One of which I won't mention here, so as to not give away part of the plot. I am hoping Ms Cameron continues the story sometime soon to tidy up the ending of this.

All in all, I enjoyed reading it and look forward to her next book. If you like hot romantic suspense, then read COLD DAY IN JULY.