Customer Reviews

Kiss Them Goodbye

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

A few months ago I read "Now You See Him" which I found out, albeit too late, was a prequel to "Kiss Them Goodbye". Had I known that I would never have bought this book which was actually worse than the first and a waste of money. My fault, I should concentrate more.

Spike and Vivian behaved like 12 year olds. One or the other was always getting their feelings hurt, usually because they'd completely misread what the other one said/did. Spike would start snapping at Vivian and she'd have no idea why or vice versa. Hello-they're both supposed to be adults with responsible jobs and Spike has a daughter to raise but they can't even communicate with each other?

Ex: He tells her he's worried that she'll sell Rosebank and move away from him. Instead of comforting and reassuring him she screams at him "How do you know what my feelings are? Thanks for the confidence!" and then she slaps him. Why he didn't run in the other direction as fast as he could is more of a mystery than the plot was.

Or almost as bad, a character would say/think something like "I know what that means. or "He realized then what was happening." Wonderful, how about sharing it with the readers because we are clueless?

I suppose I read this one to the end because the optimist in me kept hoping it would get better. Instead, by the end of the book, I was highly annoyed.

I think I'll give Stella a wide berth from now on and if I'm interested in reading another of her books, I'll get it from the library.

Fans of the Toussaint series will be happy that Spike Devol finally has a spunky love interest. Still recovering from the death of her father, Vivian Patin and her mother Charlotte receive a dilapidated mansion as an inheritance from her Uncle Guy, and are assured that the upkeep will be taken care of. Uncle Guy was a funny man, and hid the money, and only his lawyers knows where.

When that lawyer turns up dead on the grounds of Rosebank, and Vivian has managed to desecrate the crime scene, a detective with a chip on his shoulder accuses Vivian of the crime due to her association with Spike, deputy sheriff (and former colleague) of nearby Toussaint. Spike and Vivian fall for each other while investigating the murder, since detective Bonine has not lifted a finger to find the real culprit.

While there are a couple racy scenes and Vivian and Spike have chemistry, the story lacks the emotional depth of some of the other Toussaint books. And it is far too long - could have been trimmed at least 100 pages and still told the story. The bayou colloquialisms got old after awhile too, especially those from annoying secondary character Ouisa.

KISS THEM GOODBYE is the much anticipated sequel to COLD DAY IN JULY and it was well worth waiting for. Vivian Patin, along with her mother Charlotte have moved into the house they inherited from her late uncle Guy. They want to convert the house into a hotel, being short on cash has the renovations going slowly. They hope that this will soon change when they get a phone call from their attorney Louis Martin who says he has some news for them.
Unfortunately there is someone else who is anxious to get their hands on Rosebank and will do anything to get it, including murder.
Vivian also finds her self drawn to Spike Devol, the sexy sheriff in Touissiant and his little girl Wendy.
KISS THEM GOODBYE gave me the chance to revisit Touissaint, Louisiana and my favorite priest Father Cyrus as well as the other members of the town, including Jill and Joe Gable and you also get to catch up with Marc and Reb Girard from COLD DAY IN JULY.
Do yourself a favor and get KISS THEM GOODBYE, you will be happy that you did.

This is the first book I have read by this author. I got the book at the library, I am glad I can take it back.

The story begins with Vivan Patin moving back home with her mother after her fathers's death.

The two women have inherited Rosebank, from Vivian's uncle.
They are both broke, but wanting to make Rosebank into a hotel.

Charlotte, Vivian's mother invites Spike, the local sheriff to dinner, hoping to introduce him to Vivian.

A lawyer is on hisway to Rosebank to give Vivian and her mother news on her uncles will.

When he never shows up, they think he has forgotten or turned around and went back home.
Later Vivian finds him murdered in his car.

The story goes down hill from there.

Spike tries to protect Vivian. Murders keep piling up, and everyone suspects her.

There were so many people in this book, I had to go back and see who they were before I could keep reading.

After 150 pages I decided this was the hardest book I have ever tried to read, but I finished it anyway.

The ending was better than the whole story.
I don't think I will be reading anymore of her books.

Bottom line-- Skip this one.

This book MIGHT have been passable if it was about 250 pages
shorter. It seemed like the author had nothing to really do
so she just filled the pages with nonsense and way too
many ridiculous characters. Although the book starts out with
a murder, which I thought might prove intersting, I was wrong.
200 pages later I couldn't care less who committed the murder,
if Spike and Vivian ever figured out their attraction or
much else about this bunch of nonsense. I'm truly amazed
that anyone is still publishing this writer in hardcover,
thank god I only bought a paperback, next time I'll know
not to even bother with that.

This has to be the worst book I've ever read. The relationship between Spike and Vivian made no sense-between the miscommunications and bizarre dialog, I couldn't tell if they loved each other, hated each other, lusted after each other, or all of the above. The abundance of other non-sensical characters made me forget that this was actually a murder mystery. Don't waste your money.

This is my first experience with Ms Cameron. On page 17 of the paperback version, there is a murder. Does anything else ever actually happen in this book because I've read 150 more pages and since the murder, characters wander in and out but nothing much happens. If the rest of the book is simply characters wandering around, I really don't want to waste the time. I'm not sure what she's trying to accomplish unless padding to proper length was the goal of the middle of the book but seriously, does this book have a raison d'etre? If anyone can convince me, I'll finish it and reevaluate it.

I have never written a review before in my life. However, I have found this book to be one of the worst books I have ever read so I decided to give it a review. I wish I had read the other reviews before purchasing this book. It does not even deserve a 1 star rating. I am halfway through the book and still don't know exactly what the author is trying to say. All the funny town names and secondary characters make the story line and plot difficult to keep up with. The author would have done better if she had gotten rid of the so called thriller plot line and just made the book a straight our romance story. The book could have been cut down to about 100 or so pages. I am so glad I bought the paperback and not the hardcover. As it is I want my money back.

This is a terrible book. It is supposed to be romantic suspense, but it is neither romantic nor suspenseful. The "love" angle is nothing but an excuse for soft-core porn. The narrative provides no clues as to the killer's identity, and when that identity was revealed, I wasn't even sure who the character was, nor did I care. I'm sorry I wasted my time hoping for a conclusion that would redeem the awful storyline.

What a waste of time! I haven't read Stella Cameron books and I never will again. Talk about flat characters, stilted dialogue, a plot that never comes around, tragedy strikes and noone really even gets it or cares. This is the worst book I've read in five years.