Monday, October 27, 2014

Diamond Rings are Deadly Things by Rachelle J. Christensen


Diamond Rings Are Deadly Things
"Adrielle Pyper knows how to plan a wedding, and she is especially good at pleasing bridezillas. But when her biggest client and best friend is murdered just three days before the wedding, Adri’s world falls apart. She moves to the resort town of Sun Valley, Idaho, and starts from scratch. Thanks to Adri’s impeccable taste and unique style, she lands two celebrity clients, and her business seems headed for success--that is, until someone vandalizes the specialty wedding dresses she imported from overseas. The race is on to uncover a secret hidden within the yards of satin and lace before Adri becomes the next victim. With a delightful blend of mystery, toe-curling kisses, humor, and spine-tingling thrills, Diamond Rings are Deadly Things is a romantic suspense novel that will keep you turning pages long into the night." (back cover summary)

I loved the concept of this book and was really excited to review it. A wedding planner murder mystery sounded super cool to me. I am kind of sad to say that I didn’t enjoy the book as much as I thought I would. The most annoying thing to me was that each chapter started with an idea for a wedding craft. It was weird that a murder mystery became a pseudo craft book, but then the text had to be at the beginning of the chapter where they slowed down the story and gave spoilers. I felt like the craft ideas should have been left to the back of the book or at least at the end of the chapter.  So I was not a fan. It felt like the book was trying too hard instead of letting the story speak for itself.

Second, the story was decent. I thought the author did an excellent job with the setting and some of the descriptions of Adrielle's family farm were really beautiful. Characters were not too bad, though I had a hard time empathizing with Adrielle at first. I am not sure why. Smuggling diamonds in wedding dresses did seem a little bit clichĂ©, and so did the character’s initial reactions. Still the book was enjoyable enough that I wanted to finish reading it instead of putting it down. So, while this wasn’t the best read it still kept me entertained.
Adrielle keeps up a website with her mother called mashedpotatoesandcrafts.com. The author has set up her own real web version where you can see all of the craft projects that show up in the novel. Go have a visit.
 

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