BOOK REVIEW - TWENTY-EIGHT AND A HALF WISHES by DENISE GROVER SWANK - ROSE GARDNER MYSTERY # 1 - COZY MYSTERY

By: Denise Grover Swank
Published By: Bramagioia Enterprises
Released: Available Now, FREE on AMAZON
Details: Kindle purchase couple years ago, 374 Pages

RATING: 3.5 ROSE & MUFFY STARS!

Blurb: Goodreads

For Rose Gardner, working at the DMV on a Friday afternoon is bad even before she sees a vision of herself dead. She’s had plenty of visions, usually boring ones like someone’s toilet’s overflowed, but she’s never seen one of herself before. When her overbearing momma winds up murdered on her sofa instead, two things are certain: There isn't enough hydrogen peroxide in the state of Arkansas to get that stain out, and Rose is the prime suspect.

Rose realizes she’s wasted twenty-four years of living and makes a list on the back of a Wal-Mart receipt: twenty-eight things she wants to accomplish before her vision comes true. She’s well on her way with the help of her next door neighbor Joe, who has no trouble teaching Rose the rules of drinking, but won’t help with number fifteen-- do more with a man. Joe’s new to town, but it doesn’t take a vision for Rose to realize he’s got plenty of secrets of his own.

Somebody thinks Rose has something they want and they’ll do anything to get it. Her house is broken into, someone else she knows is murdered, and suddenly, dying a virgin in the Fenton County jail isn’t her biggest worry after all.

BOOK REVIEW:

Hot on the tails of reading my first two Stephanie Plum books I decided to keep up the mystery solving and dust off Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes which had been sitting patiently for too long on my Kindle.

As of today, with over 4,800 ratings on Amazon and over 20,640 ratings on Goodreads I felt it was time to see what Rose Gardner was all about.

I am finding I am very much enjoying these very clean ( in the sex department) sleuthing reads. They certainly get people reading and rating them.

Now I am gonna say, I found this first installment a little eye rolling in places and I had a bit of trouble working out what Rose was actually solving. It wasn’t that clear a line for a mystery with her name attached to the series title in this first installment. Others were solving things, but Rose was doing lots of different things.

Muffy was kinda hilarious. In Australia we had a TV show many moons ago called Skippy and how the kid talked to the kangaroo…well…hehehe. Muffy seemed a bit more clued in than Rose at times.

I did enjoy Rose's visions. I would probably react the same as she did and blurt out what I saw.

I think I need to not read a Stephanie Plum and a Rose Gardner close together as they both have Joe's in it. Note to self. 

I can see many, many more books come after this one, all with thousands and thousands of ratings, so it is an ever popular series.

I like to call this one the Pilot read for me personally. Like you have in a TV series when they first start up.

I am giving this read a solid 3.5stars for many reasons. I found connecting with Joe a little difficult. I wanted to feel more for him. I liked him, but I wanted to like him more.

Rose was a little over the top ditzy at times. I get there is humor thrown in, but I like my female lead to be a bit smarter and not so blase about things that are quite serious. I felt like we changed directions several times and the plot was a little transparent when it should be a real mystery.

I can see from review ratings that I am quite within the area that a lot of readers rated and then of course thousands and thousands of four and five stars.

I think with this first installment for me, it was just, okay, but I will certainly be plowing my way through this whole series as I am rather addicted now to these fade to black ( in the sex department) mystery reads where the chick has this male sidekick who pops up when needed and shenanigans abound.

It is currently FREE on Amazon, so give it a go for yourself. You may well be a five or four star rater when you have finished.

I think this one would float about all over the place in ratings, depending on what you want from a good and humorous mystery read.

Onto, Twenty-Nine and a Half Reasons, next month.