Love in A Nutshell
Grade : B-

I love the look of bed and breakfast inns. Our boys, on the other hand, love the look of a resort. Pools, cable, furniture you can throw yourself at, sturdy carpets, no knick knacks. That, to them, is a quality vacation. I understand their point - frou-frou and teenagers don't exactly go together. Still, I long for those more refined rooms that have lace and flowers in the decor. Sigh. At least I can find them in a romance novel.

Kate Appleton is a woman on a mission. Actually, several missions. Her primary goal is to get her family's summer house, The Nutshell, refurbished into a terrific bed and breakfast. In order to meet that goal, she needs employment so she can earn the money required to fix the house. Fired from her position at a local bar because she served bad beer, she heads straight to Depot Brewing company, the folks that manufactured the bad ale. The local brewery, complete with boutique restaurant, is one of the highlights of the Keene Harbor, Michigan tourist trade. Rationalizing that since their inferior product cost her the last job they now owe her a new one, she storms the office of Matt Culhane, president and founder. She is firm, yet polite. Honest. Direct. All character traits that will not help in the new placement Matt offers her.

Matt is not a man typically impressed by a pretty face, but he finds Kate's cuteness strangely appealing, even if she is a tad crazy. Still, beggars can't be choosers, and Kate may be exactly what he needs. Someone has been sabotaging his business and he has to sneak an undercover agent into the operation to lure out the saboteur. As an outsider, Kate has no previous relationships with the people who work for him. She'll have no problem ratting out the fink behind the series of accidents that are shaking the foundation of his empire. He offers her a job, complete with bonus if she can find his nemesis.

Friday morning has Kate showing up to work armed with false bravado. She's never been a spy before, and is also inexperienced in regards to restaurant kitchens, but really, how hard can it be? Officially designated a floater, she'll have a chance to work everywhere in the company and get a feel for just who is doing what. Once she nails the perp, she can collect her $20,000.00 bonus and be on her way. Her first day starts with a bang. Some unfortunate hours are spent learning the ins and outs of "Hobart", Depot Brewing's loud, messy and rather obnoxious commercial dishwasher. The two do battle all through lunch rush. She might not be any closer to earning her twenty grand, but she does master the art of kitchen work during some darn busy hours, earning the grudging respect of several of her co-workers. Those facts don't impress Matt come Monday morning when his walk-in refrigeration unit is the subject of the latest "accident" and Kate looks like the chief suspect. Quickly clearing her name, Kate helps everyone clean out the damaged food and goes back on the hunt for the culprit. As Kate and Matt delve ever deeper into crime fighting they find themselves falling into a growing relationship. Can love overcome culinary mayhem and turn into the sweetest thing on the menu?

Feisty, slightly nutty heroines seem to be a specialty of Ms. Evanovich. Like Stephanie Plum, Kate has fallen on financial hard times. Like the heroines of numerous other Evanovich books, she seems determined to tackle jobs for which she is uniquely unqualified. Also like those gals, she finds herself excelling at the impossible, making friends, and finding love on her way to success. I tried to find something different about Kate, something that set her outside the pack of all the other heroines Evanovich has written over the years and I really couldn't. She is as enjoyable, fun, zany and sweet as the rest of the pack. Just not different.

Matt is successful, kind, and caring, a great family guy and good friend. If this sounds familiar, you have likely read one of the many short, cutesy romances Ms. Evanovich wrote early in her career. Those books are chock full of guys like Matt. What does set him apart from the pack, though, is that we actually get to see him working more than a lot of those other guys. That added some additional depth to his character and some needed weight to the novel. Since everything else is pipe dreams and cute moments, sobriety was a welcome element.

Also adding a sombre note to balance out the zany was the mystery. Starting off mischievous and mostly harmless, it slowly escalates to dastardly and dangerous. It was sad to find out who was behind the crimes and why. I felt this portion of the story was really well done; the increasing seriousness of what was occurring was perfectly balanced with the sweetness of the love story.

Speaking of the love story, those familiar with Evanovich will quickly recognize the formula here. Fun, cute, slightly ditsy but bright heroine meets serious, hardworking, successful guy and sparks fly as the two figure out they complete each other. Evanovich rarely fails to convince me of the perfection of the HEA in these tales, and this time is no exception. She does a great job of making the romance lovely and warm without having it turn overly sugary on us. Balance was actually the name of the game in this novel. The zany elements are balanced by enough serious moments to make the story palatable. The dark is balanced by light. Hostility is balanced by friendship and acceptance. The prose was so balanced you wouldn't know two people were involved in the writing. It was hard, in fact, to find out just what Ms. Kelly's contribution to the tale was; the story is so firmly and familiarly an Evanovich. I chalked that up to an ability on her part to blend perfectly with her writing partner.

There was one moment that pulled me completely out of the story on about page 244. Kate reveals that she lacks one of the skills that I would consider absolutely necessary for the owner of a bed and breakfast. Other than that one moment I found myself completely engaged by the tale. Sure, it was silly - especially the opening where Kate essentially demands a job from a complete stranger. But it was meant to be silly, and that goofiness had the necessary thread of honest human interaction that lifts comedy from slap stick to heartwarming. What can I say? It teetered on the brink a few times but ultimately, it worked for me.

My largest quibble with the book was actually the price. I've enjoyed other books by Evanovich in a similiar style for under eight dollars. Full price, this one costs a whopping $28.00. So while I enjoyed the story thoroughly and would recommend it, I do so with a caveat about cost. It's a lot to pay for this type of tale.

Reviewed by Maggie Boyd
Grade : B-

Sensuality: Subtle

Review Date : March 9, 2012

Publication Date: 2012/01

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Maggie Boyd

I've been an avid reader since 2nd grade and discovered romance when my cousin lent me Lord of La Pampa by Kay Thorpe in 7th grade. I currently read approximately 150 books a year, comprised of a mix of Young Adult, romance, mystery, women's fiction, and science fiction/fantasy.
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