4.25 out of 5 stars:
“Maybe they’re all hopelessly flawed.”
Belinda Blake, a quirky exotic pet sitter in Greenwich, Connecticut will hook you into her life and (mis)adventures from the get-go. Per usual, Heather Day Gilbert does a remarkable job striking a nice balance between character development, storyline, and mystery. She takes a slight detour from her Christian mystery series featuring Tess Spencer into the Cozy Mystery genre and readers who enjoyed that series should enjoy this one as well. My personal opinion was that although this is a cozy mystery, it didn’t feel like the typical cozy mystery I am used to. Now I don’t mean that in a bad way; it’s just that most cozy mysteries I have read tend to be very quick reads (like 1 or 2 sittings) whereas book 1 of this series will take you longer from beginning to end (though still a pretty quick read). The reason is the aforementioned character development, which is sometimes lacking in the genre. Heather Day Gilbert does a great job with setting and details, too, making better than many in the cozy mystery genre.
With that said, I enjoyed a variety of the characters we were introduced to in book 1. Not only were they great characters who were hopelessly flawed, it made for a ton of red herrings which in my opinion is what makes a cozy mystery whodunnit so enjoyable! And throw in a ball python snake that you just know will have a central plot line by the book’s ending. Speaking of the ending, I did get it half right and that is all I will say in the matter. I was definitely satisfied with the ending and reveal, especially since it didn’t come out of left field, something I hate to see in a whodunnit.
So all in all, this is a great beginning to what should be a fantastic series.
*I received this book free from Netgalley and publisher Kensington Books in exchange for an honest review.
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