Liz Lund-a-thon

I have a stinking cold. I have twenty-four hours, a supply of hot tea, and I have three Lizz Lund books.
Christmas Bazaar, Confection Connection and something with cocktails on the front. Angel keeps recommending them, so why not take the plunge?

Anyone who wants to read along with me or comment here please do.

P.S. Christmas Bazaar took under two hours to read, so unless anyone can lend me more titles this might be a short-a-thon.

Mod Edit: The books being read (not necessarily in this order) are:
Kitchen Addiction, Lizz Lund
Christmas Bizarre, Lizz Lund
Confection Connection, Lizz Lund
Perfectly Pickled, Lizz Lund
Juicy Jersey, Lizz Lund

 

Christmas Bizarre - it didn't spend a lot of time building the mystery, but then the story focused on Mina's chaotic life, and inability to get a lasting paid job. And the chaos was a lot of fun for the reader if not Mina. I found the writing style flowed well, the supporting cast had just enough characterisation - not a lot of detail but enough to serve the story - and there were few wasted words. Chuckleworthy, but it only got one laugh out loud from me, when it described the town square christmas tree after it had fallen over four times and been determinedly wired vaguely upright "an evergreen missile". If you own cats, you've probably seen that on a smaller scale in your own living room.

A four. If I can follow it with flu, its not a demanding read, but then I'm not looking for one.

 

Shortly into Confection Connection and I am reminded of how true to life Vinnie is by the cat's nose turning the pages on my Kindle when he headbutts it.

 

Ooooh! I love these books! My favourite was Confection Connection. Do you have the first one?

 

Finished Confection Connection, then fell asleep for a while.

While Christmas Bizarre ended with more guns and dead people than would be expected of a cozy mystery, Confection Connection fits the genre to a T. The mystery is again light, but builds throughout the book, although Mina is not actively investigating it and when she stumbles on the solution she rather wishes she hadn't. It has a few downright funny moments, and again, its a fast light and really undemanding read. I'm following it quite happily despite bleary eyes and a stinking cold, and not having problems remembering which character is which, which is nice.

She says upfront that English Majors aren't allowed. I'm so glad she missed book critics off that, because I'm actually having a very good time with it.

On to Number 3, and this one seems long with 5000 odd locs.

 

Finished Perfectly Pickled.

Disclaimer: I was about halfway through it when I remembered to write up Confection Connection.

Mina has finally got a full-time job...in a funeral parlour...just as elderly people start dying in record numbers. Even if its busy, I'm not sure this was a good career move for her. Ok, the mystery is thin and rather obvious, I worked out what was going on very early in the book, and looked at the next 3000+ pages with a raised eyebrow. It was frustrating that while the cops worked out Mina was at each death, they missed the other people that qualification applied to. On the good side, her relationship chaos seems to be stablising, although her blind dates and online profile bring quite enough problems.

Despite its length, this one didn't leave as much of an impression as the previous books. There seem to be fewer outright laughs, and a few downright painful cringes, although that might be because I am reading them all in succession so you get to the writing style. It is still an enjoyable read.

Mr Slash and Vinnie make a nice contrast, that's all I will say.

I am now out of Lizz Lund books, so that's it for the a-thon.

Can someone add the booklinks to these, because I can't remember how.

 

Its not over yet. Check your Kindle lending. :whistle:

 

Kitchen Addiction? Normally I wouldn't finish with the first book, but, well, why not? If anyone's going to load book number five up please do it now, so I can just go onto the next one from bed. Be glad I can't spread my cold online.

 

Doesn't bother me. I've already got it (the cold, not the book.)

 

My Kindle has crashed. I'll be back to reading in an hour. I'm about halfway through.

 

All I can say so far is that Mina is far, far, too nice. This first one does feel like she is finding her feet, but with some of the things going on, talking to an attorney could produce a nice little income in this case (her boss, her former employer, the EMTs, the hospital...) or it certainly would in Britain and we are less litigious.

 

Well, well, and about time to, I might hasten to add.

I'm still surprised, I would have thought that they were still not quite your style but I'm glad you're at least taking the plunge.

 

Well good luck to you. I stuck my nose into them a little while ago and they're just not my thing.

Mina is way too scatterbrained for my liking...although if anyone was to try to cook the recipes at the end of the books, I wouldn't say no :whistle:

 

Lizz Lund has released a recipe book, if that would be more up your alley? Kitchen Addiction - Cooked!

Reader. how are you doing?

 

Loc 4500 and counting.

 

So will you be managing book no 5 as well?

 

Maybe, but lets see if I can finish Kitchen Addiction first: it is only 400pages/7000locs more than I planned. If I don't finish it, it will be due to a blown Kindle battery, no other reason.

 

Finished! Kitchen Addiction is, to my mind, the weakest book simply because the author is still trying things out, getting the feel of the characters and world. In the later books, her voice as a writer is much clearer and more developed which is to be expected.

At 7000 locs this is the longest of the books, but some of this is taken up with digressions. There's a lot less focus on the mystery, or the cat and local family, and a far larger cast than the later books. This doesn't mean it is a bad book - I still enjoyed it, but this is a 3/4 rather than a 4 like the rest, and the genre is more comedy/drama than cozy mystery. I'll also give it props for not, in the second book, sugar-coating the effect of losing her job in this one. I think the author is at her best with a more focused story and smaller cast, which lets her explore the lunacy and chaos that is Mina's life in a little more depth.

Of them all, I'd say that Confection Connection is the strongest, but I did enjoy the second book a great deal. None of them are poor reads, and they've certainly help ease the flu.

Someone just sent book five to my Kindle. I think NightNurse and sleep may take precedence. Anyone want to see if I can read all five in a day? (I did only intend to go through the three I had...)

 

C'mon lass, you can't quit now!

 

I haven't read no.5, but it is eleven o'clock at night. How's your cold?