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The Diva Wraps It Up
Summary
The holidays are domestic diva Sophie Winston's favorite time of year. But this season, there seem to be more mishaps than mistletoe. First, Horace Scroggins tumbles from a balcony during his office Christmas party. Then, Sophie's neighbor takes a fall from his ladder while decorating his roof with lights. But it's the cookie swap that really starts to make her wonder who's naughty or nice.
Sophie arrives at the annual event with high spirits and thirteen dozen chocolate-drizzled gingersnaps. But when an argument erupts and a murder ensues, it becomes clear that the recent string of events is anything but accidental. Now Sophie has to make a list of suspects-and check it twice.
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Reviews
I rate books by the level of enjoyment, understanding, surprise, and sadness they impart to me. The major reason for giving a book 5/5 is pure enjoyment. And the reason for giving a book 1/5 is boredom and obscure writing. It is with a confused heart that I rate The Diva Wraps It Up one star. This is a smart book. It is even self aware. But I was lost and bored from reading it. The new characters peopling Sophie Bauer's neighborhood were not up to the task of replacing previous persons. I think Krista Davis tries to disguise her hand in crafting new stories. She is smart in that way. And most of her readers probably appreciate her. I can only account for myself. In my opinion, gone are the days when I could enjoy the Domestic Diva series. Despite what I've said, I think Davis made a big mistake in getting rid of Sophie's family. And she made a second mistake in allowing the tension between Mars and Sophie to cool down. The references to the Vacation series of movies, you know, the Chevy Chase showcases, were bizarre and distracting. Also the return to Sophie Winston's frenetic cooking, despite any circumstances, had a macabre aftertaste to them instead of being quaint and charming. Fatally, the tear jerking moments fell flat for me, apart from Patty's sob story, which touched me briefly. As for the murderer's identity, it was forgettable, which is the staple of all cozy mysteries and not something I hold against the author. Altogether I simply could not connect to this book. It's sad to say that as far as I'm concerned, the best days of the series are behind me. I will try to keep reading them though, as there is something of value in this style of plotting and executing. This I firmly believe.
Christmas is coming and a neighbor--known for being odd-- is found dead, wrapped in Natasha's homemade wrapping paper. Can Sophie help her annoying rival avoid arrest? Now that Sophie is dating Alex, what will happen when he runs into Wolf?
Then there's the decorating contest and all the small accidents happening all over town. Mysteries aplenty!
Then there's the decorating contest and all the small accidents happening all over town. Mysteries aplenty!
Slightly better than average read with some embarrassing editing errors. Sophie's trying to get ready for Christmas when she finds a dead body. The author's trying to juggle a lot of balls in this book and mostly she succeeds but as is the way of these things, nothing really stands out and grabs the reader. Natalie is still a absurd pain-in-the-ass, Mars is still spending an inappropriate amount of time with Sophie (his ex-wife) – although there is a brief hint in this book that there might actually be a reason behind it. Sophie's trying to get to know a new man, Alex, and her ex-boyfriend Wolf shows back up in her life (although no explanation of his status is given - is he still taken?). On top of all of this is the murder mystery which is overly complicated with a mystery inside the mystery. We have a victim by page 4, but that victim is sort of a red herring - there's a body yet to be found. The murderer was very well hidden in plain sight - I didn't have a clue until the very end but I don't know how much of that is clever plotting and how much is just a result of obfuscation. Something like this can end up being a hot mess but mostly the story worked. It didn't shine, but it worked. I enjoyed the read and the back of the book has a heap of christmas cookie recipes - some of them interesting enough that I might give them a go.