I am in no way compensated monetarily for my reviews (damn I wish though!), I am provided with the book though at no cost. My review is my own and is in now way shaped or swayed by anyone. If I hate it, you'll know it. If I like it, you'll know it. My goal is to provide informative, fresh reviews in a way in which only I can provide.
Now, let's get to it!
So if you follow me on Facebook or pay attention to my blog, you know in addition to being a full time mother of three boys and full time employed in addition to all the other stuff I do, I am now a full time student taking 13 hours this semester. Yes, you read that right. THIRTEEN HOURS. Because, I'm insane. No worries, I'm fully aware of my crazy life schedule and have made peace with this. You know what I hate more than anything though? Even though I claim to love it? Reading (let me finish!) stuff that is required for school. Like textbooks. I know! How does that even make sense? Let me explain. If I have to read Oedipus the King (I did for Drama class), I don't mind. If I have to read a history book, I don't mind at all. Because history is my favorite! But if I have to read nonstop chapters that just blend into one another, it gets tedious and I'm liable to say fuck this shit and skim the rest of the chapters. So anyway, this semester has been full of read this, read that. And, not to mention I have tons of stuff to read for work because I'm working on testing out of my current level so I can level up and get a pay raise.
So what does all that have to do with the first book of The Wedding Planner Mysteries series? EVERYTHING!!! All this mundane reading (except Oedipus) has left my brain fried. Seriously fried. The other day I put the cereal in the refrigerator and the milk on the top shelf of the pantry. If it wasn't for my middle son saying "uh Mama?" I would have never noticed, but bitched the next day when I opened the pantry to find spoiled milk. See what I mean? So Love, Laughter And Murder Ever After by Jeanine Spooner is the first book of The Wedding Planner Mysteries. Now, look I cheated a bit by reading some of the views already out there before cracking this one open because I wanted to get an idea of what I was in for. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any real reviews just star ratings. So with a preconceived notion that this would be an okay read, I dived in.
I am SO glad I did! It was truly a fun, simple, fast paced read. I finished it within a matter of hours. For my fried college brain, it was the perfect blend of humor, mystery, and romance. I won't lie it had its cheesy moments, but those cheesy moments left me grinning. Kitty is a very likeable character and quite honestly, I've always felt a name like Kitty demands one to be likeable. No one wants to be Kitty the Bitch. Kitty is a wedding planner who falls into detective work by trying to save a friend. A friend willing to do what it takes to save someone they care about? Yes, please!!! The story rolls along smoothly and we get introduced to the real detective Sterling. I wish the author had did a bit more in describing him, but I pictured him as Jake Gyllenhal. The Southpaw movie version of Jake where he is well built and delicious looking. Not scrawny Jake from Brokeback Mountain. Oddly enough, I pictured Kitty as that one girl. Y'all know the one I'm talking about! She was in the new Beverly 90210 series. She played Silver. And, she was what's his face's sister in The Following. OMG, it's going to kill me until I remember her name. And, I refuse to Google it because my memory shouldn't be this shitty at 32 years old.
Anyway, I liked this book a lot. I'll definitely carry on with the series and have already started the second book which was not provided for free, but it was only $0.99 on Amazon! Ooh which reminds me, the first book *is* free!! Yay, free stuff!
So on a Makita scale of 5 stars, I'd give it 4 1/2!
edited to add: Her name is Jessica Stroup! I knew I'd figure it out :)
Read happy!
