Tonya Kappes

Beaches, Bungalows & Burglaries

Jacalyn Boggs

This was a really fun new series and I’m going to have to check out the others.

Sabetha Danes

I'll be honest, this is a hard review. I have a lot of mix feelings about this book and I'm not sure how to rate it or explain them. At the end of the day I liked it.

The side characters in the book are fantastic. All have personalities fitting for a small town. Just as moody or welcoming or gossipy as I'd expect. I loved the town, and the camp ground. There is a ton of potential with this world just waiting to spill out onto the page. 

I read this book by using my kindles text to speech feature, so the grammar issues mentioned in many of these reviews were lost on me but in looking that the text it's pretty intense and if I were to manually read it I would have a hard time with the abundance of them. I did have a hard time realizing when someone was talking because the word "said" isn't used enough, and there is an action beat with almost every word spoken, many times without the word "said" there to signal someone is speaking.

The main characters backstory is really confusing, at times she acts like she has never been poor a day in her life, but then she also thinks back to living in foster care. At one point she says "she has never sat on a curb before" but also says "she was only with her husband for 5 years". She has a degree in economics, but is also clueless about how to run a business or finances. These types of contradictions happen throughout the book with her character. So it was really hard to connect with her. But aside from that, her wanting to right her husbands wrongs, and all the confusion about if she should sell or stay, or how to start over after being bamboozled were well written emotionally. 

Finally, the mystery. Time moves strangely in this book. I can't actually say how many days or weeks go by from start to finish. At times it feels like the whole book took place in a week, but then other times it feels like it took months. This is mostly shown in the time it took to get the camp into shape vs. the time passing in the mystery investigation. 

I enjoyed the final twist, and it all seemed really logical but many aspects of it were hard for me to suspend my disbelief. From the detective to the weapon, then the bank stuff to the culprits actions at the end of the book. It was all just hard to buy I guess. And kind of pulled me out of the story.

There does seem to be a set up for a love triangle which is probably my biggest hold up in if I will move to book two. Love triangles just aren't believable for me and both of these interests happened the exact same way. Enemies to flirts, which is hmm. But on the same note, I really do love the side characters and the town, so I do want more books with them. 

It's a quick read, and funny in parts so if you're a cozy mystery reader, and can get past grammar issues, it's worth the read.

danielle bush

I liked this one quite a bit, I looking forward to bingeing through all the books Tonya Kappes has on Kindle Unlimited. 
Mae West's husband Paul has just been arrested and basically all her her and her husbands assets have been seized by the authorities. The only thing she has left is an old pop out camper, and a camping park that her husband put in her name, located in Normal Kentucky.. I love when places have names like that lol.. The pictures for the campground show a beautiful idealistic place that Mae intends to have a little vacation at before she sells it.. However she arrives to a place that needs a lot of help, and finds out that her ex-husband swindled almost everyone in this town out of their money..Then she happens to find the body of her ex in the gross lake, in front of a police officer. who just happened to be there to tell Mae that Paul escaped from prison.. Mae takes it upon her self to try and look into which of the many people that Paul screwed over may have killed him.. There are I think going to be two love interests and I am hoping she goes for TY.. So Mae decided to fix up the place to help the whole town, and solve Paul's murder.
Mae ends up fixing the campground and accidentally stumbled across the murderer, I didn't see who it was coming at all.. 
and of course Mae ends up falling for the little town, and its residents and decides to stay..

Welcome to Normal, Kentucky where nothing is normal. A Campers and Criminal Mystery Series is another brainchild of USA Today Bestselling Author Tonya Kappes. If you love her quirky southern characters and small town charm with a mystery to solve, you're going to love her new cozy mystery series! Mae West, a far cry from the Hollywood actress, has been thrown for a loop. Her plush lifestyle in the big city of New York comes to a screeching halt after the FBI raids her mansion and arrests her husband, Paul West, for a Ponzi scheme that rips people out of millions of dollars. Mae finds herself homeless, friendless, and penniless. All hope isn't lost. . .the only thing Mae got to keep that the government didn't seize is a tourist camp ground, Happy Trails, in Normal, Kentucky and an RV to live in. One problem, Mae's idea of camping has room service. By the look of the brochure, Happy Trails has plush Kentucky Bluegrass, a crystal clear lake, a beach chair with her name on it and thoughts of how much money it could bring her after she sells it. Mae figures she'll take a couple weeks vacation with her toes dipped in the lake. Things aren't always as they appear. The Kentucky Bluegrass is nothing but dirt and the crystal clue lake is murky with green slime on top. Mae quickly find out that Happy Trails and the citizens of Normal were also victims of Paul's schemes, making her lower than tha lake scum in the residents' eyes. Mae doesn't think things could get much worse, but as luck would have it, Paul West has escaped from prison and is found dead, murdered, floating in the Happy Trails mucky green lake. Mae is the number one suspect on Detective Hank Sharp's short list. After all, Mae has the perfect motive as a kept wife who has been scorned to ashes, embarrassed to death, and seeking revenge. Time is running out for Mae to prove that she's innocent and nothing like her husband. If only she could get someone to believe her and talk Detective Sharp into looking at other residents who've lost all their savings to Paul's Ponzie scheme before the curtain is closed on this Hollywood namesake.

Beaches, Bungalows & Burglaries

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