I enjoyed this book on my Kindle, over Christmas.
After a gentle start, the plot gets exciting when a young
waitress disappears under mysterious circumstances. Dare to Lose is essentially a ‘whodunnit’ incorporating a twist
of romance, with a skilful measure of violence, danger and suspense. The story is well constructed with great
tension at times, and the characters, some of them extremely undesirable, are
well drawn. Nicola is a middle-aged
woman who risks all she has built up over the years to start up a café, serving
homemade meals and delicious cakes.
She’s a kind person, who suffers from a range of mild neuroses,
especially when it comes to men. She is
in need of someone to love. I especially
like the protagonist’s mother, who is a frank, fun-loving, well-balanced person
not afraid to break the stereotypical descriptors associated with ‘being
old’. Although Jack, the American love
interest, is rather one-dimensional, I was interested in what would happen as
his relationship with Nicola deepened.
Apart from a couple of spelling slips, the writing is almost
flawless (which is important to me) with an easy style that flows and hardly
ever jars.
I’d recommend this book if you like an exciting story with
good pace and realistic characters.
Sounds good, Bev! A strong mystery plot is something I enjoy very much too. Those few spelling slips seem to be a feature of all published material these days. I haven't read a book in the past two years that hasn't had one or two slips, even those published by big name presses. I've also seen a couple in the two of mine that are 'published' rather than self-published, despite being extensively proofread. It makes me cringe, but apparently it's 'too expensive' to correct them…sigh!
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