2 stars
Made it through another Hannah Swensen Mystery. When I started out listening to the second book, part of me was conflicted on why I was so disappointed in the first one. The writing is not by any means good and everything is irritatingly overly explained as though Joanne Fluke thinks her readers can’t figure anything out themselves, but they are fine for cozy little mystery books.
Then Hannah started admonishing PC culture, complaining about the change in terminology to “Native American”. She goes on to use “anorexic” as a derogatory term when someone asks how many calories are in a dessert while also being very judgmental about fat people’s perceived lack of self control. Oh yes, that’s why I didn’t like them.
Fluke lets too many of her personal opinions leak into her characters, creating books that don’t age well. Hannah is judgmental about everything, from whether or not a person eats desserts to people’s dating and sexual behaviors. I’m totally fine with Hannah (and Fluke by extension) living her life, but listening to her harp of people for making their own choices and living their own lives gets old real fast.
The story itself follows much the same arch as the first. The characters are pretty flat and I wasn’t invested in anyone (besides Moishe but only because he’s a cat). The writing is comically bad, going off on tangents that detract from the whole. The book should have been much shorter but there are so many unnecessarily details, repeated information, and over explanations that it gets very drawn out. By the end, I didn’t care who the killer was.
On a positive note, the recipes are fun and it’s interesting how Fluke works baking tips into the narration. I also like how she connects the recipes to her characters, providing some detail on their favorites and preferences.
All that to say, this series isn’t for me. I started reading it because it’s very popular among patrons at the library where I work, but after the second one, I know it’s not a good fit for me. I can see why some people enjoy these and the series is certainly popular among some sects of the population. I think it’s a better fit for those who enjoy small town mysteries and who can overlook the atrocious police work and the complete miracle that Hannah’s bakery is functioning at all at this point.
I may check out another audiobook at some point because they’re nice mindless listening on my way to work, but for right now I need a break from Lake Eden.