Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds by Allison Brennan

BEACH READS AND DEADLY DEEDS by Allison Brennan was a disappointment. I read as much as I could, but I was quickly bored with the main character’s pre-occupation with finding a cute guy and having a (apparently quite out of character) fling on her vacation. Are readers supposed to believe that that this person would totally change her personality? And if she was looking for romance, why not insist on a vacation locale that catered to similarly inclined singles? For me, it did not make sense, and I quickly grew tired of reading her ruminations (to back up my perception, I tried some word counts – alone appears 59 times and couple appears 72); it is not even funny … just sad. Based on reader reviews at Amazon, BEACH READS AND DEADLY DEEDS will have appeal for those who like this type of “beach read.” The Goodreads score is much lower, though, and perhaps reflects the disappointment of fans of the other mystery series (e.g., Quinn & Costa) which best-selling author Allison Brennan has written. A couple of years ago, I read her fast-paced North of Nowhere and would recommend that instead of this new title.