Death at a Fixer-Upper, by Sarah T. Hobart

Death at a Fixer-Upper: A Home Sweet Home Mystery by Sarah T. Hobart

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I found this book to be a bit too quirky. The main character is a new real estate agent, yet she dislikes people and the chitchat that agents really need. That said, I liked Sam and the humor in the book, most of the time.

What I am not sure I liked:
-It started off very slowly, and took me time to get into it.
-Everyone seemed either "quirky" and downright nasty.
-Who starts a relationship with their sister's ex-husband? It seems guaranteed to get messy. And Sam's ex showing up out of the blue seemed way too convenient.
-This is the first in a series, but in some places it feels like we are missing information that we should have had. Was something cut out for space?*
-Sam often feels a little over the top. For example, the whole license plate deal, while typical of any government office, felt like Sam was making a mountain out of a molehill. And sometimes, she really was too stupid to live, and she knew it, too!

*Another reviewer noted that if it feels like we're missing part of the story, it's because we are. If you Google "Sam Turner mysteries," you find out that there are two previous stories featuring Sam and her real estate adventures under a different author/series name. It looks like the previous books were self-published. That clears up one "mystery" and creates another: Why is this being touted as the first in a series, when it's not?

After thinking about the book and my review for a few days, I've revised my rating back to 2 stars, because it really was just ok, and I don't think I will be seeking out any further books in the series (or going back to read the mysteriously unmentioned first two books about Sam Turner).



*I was given an ARC of this book by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*


View all my reviews