{"id":17002,"date":"2016-08-04T09:16:16","date_gmt":"2016-08-04T13:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/?p=17002"},"modified":"2022-10-11T18:13:36","modified_gmt":"2022-10-11T18:13:36","slug":"review-toasting-up-trouble-by-linda-wiken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/2016\/08\/04\/review-toasting-up-trouble-by-linda-wiken\/","title":{"rendered":"Review \u2764 Toasting Up Trouble by Linda Wiken"},"content":{"rendered":"<!--themify_builder_content-->\n<div id=\"themify_builder_content-17002\" data-postid=\"17002\" class=\"themify_builder_content themify_builder_content-17002 themify_builder tf_clear\">\n    \t\t\t<!-- module_row -->\n\t<div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_row themify_builder_row tb_8a04007 tb_first tf_w tf_clearfix\">\n\t    \t\t\t<div class=\"row_inner gutter-narrow col_align_top tb_col_count_2 tf_box tf_rel\">\n\t\t            <div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_column tb-column col3-1  tb_jfif003 first\">\n                                                        <div class=\"tb-column-inner tf_box tf_w\">\n                        <!-- module image -->\n<div  class=\"module module-image tb_y6zf050 rounded drop-shadow customBorderRad_top image-center auto_fullwidth tf_mw\" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div class=\"image-wrap tf_rel tf_mw\">\n\t\t    <a href=\"http:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/2016\/mystery\/july-toasting-up-trouble-linda-wiken.php\"\n\t        rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\t       >\n\t\t   \t\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/toasting-up-trouble-linda-wiken.jpg?w=640\" title=\"Review \u2764 Toasting Up Trouble by Linda Wiken\" alt=\"Review \u2764 Toasting Up Trouble by Linda Wiken\">\t    <\/a>\n\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<!-- \/image-wrap -->\n    \n    \t<\/div>\n<!-- \/module image --><!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_tlsz070 customBorderRad_bottom  \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p>Event planner Jennifer \u201cJ.J.\u201d Tanner has a full plate, but that\u2019s the way she likes it. First, it\u2019s her turn to choose the recipe for the next meeting of the Culinary Capers Dinner Club, a gathering of foodie friends who experiment with entr\u00e9es for their creative and gastronomical pleasure. Second, she\u2019s organizing an Italian princess party for the twenty-one-year-old daughter of a high-tech millionaire.<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>But one thing J.J. didn\u2019t plan on is that the caterer for the event\u2014hotshot chef Antonio Marcotti\u2014would end up murdered the night of the party. Or that she\u2019d end up being a prime suspect after having had a heated argument with the unscrupulous chef. Now it\u2019s up to J.J.\u2014with help from her fellow Club members and a handsome if mysterious private eye\u2014to turn the tables on the real killer&#8230;<\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text -->                    <\/div>\n                            <\/div>\n                        <div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_column tb-column col3-2  tb_aual103 last\">\n                                                        <div class=\"tb-column-inner tf_box tf_w\">\n                        <!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_utj3673   \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p><strong><strong><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16466 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/3-hearts.jpg?resize=135%2C44\" alt=\"3-hearts\" width=\"135\" height=\"44\" \/><\/strong><\/strong><\/p><hr \/><p><strong><strong>Release Date:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>July 5, 2016<br \/><strong>Publisher: <\/strong>Berkley<strong><br \/><strong>Series:<\/strong> <\/strong><em>Diner Club Mystery<br \/><\/em><strong><strong>Book:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>1<strong><br \/><strong>Price:<\/strong> <\/strong>$7.99<\/p><hr \/><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>J.J. Tanner enjoys working as an event planner at her friend Skye Drake\u2019s business called, \u201cMake it Happen.\u201d J.J. is also happy to be a member of the \u201cCulinary Capers Dinner Club\u201d, although she is a little nervous this month since it\u2019s her turn to choose the recipe and prepare the entr\u00e9e for the club. She also has an upcoming event with an important client. She has hired Chef Antonio Marcotti to cater the party, a decision she soon regrets. Chef Marcotti is temperamental, overpriced, and hard to deal with, but J.J. has confidence things will turn out okay &#8211; until the chef is murdered the night of the party and she winds up the number one suspect. J.J. enlists her friends from the supper club, as well as an attractive private detective, to find the real murderer and clear her name.<\/p><p>Author <strong>Linda Wiken<\/strong> also writes the writes the <em>Ashton Corners Book Club<\/em> mysteries under the name <strong>Erika Chase,<\/strong>but this is the first book in the new <em>Dinner Club Mystery Series<\/em>. I adore the book club series, but didn\u2019t enjoy this book nearly as much. I love the premise of an event planning business and the scenes in which J.J. is meeting with her clients and planning the perfect party for them are definite highlights of the book. Having J.J. also participate in a dinner club gives her a large circle of friends and fellow investigators when a murderer strikes and a unique bonus to the book since a real cookbook is referenced and discussed in the club meeting. I think this is a clever and fun thing to do and makes the book unique.<\/p><p>Unfortunately, it takes quite a while to figure out who all the characters are and the pace of investigation is slow. Although I liked J.J. and Skye from the beginning, I didn\u2019t easily connect with their friends since I was still trying to keep the various characters straight. I couldn\u2019t figure out if Connor was J.J.\u2019s friend or boyfriend, but we do finally learn they are casually dating, but J.J. doesn\u2019t feel a spark. The investigation would be so much better if the story unfolded at a quicker pace. Eventually, the story does get better, but it wasn\u2019t a book that I couldn\u2019t wait to get back to when I had to put it aside. The dialogue sometimes felt awkward and choppy, which also kept me from getting into the story as much as I would have.<\/p><p>The premise and the likeable main characters give this series potential, so I would give the next book a try, with hopes for more natural dialogue and a faster-paced mystery to support the well-written event planning and the supper club scenes.<\/p><p><em>~ Christine<\/em><\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text --><!-- module buttons -->\n<div  class=\"module module-buttons tb_iiub707 buttons-horizontal rounded  large rounded\" data-lazy=\"1\">\n    \t<div class=\"module-buttons-item tf_inline_b\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/2016\/mystery\/july-toasting-up-trouble-linda-wiken.php\" class=\"ui builder_button orange\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"tf_inline_b tf_vmiddle\">Buy Links<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t    \t<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<!-- \/module buttons -->\n                    <\/div>\n                            <\/div>\n            \t    <\/div>\n\t    <!-- \/row_inner -->\n\t<\/div>\n\t<!-- \/module_row -->\n\t<\/div>\n<!--\/themify_builder_content-->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Event planner Jennifer \u201cJ.J.\u201d Tanner has a full plate, but that\u2019s the way she likes it. First, it\u2019s her turn to choose the recipe for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[83,89,48],"tags":[146,367],"class_list":["post-17002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-berkley","category-christine","category-reviews","tag-3-stars","tag-mystery"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Review \u2764 Toasting Up Trouble by Linda Wiken - Smitten by Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/2016\/08\/04\/review-toasting-up-trouble-by-linda-wiken\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Review \u2764 Toasting Up Trouble by Linda Wiken - Smitten by Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Event planner Jennifer \u201cJ.J.\u201d Tanner has a full plate, but that\u2019s the way she likes it. 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First, it\u2019s her turn to choose the recipe for the next meeting of the Culinary Capers Dinner Club, a gathering of foodie friends who experiment with entr\u00e9es for their creative and gastronomical pleasure. Second, she\u2019s organizing an Italian princess party for the twenty-one-year-old daughter of a high-tech millionaire.<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>But one thing J.J. didn\u2019t plan on is that the caterer for the event\u2014hotshot chef Antonio Marcotti\u2014would end up murdered the night of the party. Or that she\u2019d end up being a prime suspect after having had a heated argument with the unscrupulous chef. Now it\u2019s up to J.J.\u2014with help from her fellow Club members and a handsome if mysterious private eye\u2014to turn the tables on the real killer...<\/p>\n<p><strong><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/3-hearts.jpg\" alt=\"3-hearts\" width=\"135\" height=\"44\" \/><\/strong><\/strong><\/p><hr \/><p><strong><strong>Release Date:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>July 5, 2016<br \/><strong>Publisher: <\/strong>Berkley<strong><br \/><strong>Series:<\/strong> <\/strong><em>Diner Club Mystery<br \/><\/em><strong><strong>Book:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>1<strong><br \/><strong>Price:<\/strong> <\/strong>$7.99<\/p><hr \/><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>J.J. Tanner enjoys working as an event planner at her friend Skye Drake\u2019s business called, \u201cMake it Happen.\u201d J.J. is also happy to be a member of the \u201cCulinary Capers Dinner Club\u201d, although she is a little nervous this month since it\u2019s her turn to choose the recipe and prepare the entr\u00e9e for the club. She also has an upcoming event with an important client. She has hired Chef Antonio Marcotti to cater the party, a decision she soon regrets. Chef Marcotti is temperamental, overpriced, and hard to deal with, but J.J. has confidence things will turn out okay - until the chef is murdered the night of the party and she winds up the number one suspect. J.J. enlists her friends from the supper club, as well as an attractive private detective, to find the real murderer and clear her name.<\/p><p>Author <strong>Linda Wiken<\/strong> also writes the writes the <em>Ashton Corners Book Club<\/em> mysteries under the name <strong>Erika Chase,<\/strong>but this is the first book in the new <em>Dinner Club Mystery Series<\/em>. I adore the book club series, but didn\u2019t enjoy this book nearly as much. I love the premise of an event planning business and the scenes in which J.J. is meeting with her clients and planning the perfect party for them are definite highlights of the book. Having J.J. also participate in a dinner club gives her a large circle of friends and fellow investigators when a murderer strikes and a unique bonus to the book since a real cookbook is referenced and discussed in the club meeting. I think this is a clever and fun thing to do and makes the book unique.<\/p><p>Unfortunately, it takes quite a while to figure out who all the characters are and the pace of investigation is slow. Although I liked J.J. and Skye from the beginning, I didn\u2019t easily connect with their friends since I was still trying to keep the various characters straight. I couldn\u2019t figure out if Connor was J.J.\u2019s friend or boyfriend, but we do finally learn they are casually dating, but J.J. doesn\u2019t feel a spark. The investigation would be so much better if the story unfolded at a quicker pace. Eventually, the story does get better, but it wasn\u2019t a book that I couldn\u2019t wait to get back to when I had to put it aside. The dialogue sometimes felt awkward and choppy, which also kept me from getting into the story as much as I would have.<\/p><p>The premise and the likeable main characters give this series potential, so I would give the next book a try, with hopes for more natural dialogue and a faster-paced mystery to support the well-written event planning and the supper club scenes.<\/p><p><em>~ Christine<\/em><\/p>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/2016\/mystery\/july-toasting-up-trouble-linda-wiken.php\" > Buy Links <\/a>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}