Tori Sinclair has her work cut out for her once again when she takes a friend to the hospital to get chemo therapy she finds her ex-fiance's great aunt there and after she spots Tori she drops dead. Not long after that Tori's ex appears on the scene wanting Tori back yet again. Tori definitely doesn't want him back and with Milo out of town getting away from Jeff gets harder and harder. When Jeff winds up dead and Tori is a prime suspect it's up to Tori to figure out who killed Jeff and why.This book had lots of twists and turns like Paris giving birth to baby bunnies. Tori finally deciding what to tell Milo about his proposal. The good old will she say yes or no. I really enjoying reading this series and visiting these characters to see what they are up to next. I am a fan of this series yet I feel the need to nitpick. These are the books you read when you want and warm and fuzzy feel good story with a happy ending. I can tolerate the warm and fuzzy vibe in small doses. However the warm and fuzzy vibe is growing a bit old in these books. I love these books and want to read more of them in the future but some plot devices are growing old and are annoying by now as this is the fifth book in the series.Granted this is a work of fiction I found it hard to believe that all this time Tori lived within 5 miles of her exes beloved Aunt and never knew let alone they would run into one another where the Aunt would promptly drop dead. This leads to Tori's ex Jeff coming back into her life and complicating it a bit before he is murdered. I also found it hard to believe that there would be a fire in the library while all of this other drama is taking place. A little too clichéd for my tastes. I also find it hard to believe that Milo would wait months to hear the answer to his proposal. My biggest criticism is that Tori after all this time and being under the influence of Leona and Rose whose banter is anything but friendly that Tori have developed a backbone by now. She seems to at time let people walk all over her and walk into some situations blindly like she did in this book and was almost poisoned by Lynn who seemingly had no reason to poison Tori who just had her husband arrested for murder because she framed him. The part where Paris has the babies and Melissa makes her admission was a bit contrived. Yet that part that bothered me the most was Margret Louise's reaction which I took to be as a meddlesome mother in law rather than a loving mother in law. I also grow tired of being reminded frequently how Jeff hurt Tori, Tori shedding tears, the constant rehashing of information about Tori's background, and again the warm and fuzzy moments that borderline on cheesy. With that said you would think I do not like these books, yet 7th Heaven lasted 11 seasons. This book is the 7th Heaven of the cozy world, where in the end there is a happy ending and a lesson to be learned by all and everyone is polite and friendly.What Casey is doing right for the most part is getting to the point unlike Fluke, not dragging out or making a mess of her protagonists love life unlike Fluke and Evanovich, printing her sewing ideas in the back rather than in the chapters unlike the recipes like Davidson and Fluke. Casey's writing style is more like Sheila Connelly's of the Museum and Orchard Mysteries clean and pretty much to the point, the heroine does not take any unnecessary risks for the most part, and the story itself is well written and the plot line flows smoothly and almost seamlessly. I may have plenty of criticism aimed mainly towards Tori and the writing prose that could simply be resolved with a little character development and a shift of the tone. I do not want Tori to change that much because then these books would not be the same, nor as good. Tori Sinclair is literally the polar opposite to Charlaine Harris's Aurora Teagarden and as much as I love and miss Aurora it's nice to read about a new librarian whose troubles are not so dark and that is why these books are so good because sometimes you just need a book with nice characters who always have a happy ending.I recommend this book. It is a standalone as Tori only reminds you constantly the key points that may have been missed if you had not read the previous books. Though I would recommend starting with the first book just to get a feel for the characters.
What do You think about Dangerous Alterations (2011)?
Another great book and again looking forward to next book. Love this author!
—wcsmiles
