Love in a Nutshell by Janet Evanovich and Dorien Kelly—a Review

Prior to few weeks ago I had never read any of Ms Evanovich's books. Someone I know suggested her to me and I happened upon a sample ebook for my Nook. After reading the little bit provided in the sample, I wanted to read more of the story. Since the book has been out for a few years I had to find it in my local library.

I was pleasantly surprised while reading Love in a Nutshell. The story begins by Kate Appleton needing another job as she was just fired from a brewery because she gave out bad beer. When she told her boss about it, he fired her rather than trying to find out how that happened.

She returned to where her family took their vacations in the hopes of remodeling their family cottage into a bread and breakfast. The cottage was known to everyone as the Nutshell. Her parents had been behind in the mortgage and even worse the bank that held the mortgage went into bankruptcy. Someone was willing to take the mortgage off her parent's hands, but she wanted her chance to make her dream work.

She didn't stop at being fired, she decided to take matters into her own hands. She forced her way into the Depot Brewing Company to approach the owner as she knew it was their beer that was contaminated and for which she was fired.

Without an appointment she went into the main office with the intention of working for that company since she felt that she had no other choice if she wanted to save her family cottage. No matter what she wasn't leaving without having a job.

When Kate swept into the office, Matt Culhane, the owner was curious to know what this was all about. After hearing about her job history which pretty much didn't have anything to do with selling beer other than her short stay at the job where she was fired, he considered hiring her to be a behind the scenes sleuth.

He had been having problems with various things and wondered if anyone under his employ was out to get him. They worked out a deal that she would get a bonus if she found the culprit, which she would then use to remodel her cottage and prepare it for customers.

What happens when Kate is expected to clean the vat where beer is brewed? Because she is learning all the employee tasks, she is not able to bow out even though she gets claustrophobic. She is told what to clean, given paper towels and spray and a flashlight, which it turns out doesn't work anyway. Can she handle being in the dark vat alone from the rest of the human race?

What happens when the cover lands over the top, is she able to get out? Does anyone remember she is in there?

As I said earlier this is my first book by this author who she co-wrote with Dorien Kelly. I didn't realize that many of the books by this author are in the mystery genre and found that there was more here than a bit of sleuthing.

I'm not giving out any spoilers, but I highly recommend this book. It's intriguing, suspenseful in sections and contains a blossoming love.

Plus you need to see how desperately the Nutshell needs not just a basic remodel but a complete makeover.