I received an ARC from Netgalley.

An entertaining, fast read with a nice twist at the end. I really enjoyed this book.

Cute, funny book. Does have a Stephanie Plum feel to characters.

this is like my new fave series

It was eh. I didn't see any need for the constant flashbacks, and in terms of the writing, there were quite a few tense problems.

The story itself could have been interesting, but you've got this woman (Jules) who's in love with her best friend, but won't even admit it to herself. When he gets arrested for killing his girlfriend, Jules is so convinced he's innocent that she feels it's her job to prove his innocence.

To make things more interesting (?), she's in lust with a cop at the same time. They can't even stay together for a week at a time without fighting and breaking up. It's a little ridiculous.

Jules is supposed to be the heroic sleuth, solving the crime right under the "dumb" cops noses, but she bumbles through everything and constantly gets caught and causes more problems than she solves.

***Received this book through Chatterbox and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed Death Before Decaf and looked forward to the next in the series and this doesn't disappoint I could put it down and didn't figure out who did it until the very end. I look forward to more in this series.

I love this book! It keeps you on the edge of your seat. I cannot wait to read the first Java Jive Mystery and to read more of Caroline Fardig. The characters in the book are amazing. It is like you are in it. I like all the twist in the book.

Business is pretty good at the coffee shop Juliet Langley manages for her best friend Pete Bennett, until Juliet stumbles over the body of Pete's girlfriend in the tent/booth Java Jive was to staff at a benefit race that morning. When Pete is arrested for murder, Juliet goes on the offensive, determined to clear his name, despite repeated admonitions from her boyfriend, Detective Ryder Hamilton, to stay out of it and let the police do their job. Not listening to him nearly costs Juliet her life.

The second book in the series got off to a rocky start with me when the main character cracked a potty joke worthy of a 12 year old boy in the first scene. Yet we're to believe Juliet and Pete are adults?

I'd hoped it would get better, but I read for character, and I was stunned by the choices Ms. Fardig made between the first and second books in her series. For example, she wrote herself back INTO a corner with the Juliet/Pete/Ryder love triangle, which made no sense. At the end of book #1, Pete and Juliet finally get together and begin to acknowledge that each has been pining for the other for a dozen years, yet two months later when book #2 begins, they've long since broken up and agreed to be "just friends"? For real? No. Finding that navigating a romantic relationship while maintaining a professional one is harder than they thought, OK, but giving up and resuming previous patterns of behavior? No. And Pete picking right back up with his stuck up, bitchy, jealous (ex)girlfriend? HUH?? Also, NO. We're supposed to believe he would rather date someone who treats people, including him, like garbage instead of his best friend who he's been head-over-heels in love with for over a decade? Seriously? No.

So many of the things Juliet says and does in this book are downright idiotic. I had a hard time rooting for someone so immature and lacking in impulse control. The Redheaded She-Devil concept was at least funnier in the first book. This time around I found myself gritting my teeth and wishing she would grow up and think things through for a change.

The secondary characters in book #2 also lack internal consistency. It felt to me like Ms. Fardig started writing the book one way and then couldn't figure out who the killer was and so forced her characters to contort in order to come up with an ending. Particularly the unexpected twist near the end that revealed the murderer--my jaw dropped, and not in a good way.

I did appreciate the section of the book set in Nashville's Centennial Park, as I was just there earlier this summer and visited the Parthenon replica, so I could picture those scenes much more vividly than I would have been able to in the past. I also enjoyed the glimpse into Ryder's past as he took Juliet to the Christmas tree farm.

For readers' advisors: story doorway is primary. There is a ton of swearing, but usually pretty mild as swearing goes. The sex and most of the violence happens off-screen.

I wanted to like this book. The main character runs a coffee house (I love coffee) and has multiple love interests (Oo-la-la) and solves murder mysteries on the side (wtg female bad-assery). Sadly, the book falls short of its cool premise.

In reality, Jules is respected by none of her love interests. They either use her as a doormat (including Pete, who Jules views as perfect), or they treat her like a moron. And, truthfully, I don't even respect her that much. She runs headlong into dangerous situations for no good reason and is blind to the way people treat her.

Although I received this book free through Chatterbox in exchange for my honest review, all opinions stated here are my own.

I received this book from House Party and Chatterbox in exchange for my honest review.

Mug Shot is the second book in the Java Jive mystery series. I had never heard of this series before reading Mug Shot, so I was excited to receive it!

The book is basically in the genre of "cozy mysteries." I say basically because I am used to cozy mysteries being a little more, well, cozy. While the story in itself was pretty cute and I didn't figure out who did it until I was almost done, I was a little put off by some of the language used by the author.

I am not a prude AT ALL. I often read books in which the author is pretty liberal with his or her language. I just wasn't expecting some of the cursing and some of the sexual comments from this type of book. I just wanted to throw that out there for anyone planning on reading this who may be offended by that.

As for the story, I DID enjoy the book. Caroline Fardig writes in an easy-to-read style and it's not jilted or confusing at all. The mystery was well-done and her characters are likeable. I honestly feel as if they are people I could see myself associating with in real life. The book is fast-paced and fun to read.

I'm not a fan of giving a synopsis of the book in reviews because I think people can find that out from the book jacket or the blurb attached to ebook download pages, so I won't do that here.

I WILL say that I like Juliet (the main protagonist) a lot, but I wish she had wound up with a different character at the end of the book. ;) I will definitely be reading the first book in the series, and will look for the (hopefully?) third book should one ever be written.