Love In A Nutshell

Book Description

 

Number one bestselling author Janet Evanovich teams up with award-winning author Dorien Kelly to deliver a sparkling novel of romantic suspense, small-town antics, secretive sabotage, and lots and lots of beer Kate Appleton needs a job. Her husband has left her, she’s been fired from her position as a magazine editor, and the only place she wants to go is to her parents’ summer house, The Nutshell, in Keene’s Harbor, Michigan. Kate’s plan is to turn The Nutshell into a Bed and Breakfast. Problem is, she needs cash, and the only job she can land is less than savory. Matt Culhane wants Kate to spy on his brewery employees. Someone has been sabotaging his company, and Kate is just new enough in town that she can insert herself into Culhane’s business and snoop around for him. If Kate finds the culprit, Matt will pay her a $20,000 bonus. Needless to say, Kate is highly motivated. But several problems present themselves. Kate despises beer. No one seems to trust her. And she is falling hard for her boss.

Can these two smoke out a saboteur, save Kate’s family home, and keep a killer from closing in…all while resisting their undeniable attraction to one another? Filled with humor, heart, and loveable characters, Love in a Nutshell is delicious fun.

Book Review

 

First, I would like to address the story.  It was completely awesome!  This is not in one of Janet Evanovich’s previous story lines.  It is a completely new story with completely new characters.

Janet Evanovich and Dorien Kelly wrote it well together.  You could not tell where in the story each one wrote.  It blended together seamlessly.

The mystery of who the saboteur was a fun one to attempt to solve.  I loved all the characters in this one.  And it contained all of the great humor that I have come to love and expect from anything that Janet Evanovich is associated with.

Now on to the audio portion.  I received the abridged version.  I will definitely be getting the book when it comes out so I can find out what scenes I missed out on.

This book was read by Lorelei King.  I love her reading style.  She was the reader for Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series as well as most of her other books.

She really evokes a lot of feeling and depth into the characters.  And you can always tell which character is “talking” by the various voice inflections that she uses.

So between the great story and the great voice talent, I highly suggest getting this book when it comes out on January 3rd.

The Janet Evanovich Experience

 

I was lucky enough to have received this audio book before my trip to go see Janet Evanovich in Orlando for her book signing.  So my four hour drive to go see her was very well entertained. 

My sisters and I woke up at 4 am in order to leave the house by 5 am.  We got to listen to the audio book on the road trip to Orlando.  It was great fun.  We didn’t even realize how quickly the time flew by since we were so engrossed in the story.

We got to the Barnes & Noble shortly before 9 am.  They had already opened up and started handing out the bracelets, so we got in line.  We all got bracelets with the letter C on them.  We found out from the manager that there were 100 people per letter group. 

Since we got to the Barnes & Noble just before finishing the book, we had to go back and sit in the car for a little bit to finish.  We didn’t want to wait for the drive home.

We then went out to do a little shopping and have lunch before returning for the signing event which was to begin at 1 pm.

When we returned we were shocked to see the entire first floor of the Barnes & Noble packed with people.  However, since we had the letter C, we were led upstairs to where even more people were waiting.  We asked and were told that they were still handing out bracelets and they were up to the letter H. 

While there, we made sure to buy Explosive Eighteen so that we could get it signed.  I haven’t had the chance to read it yet though.  I definitely can’t wait!

We went over to where the C group were standing and got in line.  The people in the line around us were really great.  We all sat around talking about Janet Evanovich’s books and various other things.  It was amazing how many different things we all had in common.  And of course, we all made our speculations about the upcoming movie.  If you haven’t seen the trailer for it yet, you have got to check it out!!

 

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUoR4WONfsA]

 

Since it was going to be a long wait, they were walking around handing out brownies and blondies to those who wanted them.  I was good and didn’t eat any.  Besides, we just had a HUGE lunch at the Cracker Barrel (It’s funny that we have one a few blocks from our house, but we only eat at the restaurants when we are out on a road trip somewhere).

One of the highlights of standing in line was Phillip Douglas.  He is Janet’s “Person Thursday”.  He came around quite a few times.  He definitely livened things up.  He was telling us how it was his responsibility to make sure that Janet was up in the morning, had a good healthy breakfast, and then exercised while out on tour.  Plus he was the one that would massage her hand and take care of it after signing all the things that people brought (and believe me, there were a lot of books!).  He made sure that everyone got these cute little “Plum Crazy” pins.  He also handed out trivia sheets and word searches to everyone.  In general, he helped to make it a wonderful experience for everyone there.

I felt bad for Janet though.  Some people brought huge STACKS of books.  To me, that was just taking it a little far.  Yes, it is nice to have all of your books autographed by the author, but have a little compassion too.  She is taking time out of her life to do something nice for her fans.  And some just took advantage.  One woman had over 20 books.  I stopped counting at 20.  The ones I saw looked like they had different covers.  So I am thinking that she had 1 of each of Janet’s books.  I just feel that you shouldn’t take advantage like that, but that is just my opinion.

Even though there were already well over 200 people in front of me in line, Janet was still smiling and pleasant by the time she got to me.  She was a little shocked to see the audio book that has not come out yet.  Of course, she asked me how I got it.  I explained that I was a review blogger and would be writing up my review on the book.  And as you can see by the picture up top, I had her date that one. 

When we were leaving, the manager told us that they were still handing out bracelets and were up to the letter J.  So by the time the event was over, she had well over 1000 people stop in to see her.  That is a lot of signing!

I would definitely love to thank Janet Evanovich for taking the time out of her schedule to do the book signing!! 

Love in a Nutshell (9781427215550): Janet Evanovich, Dorien Kelly: Books ISBN: 1427215553 ISBN-13: 9781427215550

In conjunction with the Wakela's World Disclosure Statement, I received a product in order to enable my review. No other compensation has been received. My statements are an honest account of my experience with the brand. The opinions stated here are mine alone.