Sweetheart Deal by Linda Joffe Hull is the third novel in the Mrs. Frugalicious Shopping Mystery series. Maddie Michaels and her family find themselves whisked off to a posh Mexican Resort for her reality tv show. Though the episode will focus on budget friendly destination weddings (her producer got a great deal on her wedding by agree to film there), they quickly find themselves in the middle of yet another murder mystery when the timeshare sales manager is found face down in one of the pools not too long after making a pass at Maddie. With thoughts of an Emmy-award winning episode on their mind, the products extend the trip and turn it into an investigation and have to qualms about involving the entire family. Was it really an accident or preplanned for the show? Maddie can’t help but begin to question the motives of everyone around her, from the producers to her all-but-ex husband, and fears that she is way on over her head.
I haven’t read the first two books, so I was scared that I was going to be lost reading this one. Thankfully I wasn’t and absolutely loved the book. The plot was perfect and all of the characters were well thought out. You could easily sympathize with Maddie and what she was going though, especially her frustration with her husband. I loved the use of footnotes by the author to add in extra info about past events in the previous books, explain some of the confusing tv production jargon, and to add in some extra money saving tips here and there.
There were a lot of humors parts, and I’m sure a lot of parents in the pick-up line at the school thought I was nuts by randomly laughing out loud while waiting to pick my daughter up. I also found the behind the scenes look at producing reality tv very interesting as well.
Overall, it was a great read. It’s a great mix of mystery and humor. It’s available on Amazon in Kindle ($9.89) and paperback ($11.55 + shipping). Mrs. Hull also has a few other books available as well, and you can keep up with her on her website.
I received the above mentioned book i paperback to help facilitate my review. All opinions are 100% my own.
Leave a Reply