1 out of 4 stars
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Lemoncella Cocktail tells the story of Patrick Carter, a bartender with a mysterious and dark past, saves a young girl from drowning by being in the right place at the right time. Upon returning the girl to her family, there has been a case of mistaken identity, somebody has attempted to murder the wrong sibling, and Patrick finds himself right at the heart of the case. While Patrick assists the task force, believing his own life to now be in danger, the criminals are out to find the correct sibling and discover how much the task force already know.
Flimsy story, inconsistent characters, appalling grammar, and totally one dimensional women. Giving this a hard 1 out of 4 stars. Really, truly god awful trash, and not in the good way.
I did enjoy elements of the story, there was a base there to make something, it just needed a lot more time and work than it got. Mystery and intrigue to kick off the book, good. It’s just everything after the first chapter was painful to read quite frankly. The characters, all could have been interesting, shame they weren’t.
Characters, for a start, none of them were rounded at all, it came across as very lazy, easy writing, when we learn of Patricks ‘dark and mysterious past’ it’s not given the gravity or attention it should have, given that this is what shapes the mans entire being. The women, and this from a female author, disgraceful. Utterly one dimensional wet blankets, only relevant because of something their boyfriend or husband did, the younger women all just want to settle down and start a family. The older women concerned only with the family they already have. The only motivation for women to do anything in this book, is directly related to either men, or their wombs. I’ve been on this ride before, I’m already over it.
Speech in this book is very interesting. It’s as if the author has never actually held a conversation. Unprompted emotional chat, endless description of what one is about to do, stiff, unnatural, and three instances of actual police officials saying ‘Ohmygod!!’. There’s no excuse for that really. Poor, poor effort.
Food and coffee are probably the biggest feature in the book. Very detailed specifics of every meal, snack, even fridge stock takes. I honestly think Natan must have been given a word count to hit and thought it would serve as a good enough filler. People can’t seem to just talk, they have to get coffee first, must specify if instant or filter, where they’re eating, exactly what they’re eating etc. I just felt like my time was being wasted.
Overall it reads as ‘my first crime novel’. It’s not very smart, it’s really not clever, the plot attempts to be smart and have twists but fails miserably. It’s not well written at all. Very basic writing and it’s not even got that right. Grammar and tenses are all over the place, you frequently have to stop and retrace a sentence or two to attempt to understand what it should say. Luckily the chapters are short, so you can have a little rest after you’re done deciphering each one.
Finally - pretty sure she meant Limoncello.
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Lemoncella Cocktail
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