Rosie Genova

This book was a fun, cozy mystery, with time-travel, unforgettable characters, and high stakes. Tess’s reaction to waking up in the 50s was entirely believable, and when reality sets in, she handles it better than I would! I loved the vivid descriptions of everything, it makes it feel as though you’re there beside Tess, experiencing everything. Much more immersive than just looking at old photos or film. She and her great aunt are basically doppelgängers with very few differences to the show more point those around her don’t seem to notice she’s different added a nice twist to the story. One of my favorite parts was how the ghost of her aunt seemed to be whispering in her ear at times, helping her along a little. I was just as invested in solving the mystery as Tess, although I wasn’t the one who would be undoubtedly stuck in the 50s if it wasn’t solved. After this, I hope there are more mysteries in the cards for Tess. If you like time travel, women sleuths, and cozy noir mysteries, you need to read this! show less

Like a sumptious feast of Italian cuisine, Wedding Soup Murder satiates both body and mind. After our wedding, my brother took the entire wedding party to the Ristorante della Fontana in Salt Lake City. They don't put all the food on the table at once; each meal there had seven courses, so there was elbow room, plenty of time to talk with your tablemates, and no rushing to eat everything before it got cold.

Ms. Genova dishes up exposition and action at the right amounts at the right times to show more bring out the full flavors of this book. 'Nonna' may even be proud. In the opening chapter, we learn that Vic is making 1,000 (that's one t.h.o.u.s.a.n.d) tiny meatballs for the Wedding Soup her family's restaurant is providing for the wedding reception of a family friend. If Nonna ever gets tired of cooking (as if!), she could go on to co-ordinate military campaigns that could put the Joint Chiefs of Staff out of business. Vic's ex-boyfriend is a chef at the restaurant. Danny (Vic's brother) and his wife Sophia are separated. Each of these threads continues throughout the book in one form or another.

Once getting to the country club's kitchen, they are 'greeted' (if you can call it that) by two Michelin-star egos chefs, and the club's imperious president, who disapproves of anyone or anything that doesn't measure up to her standards ... which is pretty much everyone and everything. At the end of the evening, someone apparently had their fill of disapproval and the club president wound up over done (dead) on the beach.

Here some of the traditional elements of cozy mysteries kick in. Of course, the heroine, Vic, has to start investigating. The local authorities (in this case, her brother Danny) tries to warn her off. Then Vic and her investigation start to rub some people (oh, the killer, you know) the wrong way, and things get a little ... dangerous. But each of these elements is handled with such wit and just the right amount of seasoning, that Wedding Soup Murder will leave a smile on your face and a wonderful memory in your heart for a long time ... or until the next installment comes out. ;) show less

Victoria Rienzi writes mysteries under the name of Vick Reed. When it's determined that she needs a temporary break from writing her series, she returns home to her roots to write about her family. But when she arrives she doesn't expect to see the man who sent her running away in the first place...working in her family's restaurant as a sous chef.

Once she realizes she'll have to work with him she decides to make the best of it and tells him she refuses to discuss their past together. But show more that's not all: she learns from her family that a smarmy TV producer is going to film a reality TV show in their little town, and they've organized a protest against it.

But things take a turn when Gio Parisi - the person running the show - turns up at the restaurant and Victoria realizes she needs to serve him and get him out before her family returns and finds him there. But what she also doesn't expect is that when she heads out to the kitchen garden not too long after, she finds Gio dead nearby...

Now the restaurant is losing customers because everyone thinks he developed food poisoning from their food. And Vick also discovers that her nonna wants her to put her deductive skills to use to find the killer before they have to close their doors for good...

I know this series didn't last too long, but it sounded cute anyway, so I prevailed...at least until I discovered we're up to our ears again in a love triangle. When, oh, when will authors realize a love triangle is not all that interesting to read about? Personally, I detest them. Think of it this way: What if the situation were reversed and it were one man stringing along two women? You'd think him a dog and the women trying to snag him were desperate. So why is this any different? It's not much better, waffling between two men, really. Is there a lack of women in this town (or any of the others we read about)? Most people don't date two people at the same time (at least with the other person's knowledge) waiting for them to make a decision on which man she'll choose. Geez, enough with the love triangles already. If you're going to throw in a romance, make it a romance, not another silly woman who hasn't got the brains to decide which man she wants in her life.

Anyway, although others might find the idea interesting, it's gotten to the point with me that if I even get a whiff of a love triangle I stop reading the book and vow never to pick up any more in the series; and if the author writes a different series, I usually look for it at the bookstore and if that one goes in the same direction, I never read another by the author. I want to be entertained, not read a soap opera.

Besides that little tidbit of annoyance, the characters are all stereotypical - Italian family has a decades-old restaurant, a crusty nonna, an over-the-top mother who wants grandchildren (Thank God for parents who understand their children aren't baby-making machines who marry and then are expected to pop them out on a regular basis just to keep their mother happy). Babies come in their own time and at the right time, and mothers like this are the reason people move as far away from them as possible; the son is a police officer, and of course, the ex-boyfriend is dark and brooding.

While the ending tied everything up together nicely, just as it's supposed to, it also did the typical will-she-or-won't-she with the "boyfriends" whom, of course, she managed to alienate in this book in the usual way but will probably have them chomping at the bit for her in the next. It doesn't really matter, because I won't be there to read it. show less

Victoria Rienzi, AKA Vick Reed, is being pushed by her editor to end her mystery series and create a new series. She decides to take some time away to work on an historical novel based on her family and go home to do research, write it and learn to cook. But things don't go smoothly. Things are prickly with her Nonna, her ex-boyfriend is sous chef at the family restaurant, and a reality TV producer dies after eating at the restaurant. Nonna expects her to find the killer before the show more restaurant's reputation is damaged. Victoria and her sister-in-law, Sophie, do the investigating. Culprit was no surprise. I liked Victoria and Sophie, but not sure about Nonna, Cal, or Tim. Maybe I'll warm up to them in future volumes. I'll read at least one more to see how things develop. show less