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The Azalea Assault (2012)

by Alyse Carlson(Favorite Author)

3.21 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0425251306 (ISBN13: 9780425251300)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Berkley

series

A Garden Society Mystery

review 1: Hmph. What started out as a light, entertaining mystery in a new-to-me setting (Roanoke, VA, and the professional Gardening world), ended up "off" somehow. The main character, Camellia, is a PR lady extraordinaire (or so we are lead to believe) who got on my nerves more and more as the pages turned. It's not that I necessarily disliked her, just what she does and how she reacts to things. She takes it upon herself to (clumsily) interview several murder suspects more than once, withholds a lot of evidence from the police (even though the main cop in town is seeing her best friend and Cam seems to like him a lot personally) because she thinks they're dumb, apparently, or unable to follow things through, or are busy picking their nose or playing Angry Birds or God Knows What.... more She expects everyone to immediately dish every teensy detail about anyone and anything related to the murders, the location, the cast of characters, evidence, etcetera, and yet that's absolutely a one-way street for smarty-pants Cam. She mucks around so much (and her behavior is so ridiculous and abhorrent) that I ended up reading with my mouth open in disbelief through the last third of the book. All of that being said, I did enjoy the other characters, the murders (strange as that sounds), and the setting. And I did enjoy reading the book. It's just the main character that chaps my hide. Still - I'll read the next book in the series to see if Camellia stops being such a dramatic know-it-all, and if her sister/boyfriend/father/random stranger slaps her and says "knock it off!" or not. I should be so lucky.
review 2: Azalea Assault is a perfect title for this book because I felt like I was being assaulted when I read it. For a simple mystery that should have taken no more than a day to read, I struggled for nearly a week to get through it. The writing was, at times, confusing, only because the author would not make it clear when the characters changed the subjects they were talking about. Then,the main character, Cam Harris was not at all likable and quite opinionated, with a lack of common sense, a problem most of the main characters had. I guess I still want my characters to be ones I can like, especially if they are one of the good guys. One of her many faults: she works as a PR consultant yet has no means of transportation so she is constantly requiring others including her employers to drive her places. I found that to be extremely annoying. Then, she had a tendency to just "borrow" other's cars when she needed them and acted like she should be allowed to do that. Her companions, Rob the boyfriend, Annie the childhood friend and her sister Petunia seemed no better. The mystery itself was typical and seeing who committed the murders was clear early on. This is the first of a series of books but for me it will be the last. less

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