Eternally 21

A Mrs. Frugalicious Shopping Mystery, Book 1

By: Linda Joffe Hull

Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert

Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

Coupon-clipping Mrs. Frugalicious gets more than she bargained for.

After Mr. Frank "Finance" Michaels loses the family’s financial nest egg in a Ponzi scheme, his wife Maddie does whatever she can to help keep up the appearance that everything is financially fine. When she starts a bargain hunter’s blog under the alias Mrs. Frugalicious, her website becomes a viral hit with a growing "frugarmy" of budget advice seekers.

While Maddie is researching "frugasm"-worthy deals on holiday shopping for teens, Eternally 21 store manager Laila DeSimone mistakenly accuses her of shoplifting. Then her day goes from bad to worse when Laila expires on the floor. Since Laila was a universally disliked manager, the murder suspect list is longer than Maddie’s bargain spreadsheet. But when evidence points to Maddie as the prime suspect, she must track down the real culprit. Can she uncover the truth before police throw away her get-out-of-jail-free coupon for good?

Includes bargain shopping tips & techniques.

©2013 Linda Joffe Hull (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

I loved it!

Such a fun, engaging, tale that kept me guessing right up until the end. I can't wait to get the next book in the series!

Delicious!

I couldn't stop listening to this one! If you love the mall atmosphere, this is a great setting and a fun read!

Good choice if you're looking for a new series

As a cozy mystery the plotting and characters aren't bad, although I had trouble relating to the twentysomethings working at the mall. The Piggeldys, a pair of retired circus clowns, and the pet monkey (son substitute), Higgledy, broke that up a bit. The savings "hints" seemed more common sense/general knowledge than anything new to me, becoming a bit annoying breaking into the audio format, but I grew used to them after a while.
Where I had real trouble concerned Maddie's husband, Frank -- talk about your classic narcissistic bullies! She spends much of the book in fear of "upsetting" him, especially in keeping the successful Mrs. Frugalicious site a secret. I wasn't too thrilled with his homophobic disapproval of one of the twins being interested in acting more than football, although Maddie expresses her disapproval of his attitude (to the reader) as well. It was really a dreary pain seeing her cater to his obnoxiousness throughout the book. However ... without a specific spoiler, that's resolved at nearly the end of the story, so that Maddie has the upper hand going forward with a series.
Tavia Gilbert makes an excellent fit as narrator.

A nice start to a new series

This is a nice start to a new series. The characters are likeable and the plot is realistic. There were times when the story dragged a bit but other than that this book is a nice way to spend the afternoon. I look forward to the next book in the series.

One and Done

What disappointed you about Eternally 21?

The main character made so many wacky, unwise choices trying to solve her mystery that I lost all respect for her.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Another mystery - just not Mrs. Frugalicious.

How could the performance have been better?

Definitely a different narrator. The story might not have been SO bad with different inflection to change the tone of the dialogue and better characterization.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Eternally 21?

I stopped listening so many times when the story became tedious that it would be hard to choose which scenes were the worst. The only reason I persevered to the end was because I couldn't find anybody to reveal the killer and after investing so much time, I wanted to know who it was.

Any additional comments?

When I realized I was starting to look forward to the next shopping tip that would break up the story, I knew it was a lost cause.