Iced: A Resort to Murder Mystery

By: Avery Daniels

Narrated by: Susan Marlowe

Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's Summary

Julienne has her ideal job as an event planner at a prestigious resort. During a luncheon event she coordinated, a renowned celebrity pastor is killed next to the buffet. All eyes turn to her as the suspect. If she wants to stay out of jail or even keep her job, Julienne needs all the help she can get to solve the crime.

She has her work cut out for her with a vengeful high school rival (now reporter), the public demanding she be fired, plus family who knows what's best for her, and a boyfriend who doesn't understand her. She turns to friends and a new ally to uncover who wanted to put the pastor on ice.

Julienne goes undercover and investigates a local swingers group, following the trail of clues before they go cold. Can she gather enough suspects and motives to convince the police to widen their investigation? Can she do it before the killer sets his murderous sights on her? Will her personal life ever be as simple as unveiling a murderer?

©2017 Ariel Heart (P)2017 Ariel Heart

TERRIBLE lead character! Ruins the book

So a hunky new guy comes to town (Mason) & suddenly the heroine of the story (Julienne) doesn't like her boyfriend anymore.... That plot really annoyed me. If she didn't like her boyfriend, why string him along until he proposed only to say no? Then, when Mason goes out on a date with Julienne's best friend, she gets jealous and can't stand it. Julienne is more worried about how to steal Mason away from her friend than thinking of her actual boyfriend. She forgot about him within 2 seconds, and started crying on Mason's shoulder, secretly getting close to him and having him stay the night to "protect her." Isn't there ANYONE else in town she could turn to, like I dunno, her boyfriend?! Or her other friends?! Top it off with the fact that she is disrespectful and rude to her father (I would never speak to my parents like that). She was a terrible lead character; selfish, rude and zero loyalty. That really made this book hard to enjoy. This is way more of a cheesy romance with an annoying lead vs a mystery with actual intrigue. I think the narrator did a great job, but the story lacked in enjoyable material.
I was provided a review copy and this is my unbiased honest review

Unputdownable Fun

I really liked this book, it was a fun cozy mystery with a bit of romance. I saw other reviews bashing the narrator, but I didn't think she was that bad, maybe she struggled with the males a little but I didn't find her distracting from the story by any means. The characters were likable although the heroine as always makes stupid mistakes (ie. walking down the stairs into a dark basement when she should be headed out the back door) but they were minimal. Overall I really enjoyed the story and the narration and look forward to the next book, at least I hope there are more! I received this free review copy of this book at my request in exchange for an honest review.

death by ice sculpture

Fun, great read. The characters were good and well developed.The author kept you guessing who the murderer was. I received this audio book free for an honest opinion. Loved it. I will read more in this series. The narration was good as well

A Mystery With A Heavy Dollop of Family/Romance

~Disclaimer: I received a free audiobook copy of this book. I did buy the kindle book to read along with the audiobook.~

A Mystery Novel With A Heavy Dollop of Family/Romance Drama

I ended up disappointed. I wanted a mystery, and not a story about family and romance drama. It got super cliche on those fronts and I saw things coming a mile away. It ruined any chance of me continuing this series. However, if such things are not off-putting for you, then you may still enjoy this book.

As far as the mystery....to me it was continually broken up with less than engaging family drama or romance drama. It ended up feeling choppy for me as a result of that. The police in this case were incompetent too; that in my view is a rather lazy out for why a normal person has to start sleuthing. I felt like once the mystery was revealed it was a rather satisfying wrap up of all the information Julienne had gathered throughout the book.

The narrator does a good job with the book. Nothing really to say there. The sample is a good representation of the book; in my opinion anyway.

twisted religion

Amazed how many haters silent and vocal that the skeevy pastor had!! While the heroine's sleuthing skills were remarkable, her powers of observation about the opposite sex were definitely lacking. How could she be so dense about her ex who seemed to be looking for a baby maker . How could she not see all that Mason was doing for her and going the extra mile??? Smh. I quickly guessed one villain but was shocked at the other, and his blind need for revenge without a conscience!! Wth!!!! I voluntarily listened to a free copy of this and am giving an honest review. The narrator did a good job. I wished Tiffany would have gotten karma for defamation of character in print!!!

Good

Julienne her job as a event planner at an exclusive place, until someone drops dead by her buffet table. Then you have a reporter who makes it worse, claiming she should resign.A boyfriend who doesn’t understand. So with the tables turned she has to dig in and find out what happened. Good mystery and narration
Given audio for my voluntary review

Twisty

contemporary, cozy-mystery, romance, humor, amateur-sleuth

The high profile pastor gives her a bruising couple of gropes, she knees him, he threatens her job as she leaves the room, and then he's unusually murdered. Thus begins her ordeal as a suspect who needs to investigate before she gets railroaded. And then there's the new hot guy who just moved into her housing complex. Well done!
Got it as Whispersync on the cheap courtesy of Book Gorilla.
Susan Marlowe gave a remarkable performance as narrator.

Great Book!

This is a great book with a wonderful story and well developed characters. The story flowed very well and was very enjoyable. This book will keep you reading long into the night and you will not want to put this book down until you finish. This was such a great read and full of surprises. The narrator did a wonderful job with this book. She did a great job with the different voices of each character in this book. It was very easy to listen to and I didn’t want to stop listening until the end. If you are looking for a great book with well-developed characters then you need to listen to this book. I am looking forward to listening to the next book by this author and narrator. This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of Audiobook Boom.

Job or Career?

When a philandering Pastor makes a pass at the Events Coordinator at a Conference he ends up dead and she's the prime suspect. We were with her and know SHE didn't do it, but who did? The more she uncovers in an effort to clear her name, the more suspects there seem to be. And someone keeps breaking into her office. And what about that Hot Hero? Part cozy, part romance and all fun, some serious relationship and life issues are explored which turn this from a piece of fluff into a novel worthy of more serious consideration. Author Avery Daniels has put together a captivating script which, as narrated by Susan Marlowe, becomes an engrossing audio play. And Whodunnit? Well I got part of it right but the clues were there for the whole answer.

Disclaimer: "I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review."

Iced: A Resort to Murder earns 5/5 Ice Sculptures!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. I am always excited about starting a series with the first book. It’s like being first in line for the seafood buffet…wink, wink! Avery Daniels’ “Iced: A Resort to Murder” is a great beginning to what I hope is several books: Upscale resort? Event planning? Questionable appetites? Murder? The story was very entertaining with twists and turns that I couldn’t hazard a guess because another motive or clue would be revealed leading to a crescendo ending of “Oh, my!” The characters are well written for a first book with strengths and vulnerabilities that are engaging to follow. Julienne has personal, as well as professional, issues to deal with and her reactions show maturation and efforts to take the reins of her own life. Family will undoubtedly continue to be a headache, and romance more of a dilemma since her dream to travel puts career first, marriage second. But…there still is “the hot new guy.” The story was engaging, the characters entertaining, and I love the idea that there will be more at another resort…Her world travels begin!

I love audiobooks. They are vastly superior to me reading to myself. This version was very entertaining, and Susan Marlowe was brilliant! She enhanced Avery Daniel’s engaging story with a talented array of voices that illustrated the manners and personalities of Avery’s characters: Julienne’s determination and fear, Porches Anete Kruze French accent, Tamara’s twangy voice, dry and humorless Detective Lawrence, and sexy Mason. Adding the right tone and speed the emotion and suspense is heightened: I could feel the frustration Julienne had with her family, and was on the edge of my seat when she was put in harm’s way. Overall it was a great experience!

Secrets never stay buried

This is a fun little cosy mystery. With plenty of suspects and motives it keeps you guessing until the end. Some parts of the book seemed to focus more on the main characters love life than the mystery which made it lose a star only because I like the investigation to be the main focus. Otherwise is easy to follow and sometimes funny. I liked the fact the main character had a unusual job for a cosy mystery, where cafes and bakeries are the norm.
Julienne is a costed by a famous pastor only for him to turn up dead minutes later, in the middle of a luncheon at her hotel. The police immediately start there investigation with her, being the last person to have argued with the man. This puts her dream job in jeopardy as the complaints start flooding in after a newspaper article. Not wanting to lose the job she had worked so hard to get Julienne starts her own investigation in the pastor leading her to a few hidden surprises that would have his prisoners raising there eyebrows at. At the same time her boyfriend starts to make demands about there future together, a future he has already mapped out. Can Julienne find the killer and save her love life?
The narrator is good at both female and male voices making the listen a pleasure.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.