Kiss & Makeup

Beauty Secrets Mystery, Book 2

By: Stephanie Damore

Narrated by: Tonia Blake

Ziva Diaz has been really looking forward to this week. Her best friend is getting married, and her beauty line is launching. Life is good, and she’s on top of the world - what could go wrong?

Sabotage, a feud, and a murder, it turns out.

Stumbling over a dead body on the beach trips Ziva up in more ways than one, particularly when one of her beauty clients is charged with the murder. She doesn’t believe for a minute that Mrs. J. would murder anyone; too bad she’s the only one. As Ziva sets out to solve the mystery, someone else sets out to ruin both her reputation and her friend’s wedding. Can Ziva solve the case and serve up some just desserts? Or will her investigation fall flatter than a wedding soufflé?

©2017 Stephanie Damore (P)2018 Stephanie Damore

Cute & modern

I’m new to Cozy Mysteries and was excited to listen to Kiss & Makeup. The story was well written and the narrator was great too. I liked how modern and current it was and enjoyed the beauty aspects throughout the story. I liked the book a lot and look forward to reading others in the series.

Kiss & Makeup

Ziva finds herself in the middle of another mystery (or 2), and there’s not a lot of time left to get to the bottom of things... after all her best friend is getting married!

A fun cozy mystery with a great narration. I hope to see more in this set!

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

Kiss and Makeup!

Kiss and Makeup is such a fun mystery. Stephanie Damore has created some wonderful characters, and Ziva is wonderful. I loved Tonia Blake's performance. She brought them to life. This book is a standalone listen although it's listed as book 2. I had no trouble getting immersed in the story. I requested this review copy audiobook and have voluntarily written this review. I will definitely listen to more books by this author and narrator.

A Honey of a Story!

Her nemesis dies of poison after eating her cake and then the boyfriend is poisoned, too! Is Mrs. J losing it or merely being framed? Meanwhile Ariana's wedding is off the rails and rapidly becoming a train wreck. And Ziva's new business? Fahgeddabadit! Tonia Blake's narration keeps pace with this zippy plot as we learn to emphasize eyes OR lips, but not both. Hey, the subtitle IS "Beauty Secrets," after all!

I'm still giggling from Ziva's antics.......

Kiss & Makeup is the second book in this series, but I haven't read the first book, and I had no difficulty following the story. However, I enjoyed this book so much that I will definitely be checking out the rest of the books in the series. In Kiss & Makeup, Ziva, a makeup saleswoman in a small town outside Savannah, Georgia, is trying to expand her business to include a storefront selling homemade beauty care products. She is also trying to fulfill her duties as bridesmaid to her best friend Aria, avoid confrontations with her longtime enemy Justine, and continue dating her boyfriend Finn without falling in love with him. Into this busy schedule falls the murder of the mayor's girlfriend and the poisoning of said mayor by eating the baked goods of Ziva's surrogate grandmother, Mrs. J. Of course, Ziva must jump in and solve the murder, so that Mrs. J can be released from prison and proven innocent. What follows is all kinds of craziness that still has me in stitches well after finishing the book. In addition to all the hilarious situations into which Ziva gets herself, the mystery had me uncertain about the guilty party until the very end.

Tonia Blake's narration is awesome. Ziva puts the sass in sassy, and Blake made that even more apparent with her spunky delivery. She does a great job differentiating between all the characters, and I really enjoyed how she handled Ziva's snarky mental commentary. I hope that Audible offers the entire series, and Tonia Blake absolutely should narrate all of them.

I received a copy of this audiobook at my request in exchange for this honest review.