Murder at Honeysuckle Hotel

Trash to Treasure Crafting Mystery, Book 1

By: Rose Pressey

Narrated by: Margie Lenhart

Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

It's summertime in Honeysuckle, and everyone is lazing in the shade with a tall glass of lemonade. Everyone except Raelynn Pendleton. She's stuck working at the local store to make the rent while her no-good ex-husband lives it up with a floozy.

When she inherits a Victorian house, Raelynn jumps at the chance to turn her life around. How can she afford the upkeep on such a huge place? Simple. She'll run it as a hotel. Problem is, she has no experience and the decor dates back to the Dark Ages. She'll have to use her secret talent for turning junk into treasure or she'll never snag an overnight guest.

But before the new Honeysuckle Hotel even opens for business, Raelynn discovers the body of a young woman in the garden. As a newcomer in town, Raelynn is blamed for the murder. She's fired from her job, which could mean she'll lose the house. The only way to save Honeysuckle Hotel is to find the real killer - with or without the sexy Sheriff Kent Klein.

One way or another, Honeysuckle will be buzzing.

©2014 Rose Pressey (P)2014 Rose Pressey

Fun read

Being from KY and specifically Lexington (as mentioned in the book) I find this book to be so true of small towns and how they react to outsiders.
Had fun reading and look forward to reading the next book.
This is a great book to listen to on vacation!
I did so by the pool and chuckled so hard many times.
Really liked this book

Too Stupid in Life to Live

She can do a great job of trash to treasures and I did enjoy that portion, but didn't much like this chic...just kept waiting for her to die.

Tedious

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

The main character was all over the place. Raelynn has such a short attention span and poor reasoning skills I'm surprised she made it to adulthood. Important details are glossed over - like someone breaking into the house! - and inconsequential things are given too much attention - who cares what Raelynn is buying at a yard sale when someone just got murdered in her backyard!

What could Rose Pressey have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Pare down your story to get rid of the rabbit trails - they don't make the story move forward.

Flighty characters are not cute - they are tedious. Raelynn puts more thought into how she'll arrange mason jars than creating a business plan for her hotel. She says she needs to prove her innocence/solve the murder but then skips that so she can SPRAY PAINT A BRASS LIGHT FIXTURE. I really hope this chick doesn't have a Pinterest account.

The Sherriff is the worst. He says something like, "I don't think you did the murder, but the townspeople do. What they say carries more weight and I want to be re-elected." So, the court of gossiping small-town busybodies carries more weight than an actual criminal investigation procedure?

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Narration was okay.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Murder at Honeysuckle Hotel?

The town drunk character cliche. Making fun of a serious addicition ("Ha Ha! He'll sleep it off in his yard!") left a bad taste in my mouth.

disapointing

What disappointed you about Murder at Honeysuckle Hotel?

hang a homemade sign that says hotel and you,re in business? the state might have something to say about that. Did you really get a degree?

What was most disappointing about Rose Pressey’s story?

this character is too stupid to live. she doesn't seem to know anything about anything

What three words best describe Margie Lenhart’s performance?

nice, enthusiastic

What character would you cut from Murder at Honeysuckle Hotel?

the townspeople. I'm originally from a small town, but most of us were nice, ordinary people - the people in this town - all of them - are nasty.