Thursday, October 1, 2015

A book I chose because of the cover
Once Upon a Grind, by Cleo Coyle

Ok, I know I haven't posted book reviews in forever. I have actually been reading lots of books this year, but never got around to writing anything. So this is me trying to pick up where I left off, and since I'm still going in chronological order of when I read the books, this will be a review of a book that I read months ago. I guess it's a good thing I have a good memory.

This was actually the category on the list that I really didn't care for, not because the book I ended up reading was terrible or anything, but because I never do this. I'm not one of those people who randomly chooses a book based solely on its cover. Between the books people have recommended to me, books that were talked about in articles I've read, and new books by authors I like, I've always had more than enough books on my to-read list. So this was something new-ish for me. (I think I used to do this a lot when I was in elementary school - mostly books that had horses on the cover - but never since then.)

The particular book I chose was one of the ones the librarian sets out on the little table that's right in front of the door. Based on the cover, it was pretty obvious that this would be one of those cutesy mystery stories, wherein the protagonist (generally female) stumbles across a mystery in the course of their daily life. After reading the front flap, I was expecting dead bodies, coffee, humor, and a dash of the fantastic, which is exactly what the book delivered.

The basic premise for the book is this: A coffee shop owner ends up in the middle of a murder investigation when a girl turns up dead in Central Park. Toss in a dash of magical African coffee beans that give the drinker predictive visions, relationship drama galore, and a weird private club scene, and you've got the recipe for a decently interesting and rather enjoyable read. It was nothing spectacular, but it definitely kept my attention, and was an interesting twist on your typical amateur sleuth mystery novel. I don't know that I'd go around recommending it to most people, but if this is a genre you enjoy, you'll probably like this book. I honestly picked it up solely because I enjoy coffee shop AUs in fanfiction, and it exceeded my (admittedly low) expectations.