1 out of 5 stars.
Emerald O'Brien, single mother of two, owns Chintz 'N China Tea Room, where guests are served a blend of tea and tarot reading. She never set out to be a detective but once word gets out that she can communicate with the dead, there's no turning back....
I really could not get into this book. I have liked Yasmine Galenorn's books in the past but this one just annoyed me to the point that I could not finish it. First off, the character development was just not there. I didn't feel any connection to any of them....even the main character, Emerald. Being first in the series, it was surprising that there was no "getting to know" the characters or real explanations as to who they were to Emerald. It was as if you just jumped into the middle of a book and you were supposed to guess how these people fit into her life. Even her children came off as one dimensional. The weirdest one for me though was....whatever his name was. The romantic story line between her and....him, never really built as much as it just suddenly happened. Not only that but he came off as really creepy and I could not figure out why she would date someone like him. They had no real connection and he seemed like a total jerk. As far as the sex scenes, those typically wouldn't bother me....IF there had been some chemistry between the two people. Unfortunately there wasn't.
I also agree with some of the other reviews I've read, that there were too many references towards food and tea. I understand she owns a tea shop, but do we have to read indepth details about all the tea she is selling, making, drinking, or owns? Also these people never seem to stop eating. I am surprised they had the time to even try to solve a mystery (what little of that there was) when they were so busy describing their food and stuffing their faces. It got to the point that just reading the book started making me either hungry or nauseated.
I didn't tap into any of the mystery part because I didn't feel there was any. Bottom line is it is basically a book about a woman who likes to eat, drink tea, call her friends babe and sleeps with a creepy guy all while being a single mom who sees dead people. Not sure I will even bother reading the next one in the series.
