Emma and her best friend, Leslie, are desperate to solve this murder. But suspects abound. The perpetrator could be a teacher, an administrator, a member of Kisten’s zealous church community, or even another student.
Emma must juggle her teaching responsibilities, her new romance with handsome Hunter Wells, and interest from a hunky second suitor, all while searching for evidence to bring a killer to justice before someone else dies.
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MY REVIEW
High school. What a concept, eh? It's hard enough just being a teenager (or teaching them, in Emma's case), without the whole bullying issue. And poor Emma (eek!) - she has it worse than most teachers. At the beginning of her first year of teaching (the previous year), she had to deal with a murder. So here she is, looking forward to a new start a new year; unfortunately there is also a new murder ... this time, of a student.
Bullying is a personal issue for me. One of my sons was bullied repeatedly in the 2nd grade - we're talking 8 year old kids, bullies and bullied. When we didn't think the school was doing enough to protect our son, we went to the district. Then the principal actually threatened us! But enough about my family.
Murder and bullying - two definitely 'heavy' subjects. Luckily, Ms. Kaye lightens the mood wonderfully by injecting just the right amount of comedy into Poison by Punctuation as well. It's the 'spoonful of sugar' helping 'the medicine go down'.
Emma and her best friend Leslie have a wonderful relationship. They unquestioningly have each other's backs, and will not let the other slack off when best work is required. They are also partners in (solving) crime. I pity the perps that practice within this pair's purview. (Yes, I'm an alliteration nut.)
And I'm loving this new trend of having the MC with more than one possible love interest. When I first started reading cozies a couple of years ago, there was always one interest - and that person was an officer of the law, almost exclusively. The author handles Emma's 'angle' (think triangle with one of the sides missing) with class and a dash of humor. We should all have those problems at one point in our lives, right?
If you have, had, or will have children in school, or if you ever attended school at some point, there is something in this book (and by extension, the series) for you. (Oh, and bonus points for all the quotes from Shakespeare, my favorite playwright EVER!)
Bullying is a personal issue for me. One of my sons was bullied repeatedly in the 2nd grade - we're talking 8 year old kids, bullies and bullied. When we didn't think the school was doing enough to protect our son, we went to the district. Then the principal actually threatened us! But enough about my family.
Murder and bullying - two definitely 'heavy' subjects. Luckily, Ms. Kaye lightens the mood wonderfully by injecting just the right amount of comedy into Poison by Punctuation as well. It's the 'spoonful of sugar' helping 'the medicine go down'.
Emma and her best friend Leslie have a wonderful relationship. They unquestioningly have each other's backs, and will not let the other slack off when best work is required. They are also partners in (solving) crime. I pity the perps that practice within this pair's purview. (Yes, I'm an alliteration nut.)
And I'm loving this new trend of having the MC with more than one possible love interest. When I first started reading cozies a couple of years ago, there was always one interest - and that person was an officer of the law, almost exclusively. The author handles Emma's 'angle' (think triangle with one of the sides missing) with class and a dash of humor. We should all have those problems at one point in our lives, right?
If you have, had, or will have children in school, or if you ever attended school at some point, there is something in this book (and by extension, the series) for you. (Oh, and bonus points for all the quotes from Shakespeare, my favorite playwright EVER!)
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MEET THE AUTHOR
“Kelley Kaye” taught High School English and Drama since 1992 in California, then Colorado and now Cali again, but her love for storytelling dates back to creating captions in her high school yearbook. Maybe back to the tales she created for her Barbie and Ken—whatever the case, the love’s been around a long time. She’s married to an amazing man who cooks for her, and they have two funny and wonderful sons.
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GIVEAWAY!!!
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Click on the banner above to go to the tour page, where you will find links to more reviews of this title, as well as guest posts and interviews with the author! You can also find out how to BECOME A BLOG HOST FOR FUTURE BOOK TOURS while you are there!
(Diclosure: I received a copy of this book from the author and publishers via Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours, in exchange for my honest review.)
Hi LuAnn! Thank you so much for being a stop on my GreatEscapes blog tour. I, also, absolutely adore alliteration, even when I'm using assonance instead! :-) Emma has a great alliterative line in Book 1, if you want to review that one. Happy Wednesday! Kelley Kaye
ReplyDeleteHi LuAnn! So this is the fourth time I've tried to post a comment to thank you so profusely for being a stop on my GreatEscapes Tour! Before I kept trying to do it from my iPhone and it kept kicking me out, then I THOUGHT it worked, but came to find that none of thecomments Ive made from my phone throughout the tour have registerd! Argh! Anyway, I'm very grateful for your support. Yay, books! Kelley Kaye :-)
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