Blog Tour: Anything For A Story by Cynthia Hickey (Review and Giveaway!)

About the Book

New Series
Self Published
File Size: 1425 KB
Print Length: 153 pages
ASIN: B00J7X007E

Synopsis

Stormi Nelson, best-selling romance author, moved into her huge Victorian house in the private community of Oak Meadows Estates. When her agent tells her that her characters are becoming too cardboard and that she needs to get out and mingle with people, she comes up with the idea of a Neighborhood Watch Program. The only problem is … she’s the only member. On her first night of patrol, she stumbles over a dead body, meets a hunky detective, who happens to be her neighbor and clearly frustrated with her, and her mother, sister, niece and nephew arrive to shake up Stormi’s peaceful life. As she is immersed ever deeper into the mystery surrounding a neighbor’s murder, she decides to change writing tactics and write a romantic mystery based on her experiences. What follows is a frolicking good time as Stormi finds herself the nosiest neighbor of them all. Can she find the killer before she becomes the next victim?

My Review

Romance author Stormi Nelson moves into a new home in the private community of Oak Meadows Estates and nothing is ever the same for her again. One of the first things she does is join the Neighborhood Watch Program and goes on patrol. Of course she’s the only member of the program, so everything is pretty much left in her hands. When she stumbles on a dead body, Stormi comes up with a new idea. She wants to write a romantic mystery and what better way to start then by investigating the murder she literally stumbled upon? You can’t get better research than investigating the real thing.

Stormi quickly learns that investigating murders isn’t all that easy. To top it all off, her mother, sister, niece and nephew barge into her new home. They move in and fast become fixtures in her house, which is now theirs. Then, she meets Detective Matthew Steele who isn’t happy with her interfering in his investigation to say the least. It doesn’t stop Stormi, although she’d much rather date the handsome detective than argue with him.

With the help of her mother, Stormi sticks her nose in all her neighbor’s business and fast becomes the community’s number one nuisance. She, also, discovers that many of her neighbors had a reason to kill the victim. Now, someone seems to have a reason to want her dead. Obviously, she’s making someone very nervous with what she uncovers – most likely the killer.

This is a LOL cozy mystery meets chick lit and romance. The romance is very sweet and the murder mystery has no blood or gore. The characters are lovable and the story is not very complicated, although it does take many twists and turns until we learn whodunit.  Stormi and her mother make quite a pair. I kept thinking of Lucy and Ethel from I Love Lucy. Stormi even has the red hair to match.

This book is the first in the series and a very enjoyable way to spend an afternoon. I’m going to check out the author’s backlist and see what other books she’s written.



For reading challenges:
2014 ARC Reading Challenge
2014 My Kind of Mystery Reading Challenge

FTC Disclosure: The author provided me with a copy of this book to review for this blog tour. This did not influence my thoughts and opinions in any way. All opinions expressed are my own.

About the Author

Multi-published and Best-Selling author Cynthia Hickey had three cozy mysteries and two novellas published through Barbour Publishing. Her first mystery, Fudge-Laced Felonies, won first place in the inspirational category of the Great Expectations contest in 2007. Her third cozy, Chocolate-Covered Crime, received a four-star review from Romantic Times. All three cozies have been re-released as ebooks through the MacGregor Literary Agency, along with a new cozy series, all of which stay in the top 50 of Amazon’s ebooks for their genre. She has several historical romances releasing in 2013 and 2014 through Harlequin’s Heartsong Presents, and has sold more than 150,000 copies of her works. She is active on FB, twitter, and Goodreads. She lives in Arizona with her husband, one of their seven children, two dogs and two cats. She has five grandchildren who keep her busy and tell everyone they know that “Nana is a writer”. Visit her website at www.cynthiahickey.com

Tour-wide Giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway