Mountain Town Mischief With a Poodle is the first romance/caper light mystery in a series by Virginia Fox. Originally released as Rocky Mountain Yoga in 2014, this reformat and re-release excerpt(?) from fourth quarter 2022 is 137 pages and is available in ebook format. Availability is unclear from the publishing info provided for review, but it appears to be available from the author's website, and the series is available on major retail platforms.
This is a romance mystery caper mashup which attempts to do all genres and doesn't manage to do any of them very clearly or well. From the opening scene (yoga instructor Jasmine forgets her keys and walks in on her criminal live-in boyfriend getting harassed by his criminal colleagues), it's a slow-motion run-for-your-life adventure when she tries to hide out at her grandmother's place in Colorado.
The action driven plot never gels very well and she bounces from crisis and drama to more crisis and drama. The characters are written sympathetically, but it's difficult to get through the over the top dialogue and neverending romantic drama. There's not much suspense and none of the threats had any immediacy or sustained believability.
It's unclear from the material provided for review (there is no publisher/registration info included), but it seems possible that the book(s) are translated from German. It could be the dialogue and writing flow much better in that language. As presented, this novelette/excerpt is rough and uneven and could have benefited from a more thorough editing process. This seems to be a sample from the first book of an established series. Most of the series (though not the first book) are currently available in the Kindle Unlimited library to borrow and read for free.
Three stars. Potentially worth a look for very light romantic drama readers. Recommended to download and try the sample before committing.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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