Twenty-Nine and a Half Reasons

My only complaint- if Rose said 'crappy doodles' one more time, I was going to throw my Kindle out the window. Luckily, the phrase is not used as much in the subsequent books. <br />One other thing that kind of gets to me- the book is already reminiscent of Stephanie Plum books (Janet Evanovich). Why does Rose's love interest need to be a cop named Joe?!<br />Other than that, I really enjoyed it.

This was an adult contemporary mystery story about a psychic.<br /><br />Rose was an okay character in this book, but she really didn’t know how to stay out of trouble. Purposefully visiting a crime scene as a juror, when she’d been specifically told that she could be imprisoned for it just seemed like madness, and she was bound to get in trouble for it.<br /><br />The storyline in this was about Rose being called to jury duty, and then having a vision about the real murderer in the case she was a juror for. We then had Rose running around asking people questions and doing stuff that was basically against the law, and generally getting in trouble with the wrong people trying to prove the defendant’s innocence. <br /><br />The ending to this was okay, and thing worked out well enough in the end. <br />6.5 out of 10<br />

<b>3.5 stars</b><br /><br />Own in: <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/20443347.Rose_Gardner_Mystery_Box_Set__Rose_Gardner_Mystery___1_3_5_" title="Rose Gardner Mystery Box Set (Rose Gardner Mystery, #1-3.5) by Denise Grover Swank" rel="noopener">Rose Gardner Mystery Box Set</a><br /><br />Book 2 is quite different than book 1 - characters change or their true selves begin to emerge as Rose grows and spreads her wings. The relationship with her sister (that I loved) is still close but more typical of familial relationships. Violet has secrets. Joe has secrets - even his last name. And enter Mason Deveraux III who also has secrets. Mason and Joe are both from wealthy families and have a tense history. I had thought the relationship with Joe a little rushed in book 1. And now I'm not convinced that Joe is the right person for Rose. Rose's visions cause mayhem for her, the police and the justice system (Mason is the D.A.).

<em>This is second in a series and they definitely build on each other. Which is my way of saying read the previous before this one.</em><br /><br />At about 60%, I'm going to call this done. I like Rose quite a bit. But two factors have edged me over the line to stop. They're related but in a weird way.<br /><br />The actual, present problem is with Rose's sister, Violate. I can't stand that controlling snot-weasel and it bugs me more than a little that Rose puts up with her. If we're to take Violate's interference between Rose and Joe seriously, then it means that Violate is nearly as great a monster as their mother was. I'm sorry, but when she <input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="1972a035-cbd7-44fe-b3df-370e9f400f33" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="1972a035-cbd7-44fe-b3df-370e9f400f33">refused to call Joe when Rose was thrown in jail for contempt of court</label> it went way beyond anything excusable. I don't care how close a family member, you don't mess with someone's happiness and/or safety and this violated both (<input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="d5026016-0cda-49db-9cac-ae966ca737d1" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="d5026016-0cda-49db-9cac-ae966ca737d1">it was, after all, Joe who managed to get Rose sprung, so Violate's action, had it been successful, would have meant Rose spending more time in jail than otherwise—a fact easily deducible had Violate been using brains instead of spite</label>). So when Violate maintains her stance against Joe and Rose just leaves with the thought that "she's my sister" it created a break with the story for me.<br /><br />The biggest result of this break is that I then went and read the blurbs (and some reviews) for the rest of the series. And came to find out . . . oh crap. Spoilers for the rest of the series: <input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="dfe367aa-ec5b-45a4-a687-dc9a23876117" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="dfe367aa-ec5b-45a4-a687-dc9a23876117">Violate sticks around for three more books after this one and doesn't get any better. Worse, Rose goes into business with her and lets her screw her out of who knows how much money by some financial hijinks undoubtedly motivated by her sense of entitlement and control</label>. Which is bad enough, but then I also found out that <input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="9ab6dae5-5832-4ef4-a5db-4d1b0e3b034c" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="9ab6dae5-5832-4ef4-a5db-4d1b0e3b034c">Joe gets replaced my Mason who also gets jettisoned by the end of the series</label> and that ended my ability to continue with this book. And with the series, for that matter.<br /><br />On one level, I wish I hadn't snooped ahead. But on the other, I'm relieved that I can bail early.

Rose Gardner is the most loveable, quirky, hilarious character, and wherever Rose goes, chaos follows. This book is the second in the Rose Gardner Mystery series and I loved it. Rose has the sight. She can't control when it happens, but out of nowhere, she will get a vision of usually something random like where someone left their car keys, but sometimes, it might be the key to solving a murder. Rose has the most wonderful boyfriend ever, her first boyfriend, actually, Joe Simmons. She met Joe in the first book when he was living next door to her working undercover for the Arkansas State Police. He did, in fact, suspect Rose in the murder of her own mother, but he and Rose solved the crime and they fell in love. Now Joe is working in Little Rock which is two hours away from Henryetta where Rose lives. He is getting ready to leave one morning and finds Rose's letter for jury duty. "Oh crappy doodles," (Rose's favorite saying,) she forgot all about that. So starts the worst morning of Rose's life. Everything goes wrong that could go wrong, and of course she gets a vision, while in the men's restroom, proving the defendant's, Bruce Wayne Decker's, innocence. But Bruce Wayne's defense attorney doesn't seem to be trying to prove his innocence, so Rose takes on the task. And, gets herself into all kinds of trouble in the process. Poor Joe finds himself running back and forth from Little Rock to Henryetta to have to keep saving Rose. And, Rose is also having to deal with her very overbearing sister Violet, who does not like Joe. She also meets the new and very grumpy Assistant District Attorney, Mason Deveraux III. <br /><br />Can Rose's relationship with Joe stand the test of being a long distance relationship and can Joe withstand all the hot water Rose seems to get herself into? Can Rose prove Bruce Wayne's innocence in time? If you love a light and fun mystery, then this is perfect for you. Denise Grover Swank, you've done it again. I can't wait to read the next book.

"Crappy Doodles!" this second book is a definite must read! If you have read the first book, then this one is next. If you have not read the first book, then I encourage you to, as this is an another excellent mystery/romantic story that follows up the events from the end of the first one. The story here is also intriguing once again. There is a new feeling to it as there is a new relationship (Rose &amp; Joe!) and you see how they're doing after over a month of dating. We read the mysterious aspect and that is when Rose reports for Jury Duty and literally bumps into the arrogant Mason Deveraux. Hmm something tells me we will read more of him. He himself was an interestingly written character, and I would love to read more about him. Anyways, ok so Rose is a Jury Member. The suspect (Bruce) is in question for a murder, that some are convinced that he did commit. This brings Rose into curiosity as from a vision she had, she believes him to not have committed the crime, but will everyone else agree with her, especially Deveraux? Just how far will Rose go, to prove that Bruce is innocent? Hmmm... Along this, there are other family situations that occur between Rose and her sister. We also will know some interesting facts about the reclusive Joe Simmons! <br /><br />The characters again were spot on; written wonderfully. We definitely see Rose a good different type of character; in ways different from the first book. She is more independent, but at the same time not so sure about a few things, including her relationship with Joe. There are tender, loving moments between these two, and you just know they are meant to be, but other people might not think so; just read and see! All in all I was very happy with this second book; there was a good flow again, and I simply cannot wait to read a third book!

<b>Please note that I gave this book 2.5 stars and rounded it up to 3 stars on Goodreads.</b><br /><br />I chose wrong. That's all I got. I initially bought the first and second book via a Nook sale and since the reviews were all pretty much five stars I thought this would be an interesting series for me to start to read. <br /><br />Taking place a mere few weeks after the events of book #1, we have Rose setting into a new relationship with her boyfriend Joe and trying to deal with attending jury duty. Since Rose's new boss and old nemesis is out to get here, she really doesn't want to take time off of her job (though she's inherited more than a million dollars, so her protests are kind of lacking any punch here). <br /><br />Rose has a vision while using the bathroom and she realizes that a man is being set up for a murder he didn't commit. When she goes to jury duty and is ultimately selected, she realizes that the man she had the vision about who didn't commit the murder, is the defendant. <br /><br />So the whole book is just Rose figuring out what she can do since she doesn't know the identity of the real murderer, but knows that the man on trial could not have done it. She goes to her boyfriend Joe who is all trust the justice system, and yeah I pretty much agreed with Rose here and rolled my eyes at him. <br /><br />There are two secondary plots going on which is Rose's sister Violet is acting like a shrew and bossing Rose around. And oh is saying terrible things about Joe and Rose because she doesn't trust Joe. Why Rose put up with this after the mess that was their mother is beyond me. The secondary plot is Rose meeting and loathing the new assistant District Attorney. My Spidey sense can feel a love triangle coming a mile away, and I am just glad I have not and will not read anymore books in this series. <br /><br />New characters are straight up one dimensional. Rose finally gets her first real friend who made me exhausted, and I was just reading about her. The new assistant District Attorney Mason seems to have anger issues, and I don't really have the urge to read about some guy who acts like a jackass towards people but somehow has a heart of gold.<br /><br />Older characters also felt wrong in this book. Violet I already mentioned in this book, but now all of a sudden, her marriage is in trouble, and she's kind of sort of an alcoholic? It didn't make any sense.<br /><br />Joe was a non-entity pretty much in this one. And the character and his obsession with getting Rose to move to follow him (though they have been dating I think three weeks at this point) was odd and off-putting.<br /><br />There is not much substance in this book. We just have Rose "investigating" poorly and getting caught and in trouble every five seconds it seems. It wasn't cute and I was pretty much yawning my way through til the end. <br /><br />The writing definitely needs tightened up. There was one case where we had Rose speaking, but then the character speaking switched to someone else by the end of the sentence. Reading Rose's constant exclamations of "crappy doodles" was also not fun the second time through. And Rose as I said in the first book is pretty much a text book TSTL character. <br /><br />The ending sets up things I guess for the next book. I don't know how that's going to work out, and I don't care. This wasn't a bad book, just not that great, and I cannot see me re-reading this ever again.

It's getting silly. The first book was good and I was really looking forward to this one, but Rose's antics are bordering on annoying. I guess I fell in love a little with Rose in book 1, but she is not the same character in this book. Her character strength happened too quickly and is so far from being even remotely believable. I'm somewhat invested though, and will go on to the third book, but if the unbelievable silliness and editing mistakes continue, it will be my last book with this author.

I love Rose and her reasons!

No surprise here... but, Denise, you've done it again! I quickly became a huge fan of Denise's after reading Chosen, her action-packed triller. Then after reading Here, her paranormal romance, I was hooked. And here I am again, thrilled to have had the chance to read Denise's mystery novel, Twenty-Nine and a Half Reasons, and I can't say enough good things about it! Denise is quickly becoming one of my very favorite authors.<br /><br />Rose, the main character, is just awesome. She's adorable and lovable, totally relatable, makes terrible choices at times (actually, most of the time)... but man, she's got guts! She's not scared to do anything if she feels it's right. She drives everyone in her life nuts with her fearlessness, but they just can't help loving her for it all. And honestly, I couldn't help loving her either.<br /><br />And I would be remiss if I didn't mention Neely Kate Rivers. Really?! She's maybe one of my favorite characters of all time. Love her!!<br /><br />The story starts off fast and never stops. I was sucked in immediately. I haven't read a huge number of mysteries, but this is definitely one of my favorites. The fact that it's more of a chick-lit mystery novel really had me hooked... and it turned out perfect.<br /><br />When I got to the last page I thought, "Oh, crappy doodles!" and found myself wishing there was just one more chapter. :) I would absolutely recommend this book. Another 5 star review for Denise!!