An excellent first in a series and I will look for more of Destinee Faith Miller. ~Rantin’ Ravin’ and Reading
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Tiara Trouble: A Destinee Faith Miller Mystery
New Series Publisher: Cozy Cat Press (August 27, 2013) Paperback: 230 pages ISBN-13: 978-1939816160 E-Book File Size: 609 KB ASIN: B00EWSB3GG
Synopsis
What happens when Dynasty meets Honey BooBoo, they have a baby, and that baby is raised by Charlie’s Angels? You get TIARA TROUBLE, a bedazzled cozy mystery full of gritty glitz.
One foreign policy question five years ago sent Destinee Faith Miller’s dreams of being Miss American Universe up in flames and landed her back in her hometown of Phenix City, Alabama, with her tail between her legs. But like the mythological bird that her hometown is misspelled after, she rose from the ashes to create Destinee’s Dolls, a thriving pageant consulting business knee-deep in pink, prints and tulle.
A death at the local level of a national event lands her the job of pageant emcee, and Destinee dares to dream of bigger things—maybe even a reality TV show! But when judges start dropping like flies, she has her hands full keeping herself alive long enough to see those dreams come true. Contending with catfights, car bombs, and the camouflage-colored funeral of a redneck’s dream, Destinee gets a little help from her friends, family, and a pit bull named Clarabelle.
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My Review
I’ve never been much for watching the beauty pageants so I wasn’t sure about Tiara Trouble.
It turns out I really enjoyed it.
The story opens seven years earlier, as Destinee recalls how far one slippery contestant would go to win the crown. Then you flash forward to one year ago and the fun begins.
You’ll learn everything there is to know about beauty pageants, all the tricks, training, and preparation it takes. I never knew some of this and found it very interesting. The lengths these women go to is astonishing.
It takes a very brave, confident, or crazy woman to try to sell themselves as the product. When I look in the mirror, I see my flaws and I imagine, no matter how beautiful a woman is, they experience the same thing.
Destinee won my heart. She’s a southern gal, with all of the grit, humor, and sass that goes with it. I live on the Gulf Coast and always love reading books that revolve around it. She is whip smart, very competitive, and an astute business woman.
Tiara Trouble was told from Destinee’s point of view and it worked very well for me. I felt like we were friends. She is full of quips and slips of the tongue that had me laughing out loud and thinking, “I wish I’d said that.”
Cozy mysteries are a genre I’ve been reading for many years. The quirky titles and the charming, colorful covers just draw me to them.
Add in plenty of colorful characters and some amateur sleuthing and you get books like this.
Good clean fun, lots of belly laughs, and a mystery you think you know, but you don’t, until the surprise ending.
4 Tiaras
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Thanks so much to Lane Buckman and Great Escapes Book Tours for gifting me a copy of this delightful book and a fun tour.
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About Lane Buckman
Lane Buckman is a former beauty queen from Phenix City, Alabama. Growing up, she wanted to be Miss America, a criminal lawyer, a super model, the President, a Bond girl, a brain surgeon, a journalist, a back-up singer for Duran Duran, and a college professor of Medieval Literature. In order to fulfill those dreams, she became a writer. She lives in Texas with her family, and enjoys every miserably hot second of it. Her solo debut novel, TIARA TROUBLE, is available from Cozy Cat Press on October 28, 2013, with a sneak peek launch the week prior at the BOSTON BOOK FESTIVAL. TIARA TROUBLE, a light-hearted cozy mystery, marks a departure from Lane’s earlier works in the darker horror/fantasy genre.
The well-received THE ORDER OF THE BLOOD (Black Bed Sheets Books, April 09, 2011), co-authored with Nicole Vlachos, was Lane’s first novel. She has ghost written and consulted on two others. Follow Lane on Facebook and Twitter, and keep up with her world on her blog.
Purchase Links:
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Thank you so much for having me on your blog today. I am so glad you enjoyed the book!
You’re very welcome. Thank you for a fun, charming read. I’ll never look at beauty contestants and pageants the same way again.
You make this sound like a really fun read. Thanks for sharing Laura.
It was! I laughed a lot and oohed and aahed!
I get tired just thinking about what they go through.
I did while reading it. It truly is pandemonium:) Very funny and Destinee is adorable.
This does indeed sound like a fun read. :0)