Review: I Scream, You Scream by Wendy Lyn Watson

Title: I Scream, You Scream 

Author:  Wendy Lyn Watson
Publisher: Henry Press

Publishing Date:  May 1st, 2018 

Pages: 203
Genre: Adult Cozy Mystery

Series:  A Mystery à La Mode Series #1
Source: ARC 

 

Tallulah Jones’s whole world is melting. Her ice cream parlor, Remember the A-la-mode, is struggling, and she’s stooped to catering a party for her sleezeball ex-husband Wayne and his arm candy girlfriend Brittany.

Worst of all? Her dreamy high school sweetheart shows up on her front porch, swirling up feelings Tally doesn’t have time to deal with.

Things go from ugly to plain old awful when Brittany turns up dead and all eyes turn to Tally as the murderer.

With the help of her hell-raising cousin Bree, her precocious niece Alice, and her long-lost-super-confusing love Finn, Tally has to dip into the heart of Dalliance, Texas’s most scandalous secrets to catch a murderer…before someone puts Tally and her dreams on ice for good.

I have seen this book around and it has actually been on my TBR for a long time. I guess it's being updated with a new cover and published under a new company. I was excited to get the ARC for this version. I was more than happy to finally read this book. Oh, and I love the new cover. It's so eye-catching. I just love love love it. I read the book and I really enjoyed the book. The mystery was good, the main character was cute, I found myself quite entertained. 

The main character, Tally lives in a small Texas town, has an ex-husband that is dating a younger woman, and an ice cream shop. She has a pretty nice life. She needs to get some more business going so she excepts a job from her ex-husband. A pretty big one for his company picnic. Well after that picnic, Brittany- Tally's ex-husband's girlfriend, ends up dead. Yup dead and looks like her ex and herself are the only suspects. Tally sets forth on a mission to figure out this mystery murder, oh with a little help from her high school sweetheart... which by the way is a sweetheart. 

I really enjoyed this book. It was a great start to what I think will be a fun cozy mystery series. I am excited to read more in the series. The mystery was good. I really didn't catch on to who it was. I liked the characters, they were easy to like and quite entertaining. I thought the writing was good, the pacing just right for this kind of read. Light and fun. 

Tally is a good character, I found her spunky and snarky. She has had a bum deal in the romance department and yes a little bitter, I mean I would be too. I think her bitterness is what stands in the way of me completely loving her. I did like her drive, her loyalty, and her determination. She was a pretty smart cookie too. 

The romance is just starting in this book, but it's a little bit there. I am very exited to see where it goes int he next book. I really like her high school sweetheart and think he is quite a catch. I am just waiting for Tally to figure it out. 

The only negative for me, I felt it was a little underdeveloped but I think future books will help with this for me. I can see me falling for these fun and sassy characters.

This book was a very short, quick, fun read. I really enjoyed it. Nothing made this read a wow for me but I think it will only get better with each book. This was just the start to develop the town and the characters. Whenever I need a good fun mystery, this will be a go too for me. 

A pretty good cozy mystery that hit the spot for me. 

Wendy Lyn Watson's checkered past includes stints as a graveyard shift Denny's waitress, a nanny, a video arcade attendant, and a federal court law clerk. These days, Wendy's day job is teaching constitutional law to college kids.

She also writes mysteries ... light, funny mysteries (because what could be funnier than murder?). Following the Mysteries a la Mode, Wendy's adding some history to her mystery. Once Upon a Wallflower, a Regency-set romantic mystery, will be released in August, 2013.

While she doesn't commit--or solve--murders in real life, she can kill a pint of ice cream and not even blinkl. She's also a devotee of Asian horror films, 80s music, and reality TV.