#BookBeginnings & #Friday56 & A Ramble : Dangerously Dark by Colette London

The second of Colette London's Chocolate Whisperer /mystery series, Dangerously Dark, is set for release on September 29th but I was able to read it early thanks to Kensington and NetGalley spoiling me with such things. I was pretty excited since I enjoyed the first in the series. You can read about that one HERE. 

Because the copy that I read is an e-ARC, the quotes I'm using for this week's Book Beginnings and Friday56 may differ in the final publication. I hope not, though, because they pretty much rock.

Friday56 (share a blurb from the 56th page or 56% mark) is hosted at Freda's Voice & Book Beginnings (share the first few sentences & your thoughts) is at Rose City Reader!

Dangerously Dark opens very shortly after our last encounter with Hayden had finished (with only a few casualties) and this time she's off to Portland, Oregon. She was actually on her way to Seattle to finally meet face-to-face her financial/business/whatever advisor whom she has a voice-crush on, but ended up going to Portland instead for a college friend's engagement weekend. At first she was dismayed at having to be in "girly" mode but that soon turned to relief about taking time off from chocolate-whispering and murder-solving and best-hunky-male-friend obsessing (who is not the same male she's voice-crushing. That would be too easy.).

This is where I would normally say something like "but, of course, this is a mystery series so it doesn't all go as planned and instead of relaxing Hayden is thrust into another murder investigation blah blah blah" .... but I feel like I say that about every cozy mystery (at least mentally). Of course, this is and it doesn't and she is.

Have I mentioned that Hayden still has "monkey brain" ... and, apparently, so do I? In the first book she compared herself to a monkey on No-Doz. I took my last Vivarin (with coffee) two hours ago so .... yeah.

***There's a reason I write "rambles" rather than "reviews."***

The monkey-ness is only one aspect of Hayden that screams "KINDRED SPIRIT" in my face. There's also the chocolate (love), coffee (love), ice cream (love), Converse (love), corpses (lov.....wait. No, that part's just her). We both also have a tendency to be socially awkward (while still being able to lay claim to the "people person" label). We also both tend to use a lot of parentheses .... and dots of ellipses .... and I'm pretty sure we both do it when we speak and when we "type" (this being a first-person narrative).

***If you feel like your brain is bleeding from reading this you should probably steer clear of the series. Just an FYI because I care.***

I'm not going to go into a drawn out "this is what happened and this is whodunnit and this is how it was figured out" deal. I never do. And since I'm not actually done with it yet I don't even know. What I will do is say that so far I'm loving the twists and the turns and the humor in this installment just as much as I loved Criminal Confections (maybe even slightly moreso).

By the way, you totally have time to order the first book and catch up in time for the release of Dangerously Dark.

You're welcome.