Book Review: Tough Luxe by Diane Vallere (Samantha Kidd #11)

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Characters, humor, fun premise

Cons: The plot doesn’t hold together in the end

The Bottom Line:

Clearing an old friend

It leaves too many questions

Sam and co still great

Twists of the Pretzel, but a Bit Empty Overall

Even though I’m reading Diane Vallere books every other month, I’m alternating series, so it’s been a while since I sat down to read a Samantha Kidd book.  I was looking forward to catching up with her in Tough Luxe.  Unfortunately, the book didn’t satisfy like I had hoped.

Those familiar with the series will know that Samantha Kidd has had a spotty employment history since she returned to her home town of Ribbon, Pennsylvania.  She’s recently landed a job writing a fashion column for the local paper.  Since Samantha has spent her entire career as a fashion buyer, that’s a great fit.

But she’s not the kind of reporter to go after breaking news, so that’s why she almost ignores an invite to visit Suzy Kintz.  Samantha and Suzy were friendly acquaintances in high school.  Suzy was the daughter of one of the local pretzel makers, and as such had a trust fund.  However, just a few years after they graduated from high school, Suzy was convicted of killing her husband and sent to jail for life.

Now, almost twenty years later, there’s been some new evidence that might exonerate Suzy.  With Samantha’s reputation for solving crimes, Suzy asks her to look into what really happened all those years ago.  Will Samantha be able to clear Suzy?

Since I enjoy the series, I sat down with anticipation, and quickly got caught up in Samantha’s world.  The case had quite a few twists and turns, and I enjoyed watching Samantha try to figure out exactly what was going on.

However, when I reached the end, I was left with some pretty major questions.  One of those questions I had been pondering since the very beginning.  The others came about based on the ultimate solution.  It left me with several things that didn’t make sense to me.  There was also a timeline issue near the beginning that bugged me.

And then there is a sub-plot involving Samantha and her husband that had me cringing.  I knew it was going to go wrong as soon as Samantha came up with the idea.  At this one did allow for some great character development.

That’s definitely the thing that I still enjoyed was spending time with Samantha and the other regulars.  Samantha continues to grow, and I enjoy watching that, even if the mechanism for it made me cringe.  These are great characters, and fans of the series will enjoy spending time with them.

If you know the series, the idea of a book about a pretzel heiress is pretty much on brand.  There is plenty of humor, and Samantha is a junk food junkie.  Between the two, this makes perfect sense.

And this book still had plenty of humor.  I laughed several times and grinned plenty of others.

Fans of the series will still want to catch up with Samantha in Tough Luxe.  If you haven’t yet met Samantha, I recommend you start with an earlier book in the series.

Here are the rest of the Samantha Kidd Mysteries.