The Case of the Voracious Vintner: A MM Romantic Mystery (Middlemark Mysteries Book 2)

WOW...what a ride is this book... I am affraid to say anything that could spoil even a little part of this incredible book. Mystery after mystery in between a murder investigation, a love story and the involvement of the charismatic MCs of book 1, this book was like an amusement park full of extreme rides... You were yet to finish the first one when the following ones are in front of you tempting into continue. Really, I just couldn't stop reading until the very end. I am simply without words. WOW!

I love Tara Lain's books, they read so easily and yet are full of witty banter and intelligent depth. I loved the characters of Jeremy and Bo. Bo, with his life hijacked by his family but not knowing how to get it back and trying not to scream at them and Jeremy who is losing his dream and his freedom but is good enough to not want to take others down with him. The twist in the ending, the solution to the mystery, was hilarious, well done.

This isn't really a Middlemark Mystery since the two Middlemark professors who started it are barely in this story. The two new main characters are the subject of and solve this mystery. Very disappointing. I've read hundreds of these books and realize that there are limited story lines but the key points of this story sound very familiar. Was this published before?

Normally I like this author's books and I loved the Case of the Sexy Shakespearean. I wanted to love this book also, but I detest the meddlesome family trope that so many writers use. It has been done to death. The main character, Bo (his full name was Beauregard, why wasn't he called Beau?), even though he was young, started a successful vineyard all on his own and took in and supported all of his family. Yet, he was unable to stand up to his mother's machinations as to his love life. Give me a break. The author tried to make the mother nicer at the end, but the damage was done. I also hated the "solution" re the other vintner's death. Those characters were disgusting and should have all been punished for almost allowing Bo's murder. I thought this book was about 50 pages too long and the mystery concerning Jeremy was just too distracting and unnecessary as far as I was concerned. Don't get me wrong, Tara Lain is a great author and I certainly won't stop reading her, but, for me, this book was absolutely her worst.

I really did not enjoy this book. The characters were not really likeable ones. Bo being a closeted 27 year old who lets his family control him gets very tiring to read about over and over again. Also when it takes over 200 pages before anything really happens makes for a boring book to read. I usually cannot lay a book down after I start it however with this one I did it several times. I will say the last 1/3 of the book is good but it is a struggle to get that far into the story before that happens. I would not recommend this book for a fan of male romance novels.