Asking for Trouble - Softcover

Millie Criswell

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0778301893 ISBN 13: 9780778301899

Publisher: Mira Books, 2007

Synopsis

Take a cozy bed-and-breakfast, a missing guest and a mysterious stranger . . . throw in a pile of bones, a past-due bank loan and the cops . . . and it's no wonder innkeeper Beth Randall needs a vacation from her life!

Her dizzy aunts mean the world to Beth, but could their dabblings in the occult have finally gone too far? Now handsome Dr. Brad Donovan has arrived on her doorstep looking for his missing father -- last seen here at the Two Sisters Ordinary. Sure, Beth would love to explore the sudden attraction between them -- but not if it means implicating her family in murder! Dating the doctor could be fun, but it's probably just, well . . . asking for trouble.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

Criswell's latest novel is a sweet, standard family tale of trust, hard work and support in the small town of Mediocrity, Pa. Self-doubting divorcée Beth Randall is the new owner of a historic inn, Two Sisters Ordinary, bought from her eccentric live-in aunts, Ivy and Iris. Since the disappearance of Iris's fiancé Lyle McMurtry years ago, Ivy and Iris have garnered a reputation among town gossips as either witches or murderesses—depending on which gossip you talk to. When Beth finds buried bones in the inn's cellar, she can't bear to face the possibility that the gossips may be right, so she keeps mum. But when sexy Virginia pediatrician Brad Donovan, comes sniffing around, he casts further suspicion upon Beth, her aunts and the inn Beth has worked herself into colossal debt over. As much as Beth would like to dismiss Brad, he remains persistent—and none too hard on the eyes. Unfortunately, Criswell does not trust her leads to carry the novel, and the number of supporting characters and subplots she uses to fill it out make for a scattershot story, while awkward family-friendly language ("horse-doody," "running around like the proverbial chicken") dates the narrative. Though heartwarming, that slight virtue is not enough to make this familiar journey worthwhile. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist:

The amazingly entertaining and consistently upbeat Criswell sets her latest romp in Mediocrity, Pennsylvania. The town has never been a major tourist stop, but Beth Randall is trying her best to make a success out of her inn, the Two Sisters Ordinary, named for her elderly aunts Iris and Ivy, who live on the fourth floor. They took care of Beth during her difficult childhood, and now it is Beth's turn to take care of them, only it appears that they may be involved with the disappearance of one of their guests. Dr. Brad Donovan and his teenage daughter Stacy come looking for Dr. Donovan's father, last seen at the inn, and Beth thinks her aunts are behaving awfully secretively. Brad is quite taken with the beautiful innkeeper, so Beth's aunts start playing matchmaker, unaware of Beth's suspicions. Criswell is always a fun read, and her latest contemporary romance has great small-town appeal and lots of quirky characters. Patty Engelmann
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: Mira Books
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0778301893
• ISBN 13: 9780778301899
• Binding: Paperback