Review by Lileana2 -- Lemoncella Cocktail by Rene Natan

[Lileana2]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Lemoncella Cocktail" by Rene Natan.]

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1 out of 4 stars

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Lemoncella Cocktail, by Rene Natan, is a quick read with only 192 pages. It begins with Patrick Carter, a bartender and lifeguard down on his luck. As Patrick is walking home on a lonely stretch of road somewhere in Ontario, he hears angry shouting, a frantic call for help, and then an ominous splash from the river just ahead. He rushes to the rescue, and as a result finds himself entangled in the tragic affairs of the Mcleod family, embroiled in a government agency’s daring plan to take down an illegal weapons trafficker, and a possible target of a powerful crime lord.

I did not enjoy this book. My least favorite thing about it was that it was clearly not professionally or even semi-competently edited. The author nearly always used "I" when she should have used "I’ll" or "I will", for example, “I go make dinner.” There were also several other misused words, though not nearly as many. It would most definitely need to be heavily re-edited to make it worth reading for me.

Lemoncella Cocktail has a fairly interesting plot: crime lords, kidnappings, murders, attempted murders, brave heroes, an expert investigation, and a bit of romance on the side. But while the plot was all right and had a few entertaining twists, the writing style was rather dull. Moments that could, if written correctly, have been intense, exciting, or heartbreaking, like when Patrick rescues Samantha at the beginning of the book, instead feel routine and boring. I also found the characters to be very one-dimensional, and there was almost no character development within the book. I found it nearly impossible to empathize with them, as their feelings about what was going on were almost never discussed, even in the midst of what was probably the greatest tragedy they had ever experienced. The theme seemed to be friendship, but because the writing style was so flat, it was hard to tell.

My favorite thing about this book was the dog, King. Young Justin’s dog is endearingly intelligent and loyal; without him, the Mcleod family would not have had as happy an ending as they did. King was definitely an interesting element in the book. I also felt that he was the most realistically portrayed character.

Over all, I give it 1 out of 4. If you enjoy crime dramas, you may find Lemoncella Cocktail worth a look, though I personally thought it was rather boring and found the poor editing extremely annoying.

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Lemoncella Cocktail
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