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    Love in a Nutshell: A Novel
    Love in a Nutshell: A Novel
    Love in a Nutshell: A Novel
    Audiobook (abridged)3 hours

    Love in a Nutshell: A Novel

    Written by Janet Evanovich and Dorien Kelly

    Narrated by Lorelei King

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Number one bestselling author Janet Evanovich teams up with award-winning author Dorien Kelly to deliver a sparkling novel of romantic suspense, small-town antics, secretive sabotage, and lots and lots of beer

    Kate Appleton needs a job. Her husband has left her, she's been fired from her position as a magazine editor, and the only place she wants to go is to her parents' summer house, The Nutshell, in Keene's Harbor, Michigan. Kate's plan is to turn The Nutshell into a Bed and Breakfast. Problem is, she needs cash, and the only job she can land is less than savory.
    Matt Culhane wants Kate to spy on his brewery employees. Someone has been sabotaging his company, and Kate is just new enough in town that she can insert herself into Culhane's business and snoop around for him. If Kate finds the culprit, Matt will pay her a $20,000 bonus. Needless to say, Kate is highly motivated. But several problems present themselves. Kate despises beer. No one seems to trust her. And she is falling hard for her boss.

    Can these two smoke out a saboteur, save Kate's family home, and keep a killer from closing in…all while resisting their undeniable attraction to one another? Filled with humor, heart, and loveable characters, Love in a Nutshell is delicious fun.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Audio
    Release dateJan 3, 2012
    ISBN9781427215567
    Love in a Nutshell: A Novel
    Author

    Janet Evanovich

    Over the last twenty-six years, Janet Evanovich has written a staggering forty-five New York Times bestsellers. In addition to her #1 bestselling Stephanie Plum novels and many other popular books, Janet is the author of The Recovery Agent, the start of a blockbuster new series. 

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    Reviews for Love in a Nutshell

    3.5/5

    284 ratings32 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Man I love these chicks.. I live the writers and the sisters. I would live to read more about Kennes Harbor
    • 1/5
      The writing is flat and boring. The plot is tissue-paper thin. The characters are two-dimensional and uninteresting. In the interest of full disclosure, I could only tolerate about 30 pages before I returned it to the library. I just didn't give a hoot about any of the characters and the writing was boring me to tears. Life is short and books are many.I hope that Janet only put her name on this to help a friend because if Janet wrote this then her skills as an author have eroded significantly. If this was written primarily by Dorien Kelly (and I suspect that it was) then she needs to find some more honest people to critique her writing. My cynical brain can only think of one reason this was published by a major publisher in hardcover - to make more money off of the Janet Evanovich brand.
    • 4/5
      Here mega-popular author Janet Evanovich collaborates with Dorien Kelly to produce a clever mystery/romance novel set in northern Michigan along the shores of Lake Michigan. Recently divorced Kate Appleton arrives in Keene Harbor, MI with the intention of turning her family's summer home, The Nutshell, into a bed and breakfast. Meanwhile, she's broke, the house is falling apart around her, and she loses her job as barmaid at the local tavern. She marches into Matt Culhane's microbrewery and demands a job from him. He hires her at minimum wage with the proomise of a $20,000 bonus if she can determine who is sabotaging his business. Both fall in love with each other but do their best not to let the other know about it. It's a fun romance with a healthy dose of mystery thrown into the mix. This will provide a very pleasant change of pace for Evanovich fans.
    • 4/5
      Fun, very quick read with a not-so-mindbending mystery and a predictable ending. Was pretty fun getting there. I don't think anyone is coming to this book with expectations of high literature, but the couple hours you blow on this brain candy are pretty well spent.
    • 3/5
      I've read Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series and like them well enough. The library was selling two audiobooks from this series (which is not related to the Stephanie Plum series). Beware though. The same narrator is used for both series's audiobooks--I can't tell you how many times I'd associate a voice with a Stephanie Plum series character and have to remind myself that that character isn't part of this series (Culhane Family). So . . . on to the title. When we say "in a nutshell" I associate it with simplifying or shortening. This book also has a cabin called "the Nutshell" in which one of the two main characters lives--and of course, the two main characters end up in love with each other.I do agree with many of the plot holes I see other reviewers mentioning.*There's no real reason that Matt needs to hire Kate to find the saboteur. Security cameras would have been cheaper, safer, and faster. I can't help but think if he hadn't been attracted to her, all bets would have been off.*The mortgage is never explained. If this cabin has been in their family for years . . . why has the mortgage not been paid off? *How does Kate plan to make a cabin into a B&B? Does she ever say how many rooms she plans to have to rent out? Is it just going to be an airBNB/VRBO type rental for one group at a time? (That's not a B&B to me.) She's got no money, knows it needs repairs (apparently before even she can stay in it), and her plan is to open it as a B&B? Probably not a good business plan. *I understand loving a pet, but for the life of me, I can't see why Stella. She seems an ill-tempered dog who mostly growls and after a brief loving reunion, is ignored by Kate who is hiding in her bedroom or the bathroom to escape her parents.I too grew tired of the will-they-or-won't-they push and pull of the plot.
    • 3/5
      A cute and fun mystery/romance--light beach or summer reading. I didn't find this book as funny as most of Evanovich's other novels, nor the mystery as complex, but it was well-narrated and enjoyable. Weighted more toward the romance end of the scale, so romance lovers will probably enjoy it.
    • 5/5
      This book is one of the many reasons I love Janet Evanovich's storytelling. Her characters live large and the dialogue reveals their souls.
    • 3/5
      Fun book full of moments that make you smile and a storyline that makes the book hard to put down.
    • 4/5
      Mystery with a love story included. Kate has moved into the run down cottage that used to be her family's vacation spot after a messy divorce. At the start of the book she finds herself deep in debt and without a job. She gets a job with a local microbrewery/tap room. Along with the job she also becomes a detective as theirs been a number of incidents that have happened to the business lately. Her first job is as a dishwasher. After a while of that she moves to the front of the house and then finally back to the brewing part of the business. Her first job in the brewing section is cleaning the brewhouse. For those that don't know that's one of the big copper vats with a lid on the top. She gets locked into it as it starts to fill, not by mistake, but by the saboteur. Due to this and her renovations are not going as planned she ends up moving into the guest room of her boss. The romance really begins to bloom from there until the week before Thanksgiving. Her parents have decided that they want an old fashioned family holiday and the whole clan descends on Kate's house. Her parents are too close for comfort and Kate starts to patch things up with her boss. Then the mystery takes another turn.
    • 3/5
      I wasn't that big of a fan of this audiobook. I'm not sure if it was the book, the narrator or a combination of the factors. I wanted to listen to this prior to reading the second book in the series since I've had it on my shelf to review forever. How it started out was very interesting with the main female character barging into the local brew pub demanding a job, but the premise didn't really stay interesting for me. I will give the second book a try and hope I enjoy it more.
    • 3/5
      If you've ever read one of Janet Evanovich's "romances" you'll know what you're getting with this one: light, fun, sweet with moments of madcap. Kate has moved back to Keene's Harbour after her divorce with a plan to refurbish her parents summer house and open a B&B. In order to fund the renovations, she takes a job at the local microbrewery, working undercover to figure out who is sabotaging the owner, gorgeous and single Matt Culhane. The same man who owns the mortgage on her dream B&B. As long as you don't look too deeply at plotting details or expect too much depth, you'll find a breezy, quick read. Jennifer Crusie is the undisputed queen of this particular genre, but this would not be a wasted check-out from the library.
    • 4/5
      I love Janet Evanovichs' Stephanie Plum series, and "love in a Nutshell" wasn't quite as good. The story is great, the characters are fun and I enjoyed reading the book. The book is still worth the time to read, it is entertaining and the characters are engaging. When you read this book just remember Stephanie Plum is a hard act to follow.
    • 3/5
      I listed to the audio version and this is what I would call ear candy. A light and fun romance with a bit of mystery thrown in. Not terribly realistic, but not too soap opera-ish either. The main characters, Kate and Matt, have a bit of feisty chemistry and the villain trying to sabotage Matt's brewery isn't obvious until the ending.
    • 3/5
      This was the perfect escape. Fun fast fluff.
    • 5/5
      You can never go wrong with a romantic comedy/mystery!
    • 5/5
      A cute funny PG romance with an enjoyable plot and plenty of action that moved right along. I always enjoy a hero in pursuit. Kate is trying to establish herself after divorce and goes to brewery owner Matt looking for a job. I haven't read the Stephanie Plum series so my rating is not comparing this to her other work.
    • 3/5
      I liked it, as did the audio in the car, as I love Lorelei King. Was not as good as Stephanie Plum Series (which I am a fan), but worthy. Kate Appleton needs a job. Her husband has left her, she’s been fired from her position as a magazine editor, and the only place she wants to go is to her parents’ summer house, The Nutshell, in Keene’s Harbor, Michigan. Kate’s plan is to turn The Nutshell into a Bed and Breakfast. Problem is, she needs cash, and the only job she can land is less than savory. Lots of drama and hunky guy along the way to solving her issues.
    • 4/5
      Synopsis: Kate has lost her job mainly due to a backstabbing co-worker. She's tossed out her lying husband. Now she's lost a minimum wage job and is about to lose her family house. She demands, and gets, a job from a local micro-brewer who wants her to track down the person who is sabotaging his business. Although she doesn't lose this job, it almost costs her life.Review: This was a wonderful piece of fluff. The characters are entertaining and fun. About a third of the way through the book the number of suspects had dwindled to two, but that didn't make the read any less enjoyable. The final scene is a bit of a surprise. This is classic early Evanovich.
    • 3/5
      Got better towards the end.
    • 4/5
      This was an easy read, light and cute. I read it over a weekend.
    • 4/5
      This was a great easy read. :)
    • 3/5
      2.5-3 stars for what it is, a fluffy, chick lit/romance read with a bit of mystery to it and not a lot of depth. It's like drinking Mountain Dew. Why did I read this? because the reviews were good and it sounded like a good beach-read type book. LJ: "Sassy dialog, laugh-out-loud humor, vastly appealing characters, and an intriguing setting make this fast-paced, suspenseful romance one to imbibe." Bah. Not so much, LJ. It's ok. It's close to that, but a few notches below achieving it. Fast read, eighth grade level, wholesome, good for the folk who prefer to avoid bad language and sexy-time; also good for chick lit romance fans.

      Heroine moves into her parents' summer lake house, a rambling falling down thing in Michigan, to renovate it into a b&b after she gets a divorce & loses her magazine editor job & is broke. Her parents are behind on their mortgage (despite the fact that they seem to be wealthy, all the heroine's siblings are wealthy, and they've owned the 2nd house for 30 years, so ???) and want her to let the private investor who has bought the mortgage to take it instead. Heroine needs a job so marches into local brewery and gets one from the hot owner, who likes her sass & asks her to work undercover and spy to find out who is sabotaging his brewery. She'll be paid minimum wage and get a $20,000 bonus if she finds the saboteur. Hot brewery guy and heroine fall in love and find the saboteur amidst a bit of danger and nice family relationships.

      Irritating factors: Evanovich seems to think minimum wage is $10 an hour. No. Not even here in liberal Oregon. It's $7.40 in Michigan. When you're broke, you know the difference between $7.40 & $10 per hour, trust me.
      Also, hot brewery guy, smart enough to invest in other breweries and to have a booming successful business, yet too stupid to think of buying security cameras.
      No interesting house renovation details at all, just a few "ooh sewage overflow" type mishaps.
      And finally, the hero has a tough three legged rescue hound dog, while the heroine misses her dog terribly which turns out to be a fussy mini poodle who appears to be the alpha in the human-heroine relationship, and then also alpha over the hero. Ugh. And these people need to seriously read some dog training books.
    • 4/5
      Kate Appleton needs work, she's living in her parents' summer house in Keene's Harbor, Michigan, a place she hopes, some day to turn into a bed-and-breakfast. However she's broke, her husband left her taking almost everything including the dog she loved, her job as magazine editior is gone, not helped by ending up semi-naked due to an ink accident on the street during a fire alarm. Now shes trying to find a job working for Matt Culhane, to find out who is trying to damage his business, undermine his brewing company. Things are not helped by the fact that he owns the mortgage on her money-pit of a house and things are starting to heat up between them.It was a fun read, nothing terribly deep but fun.
    • 4/5
      Microbrew owner Matt Culhane has no idea who's trying to sabotage his business. But when blond, cute, and very determined Kate Appleton marches through his front door looking for a job and unwilling to take "no" for an answer, he promises her a bonus if she finds out. One small town in the mitten of Michigan may never be the same again.Like most of Evanovich's co-authored titles this one has some spots that don't have her trademark bubbly snark percolating through them. But it's not to bad for an fluffy afternoon curl-up with a cat and a hot cup of tea book.
    • 4/5
      Love in a Nutshell was a cute little romantic story. There were some hilarious parts that made me laugh out loud, and I always appreciate that in a book. There was even a little bit of a mystery in it. I thought the main characters were fun and likeable. Also, it was narrated by the amazingly talented Lorelei King which pretty much guaranteed that I would like the book anyway. (I listened to it on audio)
    • 1/5
      The writing is flat and boring. The plot is tissue-paper thin. The characters are two-dimensional and uninteresting. In the interest of full disclosure, I could only tolerate about 30 pages before I returned it to the library. I just didn't give a hoot about any of the characters and the writing was boring me to tears. Life is short and books are many.I hope that Janet only put her name on this to help a friend because if Janet wrote this then her skills as an author have eroded significantly. If this was written primarily by Dorien Kelly (and I suspect that it was) then she needs to find some more honest people to critique her writing. My cynical brain can only think of one reason this was published by a major publisher in hardcover - to make more money off of the Janet Evanovich brand.
    • 4/5
      Girl inherits a rundown house with intentions of turning it into a Bed & Breakfast Inn but has no job or money. Her spunky attitude gets her a job working at the local microbrewery to discover who is behind the sabotage at the plant. Of course the owner is the town's most eligible, hunky bachelor and the outcome is never in question.
    • 2/5
      Being a great fan of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series, having read the first 8 and having all the rest on my Kobo, I was looking forward to this read. However, I was disappointed. I did not find it humorous, although I did chuckle about two or three times. I found the romance flat and uninteresting. I guess you could say that I did not find anything relatable in the lead characters and found that I really didn't care what was happening to them or around them. I hung in there because it is an easy read and I figured it might get better. Sadly, it did not. I actually have a couple of other Evanovich romances, that she wrote before Stephanie Plum. I will approach those with caution.
    • 4/5
      I liked it. Kate Appleton is spunky,stubborn and willing to work hard to make her dream a realaty. Kate lost her job, husband left her for women he cheated with and got custody of the dog. Kate moved into the family vacation home. It is big but needs a lot of work if she wants to open a bed and breakfast. She is three months behind with morgage and facing foreclosure. Kate lost another job and talked herself into new job at brewery. Matt Culhane owns brewery and few other businesses someone is trying to ruin the brewery. He hires kate to see if she could learn what is going on in his brewery. It has humor and romance.
    • 5/5
      Love in a NutshellThis is a sweet, light hearted and very wholesome romance/mystery and a very quick read.Kate has just been fired from a bartending job, something she had to take to earn some money while she is trying to fix up her parents old B&B on Lake Michigan. She stomps off to confront the person she thinks s responsible for her job loss and meets Matt Culhane, who just happens to hold the mortgage that Kate is trying so hard to pay back Of course that mortgage is so far past due that Matt is ready to foreclose.But Matt has been having some troubles of his own and decides that Kate would be the perfect person to ‘spy’ for him. There has been a rash of vandalisms at his micro-brewery/restaurant..As the vandalism escalates Matt decides that Kate is the one for him, and despite her reticence with men since her very nasty divorce she starts having feelings for Matt too. Can she get beyond the fact that he is holding her mortgage and wants to turn her property into a restaurant?This novel has an interesting story line and a mystery that had me going trying to figure it out. The writing team of Evanovich and Kelly threw in a very plausible red herring and I bit like a hungry grouper! The characters are very likeable, to the point that I would love to be friends with them. The writing is nice and tight, the story holds ones interest and even the secondary characters are enjoyable.I truly liked this book a lot, and I hope that these two collaborate again in the future.