"SO incredibly funny! I loved this book!"
Tara Cole had the boss from hell - Aileen. And after
discovering Aileen's weakness for chocolate, Tara started
her own form of revenge: sending a box of chocolate a
day... that, and she and her co-workers all opted for
early retirement from their computer jobs. Now Tara runs
her own online business REVENGE-GIFTS.com and lives in the
Florida Keys where she bartends for free rent. Life
couldn't be better could it? Well that's what Tara thinks until someone leaves a gris-
gris bag on her car (followed by a black kitten, black
rooster and other black things) and her friend Kathy tells
her that it's her bad Karma catching up with her. She also
lives with a few cranky ghosts; her Uncle Lester and a
food- throwing poltergeist. When Howard, the sexy new
neighbor, (who turns out to be the grandson of Miss Wendy -
she helps make lace for the allergy pillows) wants to use
her urns for burials at sea, her life couldn't get any
more turned upside down or less private. Or, so Tara
thought. Man, oh Man! Was I laughing hard through this story! Cindy
Cruciger has a fabulous fresh and wacky writing voice.
REVENGE GIFTS is written in the first person, and having
it any other way really wouldn't have worked because so
much of the humor would get lost. I got a hoot of how she
dealt with the miscellaneous "bad" luck items left on her
car. Tara is an independent woman who has no interest in
anything unless it pertains to her website. Only, while
she thinks she is helping people get revenge...is she
really? The allergy pillows are all hand made by the local
craft society and everything is mailed to the person who
orders it, not to the person getting the gift. Then there
are the ghosts in her bungalow. Most people would get them
exorcised right? Not Tara, she just doesn't keep food or
kitchen knives in her house. There is just so much going on in Tara's life that this is
great reading. Another nice thing about REVENGE GIFTS is
that the story isn't overwhelming. Between the ghosts in
her bungalow, Kathy trying to aide her in getting rid of
the curse, working at the bar, and the online store (plus
a couple other things) this story flowed and it held my
interest. I just know that if I had as much going on as
Tara, my life certainly wouldn't read as nicely. This is a very thought out story, and I enjoyed how the
island people are brought to life as well as how they
interact with Tara. There is a real sense of community and
you get to know who they are as individuals rather than
just the feeling of people around Tara. Even though Tara
has tried to remain aloof, when Howard arrives on the
island, everyone is suddenly involved in her personal
business and it's public knowledge. For example, when Tara
falls asleep in Howard's hammock everyone thinks she's
sleeping with him. REVENGE GIFTS could be a romantic thriller, and Miss Good
Voodoo (who actually is up to no good) does scare Tara.
This story is not scary at all, because each situation
thrown at Tara is written with so much humor. REVENGE
GIFTS is a fantastic read I absolutely recommend! Posted October 21, 2005
Reviewed by Cynthia Eckert
Posted January 12, 2007
|
