The Look of Love by Mary Jane Clark

In The Look of Love, Piper Donovan is asked to create a wedding cake for Jillian Abernathy, the owner of Elysium, an exclusive spa in Los Angles. Part of the deal states that Piper gets to stay at the spa the entire week before the wedding. Shortly after she arrives, though, one of the guests is murdered. With the wedding just days away, is doesn't look like Jillian is going to be walking down the aisle any time soon.

I really enjoyed this book. It's such an easy read that I breezed through it in no time. I love how Clark builds suspense by using short chapters and many points of view to tell the story. I also love how she doesn't tell you exactly who everyone is right away. The identities, details and motives are revealed in small bits and pieces, added more suspense. Sometimes I was left wondering how a person fit into the story and had to read several chapters before finding the answer. I didn't mind at all. In fact, I love this style of writing. It's all the more satisfying when I could later say "Aha! I get it now!"

This is the second book in the Piper Donovan mystery series, but the first one I've read. I have the first book in the series, To Have and To Kill on my eReader. I can't wait to read it now. I just loved the protagonist, Piper. It was a little unbelievable that she's making wedding cakes for high-profile clients when she has so little experience, but maybe that's explained a little more in the first book.

The pacing in this book was pretty even until it came to the end. It started to pick up speed until it was at a frenzied pace with extremely short chapters, jumping into all of the different plot lines seemingly at once. I was almost breathless and I couldn't stop turning the pages. Brilliantly done.

My one complaint is that the ending wrapped up a little too quickly. All of a sudden the culprit was suspected, pronounced guilty, and the book ended. I still wanted to know more about the other suspects. However, I guess when you find the guilty party, why look further? Nevertheless, the book was thoroughly entertaining.

I've read a few of Clark's other books: It Only Takes a Moment, When Day Breaks, Dying for Mercy. I've enjoyed them all. I have a number of her other books waiting to be read. I hope to get to them sooner rather than later.

Highly recommended.

For more information about this book or to browse inside, please visit the HarperCollins website.

For more information about the author and her other books, please visit Mary Jane Clark's website.

I'd like to thank those nice people at HarperCollins for this review copy.

The Look of Love by Mary Jane Clark, William Morrow (HarperCollins), ©2012. ISBN 9780061995569(Hardcover), 340p.