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TJ Jensen Mystery #3
Bikinis in Paradise
When the Tropical Tan Corporation descends on Maggie's Hideaway, the lakeside resort where Tj Jensen lives, she must juggle a bikini contest, BBQ cookoff, missing model, and dead chaperone while her father is out of town. Lead deputy Dylan Caine is on vacation while his sister is in town leaving assistant deputy Roy Fisher in charge. When Roy asks Tj for her help they find that there may be more going on than anyone realized. With Kyle and Jenna's help they dig into the lives of those involved to find a motive for murder.
244 pages, Paperback
First published April 24, 2014
526 people are currently reading
490 people want to read
About the author
Kathi Daley
332 books1,757 followersKathi lives with her husband, kids, grandkids, and dogs in beautiful Lake Tahoe. When she isn't writing, Kathi likes to read (preferably at the beach or by the fire), cook (preferably something with chocolate or cheese,) and garden (planting and planning not weeding). She also enjoys spending time on the water when she's not hiking, biking, or snowshoeing, the miles of desolate trails surrounding her home.
Kathi uses the mountain setting in which she lives, along with the animals (wild and domestic) that share her home, as inspiration for her cozy mysteries.
Join me on Facebook at Kathi Daley Books (www.facebook.com/kathidaleybooks) for updates on my books, photos of life in Lake Tahoe, recipes, contests, and giveaways. For weekly updates and contests sign up for The Daley Weekly Newsletter (http://eepurl.com/NRPDf).
Kathi uses the mountain setting in which she lives, along with the animals (wild and domestic) that share her home, as inspiration for her cozy mysteries.
Join me on Facebook at Kathi Daley Books (www.facebook.com/kathidaleybooks) for updates on my books, photos of life in Lake Tahoe, recipes, contests, and giveaways. For weekly updates and contests sign up for The Daley Weekly Newsletter (http://eepurl.com/NRPDf).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews
February 1, 2018
I listened to the audio version and Coleen Malo is the perfect narrator for TJ Jensen series. Her kind voice represent everything TJ and the town of Serenity stand for.
Bikinis in Paradise is my favourite in this series so far. I was surprised by the ending and how neatly all the loose ends came together.
Bikinis in Paradise is my favourite in this series so far. I was surprised by the ending and how neatly all the loose ends came together.
July 9, 2017
Models competing in a contest at the Maggie's Hideaway resort on the lake for the Tropical Tan Corp for scholarship money. A couple of mysteries keeps an already busy Tj looking into them as they happened at or near the resort.
I liked the interactions with Tj and her friends. She has a way of finding out information where she usually doesn't get caught. Some interesting towns folks too. Tj has a soft spot for kids and animals which is a great thing in my book.
I liked the interactions with Tj and her friends. She has a way of finding out information where she usually doesn't get caught. Some interesting towns folks too. Tj has a soft spot for kids and animals which is a great thing in my book.
June 3, 2019
This was a fun summer read, and I had been wanting to get back to the TJ Jensen series for awhile anyway. In this book, TJ has to deal with a possible murder and a missing Tropical Tan model, all while her dad is out of town with his girlfriend and TJ's half-sisters--and while trying to keep her grandpa from hearing stuff that will upset him. Tj and Dylan, her on and off deputy boyfriend had some issues to work out, especially since he was dealing with his sister's and nephew's arrivals in Serenity. The ending was sort of bittersweet, but it was at least hopeful. And there is now a new little mystery that will most likely be addressed in the next book or books. Those kinds of little cliffhangers are always okay and give a good incentive to keep reading.
September 11, 2025
This book is pure and utter stupidity. If you need something to blank out on this is it. I wonder if the publishing company that publishes these books fired all their editors or use young students as editors. There were mistakes and continuity issues from the very first pages that are both from the content within this book and from previous books. It makes it look like this book was self-published and a second draft, not a final one, Mrs. Daley needs to learn to keep notes about what she has written in previous pages/books. The author adds facts to each book that are at odds or should have been provided in previous books. In the first book and again emphasized in the second Tj's half-sisters come to live with her after their mother and her husband who is implied is their father die. Here the author just drops in the fact, without background or further explanation after the fact that her half-sister's father is actually alive and who knows where! He was not the man who died with their mother...Yet it was written in previous books and in part of this that they all believed/knew the man who died with their mother was the father, then poof no he wasn't and the real dad has been known and was never contacted and is just out in the world somewhere.
Too short, a lot of little details are left out that are useful for later actions/dialogue that makes the writing jarring and confusing at times. Makes you think or feel you have missed something and go back to check.
Even for a cozy mystery, the common sense factor is horrendously low, logic is mostly absent and many parts just don't make any sense. Take this sentence for example: "This time a year ago, she’d been a single woman with a fun and uncomplicated boyfriend, living in her own apartment in town." Or this situation: how Tj found the body (her dog barked and wouldn't come when called so she went to get it and she saw a body 20 feet down in a shady area of a lake...), the theory of death (she instantly knows the woman died from being hit on the head from a rock...while looking at and not touching her in dark murky 20-foot deep water when the woman was hit on the side of the head where her hair would cover it...), and sudden worry about the killer coming for her (as she theorizes since she didn't see anyone around where the body was the killer must have been hiding in the woods on a hill and knows who she is and is stalking her because she found the body... yet because she found the body within 30 minutes of it being dumped from a BOAT, the killer would be out on the water not on land...) is utterly unbelievable.
Mrs. Daley loves her stereotypes and was very heavy-handed with her writing of the models (as uncaring, vapid, non-eating, dumb, lazy, hard-partying, narcissistic women when she has set the age for most of them at 19) and of the people who decide to live apart/in isolation from the very big city the author insists on calling a small town where the MC lives and that her grandfather owns half of... (they are uneducated, unwashed/unkempt, poor, people hating loners, and indicated that all the men there are abusive to the women).
Does Tj ever actually work? Do the kids in town actually ever go to school with all the week-long festivals going on?
Please, please, please stop this trope that tomboys have zero feminine qualities, likes, or desires. Tj often laments (in all three books but it gets worse with each one) how since she grew up without her mother present (but had a mother figure in her best friends mom and had a grandmother living with her) and being raised by a single father thus she is resigned (and basically forced) to be a tomboy and athletic without ANY feminine qualities. And because she is an athletic tomboy she can't understand anything inherently girl-like, it's all alien to her... Give me a fucking break! I know a lot of women raised by dads who are "girly" or are athletic but like to dress up. I have a female friend who works on a farm, doesn't mind getting dirty to work hard, and yet she loves to participate in beauty pageants on weekends when not at livestock competitions. Just because Tj grew up around more men than women (and with a resort full of both genders, going to public school, and having friends moms dote on her I don't see how that works) she lacks what are considered feminine traits.
Tj and her family resort are hosting the annual Mrs. Tropical Tan spokeswoman contest, in short, a weekend-long bikini contest for teenagers. Within minutes of the models arriving one of them is missing and their chaperone who was nowhere to be found turns up dead. Wondering around the grounds is the 12-year-old half-sister of the missing model. (Authors please unless said child is a genius and is stated as being such observe children of that age to write their behavior and speech patterns correctly. This preteen acted more adult than some of the adult characters) Tj starts to do the sheriff's job of interviewing the models while her bartender hands out drinks to minors. After her semi-boyfriend, the sheriff needs to go look for clues in another town and she gets mad when he won't introduce her to his sister, who is coming to visit, the moment she sets foot in town. So she calls up her old boyfriend-almost finance and gets him to share preliminary autopsy notes her semi-boyfriend wouldn't. (No idea how he got them and had them in hand to read from for Tj since he is a doctor not at all connected with the medical examiner (not sure if he graduated yet I forgot) and would have nothing to do with a dead body from the lake, also how he knows who the victim is and the relation to Tj, either from being the competition manager or that Tj found her since only the police, coroner and bikini teenagers know she's dead.) Thus a love triangle is being set up since she still has feelings for him but is growing to love/is mildly in love with the sheriff. For the next few days Tj just roams about picking up gossip she treats as gospel, chats with people, and asks them questions to which they spill everything they know which, according to others she talks to no one is supposed to know about...or facts about the missing model that again everyone claimed they didn't know but now they have her detailed history? Oh and that murder...it might have been an accident, and someone got scared and covered it up...The corner is old after all so he could have made a mistake! So Tj wants a family friend, a retired doctor in his 70's (not old somehow?) to go take a look at the body to get the real cause of death... Then in the middle of the night Tj gets a call from Annabeth and goes off alone, without telling anyone or leaving a note, to an isolationist's compound where visitors are not allowed by threat of being shot. She of course gets ambushed and seriously hurt. She is rescued of course, but no one is angry at her for going off into danger by herself without telling anyone and it's all swept under the rug.
The ending of this book was a god-awful mess. With contradictions from sentence to sentence, it didn't make much sense, and the author even used the wrong character's names when explaining what happened for the crime to be committed. The only good thing about the last two chapters was that there were no spelling errors but other than that it was an unedited senseless mess!
Too short, a lot of little details are left out that are useful for later actions/dialogue that makes the writing jarring and confusing at times. Makes you think or feel you have missed something and go back to check.
Even for a cozy mystery, the common sense factor is horrendously low, logic is mostly absent and many parts just don't make any sense. Take this sentence for example: "This time a year ago, she’d been a single woman with a fun and uncomplicated boyfriend, living in her own apartment in town." Or this situation: how Tj found the body (her dog barked and wouldn't come when called so she went to get it and she saw a body 20 feet down in a shady area of a lake...), the theory of death (she instantly knows the woman died from being hit on the head from a rock...while looking at and not touching her in dark murky 20-foot deep water when the woman was hit on the side of the head where her hair would cover it...), and sudden worry about the killer coming for her (as she theorizes since she didn't see anyone around where the body was the killer must have been hiding in the woods on a hill and knows who she is and is stalking her because she found the body... yet because she found the body within 30 minutes of it being dumped from a BOAT, the killer would be out on the water not on land...) is utterly unbelievable.
Mrs. Daley loves her stereotypes and was very heavy-handed with her writing of the models (as uncaring, vapid, non-eating, dumb, lazy, hard-partying, narcissistic women when she has set the age for most of them at 19) and of the people who decide to live apart/in isolation from the very big city the author insists on calling a small town where the MC lives and that her grandfather owns half of... (they are uneducated, unwashed/unkempt, poor, people hating loners, and indicated that all the men there are abusive to the women).
Does Tj ever actually work? Do the kids in town actually ever go to school with all the week-long festivals going on?
Please, please, please stop this trope that tomboys have zero feminine qualities, likes, or desires. Tj often laments (in all three books but it gets worse with each one) how since she grew up without her mother present (but had a mother figure in her best friends mom and had a grandmother living with her) and being raised by a single father thus she is resigned (and basically forced) to be a tomboy and athletic without ANY feminine qualities. And because she is an athletic tomboy she can't understand anything inherently girl-like, it's all alien to her... Give me a fucking break! I know a lot of women raised by dads who are "girly" or are athletic but like to dress up. I have a female friend who works on a farm, doesn't mind getting dirty to work hard, and yet she loves to participate in beauty pageants on weekends when not at livestock competitions. Just because Tj grew up around more men than women (and with a resort full of both genders, going to public school, and having friends moms dote on her I don't see how that works) she lacks what are considered feminine traits.
Tj and her family resort are hosting the annual Mrs. Tropical Tan spokeswoman contest, in short, a weekend-long bikini contest for teenagers. Within minutes of the models arriving one of them is missing and their chaperone who was nowhere to be found turns up dead. Wondering around the grounds is the 12-year-old half-sister of the missing model. (Authors please unless said child is a genius and is stated as being such observe children of that age to write their behavior and speech patterns correctly. This preteen acted more adult than some of the adult characters) Tj starts to do the sheriff's job of interviewing the models while her bartender hands out drinks to minors. After her semi-boyfriend, the sheriff needs to go look for clues in another town and she gets mad when he won't introduce her to his sister, who is coming to visit, the moment she sets foot in town. So she calls up her old boyfriend-almost finance and gets him to share preliminary autopsy notes her semi-boyfriend wouldn't. (No idea how he got them and had them in hand to read from for Tj since he is a doctor not at all connected with the medical examiner (not sure if he graduated yet I forgot) and would have nothing to do with a dead body from the lake, also how he knows who the victim is and the relation to Tj, either from being the competition manager or that Tj found her since only the police, coroner and bikini teenagers know she's dead.) Thus a love triangle is being set up since she still has feelings for him but is growing to love/is mildly in love with the sheriff. For the next few days Tj just roams about picking up gossip she treats as gospel, chats with people, and asks them questions to which they spill everything they know which, according to others she talks to no one is supposed to know about...or facts about the missing model that again everyone claimed they didn't know but now they have her detailed history? Oh and that murder...it might have been an accident, and someone got scared and covered it up...The corner is old after all so he could have made a mistake! So Tj wants a family friend, a retired doctor in his 70's (not old somehow?) to go take a look at the body to get the real cause of death... Then in the middle of the night Tj gets a call from Annabeth and goes off alone, without telling anyone or leaving a note, to an isolationist's compound where visitors are not allowed by threat of being shot. She of course gets ambushed and seriously hurt. She is rescued of course, but no one is angry at her for going off into danger by herself without telling anyone and it's all swept under the rug.
The ending of this book was a god-awful mess. With contradictions from sentence to sentence, it didn't make much sense, and the author even used the wrong character's names when explaining what happened for the crime to be committed. The only good thing about the last two chapters was that there were no spelling errors but other than that it was an unedited senseless mess!
February 7, 2019
Okay, I'm really liking this series. It's fun and easy and the characters are enjoyable.
This book had a modeling competition going on at Maggie's Hideaway. As seems to be TJ's luck, she finds a dead body and sets about finding the killer, in addition to finding a missing model.
I was happy in that I didn't figure out who the killer was right off. This one surprised me. I really like getting to know the residents of Serenity. They make me want to visit and have a nice vacation, in spite of the murders. The people are fun and interesting and there isn't any one person that I just don't like.
My heart ached for TJ and the girls in the book in certain places and I also laughed along with them. It's as if they're family and that is something rare in books these days.
In short - this series is a good way to snap out of a bad mood.
This book had a modeling competition going on at Maggie's Hideaway. As seems to be TJ's luck, she finds a dead body and sets about finding the killer, in addition to finding a missing model.
I was happy in that I didn't figure out who the killer was right off. This one surprised me. I really like getting to know the residents of Serenity. They make me want to visit and have a nice vacation, in spite of the murders. The people are fun and interesting and there isn't any one person that I just don't like.
My heart ached for TJ and the girls in the book in certain places and I also laughed along with them. It's as if they're family and that is something rare in books these days.
In short - this series is a good way to snap out of a bad mood.
November 1, 2020
School's out of session and her elementary-aged sisters are at Disney World with her father, but that doesn't mean that Tj Jensen's life is boring. With her dad gone, she's in charge of Maggie's Hideaway, the family's resort on Paradise Lake, and they're hosting the finale of a sunscreen company's famous bikini contest. When one of the models disappears and a company employee is found dead, Tj helps the police investigate, putting herself in danger.
While Tj's family takes the backseat for this mystery, her new friend Kyle, old friend Doc, and almost-boyfriend Dylan are out in force. The end could have been better, with Dylan being shot off-screen (almost as an afterthought) while rescuing Tj and the model, but Tj's relationship with Annabeth, the teenage sister of the missing model shows why she's such a great sister/guardian and teacher.
While Tj's family takes the backseat for this mystery, her new friend Kyle, old friend Doc, and almost-boyfriend Dylan are out in force. The end could have been better, with Dylan being shot off-screen (almost as an afterthought) while rescuing Tj and the model, but Tj's relationship with Annabeth, the teenage sister of the missing model shows why she's such a great sister/guardian and teacher.
January 15, 2021
Anfangs war ich von diesem Band nicht so überzeugt. Irgendwie wollte es mich einfach nicht packen, aber je länger ich das Hörbuch hörte, desto mehr konnte ich es geniessen. Das Buch lebt von seinen Figuren und deren Entwicklung, was auch hier wieder gut verarbeitet wird.
Die Auflösung ist mir persönlich ein wenig zu schlicht und einfach gewoben. Aber wieso auch nicht? Vielleicht sollte ich aufhören, Daleys Reihe mit den Cape Bay Mysteries zu vergleichen. Leider ist das nicht so einfach, da es ziemlich viele Ähnlichkeiten gibt. Aber je mehr ich mich mit TJ und ihren Freunden beschäftige, desto mehr lerne ich ihre Eigenheiten kennen.
Deswegen freue ich mich auch auf den nächsten Teil!
Die Auflösung ist mir persönlich ein wenig zu schlicht und einfach gewoben. Aber wieso auch nicht? Vielleicht sollte ich aufhören, Daleys Reihe mit den Cape Bay Mysteries zu vergleichen. Leider ist das nicht so einfach, da es ziemlich viele Ähnlichkeiten gibt. Aber je mehr ich mich mit TJ und ihren Freunden beschäftige, desto mehr lerne ich ihre Eigenheiten kennen.
Deswegen freue ich mich auch auf den nächsten Teil!
September 13, 2023
The third installment of the TJ Jensen Mystery Series from Kathi Daley, this book was original, entertaining, creative, and held my attention all the way through. This one was okay, but not quite as good as the second. Well worth the time to read. Looking forward to continuing the series.
September 8, 2024
It's a nice cozy read.
But I won't read it again and I don't need to read the next book in the series either.
But I won't read it again and I don't need to read the next book in the series either.
April 28, 2014
Bikinis In Paradise by Kathi Daley is a real winner. Reading her books are like reading a letter from old friends updating their lives. The characters continue to be likable and you want to know what's going on in their lives. There are two mysteries in this book, what happened to a kidnapped contestant from the tanning competion and who murdered one of the workers from the competion. These mysteries continue throughout the whole book and, although I think of myself as a good detective, I wasn't able to solve these mysteries on my own. The descriptive writing of the small town setting is so descriptive that you want to visit there yourself. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a cozy mystery and I would recommend reading all of her books in both series. Kathi Daley really knows how to write a top- notch cozy and I'm impatiently waiting for the next one of her books.
August 6, 2016
PDF From Author for Review
In book 3, we find our heroine TJ Jensen involved in a Bikini contest sponsored by a tanning lotion company at her family resort. While her father and half sisters are away in Florida she has to oversee that things run smoothly. Unfortunately things go crazy even before the competition begins.
One of the competitors has fail to check in and was last seen walking away with her ex fiancé, As TJ decides to look for the missing girl along the beach she finds herself in the water with a dead woman. The woman ends up being an employee of the tanning company.
Is there any connection between the two or is it coincidence? Or does it have anything to do with the sponsor and his estranged son whom both have a habit of sleeping with the models.
TJ unravels the truth about the murder as she puts herself at risk.
In book 3, we find our heroine TJ Jensen involved in a Bikini contest sponsored by a tanning lotion company at her family resort. While her father and half sisters are away in Florida she has to oversee that things run smoothly. Unfortunately things go crazy even before the competition begins.
One of the competitors has fail to check in and was last seen walking away with her ex fiancé, As TJ decides to look for the missing girl along the beach she finds herself in the water with a dead woman. The woman ends up being an employee of the tanning company.
Is there any connection between the two or is it coincidence? Or does it have anything to do with the sponsor and his estranged son whom both have a habit of sleeping with the models.
TJ unravels the truth about the murder as she puts herself at risk.
November 29, 2023
I enjoyed this cosy small town mystery. This series is very family orientated, with the home life drama mixed in with mystery and there is always something or a celebration going on in the resort or town. I love the family and characters, normally I wish the author would stick to the mystery and investigating but that is not the case with this series. The author has created characters that you care about and enjoy listening about. The mystery was interesting, with a murder and a missing person to find and while not that many suspects it was cleverly crafted to keep me entertained and all the loss ends gets nicely wrapped up. On to the next book.
If the resort completely booked up by staff and contestants in a swimsuit contest, things for TJ should be a lot easier, giving her a chance to get to know her boyfriend's sister. Instead one of the models doesn't turn up and one of the organisers is found dead and TJ gets asked by the stand in deputy for help. The missing model feels like it should be TJ's responsibility, as she was meant to be staying at the resort and when her teenage step sister asks her to find her too, TJ can't sit back and wait for her to return. The missing girl has a connection to the near by town of vengeance, giving TJ a place to start and the more she learns the more she fears the death and the missing person case could be connected. Can she find the girl before it's to late? And catch a killer?
I like the narrator. She does some great voices for both the young and old characters, making it an entertaining listen.
If the resort completely booked up by staff and contestants in a swimsuit contest, things for TJ should be a lot easier, giving her a chance to get to know her boyfriend's sister. Instead one of the models doesn't turn up and one of the organisers is found dead and TJ gets asked by the stand in deputy for help. The missing model feels like it should be TJ's responsibility, as she was meant to be staying at the resort and when her teenage step sister asks her to find her too, TJ can't sit back and wait for her to return. The missing girl has a connection to the near by town of vengeance, giving TJ a place to start and the more she learns the more she fears the death and the missing person case could be connected. Can she find the girl before it's to late? And catch a killer?
I like the narrator. She does some great voices for both the young and old characters, making it an entertaining listen.
November 14, 2021
Yikes.
I was looking for some easy-read cozy mysteries, after a string of heavier subjects and came across some of Kathi Daley's books. Book 1 was simple but a fun fall-themed story, and book 2 was not as good but similar. Book 3 (this one) is where I get off this sad train.
The title itself made me unsure but I gave it a go. This book is just overflowing with cliches, dated stereotypes, and continuity errors. It was published a few years ago but still long after it was "funny" to call thin people "anorexic," or to make fun of E.D.s at all. It is also very heavy-handed with the "pick-me-I'm-not-like-other-girls" trope. Can we please stop creating scenarios of women attacking other women. Can we stick to a storyline that makes sense and doesn't repeatedly contradict itself? Does Ms. Daley have an editor? Was there ever and editor??...Bueller???
Boring and cookie-cutter at best. Deeply misogynistic and insensitive at worst. Read something else. Seriously, throw a rock in a library and it will land on something better than this.
I was looking for some easy-read cozy mysteries, after a string of heavier subjects and came across some of Kathi Daley's books. Book 1 was simple but a fun fall-themed story, and book 2 was not as good but similar. Book 3 (this one) is where I get off this sad train.
The title itself made me unsure but I gave it a go. This book is just overflowing with cliches, dated stereotypes, and continuity errors. It was published a few years ago but still long after it was "funny" to call thin people "anorexic," or to make fun of E.D.s at all. It is also very heavy-handed with the "pick-me-I'm-not-like-other-girls" trope. Can we please stop creating scenarios of women attacking other women. Can we stick to a storyline that makes sense and doesn't repeatedly contradict itself? Does Ms. Daley have an editor? Was there ever and editor??...Bueller???
Boring and cookie-cutter at best. Deeply misogynistic and insensitive at worst. Read something else. Seriously, throw a rock in a library and it will land on something better than this.
May 11, 2017
It's summer time and time for the Bikini contest in Serenity and of course TJ is right in the thick of it. It brings a lot of tourist to their town and it gives out a money prize. When the woman who is suppose to be looking out for the young ladies is found dead and one contestant has gone missing TJ is on high alert. Her police friend Dylan is on vacation seeing his sister and nephew and so it's up to TJ and Roy the other policeman to find out what happened.
I really like this series even with the short mysteries the author is able to give you a great mystery and can pack a lot into her short reads/listens. I really like TJ and the others in the story. I kind of felt sorry for TJ this go around cause things are not as she would hope for her and Dylan but that is how it goes some times.
Can't wait to listen to the next one!
I really like this series even with the short mysteries the author is able to give you a great mystery and can pack a lot into her short reads/listens. I really like TJ and the others in the story. I kind of felt sorry for TJ this go around cause things are not as she would hope for her and Dylan but that is how it goes some times.
Can't wait to listen to the next one!
July 12, 2017
We return to Serenity, in the mountains near Reno, in Bikinis in Paradise, where Maggie's Hideaway, the resort owned and managed for several generations by the family of TJ Jensen is hosting a bikini contest for the Tropical Tan Corporation. But when the bus arrives from the airport, it is missing two people. One of the 25 models got off the bus but didn't make it in the walk to the Hideaway. Further, one of the organizers and chaperones of the contest failed to make the bus at the airport. Hearing that the model may have been spotted heading towards a cove, TJ goes there to check it out, only to find not the model, but the chaperone dead and tied to a sunken anchor.
Read the rest of this review, more reviews, and other wonderful, geeky articles on FangirlNation
Read the rest of this review, more reviews, and other wonderful, geeky articles on FangirlNation
July 30, 2021
Good summer read with an annoying mild "love triangle" (for lack of better words for it) that adds nothing to the story other than to annoy the reader. I used to enjoy love triangles in all forms, but I find that now they just annoy me beyond words. So if you like that type of thing, you may love that part. I do enjoy the series so far and will continue to the next book because I'm secretly a monster that wanted the person who is still in the book to stay and the one who isn't to leave...they gave me a headache.
P.S. I am not a professional reviewer, I have just decided to start using this space to put my stream of consciousness thoughts of books I finish. Mostly because I have found I cannot remember a lot of books and why I rated them as I did. While I still think of myself as a young woman, my brain is fully aware I am not and takes a lot more naps than it used to.
P.S. I am not a professional reviewer, I have just decided to start using this space to put my stream of consciousness thoughts of books I finish. Mostly because I have found I cannot remember a lot of books and why I rated them as I did. While I still think of myself as a young woman, my brain is fully aware I am not and takes a lot more naps than it used to.
December 22, 2018
TJ has stayed at the ranch to help run the Bikini Competition while her dad, his friend Rosalie and the girls are in FL at a convention, where her dad is the speaker. When the program is beginning, two women from the program have gone missing. A contestant and a woman from the company sponsoring the competition. TJ feels that she has to go find them, but when the organizer is found dead and weighted down in the lake, she feels even more that she has to find the other woman. Dylan also is pulling away from her, because his sister and nephew are coming to town and he wants to convince them to move there, but he also wants to make sure that nothing happens to scare his sister.
This was an earlier book as the girls are new to her and they are all still trying to create relationships.
This was an earlier book as the girls are new to her and they are all still trying to create relationships.
August 18, 2024
T.J. has her hands full between dealing with a bikini contest, a missing model, a dead chaperone and a BBQ cookoff while her father is out of town. I enjoyed spending time with TJ and her friends. The double mystery of the missing model and the dead chaperone were interesting and kept me guessing. I enjoyed the summer theme and hearing about the various summer activities. The story was so well written that it drew me in, and I found myself wanting to know what was going to happen next.
June 17, 2018
An entertaining installment in the Paradise mystery series, TJ once again is on the hunt for a killer and a kidnapper when one guest ends up dead and another is missing. Well plotted with humor, mystery and a little drama to make for an entertaining read. Well developed characters and their interpersonal relationships make this series a must read!
October 22, 2024
Silly but good! A good summer read! Though I will say the "romance" between the main character and the detective made me angry. While I understand the reasons for what the guy does, I think that he pretty much was a walking red flag. I don't like when author's dangle a relationship in front of the reader.
January 12, 2025
Love TJ and her family and friends and the whole small-town community vibe in this cozy mystery series. The mystery was good and I like the way she works alongside (or at least shares any info she uncovers) with the police. But the end of this third book made me sad. :-( I'll still continue with the series though.
July 28, 2025
I like the characters and setting but really, TJ doesn't so much solve mysteries than ask questions and eventually someone hands her the solution.
I also really hate the cryptic thing upsets the protagonist at the very end and you have no idea what it's about. At least say it's a letter from a lawyer about the girls or something. Instead of making me want to read the next book, it annoygs me.
I also really hate the cryptic thing upsets the protagonist at the very end and you have no idea what it's about. At least say it's a letter from a lawyer about the girls or something. Instead of making me want to read the next book, it annoygs me.
May 19, 2017
The series keeps getting better. Now I'm worried about TJ. I think she got some bad news. If you want to know the bad news you need to read them. its almost like I was part of all the going ons. Those kind of books make me want to read more of them.
November 5, 2019
Bikinis and murder.
The resort is hosting a competition for models and a tanning lotion company. On the first day TJ finds a body and loses a model. That's all it takes for the group to get into sleuthing mode.
The resort is hosting a competition for models and a tanning lotion company. On the first day TJ finds a body and loses a model. That's all it takes for the group to get into sleuthing mode.
November 30, 2019
Tj and friends solve another mystery
This is an excellent series. Be sure to read in order so as to follow the changes in everyone's lives. I am amazed at the creativity of Kathi Daley. So many fascinating books in so many different series. I highly recommend them all.
This is an excellent series. Be sure to read in order so as to follow the changes in everyone's lives. I am amazed at the creativity of Kathi Daley. So many fascinating books in so many different series. I highly recommend them all.
April 30, 2020
This is my current favorite cozy mystery series. I love the main character and her family. I'm rooting for a certain romance, even though I'm pretty sure it's not going to happen. And I have a theory about what's coming in the next book.
I listened to this as an audiobook.
I listened to this as an audiobook.
July 10, 2020
Bikinis inn paradise
In the third installment of this series I got the extra romance and mystery I was looking for. It is not the outcome I wanted but things moved along. I’m moving on to #4 and am going to start reading it now
In the third installment of this series I got the extra romance and mystery I was looking for. It is not the outcome I wanted but things moved along. I’m moving on to #4 and am going to start reading it now
May 8, 2017
Wonderful series
Love the TJ Jensen series. TJ is always trying to help people no matter who they might be. She has such a wonderful heart.
Love the TJ Jensen series. TJ is always trying to help people no matter who they might be. She has such a wonderful heart.
March 20, 2019
I'm enjoying this reliably fluffy series 😀
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