Kumquat

I’ve read quite a few Jeff Strand novels, so when I downloaded Kumquat I was expecting another great horror/comedy story.Well, the horror was pretty much nonexistent but the comedy was spot on as expected with Jeff Strand. There’s another author I like very much who interjects comedy dialog in his books, but those lines get repetitious and several characters seem to have the same personalities. Whereas Jeff Strand’s humor is always fresh and witty.On the down side, this wasn’t one of those great stories that I read in bed into the early hours because I can’t put it down, and then can’t wait until the next day to continue the story. This a key requirement for me to award a 5-star rating. So, based on that I’m seeing a solid four stars here.And then this...In chapter 23, two character names are mentioned; Rick and Brendan.Doing a Kindle search, there is no mention of anyone named Brendan in this book until this very point where Amy says “Brendan is back on the bottle”. Who the hell is Brendan?Likewise a search for “Rick” (from the line “Rick’s wife left him”) only finds “What kind of a name is Mick? Sounds like somebody didn't know how to spell Rick." Who the hell is Rick?So, it’s kinda weird that two never before introduced characters are mentioned by name this late in the book and then never mentioned again. Why was this not discovered by Strand’s editor or proofreader or beta readers?It’s not like there was a prequel to this book where Brendan and Rick are major characters, right? If I’m off base on this, let me know in a comment.So, now not even a 4-star rating. More like 3.5 but I’ll round up to four. Still a nice, fun ride with 3-dimensional characters, and I would recommend this book, especially to other Jeff Strand fans.

Seriously, the dialog in Jeff Strands' book's makes me want to read them all. It's like a good Hawk and Spencer book, but with horror usually. And maybe not so highbrow... I'm not sure. But read Clowns Vs Spiders the dialog in that one will make you pee your pants. I read Cyclops Road and I think I thought this one was going to be a different take on that book, but wikumquat. Kumquats I guess. But no, this is totally different. This is whatever can go wrong will go wrong, but it'll be fun anyways. And the quotes at the beginning of the chapters. Oh my goodness, they were as good as the dialog. I mean, ok, so here's the thing my life is good right now which is weird because of all the crap that is going on in it. I should need some serious counseling or something. But I got to tune out my world and enjoy witty banter and some sexual innuendo and kumquat. For however many hours of my life. And yeah my life is a little wackado right now. But who cares...I may have to try kumquats.

So because of a shared love for pugs I was lucky enough to test read Kumquat. It was the first of his books I read that was not horror, I had yet to read Dweller and Kutter at the time, and it blew me away. For me it was the right book at the right time. Yes it's funny, laugh out loud funny in places, but there is also so much more underneath. I won't waste time with plot summary here it's just not needed. What's needed is a way to express the heart that was put into creating the situations and characters on the pages. It's not about finding hot dogs. It's about getting up.and doing something. It's about how we can never be ourselves until we let others in. We can't be who we are till we act with love and forgiveness to others. It's about doing things we don't want to do, things that take us out of our way, make us have to smell people that smell like wet pugs and such. How Those things end up giving to us great things that we don't completely understand until we look back on them. how it's never to late. It's about how each and everyone of us is in the this rotten thing called life together. But also how it gets less rotten one action at a time. Big or small each step each action ripples out and makes a difference. Sometimes we see it sometimes we don't. It's about everyone each one of us and how we all matter. How opportunity strikes in the smallest things. So we best take care not hesitate when one appears. Read this book if you need a boost if you feel alone. If things seem hopeless. If life seems blah. It may just break you out of routine.Oh yeah it's about layers. How everything is layers. We just have to take the time to peel them back.

Wonderful humorous story. Not what I expected from Jeff strand at all. Realistic yet crazy, a comedy and a love story. Really well written. Fantastic story .

I loved this book from start to finish. The characters are beautifully drawn, and their adventures are hilarious.Some of their early decisions come back to play a crucial part later in the story and this gives the story a very pleasing, rounded feeling.

a very different route from jeffs usual style of writing but quite brilliant and hilariously funny especially todd and amys first night in the hotel room which had me laughing out loud absolutely priceless.

An amusing story, well written and very funny. An excellent read.

Currently reading all of his books, scary, excitement with humour