books:

	Death by Bikini Linda Gerber Puffin, 2008 - 240 pages average customer review:based on 12 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Aphra Behn Connolly has the type of life most teenage girls envy. She lives on a remote tropical island and spends most of her time eavesdropping on the rich and famous. The problem is that her family?s resort allows few opportunities for her to make friends?much less to meet cute boys. So when a smoldering Seth Mulo arrives with his parents, she?s immediately drawn to him. Sure, he?s a little bit guarded, and sure his parents are rather cold, and okay he won?t say a word about his past, but their chemistry is undeniable. Then a famous rock star?s girlfriend turns up dead on the beach?strangled by her own bikini top?and alarm bells sound. Is it too great a coincidence that Seth?s family turned up just one day before a murder? As the plot thickens, Aphra finds that danger lurks behind even the most unexpected of faces. . . .

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entertaining young adult mystery

With her father Frank, Aphra Behn Connolly lives on a tropical island where they manage a resort. Her mom chose not to go with them because she felt a need to find herself. Aphra helps her dad run the resort and the Connolly duo has become very close. That is until the Smiths arrive. The father says something in private to Aphra's dad who places them in a villa that needs renovations and fails to register them as guests.

Frank makes it clear to his daughter that he does not want her to have anything to do with the Smiths' son Seth, but not why. Aphra is curious about the newcomers and finally goes into the office to read the Smith file, if there is one. She finds cards that her mother sent her that her father kept from her. Upset she runs out of the office as two people on the island show interest in the Smiths. Frank becomes ill and the only person who can help him is Mr. Smith, but for him to save his host, their offspring must keep the killers away from their dads.

Readers know from the onset that the "Smiths" are on the run from someone who wants them dead while Aphra has to work on finding out who they are; her sleuthing is fun to follow. Readers will empathize with the members of the two families, as each has problems to deal with. Linda Gerber provides an entertaining young adult mystery suspense thriller.

Harriet Klausner

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Enchanting YA Review: Death By Bikini

DEATH BY BIKINI
LINDA GERBER

Rating: 5 Enchantments

Aphra Behn Connolly lives a quiet life working at her father's resort on a remote island. But things are about to change. When a family of unexpected guests show up late at night and her father pushes her away to take care of things, Aphra's already suspicious, as her father isn't all that tech savvy. She's even more so when the next day, there's no trace of him ever checking the Smiths in, let alone to villa four, the one villa on the property that isn't fully guest ready. But when Bianca, the girlfriend of their resident rock-star guest is found murdered on the beach the same day, Aphra can't stop the wave of guilt she feels over Bianca's death, since it was her who suggested the woman try the beach for a change, instead of lounging by the pool.

DEATH BY BIKINI is the definition of a page-turner. The story pulled me in from Page One and never let me set it down till the very last page. The mystery of who killed Bianca as well as the very suspicious behavior of both Aphra's father and the late-night-guests, the Smiths, ratchets up Aphra's suspicions-even more when her father warns her to stay away from the hottie teenage son, Adam. But when a Google search turns up the truth about the Smiths' real identity, Aphra thinks she's solved Bianca's murder, a thought that could prove fatally wrong.

This was a great read! Aphra's suspicions tend to be right on the money (at least about her father's behavior) and she's willing to do whatever it takes to find out the truth, even going behind her father's back, something she really hasn't done before. I loved so much about this book, but my favorite scene has to be when she's trapped in the cave and has to confront her fear of bats to find a way out, or risk having the real killer find her and Adam.

The mystery had me guessing right till the very end of who was behind Bianca's death and what was really going on with the Smiths. Several twists and turns and an unexpected guest or two made this a very engrossing read. Ms. Gerber penned a must read mystery with DEATH BY BIKINI. I look forward to reading the next in the series, DEATH BY LATTE due out this fall.

Lisa
Enchanting Reviews
April 2008

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Solid mystery, leaves you eager for the sequel

Aphra Connolly lives on an island resort owned by her father. However, things are getting rather more interesting lately. There's a mysterious family, complete with hot teenage boy Seth, a second mysterious guest, and a third guest has been found strangled on the beach. Aphra needs to find out what's happening at the resort before anyone else dies - and so that she knows it is okay to fall in love with Seth.

DEATH BY BIKINI is over two hundred pages, but it feels shorter. Gerber's pacing is fast and furious. I never felt overwhelmed, but the book was over before I knew it. My mother also finished it in a single day, a rare occurance nowadays. But unlike many beach reads, DEATH BY BIKINI has an incredible heroine. Aphra is resourceful, athletic, and intelligent. Her mistakes seem real, rather than events included just to further the plot. Seth spends most of the novel hiding his past so his character is necessarily less developed, but he shows he's brave and caring throughout the novel.

The mystery component of DEATH BY BIKINI is solid. There are clues as to the murderer's identity and purpose, but neither is readily apparent. Plus, while Gerber seeds hints of larger mysteries afoot, she knows allowing some payoff in this novel only makes the next that much more desirable. (There's nothing worse than being handed a bushel of questions by an author and receiving no answers.)

Excerpted from In Bed With Books

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Great Read


This book was amazing. It has romance, mystery, and murder which I love in a book. Although I wold have loved for it to be a bit more mysterious but it was really good. The book was well-written and it was funny at times. I really enjoyed this book. I can't wait for Death by Latte. Linda Gerber is a great writer.
-Carol
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www.bookluver-carol.blogspot.com


A great beach read!

Reviewed by Avni Gupta (age 15) for Reader Views (9/08)


As soon as I got "Death by Bikini," I was in love with the way it looked! It looked like exactly the time-passing book that I wanted to read. I loved it, but for a totally different reason than I expected. I thought that it would be a shallow romantic comedy, but instead, it turned out to be an amazing mystery with a new twist at every corner!

This book starts out with the main character Aphra getting ready to go and visit her best friend in South Carolina. Right now, she is on an island in the middle of nowhere, where she and her dad run a resort for people to go to when they want to be out of the limelight. The only way on or off of the island is to fly in the helicopter that is on the top of the hill. Aphra isn't expecting anything interesting to happen, until a hot new guy, and his family, turns up without a reservation and are put in the unfinished cabana. Then a guest is found dead on the beach with the strings of her bikini wrapped around her neck. Now, Aphra has to find the killer and turn him in, even if it means accusing the hot new guy's family.

I think that this book is one that can be loved by anyone. It shows how hard life can be for people who have to move around all of the time and are always on the run. It also shows how traumatizing it is when your mother leaves you. It shows the importance of trusting those around you and working together during a crisis.

If I were Aphra, I would love living on a tropical island all day and everyday. It would be so much fun! The only things around me would be the sun, the sand, the water and the trees! It would be the coolest thing ever because I would never have to go to school. I also wouldn't have to worry about what people are saying about me. That would be the life, plus I would totally have a killer tan! I really loved "Death by Bikini," by Linda Gerber.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

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