1st book in the series. It was an OK book. A little disjointed that an ordinary housewife becomes a CIA assassin with only 12 weeks of training. Donna's husband (who was secretly CIA) is presumably killed in a car crash and details of his secret life are revealed to her & CIA job offered. Killing people and shuffling her 3 kids around Donna gets a sweet gig to take down the organization that killed her husband. Throw is a hunky operative that she has to play house with and you have some romance & danger. The housewife tips at the start of each chapter were pretty funny and made the book more interesting. I don't think I will continue with this series ( )

A decent story and decently written characters, but just not my thing. ( )

I got this as a free ebook download several years ago. I loved the cover and the email blurb made it sound fun. The tagline “Murder, Suspense, Sex, and some handy household tips” made me giggle. Donna Stone’s husband worked for the CIA. When he is killed, she becomes an assassin for the CIA so that she can help find her husband’s killers.

This is a bit of a mix of romance, suspense, satire, humor, mystery, and Desperate Housewives. I went into it expecting it to be rather light and it was. It’s definitely not something that is anywhere close to literary. The plot has holes big enough to drive several trucks through at the same time. The good guys and bad guys can change sides with the flip of a page and the main character just accepts it without much question.

Normally that kind of thing would make me give up on a book or give it a lower rating, but I can’t because I absolutely enjoyed every minute of it. I’ve requested the second book in the series through interlibrary loan because neither of my libraries has a copy or the ebook. I’m a little embarrassed to say I want more but I can’t help it. ( )

Humor, Suspense, and Sex Make Strange Bedfellows (Pun Intended)

The Housewife Assassin’s Handbook is the story of Donna Stone who is recruited by Acme, a front for the CIA, after her husband Carl is killed. Now the career housewife and mother of three can go after her husband’s killers, a shadowy group of freelance assassins known as the Quorum.

I admit to being intrigued by the subtitle of this book: “Murder. Suspense. Sex. And some handy household tips.” With a tagline like that, you can’t expect anything too serious, and it’s not. The story starts well, with a farfetched scene involving Donna on a mission and some decent humor. And it remains fast and light, being a tale you can finish in an afternoon or a couple of evenings.

But with the premise of homemaker turned assassin, I expected a focus on satire and humor, while the author went for suspense and sex. Unfortunately, that’s a difficult task. How do you make a mother who hands out housekeeping tips about killing, poisons, and cleaning up after a hit the protagonist of a suspenseful, romantic yarn? In this case, the task proved a bit too steep, as the humor wanes, the mystery is fairly transparent, and the reader is left wondering what to make of the sex embedded in a satire.

So, overall, for a light and easy, afternoon read with a touch of humor, The Housewife Assassin’s Handbook will fit the bill. Just don’t expect to become too engrossed in the suspense or the romance. ( )

It was brilliant and quirky. I loved it! ( )