Aya M. Productions

Heartache Motel features three novellas. First is “Diners Keepers, Losers Weepers” based upon the Rose Strickland Mystery series by Terri L. Austin. Second being “Quick Sketch” based on the Cherry Tucker series by Larissa Reinhart. Lastly, “Dateline Memphis” based upon the Headlines in High Heels Mysteries by LynDee Walker. Although the cover says that they’re interconnected, they’re not really interconnected per say. They just all take place at the same local around the same period of time. The story lines do not intersect.

Like typical novellas, there isn’t much to the stories, but they’re still a lot of fun. They also give a great sampling to what you’d find in the author’s respective series. To be honest, I’ve only read Terri L. Austin’s work prior to reading this, but I’ll definitely be reading the other series soon enough! They seem like fun reads!

I think my favorite of the three novellas was “Dateline Memphis.” Nichelle Clarke, the main character and reporter, is alone on vacation. So audiences can actually learn quite a bit about her character from this novella. There’s no secondary characters to worry about. I thought that was fun. Plus the little snippets of phone calls Nichelle made to her friend, the ATF agent, and her other friend, the Mafia boss, added intrigue. I seriously would love to know what’s going on there…

Overall I’d give it 3.5 stars. I hardly classify novellas as must reads, and honestly Heartache Motel isn’t. However, based upon what I’ve read in Heartache Motel, checking out the works of Terri L. Austin, Larissa Reinhart, and LynDee Walker is a must if you want fun reads with a good amount of mystery and possibly some romance.