Indie Tuesday: Double Dipping by Marilyn Brant

Marilyn Brant has done it again with Double Dipping. And by “it,” I mean thoroughly entertained and impressed me.

Double Dipping is the story of Cait, a second grade teacher in Smalltown, Wisc. She teaches close to home, she’s involved in the community, and she organizes the biggest social event of the year: the Harvest Hoopla.

Except, this year, Garrett has come to town to work with the district as a financial analyst. Someone is stealing money from the floundering district, and it’s Garrett’s job to discover who the thief is. In order to fulfill his job duties, he must cancel the hoopla.

In doing so, Garrett quickly makes an enemy of Cait… that is, until she gets to know him a little better.

The joy in Double Dipping is in Brant’s ability to create real characters with real-life flaws. Garrett, for example, is from a wealthy business family, but he’s always lived in the shadow of his older brother. He winds up in Wisconsin because he’s looking for himself and trying to prove to his father that he can be successful outside of the family business.

Cait is broken from a previous relationship and has a lot of trouble trusting the opposite sex. She struggles to reconcile her feelings for Garrett with past hurts, and in doing so, takes the reader on a real-life roller coaster of emotions. Add to that a mother suffering from dementia, and a thief in the district, and at times Cait is beyond distraught.

In addition to the absolute truth that Brant brings to her stories, I thoroughly enjoy her ability to make her tales family oriented. In Double Dipping, Cait is close with her family, and she and her brother work together to solve the problem of her mother’s care. Once Garrett meets Cait’s brother, mother, sister-in-law and niece, he, too, is quickly accepted into the family circle.

The same is true of Cait and Garrett’s family. When Garrett’s sister comes to town, Cait is instantly drawn to the woman, and the two become fast friends.

This style of writing resonates with me, personally, because of the close ties that I have with my family. I take pleasure in reading stories that, in some way, reflect certain aspects of my life. Double Dipping certainly does that, and I think it’s safe to say that many readers can find aspects of their own families in the book, too.

And, on top of all of the things that I’ve already mentioned, Double Dipping is witty and fun! And it has loads of ice cream! Who wouldn’t love a book like that?

In fact, each chapter begins with a step to an ice cream recipe. I would have tested the recipe to go along with this review today, but unfortunately don’t have all of the proper equipment.

The recipe was interesting though, because it seemed to move along with the story to a certain extent. To me, it was in a way symbolic of Cait and Garrett’s relationship. As more ingredients were added, Cait and Garrett got to know each other a bit better. By the time the recipe was complete at the end of the book, Cait and Garrett also had revealed enough pieces about each of their lives to make the relationship healthy and complete.

This was a book that I couldn’t put down. I really enjoyed it, and $2.99 is a steal for this story. Plus, it has a super cute cover.

Marilyn Brant stopped by Romantic Love Books a few months back to answer a few questions. Check out that interview.

Title: Double Dipping | By: Marilyn Brant | ASIN: B005J4ZIQ8 | RLB Grade: A | Chapter 1 Excerpt | Find it on Amazon:

Comments

[Marilyn Brant]

Oh, Kristyn, thank you!!
I'm so delighted you enjoyed it, and I'm especially thrilled that you liked Cait, Garrett and their families, since that was such an important part of the story to me... Can't wait to share your lovely review :). Thanks, again!