I loved this entry in the coffeehouse series. This one is a bit of a departure from the normal storytelling because it starts with the main character, Clare Cosi, loosing all of her recent memories. Clare and a friend recently went missing and then Clare woke up in a park with no recent memories of why or how she came to be there. As far as she remembers, she is still recently divorced, her daughter is still a little girl and she's never even met her fiancé! She has to get to know her new life and become reacquainted with her current fiancé, all while hiding out from a doctor that wants to commit her and police that are trying to find her. Her friend is still missing and recovering her memories is the only way to find out what happened to her. This book kept me up all night waiting to find out what happened and if she got her memories back!

Do you ever read books where if it weren't for one thing, the book would really work well? Brewed Awakening is like that for me. This will include spoilers in regards to a certain situation (but not for the mystery).

I am really grossed out by Clare's ex husband, Matteo, who blocks everyone from mentioning Mike (her fiancé) and tries to get her to have sex with him to bring her memory back multiple times. It was disgusting, there are definite consent issues here. It's really not dealt with later and brushed off as "he wants her back." The guy who can't be monogamous just wants her because she's not available, and somehow that is ok for him to pressure her into having sex with him when she is engaged to someone else and he hasn't told her? It made no sense.

In regards to the mysteries, there are multiple ones. What happened to Clare and where is Annette? Why was she kidnapped? Her husband's death was not as it appears, which brings up more questions. Also, why is this doctor so insistent on getting his hands on Clare and keeping her sedated when she is calm? He shows up out of nowhere and convinces her to come upstate for "free treatment". This is how horror movies start, Clare.

Long time series readers may enjoy that this one takes largely outside of the city, and away from the coffeehouse.

I have really mixed feeling about this book. Matteo's actions were despicable- he would've had sex with her without telling her she was engaged. It would've ruined her life with Mike.I would've given the book a much higher rating if not for that, the mystery part was great. But it was so cavalier and there was never any accountability, it was horrifying.

It's nice when a long-running series changes things up a little. Brewed Awakening is the 18th coffee house mystery, and I enjoyed it as much as any previous installment and definitely more than the one where we were inside the killer's head. This time, Clare wakes up in Washington Square Park with no memory of the past 15 years, including the past few days after she was snatched up along with a hotel heiress.

No spoilers, but we get a lot more Matteo and lot less Mike than usual, which I enjoyed. It was also nice to take a break from the coffeehouse and the endless events catering to focus on Clare herself. The plot wasn't so farfetched as usual, and I was completely immersed.

I'd usually say you can start a mystery series like this without having read previous books, but this one would be a challenge for new readers. It's not that it would be that confusing, but without a previous connection to Clare and her family and friends, it would be hard to get invested in the story.

Clare Cosi wakes up on a park bench not remembering the last 15 years of her life including who she is engaged to now. What happened during the last 2 weeks, and who should she trust?
Fun read with awesome recipes at the end.

There was something different in the writing style of this book. An almost push and pull between the styles of the writing team of Marc Cerasini and Alice Alfonsi.

What begins with Clare Cosi, manager of the Village Blend waking up on a park bench with no knowledge of how she got there, to recalling the area looked familiar and hopeful she might be able to get help at a coffeehouse where she once worked with her ex-husband, to realizing she has somehow lost about 10+ years of her memories. Clare is now in a struggle with the local police, and a questionable publicity hound doctor, to prove she is not responsible for the disappearance of a local hotel owner.

No one wants to push Clare into remembering, reasoning she should come about her memories as organically as their coffee, yet Matteo wants to use their time to convince Clare they belong together all the while Mike Quinn has a ring he is dying to put back on her finger.

‘Brewed Awakening’ involves the usual “scooby-do” type adventure all over New York and the Hamptons, and somehow, they bumble their way around the police, even though Mike is the police, to get to an interesting conclusion as to who and what was behind this mishap all along.

There is more than the usual amount of characters bandied about so the reader is going to have to pay close attention as to who is related to who, who married who, and most importantly who ended up where.