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I picked this book hoping for a quirky cozy mystery but ended up in romantic suspense hell.
Abby Cooper is a psychic intuitive that can call on her spirit guides for advice and wisdom. She uses her ability to run a successful business advising people on everything from cheating lovers to financial matters. I like the general idea of a psychic but man, she was spot on all the time. Any little tidbit Abby spit out would be verified sooner or later, allowing her an "I told you so" smile.
In this vein many times Abby would do a reading for someone she thought didn't believe her. A simple, "...and you should get that knee checked out, the next time you lift something heavy it's going to pop" would have sufficed but no, she had to tell them about their wives and daughters and upcoming vacations. Always right, always on the nose, often annoying. In fact, the only time she ran into trouble was when she didn't listen to her "crew"... they're infallible, of course.
That time she didn't pick up the "intuitive phone", along with any other fishy happening, felt like it had a neon sign with "THIS IS FORESHADOWING!" painted on top. Grah.
A few lines that bugged me:
"I looked at the painted decal on the back hood." Hoods are in the front. Trunks and tailgates are in the back. Decals and stickers are usually put on by owners, insignia and logos by the maker.
"I knew immediately that I'd have to tip the mailman extra big come Christmas." Postal workers are federal employees and are legally obligated not to accept cash tips over $20. Getting some extra nice chocolate or maybe knitting a pair of convertible mittens would be fine, but not an extra big tip.
"In my next lifetime I wanted to come back as a guy. They always seemed to get the upper hand." No irony, no nothing.
And I haven't even gotten into the romantic or suspense bits. Abby goes on a date with a guy she met online who happens to be a cop. Of course, Dutch ends up being the lead investigator of a case that ends up falling into her lap. If he ends up doing anything Abby perceives as less than perfect she storms off, vows she's done with him, and screams like holy hell the next time they meet. Yet he is still attracted to her.
I don't get it, either.
As for the mystery surrounding an apparent suicide, Abby's leads us via one perfect hunch after another to the bad guy. I felt zero suspense because the perfect spirit guides would never let her fail. Don't they get annoyed with her, too? Wouldn't they want to slip her a bum piece of info about something trivial and have a good laugh? I would, but maybe that's why I'm not a spirit guide.
Not bad enough to abandon halfway through, but also not deserving of more than one star.
Abby Cooper is a psychic intuitive that can call on her spirit guides for advice and wisdom. She uses her ability to run a successful business advising people on everything from cheating lovers to financial matters. I like the general idea of a psychic but man, she was spot on all the time. Any little tidbit Abby spit out would be verified sooner or later, allowing her an "I told you so" smile.
In this vein many times Abby would do a reading for someone she thought didn't believe her. A simple, "...and you should get that knee checked out, the next time you lift something heavy it's going to pop" would have sufficed but no, she had to tell them about their wives and daughters and upcoming vacations. Always right, always on the nose, often annoying. In fact, the only time she ran into trouble was when she didn't listen to her "crew"... they're infallible, of course.
That time she didn't pick up the "intuitive phone", along with any other fishy happening, felt like it had a neon sign with "THIS IS FORESHADOWING!" painted on top. Grah.
A few lines that bugged me:
"I looked at the painted decal on the back hood." Hoods are in the front. Trunks and tailgates are in the back. Decals and stickers are usually put on by owners, insignia and logos by the maker.
"I knew immediately that I'd have to tip the mailman extra big come Christmas." Postal workers are federal employees and are legally obligated not to accept cash tips over $20. Getting some extra nice chocolate or maybe knitting a pair of convertible mittens would be fine, but not an extra big tip.
"In my next lifetime I wanted to come back as a guy. They always seemed to get the upper hand." No irony, no nothing.
And I haven't even gotten into the romantic or suspense bits. Abby goes on a date with a guy she met online who happens to be a cop. Of course, Dutch ends up being the lead investigator of a case that ends up falling into her lap. If he ends up doing anything Abby perceives as less than perfect she storms off, vows she's done with him, and screams like holy hell the next time they meet. Yet he is still attracted to her.
I don't get it, either.
As for the mystery surrounding an apparent suicide, Abby's leads us via one perfect hunch after another to the bad guy. I felt zero suspense because the perfect spirit guides would never let her fail. Don't they get annoyed with her, too? Wouldn't they want to slip her a bum piece of info about something trivial and have a good laugh? I would, but maybe that's why I'm not a spirit guide.
Not bad enough to abandon halfway through, but also not deserving of more than one star.
This is such a fluffy easy reading book that barely qualifies as mystery but was nice reading on a lazy weekend.
This book had me laughing so much. It was such a great little read. I can't wait to pick up the next book in the series.
This was a brillant book very enjoyable and couldn't put it down. Have enjoyed Victoria's books before so she obviously has the touch
I accidentally checked this book out from the library instead of a different book by the same author. I wasn't really interested in this series, but I figured that I'd read it anyway. I liked all of the characters and their interactions with each other. I also liked the way that Laurie approached dating. It was realistic and gave me a good laugh. Something about this novel rubbed me the wrong way, but I can't quite put my finger on what it is yet. Regardless, the story was short, cute, and funny so I will continue with this series!
Fun read
I wanted to find a mystery series to start and this one caught my eye. It was a fun, easy read.
I wanted to find a mystery series to start and this one caught my eye. It was a fun, easy read.
This was a quick easy read but had several continuity errors that jumped out at me.
I really don’t understand how anyone could be as forgetful as Abby is. Does remember talking to someone, doesn’t remember the name she used for someone.
I really don’t understand how anyone could be as forgetful as Abby is. Does remember talking to someone, doesn’t remember the name she used for someone.
I'm glad I read this book. I see the series talked about fairly frequently in at least one of my Goodreads groups. I don't think I'll be continuing the series, though. This first outing was pretty good, but there were a few things that weren't for me. I might try book two to see if those few things are inherent to the series. But I really don't see how they wouldn't be, so I might just leave it as having read book one.
I liked Dutch and Milo, the police detectives. They were skeptical but open-minded, good things for cops to be, in my opinion.
I wasn't as fond of Abby, however. And since this was a first-person POV story told from Abby's POV... Well...
Abby is psychic, and one of her clients inadvertently brings her to the attention of a killer. The mystery in the story was really gripping and I enjoyed reading it, even though I figured out all of the clues before Abby and Dutch did. (It's still fun to see how the characters solve the cases, even when I the reader already have all the answers.)
Cat, Abby's sister, was a fun side character who I really liked.
Sadly, the things I didn't like were fairly big things, and these big things were integral to the plot.
The main thing I didn't like was the dialogue. When Dutch and Abby first meet, the first thing out of his mouth is"Wow! You are a beautiful woman, Abby." Abby's reply? "And you have excellent taste!" I have never known a man who would talk like that. (They're on their first date through a matchmaking website. ) And Abby's reply struck me as being rather rude, not funny, so I don't see why Dutch found it so laugh-worthy.
Abby's narration was fine (great, even), but her dialogue was unreal. When first questioned by the police, she was rude and argumentative. I don't understand why Dutch and Milo didn't arrest her. Or at least threaten to arrest her. Then after they do threaten to arrest her, she says,"Fine. You may come in... You will come in, you will not touch a thing, you will stay away from my dog and you will wait until I come downstairs. Then we talk. Capiche?"
Pretty much every conversation Abby had with Dutch had something in it that I took exception to. She is not a woman I would ever be friends with, if she were to exist in real life. She was mostly fine with other people, but Dutch brought out what seemed to me to be the 12-year-old in her when she was supposed to be 31. Another eye-rolling (on my part) statement she made to Dutch can be found on page 138:Dutch is giving Abby a ride home - on his motorcycle - and she looks at it and says, "That's a fun toy you got there, pal." Uhm...What? Do people really talk like this?
And then there was how she shared her psychic intuitions. She relates them by saying "They're saying..." or "They're showing..." and the like. This got old for me real fast.
Theresa, Abby's BFF, didn't strike me as being a very good friend. When she found out Abby has a date planned, she wanted all the details, despite the fact that Abby was clearly uncomfortable and not in a sharing mood. Just as Abby is not someone I would want to be friends with in real life, neither is Theresa.
Another thing (this is the last) that I didn't like was that Abby's memory fails her when it comes to remembering details of her clients and the things she sees. I can understand losing the memory of what is said during and seen in a vision, but forgetting recent clients? Even though they're one among many? And how did she forget whoNathaniel Davies was, when she told Dutch all about him during their first date. She somehow remembered the details of that vision well enough to share with her date, and then completely forgot about it. She remembers the date with Dutch; I'd think she'd remember having talked about Nathaniel with Dutch when Dutch is the one asking about Nathaniel. I just don't understand how she could forget things like this so easily.
I loved Abby's philosophy that "people are like ice cream." However, we only heard about what flavor she herself was (vanilla) and that for one of her clients (Tooty-Fruity). I would have enjoyed the book more if the humor of this was carried throughout the book. What flavor is Dutch? Cat? Milo? Surely there was a way to share their flavors that would have fit in the narrative.
Around about the time I was thinking this wasn't a book for me because of Abby's behavior, the mystery hooked me. So I kept reading and I'm glad I did. But as I said above, I don't know that I'll read any more books in this series. I just don't feel invested in reading stories narrated by a character I don't particularly like.
I liked Dutch and Milo, the police detectives. They were skeptical but open-minded, good things for cops to be, in my opinion.
I wasn't as fond of Abby, however. And since this was a first-person POV story told from Abby's POV... Well...
Abby is psychic, and one of her clients inadvertently brings her to the attention of a killer. The mystery in the story was really gripping and I enjoyed reading it, even though I figured out all of the clues before Abby and Dutch did. (It's still fun to see how the characters solve the cases, even when I the reader already have all the answers.)
Cat, Abby's sister, was a fun side character who I really liked.
Sadly, the things I didn't like were fairly big things, and these big things were integral to the plot.
The main thing I didn't like was the dialogue. When Dutch and Abby first meet, the first thing out of his mouth is
Abby's narration was fine (great, even), but her dialogue was unreal. When first questioned by the police, she was rude and argumentative. I don't understand why Dutch and Milo didn't arrest her. Or at least threaten to arrest her. Then after they do threaten to arrest her, she says,
Pretty much every conversation Abby had with Dutch had something in it that I took exception to. She is not a woman I would ever be friends with, if she were to exist in real life. She was mostly fine with other people, but Dutch brought out what seemed to me to be the 12-year-old in her when she was supposed to be 31. Another eye-rolling (on my part) statement she made to Dutch can be found on page 138:
And then there was how she shared her psychic intuitions. She relates them by saying "They're saying..." or "They're showing..." and the like. This got old for me real fast.
Theresa, Abby's BFF, didn't strike me as being a very good friend. When she found out Abby has a date planned, she wanted all the details, despite the fact that Abby was clearly uncomfortable and not in a sharing mood. Just as Abby is not someone I would want to be friends with in real life, neither is Theresa.
Another thing (this is the last) that I didn't like was that Abby's memory fails her when it comes to remembering details of her clients and the things she sees. I can understand losing the memory of what is said during and seen in a vision, but forgetting recent clients? Even though they're one among many? And how did she forget who
I loved Abby's philosophy that "people are like ice cream." However, we only heard about what flavor she herself was (vanilla) and that for one of her clients (Tooty-Fruity). I would have enjoyed the book more if the humor of this was carried throughout the book. What flavor is Dutch? Cat? Milo? Surely there was a way to share their flavors that would have fit in the narrative.
Around about the time I was thinking this wasn't a book for me because of Abby's behavior, the mystery hooked me. So I kept reading and I'm glad I did. But as I said above, I don't know that I'll read any more books in this series. I just don't feel invested in reading stories narrated by a character I don't particularly like.
Being the first cozy mystery novel I ever read, this is wasn't too bad. The focus of the novel isn't so much on the plot as it is the characters. I absolutely loved Abby and her voice. It was so funny and engaging, plus, she had the best comebacks I had ever read.
I'm not a real big of fan of Victoria Laurie's writing style though. She's got huge bulks of description lodged into every chapter that really slow down the novel. Despite this however, I'm going to continue reading more of the misadventures of Abby Cooper. She's got a sass that don't quit.
I'm not a real big of fan of Victoria Laurie's writing style though. She's got huge bulks of description lodged into every chapter that really slow down the novel. Despite this however, I'm going to continue reading more of the misadventures of Abby Cooper. She's got a sass that don't quit.
I'm stuck between giving this book 2 or 3 stars so I'll just go with 2.5 stars.