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sterling8 's review for:
Girl Ghosted
by Lucy English
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I went into this book knowing nothing about the author, but I'll give you some information that you may find interesting. Lucy English is a sociologist, and this is a self-published book (I think). Penny Wade, the heroine, is a Boston social worker and proud of her city. I'd recently read some good mysteries with strong female characters who also aren't afraid to be a little bit girly, and I was in the mood for something similar. I've got a huge TBR list, but the title of this book stood out in my mind. It's not especially easy to find either on Netgalley or on Goodreads- you have to use the author name- but I found it.
The beginning of the book is a bit of a rough start- we segue into things that I didn't know about, not having read the previous book, and it took me a bit to find my place. Then I began to get to know Penny, her roommate Gloria and her friend Toryn.
The mystery part of the book doesn't even start until about halfway through the book, when a death occurs. Penny has been drawn into investigating suspicious deaths before because of her social work clients. Reading about her cases really was what made me like Penny. She could come aross as a bit ditzy, but when she was working a case she was warm, empathetic, intuitive, and constructive. The case focused on in this book was about a young mother who had been reported by the school for possible neglect of her two kids. Social workers operate on a timeline, and Penny needed to see some sort of progress quickly in order to make a positive recommendation for this family. While she quickly diagnosed the mother with depression related to the death of her sister, she had to work on concrete improvements in how the kids acted at school, how messy the house was, and how to assess safety, while dealing with a mom who didn't trust her. I've worked cases similar to this and it rang pretty true.
With regard to online dating, Penny felt a bit "young" to me. She and her friend Gloria both were using the same service and using each other as support and a second set of eyes. They both tried not to care too much too early, and learned about safety measures as they went along. The online dating wasn't the key to the mystery, although it had something to do with it.
I'd read another book by this author again because Penny is a nice virtual girl-friend to read about. She's a little self-conscious but not too much, knows how to handle herself most of the time, loves her city, is passionate about her job, cares about other people. From this book I wouldn't expect a complicated mystery, or one that takes up the entire plot. I'd almost characterize it as chic-lit with some mystery involved. Which is a good thing if you're in the mood for something a bit lighter, which I was!
I went into this book knowing nothing about the author, but I'll give you some information that you may find interesting. Lucy English is a sociologist, and this is a self-published book (I think). Penny Wade, the heroine, is a Boston social worker and proud of her city. I'd recently read some good mysteries with strong female characters who also aren't afraid to be a little bit girly, and I was in the mood for something similar. I've got a huge TBR list, but the title of this book stood out in my mind. It's not especially easy to find either on Netgalley or on Goodreads- you have to use the author name- but I found it.
The beginning of the book is a bit of a rough start- we segue into things that I didn't know about, not having read the previous book, and it took me a bit to find my place. Then I began to get to know Penny, her roommate Gloria and her friend Toryn.
The mystery part of the book doesn't even start until about halfway through the book, when a death occurs. Penny has been drawn into investigating suspicious deaths before because of her social work clients. Reading about her cases really was what made me like Penny. She could come aross as a bit ditzy, but when she was working a case she was warm, empathetic, intuitive, and constructive. The case focused on in this book was about a young mother who had been reported by the school for possible neglect of her two kids. Social workers operate on a timeline, and Penny needed to see some sort of progress quickly in order to make a positive recommendation for this family. While she quickly diagnosed the mother with depression related to the death of her sister, she had to work on concrete improvements in how the kids acted at school, how messy the house was, and how to assess safety, while dealing with a mom who didn't trust her. I've worked cases similar to this and it rang pretty true.
With regard to online dating, Penny felt a bit "young" to me. She and her friend Gloria both were using the same service and using each other as support and a second set of eyes. They both tried not to care too much too early, and learned about safety measures as they went along. The online dating wasn't the key to the mystery, although it had something to do with it.
I'd read another book by this author again because Penny is a nice virtual girl-friend to read about. She's a little self-conscious but not too much, knows how to handle herself most of the time, loves her city, is passionate about her job, cares about other people. From this book I wouldn't expect a complicated mystery, or one that takes up the entire plot. I'd almost characterize it as chic-lit with some mystery involved. Which is a good thing if you're in the mood for something a bit lighter, which I was!