REVIEW: Vendetta In Death by J.D. Robb

Title: Vendetta in Death (In Death #49)
Author: J.D. Robb
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publication Date: September 2019
Genre: Urban Fantasy / Mystery / Thriller
Buy the Book: Amazon | BN | Audible

Description: The predator becomes the prey in the newest thriller in the #1 New York Times bestselling series featuring homicide detective Eve Dallas.

She calls herself Lady Justice. And once she has chosen a man as her target, she turns herself into a tall blonde or a curvaceous redhead, makes herself as alluring and seductive as possible to them. Once they are in her grasp, they are powerless.

The first victim is wealthy businessman Nigel McEnroy. His company’s human resources department has already paid out settlements to a couple of his young victims—but they don’t know that his crimes go far beyond workplace harassment. Lady Justice knows. And in one shocking night of brutality, she makes him pay a much steeper price.

Now Eve Dallas and her husband, Roarke, are combing through the evidence of McEnroy’s secret life. His compulsive need to record his misdeeds provides them with a wide range of suspects, but the true identity of Lady Justice remains elusive. It’s a challenging case, made even more difficult by McEnroy’s widow, who reacts to the investigation with fury, denial, and threats. Meanwhile, Lady Justice’s criminal crusade is escalating rapidly, and if Eve can’t stop this vigilante, there’s no telling how much blood may be spilled…

My Thoughts: Rewind, repeat…here I go again. It gets more difficult with each installment of this series to come up with something new to say. Perhaps if I ever get to the point where I did not like the story (yeah, right), that will be the day, so until then, let me get my fan-girl pom-poms out and Rah Rah Rah this book. It took me 15 days to listen to the audio and honestly that seems to be a long time for a book I so thoroughly enjoyed, but I really savor these and highly recommend the audio format with Susan Ericksen as the narrator. Susan Ericksen IS EVE DALLAS! J.D. Robb knocks it out of the ballpark with the intriguing story lines and the development of the characters over 49 installments and counting (WOW!), but Susan Ericksen breathes life and personality into these characters through her amazing narration. She isn’t just reading the book; she’s performing the book. I feel like I’m in the car alongside Eve and Peabody.

It’s not difficult to figure out who the killer is in this story and though Eve does her job so well, I found myself agreeing with the killer’s philosophy throughout the book, though vigilantism is never a good option. I found myself feeling some empathy for her. I know…empathy for the killer? Whoa…I don’t condone it, but I definitely understood it and even better, so does Eve. It’s truly understandable to Eve and had Eve taken a different path in life, she could have become as insane and over the top as Lady Justice. This installment delivers great action and dialogue and there never seems to be enough interaction with all of the characters, but I can suck it up and deal.

My Final Verdict: So, once again, I highly recommend this series to fans of stories featuring very strong and thoroughly developed characters, interesting and exciting plots, and dialogue that is heartbreaking, gut-wrenching and hilarious. But to get the full effect of Roarke’s Irish brogue, get the audio format and make sure the talented Susan Ericksen is the narrator. You won’t be disappointed.

REVIEW: Searching for Steven by Jessica Redland

Title: Searching for Steven (Whitsborough Bay, #1)
Author: Jessica Redland
Publisher: So Vain Books
Publication Date: June, 2015
Genre: Chick-Lit, Women’s Fiction
Buy The Book: Amazon | BN | Audible

Description: When Sarah Peterson accepts her Auntie Kay’s unexpected offer to take over her florist’s shop, she’s prepared for a change of job, home and lifestyle. What she isn’t prepared for is the discovery of a scarily accurate clairvoyant reading that’s been missing for twelve years. All her predictions have come true, except one: she’s about to meet the man of her dreams. Oh, and his name is Steven.

Suddenly Stevens are everywhere. Could it be the window cleaner, the rep, the manager of the coffee shop, or any of the men she’s met online?

On top of that, she finds herself quite attracted to a handsome web designer, but his name isn't even Steven...

During this unusual search, will Sarah find her destiny?

My Thoughts: Searching for Steven by new to me author Jessica Redland is the first book in a series that all take place in the fictional town of Whitsborough Bay. I really liked this story and the author does a wonderful job of breathing life into not only the characters, but the town itself. A place a person can really feel at home at, whether they are just visiting or make Whitsborough Bay their home. Sarah Peterson grew up here and when she left to go to university, she didn’t look back. Sometimes life has a way of making you go home. After her long-term relationship ends (much later than it should have), Sarah receives an offer from her Aunt to take over her flower shop and make it her own. Seems old Auntie Kay has some oats of her own she is ready to sow and is embarking on her own adventure.

Sarah doesn’t hesitate too long before taking Auntie Kay up on her offer and chucks the loser boyfriend and the crap job into the bin and starts packing. Sarah and her two best friends find a tape of a reading she had twelve years ago. Everything on the tape has come true except for the bit that she will be meeting the man of dreams…and his name is Steven. Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? I could not wait for Sarah to hustle her bustle and get up North to start this thrilling next chapter. When Sarah gets there, she discovers there are Stevens everywhere! And to complicate matters, she feels a strong attraction and connection to a man whose name is NOT Steven.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story as Sarah navigates all the changes in her life, which she does quite well, actually. I admired the speed at which she adapts to moving home and starting her own business, turning it into something just as special as Aunt Kay’s was. I loved getting to know all the characters in the story and I am sure they will be making reappearances in later books. Sarah’s search for Steven was hilarious, both online and offline. She feels she has to make an effort to find Steven though she is really attracted to Nick and to make things more complicated, the man she loved during university shows up again, apparently determined to give their relationship another go.

The story moves at a great pace and I was thoroughly entertained, while anticipating what would happen next. The characters were easy to relate to and I was wishing Nick’s name was Steven because I thought he was super awesome.

My Final Verdict: I highly recommend this book to readers who love a sweet story about grabbing the brass ring and taking a chance at finding your destiny. Fans of the chick-lit and women’s fiction genres should put this entire series on the top of their to be read pile.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of Searching for Steven from the author in exchange for an honest review.

REVIEW: #PleaseRetweet by Emily Benet

Title: #PleaseRetweet
Author: Emily Benet
Publisher: Harper Impulse
Publication Date: August 2015
Genre: Women’s Fiction / Chick-Lit
Buy the Book: Amazon

Description: How to mess up your life in 140 characters…

Social media whizz kid, May Sparks has landed her dream job. Well, not quite, but the salary is great and all May has to do is handle the online profiles of C – list celebrities who have the tendency to say inappropriate things. Easy, right? #wrong

May’s clients include an ex big brother star (who she's definitely not going to sleep with #neversaynever), a disgraced TV presenter (who wants May to sort out his marriage as well as his Twitter account), and a woman who once flashed her boobs on X-factor. They're all relying on her to turn them into stars. But they're not going to make her job easy.

As May is sucked further and further into her job she begins to lose her grip on real life. Her friends don’t ‘like’ her Facebook posts anymore and even her gorgeous neighbor, who once seemed to be on the same wavelength, criticizes her career choice. Worse, May’s clients start getting trolled by an annoying tweep, who May happens to agree with.

Then May’s secret online identity is leaked, causing her to start trending on Twitter. It looks like the status update is over. Unless May can leave the superficial social media word behind and find her own voice again…

My Thoughts: In a world where so much of the thoughts and actions of the human race are driven by social media, this book could be a biography instead of a work of fiction. May Sparks is your typical social media aficionado. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram…she knows them all and uses them effectively to document her life, as most people who live in this digital society knows all too well. May accepts what she thinks is her dream job, managing the online profiles of celebrities who don’t play so nice online, without anyone finding out.

I honestly didn’t understand the need for secrecy as I have long known that celebrities hire PR people to manage their online accounts not because they can’t but because they don’t have time. Isn’t that what PR are paid to do? Apparently in May’s world, nobody can find out, so of course, the reader already figures everyone will eventually find out. May’s clients aren’t people of integrity in the first place so trying to present them in a positive light online is going to be downright impossible to me.

This book swings between just OK and a good read for me. I liked May and though I thought her job was interesting, I got frustrated quickly at how she allows people to walk all over her, her clients, her boss, her client’s managers, friends, the list goes on and on. What I found annoying is that they are paying May’s company to provide them with an online presence they can’t pull off themselves because they lack human skills like kindness, honesty, restraint and manners but yet they are demanding of May, calling her round the clock, treating her like she’s their personal servant or at their beck and call. Her boss is a sycophantic dweeb, more interested in May taking on yet another client instead of looking out for his employee and having her back. Her friends resent the amount of time May spends on her tablet and phone (HELLO, IT’S HER JOB!) and even go so far as snub her by excluding her from her friend’s housewarming party. Her roommate and neighbors criticize her for the work she does, that she lacks integrity or values, somehow. Her family doesn’t really know the full extent of May’s job, so aren’t critical or negative, but when things get rough for May, she finds it hard to talk to them about what’s really going on.

I started enjoying the story more when things began getting worse for May. I was interested at how things would turn out for her and the path she would choose. I didn’t really understand what the big deal was when her identity was leaked, why people were so upset. For the most part, I thought these people really needed to get over themselves and get a life.

My Final Verdict: The story started out as just OK but became a good read. I liked May and was pleased with how everything turned out. Readers who enjoy stories featuring strong protagonists throughout the entire story and not just in the last few chapters may find themselves frustrated with May. Readers who enjoy stories where the underdog comes out on top will be happy with May’s choices and will be rooting for her as she crosses the finish line.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of #PleaseRetweet from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.