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graveyardgremlin (7194 KP) rated What's a Ghoul to Do? (Ghost Hunter Mystery, #1) in Books

Feb 15, 2019  
WA
What's a Ghoul to Do? (Ghost Hunter Mystery, #1)
Victoria Laurie | 2007
4
6.0 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
I was really excited to read this book because I love the Psychic Eye Mysteries Victoria Laurie also writes. I'm not a picky reader, but I'm sorry, this didn't quite do it for me and I ended up very disappointed.

I was hoping they'd be different from the P. E. Mysteries, but still have similar elements of style. Even though I like romance, this book was supposed to be a mystery, hence A Ghost Hunter Mystery on the cover, but the mystery is thrown in around the rather awkwardly written romance between M. J. and Steven. I did think the first chapter was good because I thought M. J. would be different than Abby and more antisocial and a bit cranky (at least that's what I got from the first chapter), but then she ended up giggling throughout the whole book (seriously). What I like about the P. E. Mysteries are that they are fresh, fun, very well written, and the characters are (for the most part) believable. Not to mention, I got extremely tired of reading Steven's choppy English ('what do you say...?', 'Yes, that too', etc.), which made the dialogue even choppier and flatter than it already was, not to mention irritating as all get out. I don't know why V. L. couldn't have made him more fluent in English, especially since he was so well educated, it would only have been a small tweak in the plot. But I've noticed Ms. Laurie has a bit of a redundancy problem in her books, even if I do love Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye, which has the 'liar, liar, pants on fire' repetition, where when someone lies, Abby's 'inborn lie detector' goes off with that chant.

Overall, the dialogue was choppy, the plot and mystery were subpar, the characters were clichés and unbelievable (Doc was a nice addition though), and the whole book badly needed editing. I would not recommend this, although I'm sure many (as seen in the numerous four and five star ratings) would like this as it's not completely horrible; it's just not very fresh even if the subject is interesting. I haven't quite made up my mind if I'll pick up the next in the series.
  
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graveyardgremlin (7194 KP) rated Truly, Madly (Lucy Valentine, #1) in Books

Feb 15, 2019  
TM
Truly, Madly (Lucy Valentine, #1)
Heather Webber | 2010
8
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
TRULY, MADLY is mystery, romance, chick-lit and a bit of paranormal all wrapped up in one delightful little package. Lucy Valentine is a nice, normal, and a little bit quirky protagonist who never got on my nerves. It's nice to have a main character who isn't totally self-absorbed, ditzy, neurotic, clumsy and just plain irritating, basically just about every female you run across in lighter fiction books these days. All the other characters added to the story seamlessly and there wasn't one who was unnecessary. I enjoyed the psychic angle and thought that it was used in a fresh and interesting way. The plot was engaging and moved swiftly, and everything was well-written in an easy and smooth manner. I don't really have any major complaints and look forward to the next in the series.

The best word to use in describing this book is cute. So if you like cute, check it out, it's a nice piece of brain candy that won't offend your intelligence.