One Good Book Deserves Another

Genre: Paranormal Romance
Series: Karmic Consultants, Book 4
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Length: 1851 Locations
Formats: Kindle


Ciara Liung is a Finder for Karmic Consultants and her services are contracted out to the FBI to find stolen jewels. She's got an 85% jewel recovery percentage rate but a 0% bad guy capture rate, and that's a bit of a problem for her new handler, FBI guy Nate Smith, who thinks Ciara is crooked as hell. No one's that good on recovery and that bad on helping secure arrests, and the bogus psychic crap is a joke. Gorgeous shut-in who's only psychic when she's naked and floating in water? Not in Smith's world.

But Ciara's on the up and up, she really is psychic and she really does need the water and the absence of clothes when she's Finding to focus her gift and prevent psychic dissonance. She's spent the last ten years stuck in her home, unable to touch people and unwilling to risk psychic feedback if she goes out in public. Nate's belief or disbelief matters little to her, until he starts rattling her cage about her being a criminal.

The theft of Monaco's royal jewels threatens to blow up into an international incident, and Nate's planning on using the theft to prove Ciara's guilt. He drags her along with him when her gift points them to Atlantic City, but things don't quite go as planned. Instead of uncovering a mess of dirty little secrets and proving her guilty, Nate starts to believe. And believing is infinitely more dangerous for them both.

I'm a huge fan of this Karmic Consultants series, and I get more and more impressed with Vivi Andrews as I go along. This is a quick, funny read with two characters who strike a lot of wickedly fun sparks off each other. The narrative is smooth, there's lots of witty repartee between the characters, and the characters were pretty well developed for the short length of the novella.

I'm disappointed this wasn't a full length novel, though. I loved The Ghost Exterminator (Karmic Consultants, Book 2) and The Sexorcist (Karmic Consultants, Book 3). Both of those were novel-length and provided all the sexy fun, romance, and plot a fan could hope for. The Naked Detective suffered from the limitations of its length.

The biggest problems I had were with the too-quick change of heart Nate goes through and the sudden about-face of Ciara's gift while they're together in Jersey. Neither were well supported in the plot or satisfactorily explained, and both could have been handled much better with more room to develop than they were given. Of lesser concern, but a concern just the same was the perfunctory and abrupt development and climax of the plot thread with the jewel thieves. I was very disappointed in that.

The Naked Detective isn't a bad novella. Vivi Andrews writes characters with shining personality and puts them in situations, or has them thinking or saying things, that make me chuckle. Overall I liked what was there in this novella; my issues were with what wasn't. The main characters are likable (well, they are once Nate yanks that cane out of his...um...yeah) and the set up for the story was sound, with lots of juicy character and plot development potential. I would have really enjoyed seeing that potential more fully realized in a novel.

Karmic Consultants Series:

Novella

Novel

Novel

Novella

Genre: Paranormal Romace
Series: Karmic Consultants, Book 3
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Formats: Paperback, Kindle


As an exorcist working for Karmic Consultants, Luis Rodriguez takes his job very seriously. As a completely hot, sexy, tattooed bad boy (by appearance only), most of the female population most assuredly doesn't. All they want is to get him into bed - even if they have to get their daughters demon possessed for Rodriguez to make a house call. He's no one's gigolo, though, and the thought of Botoxed socialites clamoring for a quick roll in the hay - with their possessed teenagers in the damn room - not only turns his stomach, it infuriates him. That's why he barges into his boss's office and puts his foot down, not realizing Karma is otherwise engaged. But when he sees who Karma's talking to, Rodriguez's temper flares again. She's pretty, appears vapid, and entirely too happy about life in general to be real.

Brittany Hylton-VanDeere - no relation to that Hilton - may be a bit of a spaz and may be perpetually optimistic, but she's got good reason to be. She doesn't have any secretarial job experience, but she just knows that working for Karmic Consultants is The Job, because they Believe, and Believing is important to Brittany. So, too, is the sudden urge to lick the brooding, dark, and gorgeous Rodriguez. When Karma offers her the job on a trial based on a brilliant sequence of lucky events just as she was about to be shown the door, however, Brittany realizes that she can't let her lust risk The One - the perfect job in the perfect place with the perfect people.

Doing her job puts her in danger, however, when a corporeal demon confronts her and gives him her name, allowing him to track her anywhere. When she spills the story to Karma and her boss calls Rodriguez in to consult on the issue, Brittany becomes burdened with one utterly sexy and totally captivating exorcist watchdog who will keep her safe from demons. Rodriguez slowly realizes that he'd judged the decidedly odd and uber-chippy Brittany a little too harshly on first impression alone, and soon he can't seem to take his eyes off her, taken by equal measures of fascination and lust. Maybe she needs protecting from a demon, but without a doubt, the quirky, adorable, perpetually happy Brittany may just end up needing even more protecting from her protector.

I don't know what it is about this series that just tickles me, but after being thrilled with The Ghost Exterminator I quickly snatched up The Ghost Shrink, The Accidental Gigolo & The Poltergeist Accountant and The Sexorcist. My preference lies heavily on the full length novels, but the world and mythos Andrews has created here for this series is fabulous and they're told with a light, tongue-in-cheek romp air that is quickly addictive. I love the breezy style in these light romances. The characters are quirky and charming, hot and sexy, and quite three dimensional, which is actually a bit of a surprise for this obviously lighthearted series that manages to not take itself too seriously as it dishes out a heady helping of hilarity.

Andrews is really outdoing herself, and while I do wish there'd been a bit more paranormal goings on in this book - there was decidedly more in the previous novel and beginning novella, I can't help but be totally enchanted by what is a romance that delved a bit deeper than I was expecting, lightly touching on issues of class and race while doling out dashes around broken water pipes and melting umbrellas. Mischief demons have never had it so good as to be featured in Andrews' series!

I really did adore this book, and not just because of the style, characters, story, and series, but also because it was exactly the light, fun read I was needing after a couple of darker books. There's little better than the perfect story read at the perfect time to make the entire reading experience...well, perfect. The few minor issues I had didn't detract from my overall enjoyment, and the only one worth mentioning at all is there were a handful of moments where Brittany's wide-eyed enthusiasm wore on my nerves a little. That's not a critique of the story, I just tend to be fonder of characters like Jo from The Ghost Exterminator, the tougher nuts with a bent towards sarcasm. I enjoyed myself too much while reading, though, to bother feeling particularly critical. Andrews just keeps getting better and better, and I can't wait for the next one!

Karmic Consultants Series: 

Genre: Paranormal Romance
Series: Karmic Consultants, Book 1 (Novella)
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Formats: Kindle



I picked up The Ghost Shrink, The Accidental Gigolo & The Poltergeist Accountant after reading the second story in the Karmic Consultants series, The Ghost Exterminator. I enjoyed that full length novel so much that I had to start from the beginning with the novella that started it all, and while I admit I enjoyed The Ghost Exterminator quite a bit more, The Ghost Shrink, The Accidental Gigolo & The Poltergeist Accountant was cute and fun.

Lucy Cartwright is a medium, but she's been sexually frustrated for so long that her energy is connecting the most prurient ghosts to her for help transcending, and frankly, she's getting a little fed up with short, balding, overweight accountant-type ghosts stripping down in her bedroom and bumping and grinding their way towards her bed. A call to her boss for help with the embarrassing situation ends with a suggestion that Lucy rid herself of her frustration to rid herself of the horny ghosts. To put it bluntly...and a bit crassly...she needs to get laid.

Considering that the helpful, if difficult to take care of at the drop of a hat, suggestion came from her boss, it wasn't Lucy's fault that she assumed the tall, dark, and delicious-looking male who banged her...er...banged on her door the next morning was an...employee bonus from the boss. He introduced himself as Cox, after all. Imagine her mortification, then, when she realizes that Jake Cox not only isn't a gigolo that her boss set up to help her out, he's a private investigator and the brother of said boss.

Really, would becoming one of those horny ghosts be so bad after she dies from embarrassment?

Jake needs Lucy's special brand of help and Lucy needs special help, full stop. And they both want each other badly. Toss in a couple of horny, pathetic ghosts and a murder investigation and you have the fun, silly romp that is The Ghost Shrink, The Accidental Gigolo & The Poltergeist Accountant.

It's a light read, and it's told with Andrews' quick-witted and carefree style that goes down so easily. As a novella, it lacks in the depth of plot and character definition areas, though enough is provided for some fun. My only real problems with it were that it was a bit too light for me, almost slapstick, and Lucy and Jake's seismic-level attraction was a bit shallow for my tastes. There just wasn't enough time in the story, which even for a novella leans more towards the shorter end, to develop a relationship between them that was based on anything but physical attraction, so that didn't quite work for me.

Still, this is a novella that isn't supposed to be taken too seriously, just enjoyed for what it is. It may not have been totally to my taste, but The Ghost Exterminator definitely was, and I've already downloaded The Sexorcist, which is the third book in the series and the second full-length novel. I will say, while I enjoyed seeing Lucy and Jake's introduction, as I'd met them in The Ghost Exterminator, ultimately either of those stories could be read as stand-alones.

Genre: Paranormal Romance
Series: Karmic Consultants, Book 2
Rating: 5 Stars
Formats: Paperback, Kindle


Every once in a while a book drops into my lap...or more accurately, downloads to my Kindle...that I got on a whim, based on nothing more than an interesting premise and a few decent reviews. I may not expect too much from them, for whatever reason, but if the price is right, I'm usually willing to give it a try. Then, every so often, one of those books turns out to be a fantastic read that I enjoyed immensely, and I'm doubly impressed because of my lack of expectations. The Ghost Exterminator is one of those books.

Jo Banks is a Goth chick wannabe stuck with the body of a Playmate of the Year. She wears her lack of normalcy on her sleeve like a badge of honor...and a shield to protect herself, yet feels deeply the slings of family and friends who don't accept her for who she is. Wyatt Haines doesn't feel much of anything beyond annoyance when something upsets his carefully controlled world. He's about as rigid and close minded as a person can be and the only thing he believes in is the bottom line. Well...that and the fact that his new house hates him.

Wyatt doesn't believe in ghosts. Jo exterminates them. Both have their issues, not the least of which is that they're complete opposites and each generally holds in great disdain everything the other is all about. That, however, doesn't stop the sparks from flying - it actually ignites them. It also doesn't prevent Wyatt from accepting that there's something wrong with his house, and to protect his investment, he's determined to try every option, even if that means having the wacky Jo Banks try to work her mojo on his newest jewel in his Bed & Breakfast crown. The experience will alter both their lives...well, either that, or end them.

I loved this book. I did. Not because it was so spectacularly well written or because there were no issues with the plot and technical aspects, but simply because it was a wicked amount of fun and I loved the sharp banter between Wyatt and Jo. It was fun, it was funny, and sometimes it was just plain smokin' hot.

This book is the epitome of a light read. There were, of course, some issues with the plausibility and more than a few plot threads that were introduced but not satisfactorily resolved. I would have loved to see Jo's family get a bit of comeuppance for how they treated her at a party, and I thought her mother needed to be possessed by the ghost of kindness. Reptiles are warmer than that woman. I thought some of Wyatt's thoughtlessness deserved a sharper response. I also think there was a serious lack in world building beyond the barest necessity, and the book itself was mostly dialogue and description of the actions of the lead characters, so I didn't get a clear picture of anything outside of that bubble.

Despite that, or maybe because of it, this was an extremely fast read and the pace of the plot was lightning quick. The relationship between Jo and Wyatt, however, evolved in as realistic a fashion as can be expected in any light romance, and I had no complaints about the legitimate issues that they addressed in approaching their HEA.

Where this book shines, though, is the dialogue between the characters and the inner monologue of the characters. I chuckled and laughed out loud in several places, and that's so incredibly rare for me, as rare as it is prized. Both characters have a bit of a potty mouth, and Jo in particular has a very...earthy way of describing things, and I found it likable and amusing. I found Jo likable and amusing, actually. There were even moments in this book that surprised me with its insightful observation.

Some of my favorite gems:

That stick shoved up his ass must be tickling his tonsils. Poor baby.

 Wyatt had run from her last night like she was a leper chucking spare body parts at him.

...slapping an I-am-peering-into-your-soul-with-my-super-ghost-vision expression onto her face, which hopefully did not resemble her I-am-thinking-of-stripping-you-naked-and-covering-your-body-with-chocolate-syrup-just-so-I-can-lick-it-off expression.

"The pencil-pushers think I'm nuts, yeah, but it isn't about what they think, it's about what I do. I commute to work. I have an office and a desk. I check my emails and get coffee from the break room, I do normal stuff. So even if they avoid me like a leper, at least I'm still behaving normally. I don't come in for them. I do it for me."

I could actually go on. The whole book is littered with both funny zingers and witty gems, and the interplay between the Trekkie Goth girl and Mr. Executive Starched Shirt is fabulous. It elevates what could have just been a slightly flawed but pleasant romance of little note into something that I truly loved. I highly recommend The Ghost Exterminator if you like light, funny romance and don't mind a few ghosts. The book will be in paper print in November, but this full length novel is available now electronically, and the price makes it that much more enjoyable. It's the second in the series, and I haven't read the first, The Ghost Shrink, The Accidental Gigolo & The Poltergeist Accountant, which appears to be a novella-length story, but I will, as will I read the third, a full length book, The Sexorcist: Karmic Consultants, Book 3. I'm looking forward to them both.