3 out of 5 stars.
I would like to thank Henery Press for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for an open and honest review.
I’m going to start by saying that if I gave half stars, this book would really be a 2 and a half… but as I don’t, I bumped it up to 3 as it sat better with me than lowering it to a 2.
Don’t get me wrong, the story had some good moments… but they were few and far between. Maybe it was because it was pitched to me (my impression) as a cosy crime and it wasn’t. Maybe it was because it was more a spy thriller wannabe… and I’m never a fan of those. I just didn’t enjoy this book as much as I had hoped.
I found the main character annoying with how she was such an expert on everything and had a bag full of spyware gizmos… but kept coming across as rather clueless.
The whole relationship between her and the main male character was also annoying as I believe there was meant to be a conflict, a mix of friction to interest the reader. There wasn’t. It just added to both character’s chopping and changing how they acted and reacted to not only each other, but the world around them.
I want to find some positives about this book… but instead I’m going to have to leave it at simply just not listing ALL the reasons I didn’t enjoy it.
Would I recommend this book to others?
Sadly I wouldn’t. But don’t listen to me! I see on Goodreads it has tonnes of 5 star reviews so obviously there are loads of people who liked it. I didn’t, but that’s just me. But I’m not into spy wannabe stories, even well written ones – which this was not – so I am not the best judge on this genre.
Would I buy this book for myself?
Again, sadly, I would not. It wouldn’t even make it into my ‘would read if found at the library’ level of enjoyment. I requested both this and the 2nd book in the series at the same time, and was sent the ARC for both… and because I’ve not enjoyed this first one I’ve marked the second one as DNF without even looking at it. There is the difference between first book of the series jitters, and just a story concept that doesn’t work. I got the feeling the 2nd book wouldn’t gel with me any better than the first and so I will not be returning to, or continuing with, this series.
In summary: You might like it if you like chick lit spy wannabe books, you might not. I found it waffled way too much, barely stuck to the story at hand, was extremely predictable and ended so abruptly it felt like the author had hit her word limit and just stopped. Sorry, not a book for me.
Until next time,
Janis.
Janis's Journal 