Dog On It by Spencer Quinn

Every now and then I'll take a chance on a Kindle special - this book was on sale for $1.99 a few weeks ago and I decided to buy it even though I don't usually read mysteries.  It was definitely worth reading, but I'm not sure I'll read the sequels - for one thing, they're really expensive!  The Kindle books are $11.99 and up.  Seems pricey for mysteries that have been out for a couple of years.

Dog On It by Spencer Quinn
(2009, Mystery)  11/6/12
Grade: 3.5

Chet is on the case, helping his private investigator partner Bernie solve the case of a missing teenager.  Unfortunately, since Chet is a dog, he has some trouble communicating with his owner, but Bernie is a pretty good investigator - although he needs Chet to solve the case!

This was a fun mystery that was narrated by Chet, the canine partner of a private investigator.  Chet is a great narrator - it’s a lot of fun to see Chet following clues (and getting sidetracked by stray Cheetos and pet birds).  The problem was that the mystery went very slowly - Chet had the case solved by halfway through the book and then we had to wait... and wait... and wait... for Bernie to catch up.  As much as I liked Chet as a narrator, he had some limitations when it came to solving the crime.  Overall, this was a fun read but it had a few problems as well.

There seems to be a trend of books narrated by animals - I've read a couple of other ones this year.  Although I like the idea, they all seemed to have some flaws.

Suddeny You by Sarah Mayberry

I've enjoyed several books by Sarah Mayberry, although I sometimes think she's constrained by the Harlequin requirements for certain series lines.  I'm happy to see her writing something a bit different.

Suddenly You by Sarah Mayberry
(2012, Contemporary Series)  11/4/12
Grade: 4

When Pippa was dating his best mate, Harry had always liked Pippa, but he’d never thought of her as more than a friend.  But when he stops to help her when her car breaks down, he suddenly sees Pippa in a new light.  Harry usually doesn’t take things to seriously, but Pippa needs someone in her life that’s reliable - she’s a single mother raising her daughter alone.  But maybe Harry is ready to change his life...

I always like reading Sarah Mayberry’s books because they feel so refreshingly modern.  Unlike a lot of series books, this one seems to take place in the real world, where cars break down and babies cry.  The Australian setting is also a fun change.  I think Mayberry does her best writing when she’s not constrained by the “hot hot hot” requirements of Harlequin Blaze - the love scenes here are certainly steamy but they are more about Harry and Pippa and less about generic hotness.  My only issue with this book is that I generally don’t care for books about babies - I appreciated that Alice was a real baby but it’s just not my favorite thing to read about.  But overall, this was a very good read - I’m always so happy to find a good series book, and Mayberry is one of the best authors at the moment.

I really love this cover!  It stands out from the typical series cover - I think Harlequin was smart to de-emphasize the Super Romance logo on the covers.  This is the line that's most likely to appeal to non-series readers, so it makes sense to make the covers more like single titles.

Not Wicked Enough by Carolyn Jewel

This is the second book I've read by Carolyn Jewel, and both books shared the same flaw - a book that is great for the first two thirds, and then something unbelievable and inconsistent happens at the last minute, leaving me wondering, "what happened?"  I keep buying her books because they always start with such promise, but I hope that at some point she can write a book that's great all the way through.

Not Wicked Enough by Carolyn Jewel
(2012, Regency Historical)  11/3/2012
Grade: 3.5

When Lily Wellstone goes to Bitterward to visit her friend Eugenia, she expects to comfort her grieving friend.  She didn’t expect to be charmed by her friend's brother, the Duke of Mountjoy.  She may enjoy his kisses, but he is practically engaged to a neighbor, and she has vowed never to love again, after the death of her beloved years before.  But they could have an affair - after all, there’s no risk they might fall in love...

This book worked well for the first half.  The characters were interesting, and the sexual tension was excellently written, at least at the beginning.  Mountjoy and Lily were both unusual characters, and I enjoyed getting to know them.  But the book started to fall apart in the second half.  The love scenes started to get a little boring, and there wasn’t much else going on - until the hero and heroine started acting completely out of character.  Out of nowhere, the heroine is considering marriage to a man she barely knows, and the hero is proposing to make the heroine his mistress.  It felt completely out of place and inconsistent with the characters - it felt like the author needed to throw in an obstacle to keep the book going, and this was the best she could come up with.  (Which is disappointing, because there was interesting potential in the hero and heroine's background that could have provided a more realistic conflict.)  The book improved in the last couple of chapters, but not enough to save the book for me.  I ended up frustrated that this book (and this author) didn’t live up to its potential. 

I have the sequel to this book in my TBR - I'm planning to try it and hoping it turns out better than this one.