Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Spirited (Tidewater, #1) by Mary Behre ~ Review

Source: Received copy from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

She’s running from who she is…...

All Jules Scott wants is to live a normal, quiet life—preferably one that doesn’t include ghosts. Jules’s talent for communicating with the dead has brought her nothing but trouble. Despite her best efforts, needy spirits always find her and draw her into their otherworldly drama. When one implicates her in a series of deadly crimes, she may need to entrust her secrets to the person least likely to believe her.…

He’ll do whatever it takes to catch her.

Detective Seth English can’t get distracted from the big case he’s working on, not even by his alluring new neighbor. He doesn’t believe that Jules had anything to do with the string of robberies-turned-murders that he’s investigating, but when she keeps showing up in all the wrong places, his gut tells him she knows more than she’s letting on. To solve his case, he’ll need to expose what the sexy redhead is hiding—no matter how impossible the truth may be….


https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18342290-spirited

 Available March 4th
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0425268616http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/spirited-mary-behre/1116561037


My Thoughts:


 

First Impressions...


In need a a genre change but still wanting to keep some romance in there, I was drawn to this one.  I liked the premise of the cop trying to resist the girl next door while he solved his case.  So I decided to give this one a try.

The Story...

I was definitely giggling as Jules dressed as a hooker from a costume party falls through the window of her neighbors apartment only to meet the sexy and gorgeous cop next door.  Drawn to each other for what seems like more than physical attraction, it's all kinds of fun to watch them resist.  But there's way more going on than just the romance.  There's a rash of diamond burglaries in the area, a murder, a bunch of ghosts bugging Jules, and a few twists along the way.  What I enjoyed about this story was that as I figured out one aspect of the story, another popped up to take it's place.  The clues where there and I did pick up on them but there was always more to the story.  That was nice.


The Characters...

I loved Jules.  Her ability to hear the dead has made her life more interesting that she would like.  She's a little mouthy and full of spunk.  I love it when she grumps at the ghosts or gives Seth what for.  Was totally pulling for her life to get better.

Of course, I loved Seth.  He's so cute.  He keeps telling himself to pay attention to the case and not to react to his neighbor but his body didn't get the memo.  I loved when the story was from his point of view.  He was always trying to be professional but words just kept coming out of his mouth and no effort on his part could pull them back.  One of my favorite scenes was when his teenage daughter waited on them at a restaurant and  Jules finds out who she is when she calls Seth Dad.  Hehe.


The Writing...

I'm surprised that this is debut author.  It's written in third person but still focuses on a point of view.  I generally struggle with third person but this one was done right.  I think the clues for what was happening were a little too clear but that was balanced with new problems popping up.  I would have expected a veteran author for that. 

Did I Put It Down...

Yeah, I did.  It's not that it wasn't good, I just rarely get to read a book straight through.   I can say that I thought about it while I wasn't reading it.

In The End...

This was a nice change for me.  More adult and thriller than I normally read, it was a good change of pace.  If you enjoy the romance combined with a little more story, then this is a good one to try.



About the author:

Mary Behre could never decide which kind of story she liked more, paranormal, mysteries or romances. So it only made sense that she combined all three in her books. Her debut novel, SPIRITED, is the first in the Tidewater Series. Stories with humor suspense and a psychic love-connection. When not writing in her closet/office, she can be found hanging out with the most important men her life, her family.

https://twitter.com/MaryBehrehttps://www.facebook.com/MaryBehre.Authorhttp://marybehre.com/https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7225852.Mary_Behre





4 comments:

  1. I think I might try this. I love a bit of romance in my novels, but I don't like it being overdone too much if you know what I mean. I think this story might be the ideal way for me to find that balance. Drama and a bit of fantasy... perfect. Sounds like a good twist on City of Bones :D

    Check out my review on a good old classic: http://olivia-savannah.blogspot.nl/2014/02/a-high-wind-in-jamaica-book-review.html

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  2. Oh wow, this does sound good! I want to meet Seth and read the scene with his daughter in the restaurant. Great review!

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  3. Thanks for reviewing this, Valerie! I have this and I'm excited because it's a new series but first books can be a hit or miss. I think this will be a hit for me as well.

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  4. I think this sounds really good. Looking forward to the release!

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