Publisher: Gallery Books
Where did you get the book: Arc from Publisher
Release date: April 17th
Couture-conscious paralegal Finley Anderson Tanner knew it was risky to break her cardinal shopping rule—never pay full price—for a last-minute date with her gorgeous new boss, but the hidden costs of her little black dress have put her whole life in the red. After the romantic evening turns into a disaster thanks to impossibly sexy and utterly infuriating private eye Liam McGarrity, Finley finds herself down two thousand dollars and out two potential boyfriends. Naturally, she turns to eBay.
To help pay off her debt, she tries to sell the vintage pageant jewelry she received for doing law partner Ellen Lieberman a favor. But when Finley’s best friend abruptly disappears while helping to wrap up the auction, Finley fears the worst. Does frumpy Ellen have a sinister double life as a beauty queen? Is the auction’s high bidder, Tiara64, more suspicious than her name suggests? Can Finley possibly hunt for clues without irresistible Liam swooping in to bail her out of trouble . . . again?
Rhonda Pollero’s hilarious new novel featuring fashionista crime-fighter Finley Anderson Tanner is the must-have mystery of the season.
*blurb taken from Amazon*
I’ve been a fan of this series since reading the first book when it came out about five years ago. For me, that’s a lot of time to get invested in the characters and the series itself. I find the books to be light and fun and I’ve always enjoyed each book. Finley is a character that’s easy to read about. When there was a hiatus of the series for three years, I was so excited to get this ARC. I finally thought that there must be some sort of a progression between Finley and Liam. They’ve danced around each other for so long, and now it’s the fourth book, naturally I expected the characters and story to grow.
I want to warn people that this review will be pissy and full of hulk smash. That’s how angry I was when I finished the book.
As a reader, you expect progression in a series — especially of a romantic nature. I quit Janet Evanovich a long time ago because of that failure to never have the characters grow and mature just to keep the money ball rolling for a series that’s now limp as a wet lettuce. I felt as a reader that I was being strung along just to keep on buying future books, and I do not like being manipulated like that. So I said goodbye to Stephanie Plum.
I’m now going to say goodbye to the Finley Anderson series. The exact same thing has happened in the fourth book. A love triangle has been introduced. A love triangle that’s so weak that I’m even more angry because it’s pointless because I know that in the end, Finley will end up with Liam. But instead of bringing Liam and Finley together or have their relationship mature, we have more of the same will they won’t they as in book 1, 2 , and 3.
Finley keeps forever pushing away Liam. Always. And Liam always keeps leaving whenever him and Finley manage to get closer. Yeah, like I said above, I don’t like this reader manipulation to keep things stagnant in a book series just to sell future books. Finley now has the hots for Liam and Tony, the latter her boss. And throughout the book, we see small moments with her and Tony, and larger and more sexual moments with Liam. When I just thought that the love triangle was resolved in the book with Tony putting a stop to it, it picks up again and it’s back to square one with who will Finley now choose. She still has the hots for Liam but is kept away from him for whatever reason I don’t know. To keep the couple apart for forced tension does not work. I’m so angry because after being invested a series for so long, as a reader I expect character and story progression. I don’t want to keep reading the same shit over and over again.
The suspense part of the book was so weak that I’m even reluctant to call it suspense. It happens within the last couple of pages of the book, and once again NOTHING is resolved in the romance department. Finley never matures or progresses as a character. She’s still maxing out her cards in debt that she can’t afford with a carelessness that borders on negligence.
Well no more from this reader. I’m no longer going to invest my time in a series where I’m strung along with no conclusion in sight just to get future books.
I give Slightly Irregular a F and a goodbye.
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This sounds like a cozy mystery series. There are more of them where there never is a real romance developing. I do get a bit tired by the Hannah Swenson series in that way, but I still like all the sleuthing.
Unfortunately, there’s hardly any mystery in this book. It all happens towards the latter part of the book. I don’t want to go down the route of Janet Evanovich, and with Stephanie Bond with her Body Mover series.