Erica Abbott

Mmm, I give this book three stars with reservations.

The story is set in Pueblo, Colorado - oh, err, I mean Tesoro ;) - and that, above all else, was what I enjoyed about this book. I lived in the high desert of Colorado (although on the other side of the divide) for four and a half years, and reading this book made me miss it terribly. There's a lot of "place" here in the book - those gorgeous night skies, the low humidity, even the chili festival - and that is what I liked above all else.

Abbott, at least in the two books (and one novella) that I've read by her, tends to tell and not show, and that really prevents me from immersing myself in the story. This book isn't an exception, unfortunately. Instead of actually feeling the characters' emotions, I just get told about them. And I don't like it. When I read books in this genre, I want to feel and experience. Make me laugh, make me cry, make me do both at the same time - whatever. Just don't make me bored. And even though there were some great aspects that could, and honestly should, have made me feel something - it just didn't click at all.

And Jean, who is the deputy County Attorney, tends to go overboard with the legal mumbo jumbo. I seriously almost set the book down, never to be picked up, because of the tsunami of legal jargon in the first few chapters (hang on, readers, the book does get better from there). I know that the author was (or is?) an attorney, so I get that she knows her stuff, etc, etc, but...summarize. I don't need a textbook or an in-depth treatise on county law.

I'm not sure if I will pick up something else by this author again, but, as I said, I did enjoy the Colorado authenticity that this book has to it.… (mehr)

Other than some zombie short story I have no idea how to find, I've apparently just completed the last thing currently published by Abbott. That was a quickish leap through her work. I seem to be on something of a run here. At least in terms of 'completing' authors who I had just started. I recall two of the top of my head, at least. Well, three now with Abbott. J.A. Armstrong, and Lynn Galli being the other two I started and completed relatively quickly. Well, there is that one short story collection by Galli I haven't yet read.

This specific book here: the book was interesting and kept my attention throughout most of it. Though, oddly, I got kind of bored when all the various threads - the mystery, and the romantic ones, started to get wrapped up.

I was thinking while reading the book, that it had something of a mixture of Abbott's prior works. Both her romance, and her three book romantic intrigue series. I believe they are all in Colorado, but I don't mean that. The characters were mostly unique, as in no repeats. Which is good. I'm not really sure what I mean by 'a mixture', but it was a vibe I had picked up along the way.

I do know, though, that in terms of the mystery, this book here is less of a mystery than a romance. Compared with the CJ & Alex series. And much more of a mystery than the one romance book. Oh, and that's another thing. I entered my reading of Abbott with the odd thought that she normally wrote romances, but turned towards adding mystery to her books. When I was looking over her books today, or yesterday, I was actually shocked when I realized that there is actually only one out-and-out romance. Well, the mysteries have romances, but I mean that there's just one book that's purely romance.

Now in terms of ratings. Hmms. I was thinking that the book seemed like a solid enough four star book. Though, it started to slip there. I'll go ahead and give it four stars now, while leaving myself the option of rethinking my rating. Heh, I say that as if I don't always reserve the right to fiddle with my ratings.

Mmphs. Now I have to find yet another author to tackle, subdue, and gobble all of their books. Mmphs. Well, it's not like I'll ever come close to running out of possible books.

(by the way, I felt the need to write that above stuff while I was actually still reading the book. Maybe the last four percent will move the rating one way or another, eh? heh. Unlikely, that. I just felt the need to write right then and there (actually, it turns out that the last four percent did solidify my decision to rate this 4 stars)).… (mehr)

My first non-mystery by Abbott, though the fourth book I've read by her. And I carefully avoided saying something like "first romance". Because the mysteries are advertised as "Romantic Intrigues."

To start off with: this might actually be a book closer to a rating of 3.5, but I'll keep it at 4 for now, even though I can mark it 3 1/2 here.

It's not the fault of the book or the author, but I read this way too fast, so any ideas, thoughts, or other impressions I gathered from the book were probably too superficial to be used by others considering the book. I realize I have two days listed as start/stop dates, but that's because I started the book at something like 10:30 p.m. then finished it around 2:30 a.m. With a break of an hour or so. Now that normally would result in a comment like "so good I couldn't put it down." But I had actually intended this to be my morning commute book.

Right, so, the book. Jill Allen is a high powered lawyer, a partner in her firm. A somewhat junior partner, but still, a partner. She has focused her whole life on advancing herself intellectually and legally.

Caroline Prince is a huge opera singer star. So well known that, at one point, one of the characters says something to her like "I don't follow opera (or was it "I don't like opera?), but even I know who you are". She is also someone who focused everything on getting ahead in her chosen field.

Eighteen years after leaving Colorado, Caroline is back. To take the role of music director at the Rocky Mountain ... um . . something something. Rocky Mountain Opera Company? Something like that. RMOC?

Terry is someone attempting to advance herself in the media business. And, oddly, is a newspaper reporter. Really? In 2013 someone is attempting to get ahead in the news business by joining a newspaper? Heh, sorry. Anyway, she learns of the new music director, and how she's given only one interview, to, if I remember correctly, public radio. So, she figures it'd be a big break for her if she could land Caroline. So she does. And, while there, knowing how much Jill loves listening to Caroline's music recordings, Terry gets Caroline to agree to pop over as a surprise for Jill's birthday. Well, actually, Terry attempted to get an autograph, and Caroline offered herself up as a guest, instead. Terry leapt at the opportunity.

So. Dinner. With the woman who never socializes and is almost never away from working. The character built up for Jill makes me question how she even ended up with Terry to be her ex-girlfriend. Especially as they seemed to have had a longish relationship. But, I'll gloss over that and move on.

So, where was I? Oh, right. Dinner. Jill and Terry eat food. And stuff. Terry tries to delay things a little because Caroline isn't there yet. And then finally she walks in. And Jill almost immediately bolts. Looking upset and horrified.

One of my biggest issues with romances, specifically lesbian romances, tends to be the overuse of miscommunication as a plot device to create conflict. Well, here, Abbott injected a bit of miscommunication to separate two people for 18 years. Since Jill and Caroline were actually a couple way back when. 18 years ago.

Two issues I had with the book. (I didn't use that phrase before in this review did I? mmphs). The first is the injection of Terry. She's a side character, but the book opens from her point of view. She's kind of necessary, but I'm glad her part was as small as it was as I didn't particularly like her. The second issue was the flashbacks. It was vaguely interesting, at first, to see how Jill and Caroline meet, and come together, and develop a relationship but . . . somewhere along the line I stopped reading those sections (well, I did skim, didn't want to miss anything important). Because I wanted to be in the present. Not in the past.

Oh, a third issue. I hate the dress the woman is wearing on the cover of the book. Looks like something you would cover a sofa with. Or hang up as curtains. Not something to be worn on stage while singing opera. Or worn at all. It's hideous.… (mehr)

I open this, whatever this is, with the comment that I made in the little box for the last book. "This is a difficult book on many levels." Oh, I had said difficult before. I was going to say painful this time.

Hmms. I'm just sitting here vaguely shell-shocked. Not sure what to write here. I could do a quick little vague description, like I sometimes do. I could do that 'positive', 'negative' thing I started doing recently. Hmms.

Well, I'll just say: good solid story. Interesting. Readable. Um. Right.… (mehr)