Synopsis:
L.A. shoe designer, Maddie Springer, lives her life by three rules: Fashion. Fashion. Fashion. But when she stumbles upon the work of a brutal killer, her life takes an unexpected turn from Manolos to murder. And things only get worse when her boyfriend disappears - along with $20 million in embezzled funds - and her every move is suddenly under scrutiny by the LAPD's sexiest cop. With the help of her post-menopausal bridezilla of a mother, a 300 pound psychic and one seriously oversexed best friend, Maddie finds herself stepping out of her stilettos and onto the trail of a murderer. But can she catch a killer before the killer catches up to her...
Review:
So I bought Gemma Halliday's series in bulk, something I never do. I mean what if I hate the first book, then I am out all the cash and stuck with the rest of the books in the series. But as ashamed as I am to admit it, I decided I liked her before I even read the book, because of a cover of hers a saw (shockingly enough the cover I liked was of a book I didn't even buy). Well thank goodness, I loved the first book. I have already moved onto the second book in the series and I am enjoying it, but more on that later.
I've always liked a good mystery, and I have always liked an author who can paint a picture of the main character with humor. I think Halliday excels at both of these. There were several points during the book where I laughed out loud. As a character Maddie is totally a mess. But she's a great mess. She is living in LA in a studio apartment, in a relationship with a man it turns out she doesn't know as well as she thought, and spends literally the entire book avoiding finding out something that could change her entire future. But I love that she is a mess, she's quirky, has a hilarious job designing kiddie shoes, and is constantly running from one drama to the next (all of which could have been avoided if she didn't have the ever-increasing desire to find out what is going on, but where's the fun in that?)
I also really love the cop in the story, Ramirez, he just rolls with the crazy that is Maddie. She follows him all the time in her bright red Jeep and she is so convinced he doesn't notice her, but of course he knew every time and thinks it's funny. I think part of the reason why I enjoy the dynamic between Ramirez and Maddie is because Halliday is so good at creating anticipation between the two of them. I found myself waiting for the two of them to be in the same room together, and then I kept pulling for them to find a way to be together. Halliday is also really good at making the reader (i.e. me) believe that Ramirez is super hot. I can only imagine how good he looks.
I have to say that in terms of the mystery element, I thought I had it figured out. And to be fair, I was pretty close to being right-ish. It wasn't until like 2 pages before Halliday revealed all that I had actually figured it out correctly. It was fun reading it, and I did enjoy watching all the different elements of the mystery coming together.
I would have to say just about anyone would enjoy reading this book. It's got a great mystery, a lot of fun humor, and a great steam factor that I can only hope gets better in the next book. Give it a try!
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