What Makes You...

...want to finish or not finish a book?  I have wondered that before, and again now recently, because after buying a book, I've had to literally slog through it to finish, which I only did by 'cheating' and looking at the final pages.  Even then, I wondered why I bothered and lamented the loss of money I could have spent on another, more satisfying one.

I love books, and will often take a chance on most of them, even if I haven't heard of the author or don't usually read the genre.  After all, you can always open your horizons to new things; and hey, a book's a book.  But when you have to force yourself to finish - which you know is happening because you suddenly wonder what you're going to make for dinner or if you're just going to order in - then the book really isn't captivating your interest, is it?

To be fair to everyone, I'm not naming the book.  Because everyone likes different books, and it wouldn't be fair to the reader nor to the author.  Because maybe they've written other books that are better than this one.  I know that we all see books differently - which is as it should be.  We're all going to have different reactions to them.  Yet I still find it hard to believe that a book can get such glowing reviews by others, and I can get halfway through and think, "who buys this pap?" or "are you kidding me?"  Books that you can't review because in all fairness, you really didn't finish it.  You 'peeked' to see the ending, because you got tired of rolling your eyes at every other passage (well, at least my eyes were getting exercise while I was reading!)

So, that being said, do you finish the book because you bought it?  Do you feel because you started you might as well continue to read?  Or, like me, do you peek to the end and just cut your losses, as it were?  And when you finally put the book down, do you immediately take a chance on a new or unknown author, or do you go to someone you're familiar with, someone you know, a book that you're truly going to savor and enjoy?

Steamed

Author:  Holly Jacobs
Genre:  Mystery

5 Stars

 

Quincy Mac owns a house cleaning service in L.A.  Taking the shift of a sick employee, she is cleaning the home of a Hollywood writer.  She finds his award, a Mortie, covered in 'brown goo,' cleans it, along with everything else, including muddy footprints on the carpet.  Then she proceeds to clean the bedroom...and comes across the body of a deceased client.  Quincy has just accidentally cleaned a murder scene.

 

I have never read a Holly Jacobs book before, but if this is any indication of other mysteries she may write, she has gained a new fan.  This book, while definitely a mystery, is hilarious.  Quincy Mac is a mother of three teenaged boys (16, 17, and 18), all of whom have gone to spend the summer with their father, a Hollywood producer.  It seems their dad is fond of younger - much younger - women, and keeps marrying (and divorcing) them.  But, as Quincy puts it, he's a good dad, which is all she cares about.  So, of course, this leaves her alone for three months thinking it will be pretty quiet without her sons.

 

Little does she know what she is about to step into.  The brown goo was blood, and she has just cleaned the murder weapon.

 

After calling the police, she imagines herself - and her inner thoughts are the funniest part - in prison (with a new tattoo), for a murder she didn't commit.  So of course, Quincy must try and find the murderer before she is wrongfully convicted.  Even funnier is the fact that she is trying to solve the murder from information she has garnered from television shows.

 

Never mind that the police don't really believe she was involved; never mind that the detective assigned to the case is smoking hot.  And in Cal Parker, Ms. Jacobs has definitely created a smoking hot detective who is completely frustrated with Quincy yet completely attracted by her.  The interplay between these two is entirely fun to witness.

 

Add the fact that her business partner, who is about to be married, was at one time involved with the dead man, that she had an uncle who was wrongfully convicted (which accounts for her believing she is about to get the death penalty - if she can figure out whether California has one), that everyone in her family are doctors and she considers herself the 'black sheep,' and you have a delightful comedic mystery.

 

I am anxiously awaiting the return of quirky Quincy in her next adventure, and of course, the developments with her sexy detective.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Steamed-Maid-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00DPK9NI2