Thursday, January 27, 2011

Mini: Deeply, Desperately (Lucy Valentine, Book 2) by Heather Webber

Lucy wants to breathe new life into her family's Boston-based matchmaking company. But how? Even though she comes from a long line of ancestors blessed by Cupid with psychic abilities, a freak accident left Lucy with only one special skill: finding things. Car keys, socks in the dryer, needles in haystacks...and now, in a stroke of professional genius, lost loves!

It's not long before Lucy's on a winning streak, helping old flames reunite and create new sparks. Business is booming. But when Lucy finds herself involved in a possible case of murder, she realizes she's in too deep. Enter Sean Donahue. Lucy's handsome fire-fighter-turned private eye neighbor, Sean is just the man she needs to help her on the job. Could he also be the man she's been looking for all along? When it comes to Valentine, Inc., falling in love is always serious business...
What can I say, I love Lucy Valentine's character. Deeply, Desperately is the second book in Heather Webber's mystery/romance series. This is a light mystery series where the main story line is woven into the central character's personal life as other issues arise. The cast of characters, situations, dialogue and interactions are what make the story interesting. The way Lucy processes information (first point of view) and her personal relationships with parents, friends and Sean are what make these stories so enjoyable for me. I enjoyed Deeply, Desperately more than the first book and that's probably due to the fact that the Truly, Madly served as the "set-up" book for the series.

I really like the way Webber is developing Sean and Lucy's relationship. The romance is slow-going, fun and light. There's a bit of self-analysis on Lucy's part with plenty of kissing and "fooling around," but so far there are no explicit sexual encounters in these books. In this instance, the lack of heavy sexual scenes mesh well with the rest the plot, making the whole light and balanced.

In this book, I especially loved the way Lucy patiently and maturely fought for Sean and their relationship. Smart girl! The mystery is lighter and less of a factor than in the first installment, but it was still fun to follow Lucy's adventures. Particularly as it features Lucy working with Preston Bailey, the female reporter who drives her up a wall. I loved the turn of events with her childhood girlfriends, and the personal revelations in this book should make the next book, Absolutely, Positively, an even more interesting read.

Category: Contemporary Paranormal/Mystery
Series: Lucy Valentine Series
Released: August 3, 2010
Grade: B

Visit Heather Webber here.

Series:
Truly, Madly, Book 1
Deeply, Desperately, Book 2
Absolutely, Positively, Book 3 (Coming Feb 1, 2011)

8 comments:

  1. It sounds like a really cute series!!! I'm going to try to check it out - and thanks for the warning about the first one (that I might like the second one more).

    Have you read the Heather Wells books by Meg Cabot? It's also kind of like Chick Lit/Mysteries. Cute and funny.

    Thanks for the review

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  2. Alex this is really, really a cute a series. The first book sets up the series -- characters, etc.-- and it's good too, but this one is just that little bit better.

    I haven't tried the Cabot series, but I'll check it out. And you know what? This series fits that same category description to a certain extent too -- Chick Lit/Mysteries.

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  3. You're right about the sex aspect LOL. It fits the book, but also what I like is that Lucy and Sean really know each other at this point :) They're taking it, I guess, more realistically :P

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  4. Nath I like that too about Lucy and Sean. But I also love that there's romance in the books anyway... so far there seems to be a side story to do with the agency that turns out to be quite romantic.

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  5. Oh, your review makes me glad I picked up books 1 & 2 from the library. :)

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  6. Leslie, I hope you have as much fun as I did reading these books. As Alex says above, they're kind of "chick-lit/mysteries" -- at least I think it's a good description -- with some romance and very light paranormal elements. Such fluffly, light and fun reads. Really enjoyable. I look forward to the 3rd book. :D

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  7. I can't believe Absolutely, Positively came out today!!! I've got to get to this one... I have it on the TBR and loved the first one... so what am I waiting for!? Especially since I'm due for a light and fun read right about now! ^_^

    p.s. my word verification is 'potaters' and I just made potato celeriac soup! Wow. How did it know that? ;)

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  8. Christine, this is a perfect series for those times when you need those light reads. I'm running to get the Absolutely, Positively. I KNOW I'll need to read it soon. LOL!

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