Sunday, November 13, 2011

Indie Spotlight - Visions by Anna James

VisionsVisions by Anna James

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I received this book as a part of Read 2 Review.

This is an Adult Mystery Novella with a bit of paranormal activity

Book Summary

Prudence Bailey has just learned that Laura Bailey, the woman she has always believed to be her mother, is in fact a distant cousin. Laura adopted Prudence when she was four years old after her father, Joshua Adams, brutally murdered her mother, Jane, then killed himself.

She has no memory of the past and, after Laura’s death, decides to return home to Salem Massachusetts to learn more. Twenty years have now passed since the murder / suicide took place.

Almost immediately she meets Detective Matt Cavanaugh, her neighbor. Matt is gorgeous and sexy and Pru is instantly attracted to him. Matt is also linked to her past. His father, now a retired police officer, was first on the scene the night of her parents’ deaths.

From the moment she returns Pru experiences visions that lead her to believe that the circumstances surrounding her parents’ deaths are not as they seem. The facts don’t add up. And when a recent murder that Matt is investigating is linked to the past they discover that Pru is right and the killer is still on the loose.

Will they discover the killer’s identity in time or will history repeat itself?

My Review

Overall, I really liked this book. The mystery part of the story was well told in novella format. The writting was well done and flowed making the story easy to read. I was very surprised by the “who done it” part of the book which I’m generally not easily fooled. So that was a good thing.

For a novella, I know that an author has limited time to unfold a story. But for me the romance all be it for the most part realistic, felt rushed and not needed. If not for the romance, this story would have been five stars and here is why.

I know that meeting someone and having sex can happen very quickly. Wham bam thank you mam comes to mind. But here is my problem with how it was handled in this story. After a first date, Matt drops off Pru and home and gives her a kiss. But next thing we know his hand is on her breast and she’s ok with that. From her mind, she’s only just met the guy. I might have been ok with that if not for me stopping and re-reading the previous pages to see if I missed something. And I hadn’t. Prior to this moment, Matt’s hair and eyes are described and nothing else. Nowhere did I find that Pru saw he was attractive or she lusted for him, giving us any reasons why she’d be ok with this. A sentence even saying why she was ok with his forward behavior would have gone a long way. So as I’m reading I’m thinking I’ll let that go. Until the end when he confesses love for a girl he’s met again a few days ago and now is asking to marry her. I just can’t buy it. Even though it flowed as a story, it just wasn’t believable for me.

So if I had half stars, I would say this is a 3.5. But I’m going to round up, because the mystery part of the story was so well done, I have to give credit for that.

I would recommend for adults who enjoy mystery. There are aspects of paranormal but not ones that readers who are paranormal fans wouldn’t enjoy.


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