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I love books. I own literally HUNDREDS of them, from picture books to paperback murder mysteries.I absolutly love summer reading too. What is better than lying under a big shady tree on a comfy chaise lounge, with a big ol frost drink nearby and a book!
Answer is -Nuthin!
This year I began my summer reading with a fairly new author: Sophie Littlefield. The book is the above mentioned A Bad Day For Pretty.
Well, the title had my attention from the get go. It's a bad day for... is a common theme in my neck of the county, so I was intriqued to see what this book had to say.
Stella Hardesty takes her place amoung the better female heros. She isn't a dectective, but she knows one. She isn't a cop, but she dispenses justice. She isn't a criminal, but sometimes she shies around the letter of the law. She is a vigalante and a menopausal cranky one at that. I liked her right away!
Her object of affection is one ruggedly handsome 'Goat' Jones, he's the Sheriff. Goat has a thing for Stella too, but unfortunatly there is a little complication in this plot- an ex wife that suddenly blows into town- literally- on the skirts of a tornado. That's when things get a little'western'.
The tornado unearths a corpse, Goats 'ex' is hell bent on making Stella a memory and Stella is just trying to find out the who and why of the murder.
" Who said it always had to be the the men who went out and set the world straight? Sometimes there were no men around to do the job, and sometimes, it seemed to her, a woman was the better candidate anyway. A woman might not have brute strength, but she had cunning and determination and creative problem solving skills. Women were used to juggling six things at once..."
Though Stella owns and operates a sewing shop, her real voacation is getting justice for battered and abused women. With the help of Chrissy, one of her former clients, she dispenses justice with an acid tongue and a secretly melting heart.
Full of earthy language, a tight plot and compelling characters, A Bad Day for Pretty is a fun read.
So much fun in fact that I have ordered Sophie's first novel, A Bad Day for Sorry. I fully expect to find that one as engaging as "Pretty."
