{Review} The Big Fix: A Novel (In a Fix #3) by Linda Grimes

Posted by Melanie
Release Date: May 12th, 2015
Finished Date: May 31st, 2015

Publishers: Tor Books 
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Source: For Review
Format: Hardcover

Pages: 320
Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US / The Book Depo

Linda Grimes's sexy and hilarious urban fantasy series that began with In a Fix and Quick Fix continues in The Big Fix.

Aura adaptor extraordinaire Ciel Halligan, who uses her chameleon-like abilities to fix her clients' problems--as them--is filling in on set for action superstar Jackson Gunn, whose snake phobia is standing in the way of his completing his latest mega-millions Hollywood blockbuster. There's only one thing Jack fears more than snakes, and that's the possibility of his fans finding out he screams at the sight of one. Going from hero to laughing stock isn't part of his career plan.

Seems like a simple enough job to Ciel, who doesn't particularly like snakes, but figures she can tolerate an afternoon with them, for the right price--which Jack is offering, and then some. What she doesn't count on is finding out that while she was busy wrangling snakes for him, his wife was busy getting killed. When Ciel goes to break the sad news to the star, she finds out Jack was AWOL from her client hideaway at the time of the murder.

Ciel begins to suspect Jack's phobia was phony, and that he only hired her to provide him with an alibi--but if she goes to the police, she'll have to explain how she knows he wasn't really on set. Up against a wall, Ciel calls on her best-friend-turned-love-interest Billy, and her not-so-ex-crush Mark, to help her set up the sting of a lifetime.

The Review: The Big Fix is the third instalment of the ‘In A Fix’ series and Ciel Halligan finds herself in yet another difficult situation during one of her ‘jobs’.
Ciel has taken on a job for a Hollywood star Jackson Gunn, using her aura adapter gift to assume his identity for a difficult scene involving snakes because let’s face it – an action movie star who exudes masculinity cannot be seen to be afraid of anything. So in order to save the mans reputation, Jackson is off to Ciel’s range for some R & R, Ciel does the scene and everything is going great……. That is until the director drops the bombshell to Ciel/Jackson that his wife has been murdered!
Ciel feels obligated to be the one who drops the bombshell to Jackson and heads straight to the Ranch to do just that but Jackson is nowhere to be found until a couple of hours later when he claims he was lost on a hike. With the time he’s been missed, there is definitely a window of opportunity for him to have done the deed and using Ciel for the perfect alibi and when the coincidences just keep on happening…. Ciel decides to look into the murder with the help of the only two men to make her heart pound – Billy and Mark.
I love this series, it is so easy to read and immerse yourself in. The characters are all likable, even the secondary ones but Ciel, Billy and Mark are the characters we deal with most often. If you have read this series from the beginning then you will know that Ciel had a decade+ crush on Mark but because she is his best friends sister, he took on the brotherly role and nothing ever came from it whilst Billy had been her partner in crime/fake cousin and something blossomed between them so they went with it and despite Billy’s love of many ladies, seem to be making a real go of it. The thing is, the triangle is there and Ciel will always see Mark in that way but now Billy is there too and it’s about to get complicated. I’ve always shipped Ciel/Mark because they had a great connection throughout but he’s way more mature than her so when she got with Billy, I was ok with it because he brings out the reckless, fun and love of life side of her and whilst I hate love triangles or cheating in my reads – I was happy to let it play out. Did I enjoy what happened in this book? Yes! The way it was done was understandable, it seemed to draw a conclusion to the triangle but it was a trigger that usually stops me reading a book. Either way, there was plenty of sexytime for Ciel that definitely got the pulse racing.
The storyline was great – as usual – and I really enjoyed it, so much so that I couldn’t put the book down!
It always seems to start off with something farcical, Ciel has a way of getting herself wound up in some real calamities and has to dig herself out of them, often with hilarious consequences. I loved how the story unfolded, Ciel finds herself in more than one near death experience and the investigation has her tied in knots with plenty of suspects and a lot of misdirection. It takes everything she has to come up with a plan to solve this one and the participation of a whole cast of characters. But with Billy and Mark at her back, she will surely solve the case… that is when she isn’t dealing with relationship drama, being the maid of honour at her brothers wedding and posing as a grieving widower. This was a fun filled ride and could possibly be my favourite in the series, I can’t wait for more!

Thank you to Tor Books for giving me the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review. 

A Review for Quick Fix (In a Fix #2) by Linda Grimes

Posted by Melanie
Release Date: August 20th, 2013 
Finished Date: July 31st, 2013

Publishers: Tor Books 
Source: For Review

Format: Paperback
Pages: 354

Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US / The Book Depo

The second installment of the original urban fantasy series starring human chameleon Ciel Halligan

Ciel Halligan, an aura adaptor with a chameleon-like ability to step into the lives of her clients and fix their problems for them — as them — is working a job at the National Zoo with her boyfriend, Billy, and his ten-year-old sister, Molly. It's supposed to be a quick fix, giving her time to decide if it's wise to pursue the romantic relationship her charming scoundrel of a best friend wants, or if she should give Mark, the CIA spook she's crushed on since hormones first rattled her pubescent brain, a chance to step up to the plate.

Molly has already begun to show signs of being an adaptor herself. She's young for it, but she's always been precocious, so it's not impossible. What is impossible is her taking on the form of the baby orangutan she touches — adaptors can only project human auras. Until now, apparently. Worse, Molly is stuck in ape form. She can't change herself back.

Escaping from the zoo with their new baby orang, Ciel and Billy head for NYC and the only person they know can help: Ciel's brother James, a non-adaptor scientist who's determined to crack the aura adaptor genetic code. But when Billy winds up in jail, accused of attempted murder, Ciel begins to suspect Molly's unusual adapting ability is more than just a fluke. Who's been experimenting on Molly, and what do they hope to gain? And will Ciel survive to find out?

The Review: 4.5 Flowers! 

Quick Fix is the second instalment of the ‘In a Fix’ series and is just as good as the first. Ciel is back and getting into more calamity as an aura adapter who takes on clients and becomes them so they don’t have to deal with intense situations etc. this time around Molly, her 10 year old ‘not really related cousin’ is showing signs of becoming an adapter like Ciel & her brother Billy (who also happens to be Ceil’s maybe boyfriend) and during a quick assignment at a zoo, Molly transforms herself into an orang-utan setting off a strange set of events that leads to chases, attempted murder, laboratories, jail breaks, adapter parties, jealousy, envy, modelling assignments, confessions of the heart & some sexy times all wrapped up in a whole heap of fun.

Needless to say, I loved it! I love Ciels character and I love her humour, she doesn’t half get herself into mischief which makes her such fun too. I’m really into her love life too and like Ceil, I can’t pick my favourite…. I was sort of leaning towards Mark especially with him being her schoolgirl crush but Billy has his merits too but you will see a bad point during this that will give a bit food for thought with him having his reputation that could lead to heartache for Ceil. The storyline is so enjoyable, as you can see above, it isn’t your usual straight forward a to b plot, there are all sorts of things obstructing the path of what’s going on. When you think about it, the fact that most people who Ceil knows can adapt and be anyone…. Who do you trust? So there is always a big amount of subterfuge going on. I appreciated that we got more of an insight into her family life too and we meet the rest of her family, there are some good personalities there and we get some personal revelations from each of the brothers that makes me want to know their own stories. The pacing was great, always something going on to keep my interest and I read this 345 page book in one sitting with a big smile on my face, it was a fun & exciting, romantic & hot, opening up even more of the aura adapter world that I can’t wait to get stuck back into for book 3. 

In a Fix (in a Fix #1) by Linda Grimes

Posted by Guest Reviewer Melanie 
Release Date: September 4th, 2012 

Finished Date: October 5th, 2012 

Publishers: Tor Books 

Source: For Review 

Format: Paperback 

Pages: 336
Buy : Amazon UK / Amazon US / The Book Depo

The start of an original new urban fantasy series starring human chameleon Ciel Halligan

Snagging a marriage proposal for her client while on an all-expenses-paid vacation should be a simple job for Ciel Halligan, aura adaptor extraordinaire. A kind of human chameleon, she’s able to take on her clients’ appearances and slip seamlessly into their lives, solving any sticky problems they don’t want to deal with themselves. No fuss, no muss. Big paycheck.

This particular assignment is pretty enjoyable... that is, until Ciel’s island resort bungalow is blown to smithereens and her client’s about-to-be-fiancé is snatched by modern-day Vikings. For some reason, Ciel begins to suspect that getting the ring is going to be a tad more difficult than originally anticipated.

Going from romance to rescue requires some serious gear-shifting, as well as a little backup. Her best friend, Billy, and Mark, the CIA agent she’s been crushing on for years—both skilled adaptors—step in to help, but their priority is, annoyingly, keeping her safe. Before long, Ciel is dedicating more energy to escaping their watchful eyes than she is to saving her client’s intended.

Suddenly, facing down a horde of Vikings feels like the least of her problems.

The Review: In a Fix is a great new urban fantasy that is bringing a new kind of ‘gifted’ person to the table in the form of human chameleons, who can use individual peoples energy to become that person and once having used it, can retain the shadow of that energy and become that person at will. This is what our main character Ciel is able to do and has made it into her livelihood – running a business, helping people through their lives by becoming them and dealing with certain situations – her latest assignment is to obtain a proposal from a lady’s boyfriend. . . . . easy right? I mean, he has the ring – she finds it – but then their holiday bungalow being blown up and her client’s boyfriend being kidnapped weren’t really part of the assignment. Ceil desperately needs this job to keep her business afloat so she decides the only way to play it is to find Trey and return him along with, along with his ring to his intended. The only thing is, she’s just stumbled across an investigation involving her pesky ‘cousin’, her major crush – Mark and some Vikings! Can things get anymore weird? – well….YEAH!

I really liked this book, it wasn’t something that I’d read about before so I was a bit dubious at the start but once I got down to it – it was surprisingly great!

Ciel is a human chameleon who runs her own business helping people overcome/face some obstacle in their lives – she’s an awesome character, desperate to prove herself in her male dominated world because she is surrounded by men – brothers in particular who then delegate their protective duties to other men- so she feels the need to do everything by herself, but seriously – you have no idea the lengths some people are going to, to keep her safe and it makes you wonder why? On her latest assignment she gets into some hilarious situations and is helped along the way by her ‘cousin, but not her cousin’ Billy and her long term crush Mark. Now, I’m not a fan of love triangles and this is set up for a biggie – but. . . . I actually found that I liked this – there is a lot of sexual tension between them and I love reading about the flirting and the innuendos and how uncomfortable things can seem and as long as no other women are brought into the mix, I think I will be ok.

The storyline was good and definitely my type of book – Ciel just couldn’t keep herself out of trouble which brought on disastrous scenarios for her and those trying to keep her safe. What I loved most about this book though (apart from the sexual tension) was the humour, I don’t know how many times I laughed out loud at some of the situations and the dialogue which made it more of a UF/comedy and turned the book into a really light, fun read. I thought I would be confused about the whole ‘human chameleon’ thing, but I wasn’t – it was explained plainly and simply. I liked the idea of it, what they did with it & how they did it – I liked that the enemy wasn’t your ‘usual’ kind of enemy, although what they were ultimately planning to do left me scratching my head but even still, this is an excellent debut and has the potential to be an awesome, fun series that I have a feeling could become a favourite and a must read for me. 4.5 out of 5!