[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Kensington in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]
Summary
Alexandra Vlodnochek gave up her job as a reporter to pursue a higher paying job at the Coleman and Walters PR firm. No one told her that the new job included expectations that she would take a client up to a hotel room. She thought her loud refusal might get her fired. But she didn’t expect it would get her accused of murder.
Now Alex is trying to clear her name using her investigative reporting skills. But her former coworkers have drunk the Kool-aid and are sharing the company lies with the press. Someone has stolen her identity and is trying to ruin her financially. The one boss who isn’t dead has backed her into a corner where her chances of finding another job that doesn’t involve cleaning toilets are slim. And if that’s not enough to juggle, Alex’s baby brother moves in with his fiancée (who seems to be running a shady business out of Alex’ house) and their un-housebroken puppy. Alex is out of money and out of patience with the hatchet job her former employer is trying to pull on her. She won’t let her entire life be destroyed without a fight.
Review
The sheer volume of things piling onto Alex was overwhelming. It was almost painful to read one more disaster, one more lie, one more manipulation, one more attack on her character.
But Alex was never facing all of that alone. Her family really steps up to help her out in their own unique ways. I really enjoyed the whole cast in this book. Some of the characters are mainly “off stage,” but still bring interesting tidbits to the story. I cannot wait for more books to get to know some of these other characters better.
The mystery wasn’t a big surprise. But I thoroughly enjoyed watching Alex work things out. There were some fantastic, triumphant moments for her that I loved! There were some “sideline scenes” where Alex was trying to earn some money to stay afloat that were enjoyable, even though they had little to nothing to do with solving the murder. Sometimes such things can be aggravating and distracting, but this time they were fun scenes that helped cut some of the tension of the larger story.
This is a fun, sassy story with great characters. I will absolutely keep up with this series in the future! (Some language.)