Review: In a Fix by Linda Grimes

Title: In a Fix
Author: Linda Grimes
Series: Book One in the In a Fix Series
Published By: Tor Books (Sept. 4, 2012)
Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: Urban Fantasy
My Rating: 4 Stars


Goodreads Description:
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.

My Review:
 

It is no secret that I read a lot of books, what you might not know is that a lot of them tend to be YA. And while I love the YA genre it is so nice to read a really good adult book too. Sometimes you just need to get out of the teenage world and all it's agnst (good or not) and step back into the adult world.

In A Fix was just the read that I needed after reading so many consecutive YA books. Not only did it have a feisty, funny, kick butt heroine (and some wonderful banter between the three friends Mark, Billy and Ceil, associates, lovers, what have you) but this was also a really fun action packed read that literally I had to pull myself away from because, sadly, I had other things I just had to get done. Otherwise, I seriously would have read this in one sitting.

I love the whole world that Grimes created with the adaptors and I even liked the slight love triangle aspect it had. It just worked in this story without making me roll my eyes, sigh in frustration (or exasperation) and getting annoyed with the characters. In fact the romance (not a big theme of the book really) had just the right dose.

There was no slow world building in this one, which is so common in most first books. Instead, Grimes let us jump right into the story and explained details along the way. And while I don't always care for that in most books (too may questions I find I want answered now, not later), it again, just worked and flowed nicely.

Really this book reminded me a lot of the antics I love in the Stephanie Plum series without seeming anything like a copy cat in anyway shape or form.

I loved the humor, the relationships the characters had with one another, the witty banter, and the character themselves. I really look forward to reading more in this series and I hope that there will be many books to come.