5 out of 5 Pickles to Quick Fix by Linda Grimes

Posted Apr 17 2013, 2:34 am in What I'm Reading

I was fortunate enough to have participated in an ARC tour and read Linda’s sophomore novel in a matter of hours. From the first page, I was laughing out loud. Main character Ciel Halligan and her circle of protectors are back for another job – as auror adaptors – one of the most unique premises I’ve ever read. In Linda’s world, auror adaptors can assume the identity of anyone they touch. Anyone human, that is.

On this particular job, Billy, one of Ciel’s protectors and one of the two men vying for her attention, has his little sister along for a day at the zoo, where Ciel is pretending to be a woman hoping for a board appointment. Everything’s going fine until young Molly touches an orangatan and spontaneously adapts to it.

Which isn’t supposed to be possible.

That’s as much plot as I’ll reveal and it’s not spoiling the story – it’s back cover copy. The story proceeds in Ciel’s first person point of view in usually clever and frequently funny turns of phrase while she and Billy try to fix Molly’s problem. In addition to Molly’s spontaneous adapting, Ciel tries to handle her brothers, her mother’s annual Come as You Aren’t party, a certain CIA agent she’s been crushing on since her teens, her evolving feelings for Billy, and an attempted murder. There are enough twists and turns to keep even the best armchair detective guessing.

But you know what really got me?

The romance.

Okay, I admit it, I’m a total sap for love. This story has the most tender love scene I’ve ever read. It was face-fanning hot, heart-achingly sweet, and side-splitting funny all at the same time.

I give it 5 out of 5 pickles. Why pickles, you’re probably asking? And you think you know, don’t you? Pervs. You’re wrong. Remember the tender part in that love scene I told you about? Pickles. *sighs* Read it this August and tell me what you think of this love scene — well, the book, actually, but really the love scene. 

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