Book Review: Losing Logan by Sherry D. Ficklin

Losing Logan by Sherry D. Ficklin

Clean Teen Publishing © 2014

ARC Edition

Release Date: May 2, 2014

Paranormal Fiction

Reviewed by Leah

Losing Logan on Amazon

I have never had a book make me laugh that hard, that quickly.  Nor has it been so easy for a book to add itself to my 'Favorites' shelf!  If you have not read this book: you are missing out.

Summary:

As far as sick pranks go, Zoe thinks her ex-best friend, Logan, is playing the worst when she sees him walking around … at his own viewing.  That is, until she realizes that he's really dead … and she's the only person who can see him.

In a clash of attitudes and between constant bickering--layered with some mild threats only a ghost is capable of--Zoe eventually agrees to help him to move on.  Which they later realize means only one thing: find out who murdered him and why.

Thanks to a hasty makeover provided by Zoe's fab-u-lous best friend, Carlos, she's as ready as she's ever going to be to step into the 'herd' Logan had left behind.  She's searching for clues.  Searching for a killer.  And hopelessly falling for Logan's best friend.  All of which is a problem, considering she has to face the very disturbing reality: she's already in love with a dead guy.  One she will lose … again.

Review:

ASDFGHJKL!!!  (I've never used that before.  Ever.  Now you may realize how serious I am about this book.)

First of all, I was provided with an ARC of this beautifully funny and creative book.  The release date of this gem is May 2, 2014 and you all need this book.  I swear.

Secondly, no book will ever have a more entertaining, more heart-felt dedication than the one that resides in the first pages of 'Losing Logan' and I applaud Sherry D. Ficklin for seizing that marvelous opportunity.

Thirdly, this book will make you laugh.  It will make you cry.  Frequent bathroom breaks will be required and tissues are recommended to be kept on hand.  Also, say goodbye to sleep.  I went from about 8pm last night to roughly 4:30am this morning.  This is not a joke.  Beware of the effects this book will have on you!  And freely enjoy them all.

I was absolutely involved in every aspect of this book.  There was so much attitude and laughter in the first few pages that I was one hundred pages in before I realized we hadn't even gotten into the meat of the story yet.  But that was okay, because the first one hundred pages were my favorite and I would gladly reread them all the time.  (Carlos, please, please, can I clone you?)

The relationship between Zoe and Logan is exactly what you'd expect from two people who'd been extremely estranged during life … and suddenly find themselves stuck together once one of them is dead.  There are snarky comebacks, instant friction, and so many wonderful new insults that I sigh with envy that I'm not as quick with my tongue as Zoe.

Yet, there's also a history for them.  They were best friends once upon a time and you get to see how that affects them now.  Especially considering all of the lifestyle changes Zoe is putting herself through for Logan's sake.  He's making her a better person and she begins to open up to those around her, mending some bonds and forming some strong new ones.  Logan helps Zoe to really live and it's a beautiful thing to watch unfold.

Characters:

Zoe is … hilarious!  She is the snarky, smart-mouthed, hell-hath-no-fury kind of young woman we all wish we were in High School.  Smart and focused, it's very clear that, when she puts her mind to something, she won't let anything stand in her way.  That is especially true when it comes to Logan.  Despite having to move outside of her very secure little bubble, she willingly and quickly makes that step.  To help him.  If that isn't loyalty…  Of course, my favorite thing about Zoe has to be how judgmental she is.  Very few authors allow themselves to have judgmental MCs because they want to make them likable.  But Zoe is relatable just because of how judgmental she is.  Humans are always going to judge one another, and I'm glad to finally see an MC who has this trait … but isn't a total bitch about it.  Though a very fine line to walk, Zoe handles it like a master tight-rope-walker.

Logan … is an asshat.  And he earned every single one of those brilliant insults Zoe threw at him.  Despite that, however, we both fell very madly in love with him.  Because he earned that too.  Though he's got a very serious case of entitled, arrogant little shit, it's also covering a very soft and tender center.  And his protectiveness is only equal to his annoyance factor.  Which is exactly what there is to love about him.  And everyone will know, by the end of the book, why his is such a great loss.

CARLOS!!!!  The very fabulous, very gay, very adorable best friend.  Please, I need a clone of this man ASAP!  No one can take care of Zoe like Carlos can and his patience with her is nothing short of a miracle.  Give this man a medal!

Kyle Bruno is a sweetheart of the highest form.  He's actually way too sappy for my taste, but perhaps that's why he can handle Zoe's attitude like no one else can.  While being a puddle of water himself, this man likes his women fiery.  And his relationship with Zoe is JUST SO CUTE!!  As Zoe pointed out: he isn't perfect, but maybe he's perfect for her.

Kaylee, Logan's ex, is probably the only unrealistic character.  As it seemed to me.  I just can't imagine that much bitchiness being bottled in such a vile human being … without someone knocking her down three pegs with a round-house bitch slap.  But I've also never been in a school where cliques were a real thing, so this could just be because my High School didn't have people like her.  (Thank goodness for that!)

Plot:

So, talking to a ghost and trying to track down his very dangerous killer who is suffering from a bit of 'cornered animal' syndrome…  While simultaneously trying to figure out how to deal with loving a ghost and trying to figure out how she's possibly falling for his best friend…  Yeah, Zoe has a tough road ahead of her.  But the ways she rises to the occasion make me want to hug her.

Granted, there were moments of "what are you doing?"  "NO!  Don't do it!" and "I told you so".  But they didn't detract from the tale.  In fact, there was nothing that ruined this book.  (I'll get into that a bit later.)

In a lot of ways, it could be considered predictable.  The clues are there for you to follow, and some of us will undoubtedly figure out what's going on before Zoe does.  That's the mark of good writing.  If a book is only about solving the mystery, it's failed before it's begun.  Because it's about the journey.  Not the destination.  And following Zoe's journey is what made every moment worth it.

Setting:

I'll be honest, here, I have no clue where this was taking place.  That may or may not have been due to me not paying attention right in the beginning, however.  I'm not sure.

This is not a book loaded with purple prose or extensive descriptions.  (Except when it came to clothes, sometimes…)  So I didn't have a massively detailed setting based on every tiny detail the author threw at me.  Thank you for that.

I'm one of those readers that loves to reconstruct things in my head.  Zoe's room?  Had it down to a wonderful image that, given all the small details I had, was perfect for Logan and Zoe to hang out in.  Everything was just as I had imagined it--because no extensive description allowed for me to be wrong.

The only thing that really was detailed was the thing that needed the most detail, as far as setting goes.  Yet, this too, was left mostly to the readers' imagination.  Giving credit where credit is due: that we will all envision something differently anyway.  The basic image was there, the details were left to our own mental faculties.

Writing Style:

I'm in love.  The attention to detail here was beautiful.  And by that I mean how teenagers talk.  How they react to one another and even the vitriol comments they absolutely bombard one another with in high school.  Teenagers can be mean, judgmental, and constantly trying to make their lives have meaning.  In one form or another.  And the writing portrays all of that.  I am in awe.  (Did I also mention the humor that I will bow down to for all eternity?)

Overall Opinion:

Favorite!  Favorite, Favorite, Favorite, FAVORITE!!  (I could sing this, if you like?)

Things That Stood Out:

Okay, this is not a pet-peeve.  Or, rather, it would be in any other novel.  In this one?  Nope.  Not at all.

Tropes.  Cliches.  They were everywhere in this book.  And I didn't notice until I was done reading.

We have a bookish young woman who becomes suddenly popular.  Instantly becomes the girlfriend of the hot jock.  A love triangle … with her asshat ex-best friend.  And a crowd of bitchy mean girls we'll affectionately call the 'lemmings' until Carlos tells us to stop.

Now, normally, every single one of these tropes would have had me screaming in rage.  So why not here?  How did 'Losing Logan' save itself from the dartboard?  I'm not sure.  But I've never been happier.  Because it all works here.  It just … does.

Related Books:

Not that I'm aware of.  'Losing Logan' is a wonderful stand-alone.  (Which means: NO CLIFFHANGER!)  However, I am now convinced that I absolutely must check out more of Sherry D. Ficklin's books.

Final Thoughts:

I have never been more grateful to have so many great friends at CTP, because then I would never have gotten an ARC of this book.  It was a read that even I didn't know I needed.  I recommend it to everyone.  No matter what you like/don't like, I think you'll like this.

Book Review: The Devil in Music by Kate Ross

The Devil in Music by Kate Ross

Published by Viking © 1997

Hardcover Format

447 Pages

Historical Mystery

Reviewed by Leah

The Devil in Music on Amazon

I think my boyfriend is a little tired of the phrase 'this book just got good' due to how often I interrupted Final Fantasy XII with it.  Yes, it was worth every raised eyebrow and shake of the head.

Summary:

In Austrian-Italy of 1821, a notable--and formidable--Italian nobleman, Marchese Lodovico, is found murdered at his villa on the Lake of Como.  It is a crime that was to be covered up for four and a half years.  Leaving the only suspect, a young English Tenor known only as Orfeo, to disappear into the mists that haunt that particular lake.

When the death of Marchese Lodovico is at last revealed to be foul play, an uproar shakes up all of Italy.  And even reaches the ears of the English dandy, Julian Kestrel.  Being an amateur sleuth in his own right--and willing to ask even the most important people the truly delicate questions--he sets off to offer his services to the late Marchese's family.  With his ex-pickpocket servant, Dipper, dragging his heals to go along and a doctor friend in desperate need of a vacation, Julian proceeds headfirst to make friends and enemies of every being he comes into contact with in Italy.  And it's a daring and twisted adventure to learn all the secrets to be found at the Lake Como villa.

Initial Thoughts:

At first, this book dragged for me.  Typically, I don't read much historical fiction, anyway, so I started with trepidation.  Which could have resulted in feeding my expectations of what happened early on: I felt like it took too long to get into the meat of the story.  There was so much set-up of the society and characters--and oh the music!--to be met with in this little drama.  Yet, that is precisely why the story played out as well as it did: without all the little details, you would feel utterly blindsided by the large ones.  So, though my initial process was to drag my feet, it took a lot to separate me from this book once I really got into it.

Characters:

Who do I start with?  Julian Kestrel, the literary man whom I would have no compunction dropping panties for?  (That was a joke.  Mostly.)  Dipper, who though not often seen, plays such a critical role that you kind of always want a best friend just like him?  How about Marchesa Beatrice (Bay-TREE-chay), who is single-handedly the most passionately cold Italian throughout the entire book?  You know what, LET'S start with her!

This woman.  Oh this woman!  If I had even the slightest of bisexual/lesbian tendencies, even I would have chased after this woman as Julian and de la Marque have.  (We'll get to the Frenchman in a minute, the Marchesa has the stage.)  Not only is she a ravishing beauty, but the charm and intelligence she exudes are no small devices.  This woman embodies everything one cannot but admire in a woman.  Disarming charm, sharp ingenuity, a cold splash of realism, heavily concealed passions, moments of delicious lack in self-control, and an overall sense of purpose.  She is portrayed in such an artful, realistic, mesmerizing way as to leave you absolutely on your toes.  Is she a suspect who killed her older husband for her independence?  Or a lonely widow eager to see Orfeo brought to justice by whatever means necessary?

Okay, now we can move onto Julian.  An English dandy who solves murders in his own country, and just seems like he's about to muck everything up in the beginning of the story.  (Having read no others of Ross's works, I'm not familiar with Julian as a character, so I can't have known exactly what I was getting into with him.)  Yet, he proved to be a shrewd judge of character, a determined investigator, and a challenge to figure out himself.  Julian is far more clever than most people, tends to watch for reactions more than he actually induces them, and observes everything about him in a way that disconcerts almost every other character in the book.  I adored him.  His 'English chivalry' that the Italians constantly tease him of is endearing and instantly lays a foundation for his gentlemanly roots.  Julian is a man of integrity and has a very broad and open mind.  Nothing more can be asked in a man investigating the most dramatic murder the Lake Como has ever seen.

Which leads us to super-sleuth ladies-man, Dipper.  No man could be more loyal or daring as Dipper.  He knows what he's about and he takes all the necessary risks--without being a complete blockhead.  He's not a man who does as he's told just because he's told to do it.  Though his faith in Julian puts him in some scrapes, it's obvious that there's a bond between them that one knows means that they are in this ordeal together.  They're more than man and servant.  They're partners.  And Dipper takes that role far more seriously than anyone else would expect.  Bless him for that!

Shall I now move onto the rest of the cast?  (In a very short spurt because I don't want to run out of room.)  Conte Carlo is Lodovico's indebted and politically ill-inclined brother who has more than his fair share of vices and virtues.  Gaston de la Marque is the flirtatious Frenchman who confounds everyone, and appears to have more than one ear to the ground when it comes to Orfeo.  But as he seems involved with this more for his own entertainment than to actually provide assistance, he's hard not to love.  I can see why he's Julian's rival for the Marchesa's affections.  Then there is the absentee Marchese Rinaldo--Lodovico's cowardly, cruel, useless son--his estranged wife, Francesca--who chose the shame of leaving him for her castrato lover, Valeriano.  Commissario Grimani, the Milanese official investigating the murder who is--blessedly!--as smart as he is portrayed to be.  He is, however, far too ambitious to take the time and discover every angle to an investigation before jumping to conclusions.

Okay, I'm done with the list.  There're way too many people in this book.  Except … there's not.  There is a huge cast and could have been nearly impossibly to keep track of it, except that they were all so wonderfully and fully fleshed out that you never had to go back and say, "Who was that again?" (Even though the book has a very cool cast-list at the front.)  This is because Ross has portrayed these characters so beautifully--each in their own element--that you come to know them as people.  Whether as chivalrous or savage, cold or flirtatious, frisky or demure, you are privy to all.  And it is an enchanting formation to watch.  To many authors, a cast list this large would severely hinder their plot.  Kate Ross didn't even know how that could be possible.

Plot:

Okay, I am always vague on this point because I HATE giving away spoilers.  Suffice it to say: there is a number of real mysteries here.  Because nothing is what it appears to be from the onset.  Which weaves into one incredibly fantastic story.  This plot is real.  It is tangent and succulent and I encourage everyone to sink their teeth into this delicious mystery.

Writing Style:

Kate Ross wrote in the third person omniscient, which in some cases have been good to me, but in others have left me with a serious under-appreciation for the style.  Ross has restored this narrative into a place of good lighting.  It was done artfully with just the right subtle shifts so that the reader isn't jarred into another place/time than they were currently at. (Yes, this has happened before.  No, it was not funny.)  The switch from one character's mindset was artfully done and I found a lot of pleasure in it.

And as the reviews all state: she knows her period.  Having been evasive as far as Historical Fictions go, I was toeing the line with a novel so deeply immersed in a world of such chaos.  Well, Ross proved that that chaos is where she thrived.  She knew as much as any person today could know of Italy during those moments in time.  And she utilized them well and truly to weave such an intricate web of suspicion, lies, deceit, coquetry, and substance as to maintain all of the enchantment of the time period.  Where liberty was pitched violently against loyalty and political assassinations were all too real a fear.  This woman knew exactly what she was doing with this book, and it shows in the care and the subtle manipulation of each plot point and character realization.

Overall Opinion:

Really.  Have you not read this review?  (Okay, maybe you didn't because it was pretty long.)  I LOVED IT.

Pet-Peeves (AKA SPOILERS!):

Okay, the slow beginning bothered me a bit.  But nothing bothered me as much as Julian falling oh so deeply in love with Marchesa Beatrice.  I mean, I came to admire the woman myself.  Yet, for Julian to have known her for only a short time and be so damnably in love with her…  It felt a little too false to me.  I mean, attraction would be nothing more than understandable.  Even moderate jealousy would have been acceptable.  The way he felt about her though…  It was as if Ross had him say it louder and more frequently just because she knew it wasn't as believable as it should have been.  And that, unfortunately, is why this review lost that one single star.  *sigh*.

Who I would recommend this to:

Anyone who enjoys historical fiction and/or mystery.  Both are truly indulgent of the senses here, people.

I will definitely be looking for the other three Julian Kestrel books (all predecessors to this beauty) after being immersed in this world.  I encourage everyone else to do the same.

Well, I think it's high time I leave off, since I've written another novel here.  I think the rest of the review explains my opinion very sufficiently and so I digress.  Thank you Kate Ross for a most stimulating read!