Looking For a Good Book

Having recently read and been enamored with Christopher Moore’s Anima Rising, I was in the mood for a little more supernatural and art combo and viola, up popped this book, Love Sucks by Cynthia St. Aubin. This was clearly going to be more humorous and more of a romance (thank you, cover artist) but that doesn’t matter to me.

The storyline was interesting:

Someone is killing werewolves and that has a number of people concerned. People like Vincent Van Gogh.  Yes, THE Vincent Van Gogh. It so happens that Van Gogh (among many famous artists) has a bit of the paranormal about him. He turns to Mark Abernathy’s art gallery for help. Abernathy is an alpha Were, who then goes missing. All of this is nearly beyond comprehension for gallery worker Hanna Harvey. What she can understand is that the detective who is looking into these strange deaths is one heart-fluttery handsome guy. But what’s the bigger deal? The hunky cop or meeting her all-time favorite artist, Vincent Van Gogh in the flesh!?

The mysterious murderer is gaining ground and the only one protecting Hanna and Vincent Van Gogh is the hired bodyguard, Toulouse Lautrec. Yes, THE Toulouse Lautrec.

This was pretty much what I expected it to be – goofy fun.  It wasn’t quite what I was looking for (I wanted something with a little more intensity) for it’s entertaining if you like light (cozy), paranormal romance.

It’s a little amusing to say this, but I found the premise a bit far-fetched. I’m not talking about werewolves and vampires and the like – I’m referring to the fact that there are incredibly talented and famous artists whose work we pay to see in museums, who are still around … and NOT PAINTING!

Also, our main character, Hanna, just strikes me as immature with moments of mature clarity, though they are few enough to seem aberrant. Sure, meeting a hero or someone whose work you admire can make you giddy or feel small, but a professional will get over it. And other than her telling us how much she likes Van Gogh’s work, we don’t see it anywhere. Was this possibly something in the first book in the series?  Yes … with my usual luck, I picked up a series book that was not the first book in the series.

My recommendation is that if you go for this kind of book and are looking for something to read on vacation or in the airport, this suits.

Looking for a good book? Light, goofy, a decent way to pass the time, Love Sucks by Cynthia St. Aubin is a cozy paranormal romance.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Love Sucks

author: Cynthia St. Aubin

series: Tails from the Alpha Art Gallery #2

publisher: Tor Books

ISBN: 9781250407153

Kindle Edition, 306 pages