Gone With the Ghost by Erin McCarthy

Title: Gone With the Ghost
Author: Erin McCarthy
Series: #1 in the Murder by Design series
Genre: Paranormal Cozy Mystery
Publisher: SilverHart Publishing (May 22, 2017)
Source: Purchased
Rating: ☕☕☕☕

Synopsis: Bailey Burke has had a rough six months—it’s not easy thinking your romantic overtures toward your best friend caused him to kill himself. Except that’s exactly what happened. Ryan is very much dead, having shot himself with his own police-issued gun. Guilt and grief shouldn’t cause hallucinations though, but six months after Ryan went into the ground, Bailey is freaking out and swearing his ghost is standing in her kitchen. Which he is…

Ryan claims he didn’t commit suicide, but was murdered, and he needs Bailey to help him find his killer so he can earn his ticket out of purgatory. Ryan’s counting on a stairway to heaven, as opposed to wings, since that might be a little unmanly for a cop, even a dead one.

An expert in home design, with her own staging business, Bailey can tell you where to place a couch to improve flow and comfort, but solving a crime? Not her area of expertise. But with help from Ryan’s former partner, Marner, she is unraveling the mystery of what happened to Ryan that day… and unwittingly putting herself in grave danger.

My Thoughts: Erin McCarthy is the queen of fun lighthearted reads.

The Good, The Bad, And Everything In Between: I love when the paranormal rubs elbows with mystery especially when it's chock full of humor. I giggled, smiled, and literally LOL a couple of times throughout this book. I enjoyed the various characters including Bailey and Ryan but wish they were more fleshed out. The book is rather short which is awesome for me because I have been struggling with sticking with longer books but, honestly, if it had been longer the characters could have been dug deeper into. In addition there is some closure to the mystery aspect but many dangly bits are left....well...dangling. Now I love me some dangly bits but in my books I don't necessarily like cliffhangers...even minor ones. I enjoyed this book so much though, I like to refer to those dangly bits as appetizers for the next course. I'm really looking forward to digging into the next one too.

In a Nutshell: This really was a fun book but make sure you have the next book lined up so you can jump right into it because you're going to want to.

 

Hard and Fast by Erin McCarthy

Synopsis:  An experiment in romance!

New to Charlotte, stock car racing country, graduate student Imogen Wilson meets Ty McCordle, a driver who inexplicably has her pulse racing. After an encounter at the track with a woman whose main goal in life is to marry a driver, Imogen realizes she’s hit on the perfect thesis for her Sociology degree. If she follows The Rules on how to get a man, can she steer her way to into the hearts of the drivers and establish their dating,and mating,patterns?
That’s testing the limits of passion.
Although sexy and reckless Ty is the ideal test subject, she knows she can’t pursue him for the sake of science. Yet he’s the one who’s chasing after her, and Imogen realizes that she actually wants to be caught. A southern gentleman like Ty won’t fail to disappoint, will satisfy all her curiosity,and make all the risks worthwhile!

My Thoughts: Overall a good book but not as good as the first book in the series which I absolutely loved.

What Worked: I loved the Opposites Attract theme. Imogen was so smart to the point of social awkwardness and Ty was a popular likable guy but suffered from a learning disorder. He is an outdoors sporting guy and she's an inside, nose-in-book gal.

Their interactions were amazingly funny. Imogen spoke exactly what was in her head without thinking that it might not something that one discusses in everyday conversations.

 “I was born without the flirt gene. It's truly awful for me." That was no exaggeration. " I mean, look at how I screwed up last night with Ty. He was flirting and tossing off sexual innuendos, and I just looked at him and said I would not have anal sex with him."

"You what?" Suzanne shrieked so loud that Imogen saw half a dozen other fitness patrons swivel their heads to look at them. "Did he ask you to? At the party?"

"No, of course not." Which was what made it all the more ridiculous. "We were in the car and he was hinting about positions, what was to come, etc., and I just blurted out that I wasn't doing that with him."

"Girl..." was Suzanne's though on the matter, her expression one of total horror. "Do not bring up the back door unless he's knocking on it.”

Did I mention how much I love Imogen?

Not to be undermined, Ty was also pretty amazing. Because of his reading issues he developed the taste for audiobooks. To get Imogen to go camping with him he agreed to read Much Ado About Nothing. Not only does he listen to the full play but he memorized quotes.

What Didn't Work: The first half was full of wit and humor which I loved but I don't think the second half was as funny. In addition, Ty's reading issues were played out a little over the top for added conflict as his reaction to Imogen felt a bit extreme. In addition I thought Imogen's thesis idea was pretty ridiculous and I can't believe she thought to try a flirting experiment when she admits she can't flirt worth a darn.

In A Nutshell: I loved Imogen so much and Ty really complimented her personality by being her complete opposite.The interactions, humor and sexy parts between Ty and Imogen were worth the read even if the plot was a bit silly.

One of my favorite quotes....

“Ty:"It sounds pretty when you say it, but I have no clue what the hell you're talking about."
Imogen:"It's Shakespeare," she said.
Ty:"Well, I was pretty sure it wasn't Kenny Chesney.”

High Stakes by Erin McCarthy

I read this book and wrote this short crappy review in November 2008. I'd like to think that after a year and a half my reviews are better (maybe they aren't....yikes...I don't like the thought of that).

When Alexis decides she needs to save her sister from being brainwashed by a rich playboy in Sin City she has no idea what she is getting herself into. Alexis is a busy Lawyer who thinks her sister Brittany is in way over her head with Ethan Carrick. Alexis talks Brittany into going home and letting Alexis take her place as his "bimbo" on his arm because she thinks Brittany is way too sweet and innocent for the job and would just get hurt. What Alexis doesn't realize is that Ethan is the president of the Vampire Nation...making him THE vampire. He needs an edge for his political platform. He feels that if he has a mortal woman at his side he will be viewed as a "nicer" vampire for the election coming up. What he finds is that Alexis is a little stick of dynomite and she thinks he is a whacko.


I have read a couple of Erin McCarthy books and have to say she does lite whimsy fluff so well. Her sense of humor is witty and yet sarcastic enough to make me appreciate her characters to the max. Who else can have their characters call each other pet names such as BallBuster (or BB for short) and Garlic?

I gave this book a rating of 4.5 stars and will definitely read the next in the series

You Don't Know Jack by Erin McCarthy

Synopsis: Jamie Peters no longer believes in true love. True idiots, true scumbags, true moochers - these she believes in wholeheartedly, and she's got the checkered dating history to prove it. So, she's more than a little skeptical when her cross-dressing psychic tells her she's about to meet her soul mate - during an accident. Yeah, sounds about right. And then it happens. A knight in shining armour steps between her and a mugger on a subway platform. Just a regular, honest, upright Jack. The kind they don't make anymore...

Jonathon Davidson doesn't believe in destiny - or lying to beautiful women as a rule. But now that Jamie thinks he's just an ordinary guy, how can he possibly tell her that he's really, her roommate's brother, a millionaire to boot, and the jerk who's investigating her application to his grandfather's charitable trust because she may be involved in something illegal? Yeah, rhetorical question. He can't. Not until he knows what's going on. Besides, it would require being able to resist Jamie's luscious curves long enough to say, "Hi, my name is Big Liar. Let's get naked." Sometimes, destiny sucks...

Somewhere between truth and flat-out-let's-talk-about-this-waaay-later fiction, between fate and delicious accidental insanity, lies a whole lot of mind-blowing sex, delirious passion, unfortunate sundresses, fighting, deception, big mistakes and small hopes, and two people are about to discover that everything happens for a reason...

My Thoughts: Although I found this book to be somewhat cute it was middle of the road for me. I couldn't find anything that really stood out to me as spectacular nor did I find anything horrible that rubbed me the wrong way.

I found the two main characters to be unremarkable but did like some of the secondary characters. I loved Jack's gramps and really liked Jamie's cross dressing psychic friend. I really liked that they made more then one appearance in the book and I think that is what brought my opinion of this book from a standard 3 Cup of Coffee rating up to 3.5.

I have read several of McCarthy's books and found this one to be weaker then the others and would recommend borrowing this one from the public library or getting it used. I would also recommend that if you are new to Erin McCarthy books you should not start with this one but one of her other ones.