Friday, September 3, 2010

Review - Nice Girls Don't Live Forever (Jane Jameson, Book 3) by Molly Harper (4.5/5 stars)

This is the final book in the Jane Jameson trilogy by Harper.  It was a great conclusion to the trilogy and nicely wrapped up all of the outstanding plot points.

As in book 2 Jane is dealing with a lot in this book.  Her and Gabriel are on the outs after he fantastically screws up their whirlwind tour of Europe.  When Jane returns after getting a call her bookshop has been broken in to, she finds Zeb and Jolene pregnant, her employer's mysterious nephew returned on a mission Jane can't figure out, and an invitation waiting for her 10 year high school reunion.   Jane also joins the Chamber of Commerce to further her business and finds that it is run by evil blond women obsessed with pink.   On top of all of this she is trying to solve the mystery of Gabriel's mystery linen notes; she assumes he is cheating on her, but then she starts receiving similar notes herself.

This book was a bit like the second book in that there are a lot of little plotlines going on.  Unlike the second book I thought this book did a lot better job of tying everything together and keeping the plot well organized even with everything that is going on.

Jane finally solves the mystery of what is going on with Gabriel and it is relief to get some closure on that front.  Another relief is that Jane's evil female relatives are less present and, at least some of them, grow a conscience and are more reasonable and realistic.  It was nice to see that in the resolution of these relationships with her female relatives, Jane isn't blameless and realizes that she was provoking some of the evil behavior.

Other than the above, there is a lot of snarkiness like usual and a lot of fun.  I thought this book was much better paced than the second one, there weren't any boring spots or spots where I was really annoyed at the characters.  Some of the time is also spent working on Dick and Andrea's relationship.  Things even get more dire in the book when one of Jane's friends is kidnapped and endangered by one of the less savory characters in the novel.

All the characters find some level of emotional maturity in this book and the books leaves everything in a nicely wrapped up and realistic place.  In general the ending leaves you feeling good and smiling, which is always a good thing for a book!

Overall I thought this was an excellent conclusion to this series.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I will keep an eye on Harper's future books.  Her fun and snarky writing style is very amusing, although at some points the over-characterization of some of the characters can get a bit wearying.  This wouldn't be something I would read all of the time, but when I am in the mood for a fun light read it fits the bill.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- The 100+ Book Reading Challenge
- Summer Romance Reading Challenge
Nice Girls Don't Live Forever (Jane Jameson, Book 3) 

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