Hook, Line and Blinker

I would recommend this series to book 8, but I don’t recommend reading them all in a row, one right after another and I can’t recommend them after book 9. They really begin to become repetitive, the stories all begin to run together and the laughs just become eye rolls. I mean by this book Gertie is pretty must a complete idiot, dynamite in your purse for fishing? Break dancing, really? Come on. But the worst really is Fortune. In the beginning she lied about her history and her CIA status because she had to, but now that Carter knows her secret she just lies to cover up her other lies. I see clearly now, she’s really just a liar, and she doesn’t feel bad about it at all. But worse in this book she gaslights Carter so badly I had to take a step back and remind myself why I was reading this series in the first place. I have been working on this book for 5 days and I am still only half way through, the others I read straight through in a few hours each. This is a little bit of a spoiler so read at your own risk.

At one point after Hot Rod is in the hospital and after the girls know that he blurted out a warning for Ida Belle, which Carter hears, but did not relay, the girls then enlist the Herbert’s, who are criminals by the way, to hide Ida Belles car so they can dismantle it to find what the attackers were looking for, which they do. The Herbert’s make Fortune promise not to involve Carter, they know full well she is in a relationship with him. The girls come home from hiding the car to find Carter in Fortune’s house, waiting. Of course they get caught, Carter rightfully gets mad because he knows Fortune lied to him, again. Now that he knows her secret I am pretty sure he hoped she’d stop lying to him all the time. But not only does she lie, she turns it around on him and blames him for not relaying the warning from Hot Rod to deflect the fact she not only lied about where she would be to get out of a date with him, but also what she was doing after she got caught lying, again. While it might seem that she does so unwillingly, due to the promise she made the Herbert’s, she works up the lie to such a lather she actually gets mad, as does Ida Belle, both blaming Carter as deflection of their own bad deeds, both guilting him into submission. That’s a pretty crappy thing to do to someone. You know who does this? Narcissists and abusive people. Both women carry the anger forward too, it’s not to just cover up the lies they told Carter about the Herbert’s, or the fact they are hindering the investigation by not turning over the evidence they uncovered in Ida Belles Car, or that they are consorting with known criminals to withhold evidence in a police investigation, they are genuinely mad at Carter. I have not yet read forward much more because I am so put off by this behavior, but it appears as thought Ida Belle is going to give him yet another “talking to” about his treatment of Fortune, and now her. She’s a rabid old biddy. Oh, and a liar. Oh, and a thief. Oh and a criminal.

But this is the same story from every single book. Carter asks them to not get in the way of his investigation. They get in the way of the investigation. They lie to Carter. They withhold evidence and then they corner the possible killer who always seems to get the jump on Fortune and Carter saves the day. OH. MY.GOD irritated just typing that out.

If I were Carter I’d dump Fortune and never look back. She’s really immature. She lies like a rug and seemingly has no conscience about it. She can’t abide by simple requests to stay out of police investigations, or even the law really. She’s ridiculously unworthy of her CIA assassin, bad mojo status, they never really catch the criminal, they merely stumble into the group of possible suspects and blunder until the real criminal tries to kill one of them, usually Fortune. This whole series requires you to suspend reality in order to enjoy it. And I can usually do that. Gertie carries dynamite in her purse, plus hand guns and assault rifles and wears camo underwear, sure, why not? Fortune has inch long hair but has hair extensions that no one seems to notice, OK, maybe. But I can’t really believe Carter has been picky about the women in Sinful his whole life, only to fall for this piece of work that is Fortune. I feel bad for him, really bad. Oh and these are actually novella length books that you pay $5.99 for on the kindle. Yeah, I’m out.

As usual, Fortune, Ida Bell and Gertie are up their necks in a mystery. Ida’s Bells’ mechanic Hot Rod was found beaten and tells the medics he needs to warn Ida, then he falls into a coma. The Swamp team have no idea what he needs to warn her about. So, of course, they decide to break into his garage and nothing goes right. Gertie manages to blow up her purse because she’s carrying around stick of dynamite . Sheriff Lee from Mudbug makes a hilarious appearance. Celia calls the Feds and reports Ida Bell and Gertie are making moonshine. The agents are caught by Fortune sneaking around and thoroughly embarrasses them when she takes them both out single handed. The Swamp Team get the funniest revenge on Celia. Flaming poop is involved in the revenge.

Fortune may finally see the light at the end of the tunnel in the search for Ahmed. But where is her life headed when he is found, what of her relationship with Carter. I want these questions answered but I also don’t want the adventures to ever end.

If you are looking for a book with a marvelous blend of ‘real people’ characters, excitement, suspense, mystery, laugh out loud humor and a dash of sweet romance and Southern charm, then this is a book for you. I won’t go into the plot, since other reviewers have covered it beautifully. This is the tenth book in the Miss Fortune series, so I do recommend reading the whole series, starting with the first one,”Louisiana Longshot” to get all the nuances. But this book is a great stand alone read, too.

I have learned one good-to-know lesson when reading the Miss Fortune series: Swallow all liquids. You’ll be reading along, and suddenly there is a part with such wit and humor that you suddenly are laughing out loud, like the event with the buckshot in a previous book. (Yep, all the fans are chuckling!) And I suggest you make room on your bookshelves (for those of us who still read in hardcopy) 🙂 , because these are the kind of books you’ll enjoy reading and re-reading.

Another great addition to this fantastic series !! I want friends like Ida belle and Gertie. So many laugh out loud moments, a great plot full of twists and turns, and plenty of action, this book will have you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. I cant wait to find out what is happening in sinful next !!

Who knew one little town in Louisiana could hold so many corrupt people all getting up to no good. This episode sees Ida Belle in danger the new car she bought turns out to be hot. Somebody is willing to risk murder to get their hands on it Ida Belle, Fortune and Gertie have no idea why all they know is they can’t leave it to Carter to investigate when one of their own is in danger. This leads to some tension between Carter and Fortune but neither is willing to compromise their position so this may be the end of their romance. This is one of the most complicated plots so far and the Sinful Ladies will need every ounce of skill and help girlfriends to get the answers they need to make sure Ida Belle is safe.

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