Review: 3.5 Stars... Kept my interest but heroine is passive
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 26, 2011
I like paranormal books - urban fiction and paranormal romance.  This is somewhere between the two and that may be a problem for some people.  Cat is a realtor who starts finding dead bodies at houses she is showing.  Also, on her 24th birthday, she receives an amulet from her supposedly dead aunt and starts seeing "visions" when she shakes hands with people.  As part of the investigation into the dead bodies, she meets detective Tegan.  Tegan is the romantic interest.  However, it never really feels like a romance book as there is some of the two of them together but he has secrets of his own.  There is an attraction there (and they eventually act on it), but it is not the focus of the book and the book does not have the "feel" of a paranormal romance book.Many urban fiction books have heroines who are kick-butt heroines.  Some are very unrealistic in that the lead character is virtually indestructable and able to do all kinds of incredible fighting after a short period of time.  Luckily, that is not a problem with this book.  However, it almost goes too far in the opposite direction.  The female character stumbles from one situation to the next but isn't really ever proactive.  She receives an amulet from her aunt she thought was dead for the last 15 years.  Does she try to find the aunt? No.  Does she immediately go act on the letter from her aunt?  No.  She just puts on the amulet and goes about her business.  When she eventually goes to her aunt's house, she finds some photos and there is mention of some odd things in the photos (won't give spoilers).  Does she pursue any of this?  NO - in fact, the photos aren't mentioned again.  She keeps showing houses and dead bodies are in them.  Other than calling the cops, does she do anything about this? NO, she just keeps showing more houses and finding more dead bodies.  I was hopeful because at one point she seemed proactive and got her brother to help her investigate something at a club.... but that went nowhere and then she was back to being reactive.Also, there are a LOT of unanswered questions that are still unanswered at the end of the book. Hardly any of the paranormal stuff was explained. I felt like I was stumbling along completely blind along with the heroine -- maybe that is what the author wanted us to feel, but I started getting a bit frustrated. Other aspects were also glossed over (like what ever happened to the brother?). However, the story was interesting enough that I made it through the book and didn't skip around in it.  There is a sequel mentioned, so maybe Cat will develop into a stronger character in the next book and we'll learn more about what is going on.  This book reminded me a bit of the Fever Series by Karen Marie Moning (but not as riveting a start).  The first book in the Fever series started off as something between romance and urban fiction and, as the series developed, MacKayla started developing as a character.  I'm hopting the author of this book (series) has something similar planned.