Review: fun, funny, fantastic!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 23, 2012
I picked this up on a whim.  Honestly it's probably something I wouldn't normally have read but the name and description of the novel was interesting enough that I pulled the trigger and frankly, I needed a break from all the dark and brooding horror that I've been reading lately.  Phone Kitten is a breath of fresh air!Emily has hit a rough patch.  A friend of hers stabbed her in the back at work, causing her to lose her job so what's a self professed 'chub' girl to do?  Why, why not be a phone sex operator?  Turns out that the 'chub' girl who's often called by the wrong name and seems to be invisible to the general type public has a sexy voice and decides to use it to work her way through some college courses.  Of course, nothing is as simple as it seems and when something happens to a client of hers she decides to get to the bottom of it.  Who knows?  Maybe she'll even get a good newspaper article out of it?The first thing that stands out about this book is the author's voice.  Christian pens Emily in such a funny and realistic way that you can't help BUT like her.  She's about as likeable a character as I've read in a long time.  She's got real problems.  She's not a super genius (but she's plenty smart) and she's not runway thin either.  She is, in essence, the 'every-girl'.  Even though I'm a guy, I could relate to her.  She's got job problems, problems with the opposite sex, issues with her appearance.  It's tough not to put yourself in her shoes and say to yourself 'yes, that makes complete sense.  I can empathize'.  In short, Emily is REAL and completely human and FUN to read.The dialogue is fast and snappy and many times, laugh out loud funny.  Emily's inner musings are both hysterical and touching as she reflects on her life, her friends, her problems and her love life.Wrapped up in all of that is a fun little mystery that's well plotted and paced very nicely.I think one of the things that impressed me the most about the book was the fact that Emily's job is that of a phone sex operator but the book never gets trashy or overly graphic.  In fact, there is even only a slight dusting of curse words.  Not that I'm a prude but I always thought that it's harder work for, let's say, a comedian to be funny while being clean than just dropping f-bombs and being foul (although I do like both, heh).  For a book that features a phone sex operator, the novel never goes into gutter-ish territory.  My hat's off to the author for being able to still make it real without having to degrade into smutty territory.  No easy feat I'm sure.If you're looking for a fun and entertaining mystery that's surrounded by an authentic character with charm and sense of humor you'd be doing a disservice to yourself if you didn't drop the coin on Phone Kitten!Highly recommended.