Review: Fantastic!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 9, 2013
ON THE SCENT by Angela Campbell is a funny, paranormal, crime-drama romance novel that clearly has a little something for everyone. Especially if you are even remotely an animal lover, this lighthearted action read will keep you entertained for a few days, or one day if you have nothing else to do. I laughed; I cried; it was better than Cats. I give ON THE SCENT four stars, even though the novel could use another round of editing.In ON THE SCENT, in-home health nurse and animal lover Hannah Dawson inherits $10 million from her elderly client with the instructions to use the money to take care of her beloved animals--Abbott the cat and Costello the dog. Hannah immediately becomes the target of someone who really wants Ellie's animals and the money that goes with them. Hannah is directed by Ellie's instructions to hire private investigator and alleged psychic Zach Collins to uncover some secret from Ellie's past. Unbeknownst to Hannah, Zach's firm is already familiar with Hannah's past, having performed some work for Ellie, which resulted in Hannah literally being left at the altar.Through his work for Hannah, Zach discovers some new things about himself and develops feelings for Hannah that threaten to harm their professional relationship. Can Zach stay both close enough to, and far enough away, from Hannah to protect her until they can determine who is trying to get their hands on Ellie's money?I really enjoyed ON THE SCENT. The conversations with the animals alone make this novel fantastic and make me think of the Get Fuzzy comic strip. Hilarious, especially Abbott's repeated commands to Zach to "Get out" and to "Get over [himself]."The action scenes are also well illustrated, especially the first person narration when you can feel yourself losing consciousness (in a good way). The pace and length of the novel are perfect--no dragging or sudden shifts in speed, and no sudden ending to make the reader feel cheated somehow.The development of the romantic relationship in the novel is typical of modern relationships, focusing initially on the attraction between the two characters and then moving into the friendship aspect, but still the "I love you's" seem premature. Saving the "I love you's" until the epilogue would have seemed more realistic for me, but otherwise, the romance was credible. The romance was also hot, rating a 3 out of 5 on the heat level and making ON THE SCENT appropriate for readers 18 and older.On the down side, several glaring issues make this novel a prime candidate for another round of editing by a fresh pair of eyes. These issues didn't cause any confusion, though, so this was only a minor disappointment.On the whole, I thoroughly enjoyed ON THE SCENT, and highly recommend it for all lovers of contemporary romance and animal fiction.Reviewed by Victoria Lanefor TheRomanceReviews.com