KatieMc

Well, actually I started on Thursday.  I had read the first Adrien English book back in 2012 and was underwhelmed.   I had read it soon after Special Forces, The Administration and Captive Prince, which are tough acts to follow.  Because this series gets consistently high marks, I decided to revisit it this year.   I reread Fatal Shadows back in March, and it was ok.  Like Mind Fuck, it was the setup book for the pairing of Jake and Adrien and I see it as paying the dues for what comes next.   After a slow start, I am now a fan.  Some thoughts:

Unconventional romance.   Nothing comes easy for Adrien and Jake, and that keeps it interesting.   There are many Jake haters out there, and understandably so.  He is unavailable and hung up about his sexuality.    Everyone protests that Adrien deserves better, deserves someone who will be there 100% for him.  But the minute that happens, with someone else

, GAH, you know it's not right!

Good supporting characters.  With a series,the secondary characters need to provide some continuity and support the story without taking over.  Even Adrien's mother Lisa who is a relatively OTT character serves the story well and helps us understand Adrien. There don't seem to be any extraneous secondary characters.   A pet peeve of mine is when secondary characters get too much page time in an author's attempt to create a spinoff book or series. 

Self referential humor.   Adrien is an amateur sleuth and writes books about an amateur sleuth.   And then the couple in the Partners in Crime group was writing a book where the MC appeared to be based on Adrien.  It makes me wonder if Lanyon has ever fancied himself as an amateur sleuth.   There are also lines in the book where the author seems to be speaking directly to the readers:  "He had a great voice, smooth and sexy.  I wonder if he had ever considered recording audiobooks".

Funny and Readable.  Adrien is witty and wry and gave me many LOL moments. Once I became engaged with the characters, I found the writing good and easy going.

Local setting, for me.  No doubt Lanyon is or was a LA resident (and LA =/= Orange County).   An added benefit for me, I know many of the restaurants and locations mentioned in the book.  His UCLA description was spot on.  This gave an added layer of visualization and I could see the scenes playing out cinema style.

Ok mysteries.  To me, the mysteries are vehicles used to introduce characters and create conflict.  I generally don't try to hard to figure who done it, I just let them take me where they go.  Of the three, I was most engaged with Death of a Pirate King.

Unclear time setting.  The first book seemed to take place in a pre-internet, pre-cell phone era.  There was mention of the Los Angeles Times Calendar section, answering machines and using *69.  It also seems to be an ok time to have an actual bookshop.   I know we only move forward in time about 2-3 years, but suddenly they have cell phones and internet, but no smart phones yet.  Somewhere along the way, Adrien mentions a website for his bookshop, but it doesn't seem to be doing any eCommerce and surely he would need to do that to stay alive.  

I plan to read the last book as soon as it pops up on lendle.