The Blast from the Past, by Lucy Score

Synopsis: Riley Thorn and her hot, tattooed, private investigator boyfriend are all moved into their new fixer upper. Not only do they finally have their own place, they also haven’t found any new dead bodies on the premises. Yep. It looks like summer is over and so is Riley’s bad luck. Or is it?

While Nick gives up sleeping and showering to obsess over the cold case that still haunts him, his business partner Mrs. Penny is calling the investigative shots. It’s every bit as bad as you can imagine.

Meanwhile, Riley has her hands full fixing up the crumbling crime scene they call home and setting boundaries with the breaking-and-entering octogenarians next door. You know. Normal stuff.

But normal comes to a screeching halt when our favorite psychic is abducted by a stranger with candy, and her powers go on the fritz. To make matters worse, it becomes clear that Riley’s new house guests are definitely either in trouble or are trouble after bad guys deliver a warning with a severed finger.

Can Nick and Riley solve the case the old-fashioned way before they all end up in pieces? Or will a surprise birthday party, a dog doody bandit, an accidental arson, and a blast from the past be too much for them to handle?

Rating: 3 stars

Review: The Blast from the Past is like that quirky neighbor who throws wild parties: entertaining, but sometimes a bit too much to handle. Lucy Score delivers another dose of hilarity and hijinks with Riley and Nick, but this one did not hold the same charm for me as the first two books in the series.

Settled into their new fixer-upper, Riley and Nick are hoping for a break from dead bodies and drama. But alas, fate has other plans, because what's a romantic comedy without a sprinkle of chaos, right? Nick's obsession with a cold case leaves him smelling less like roses and more like a detective-shaped stink bomb. I wanted to throat-punch him numerous times during this one. And I grew increasingly frustrated with Riley because she didn't take care of the throat-punching herself.

While the plot barrels forward like a runaway train, sometimes it feels like it's careening off the tracks. Sure, the laughs are aplenty, but the constant barrage of wacky incidents can leave you feeling like you're riding a rollercoaster without a seatbelt.

Still, if you're in the mood for a wild ride filled with accidental arson, dog doody bandits, and unexpected blasts from the past, then this book might be your ticket to laughter town.

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The Secret Hook-Up, by Pippa Grant

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Webster's defines resting book face as follows: (a) the look a person gets when someone interrupts them while they're reading a really good book; and (b) the vacant stare of a reader who is mentally lost in their book world when reading isn't possible. Okay, fine. It's not in Webster's. But it should be.

The Body in the Backyard, by Lucy Score

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