Review: Deeply, Desperately

Deeply, Desperately
Heather Webber
Contemporary Mystery/Romance
Lucy Valentine/Book 2
St. Martin's/August 3, 2010

From the back cover ~

The irrepressible star of "Truly, Madly, " is back in business. This time, Lucy Valentine will go to the ends of the earth to find true love for her clients...and maybe even herself.

Lucy wants to breathe new life into her family’s Boston-based matchmaking company. But how? Even though she comes from a long line of ancestors blessed by Cupid with psychic abilities, a freak accident left Lucy with only one special skill: finding things. Car keys, socks in the dryer, needles in haystacks...and now, in a stroke of professional genius, lost loves

It’s not long before Lucy’s on a winning streak, helping old flames reunite and create new sparks. Business is booming. But when Lucy finds herself involved in a possible case of murder, she realizes she’s in too deep. Enter Sean Donahue. Lucy’s handsome fire-fighter turned private-eye neighbor, Sean is just the man she needs to help her on the job. Could he also be the man she’s been looking for all along? When it comes to Valentine, Inc., falling in love is always serious business…

And... she's back! My goodness but I'm so happy I got past the cutesy covers and started this reading this series. Lucy is one of those characters if she were real, I'd love to be friends. She has this wacky, crazy life where sometimes it seems like she's the only sane one in the bunch. Which is funny because Lucy isn't exactly normal.

Lucy is now gainfully employed in her family's business but she not into the traditional match-making. She uses her 'gift' to find lost loves which gets complicated when she also finds a dead body. Things are never simple with Lucy; she's trying to solve a murder, search for a missing person, get some alone time with Sean and possibly stop her best friend from marrying the wrong guy. The subplot of Lucy and her friend Marisol trying to get the goods on their friend Em's fiancé was comical and with help from an unlikely source only adding to the fun. I love the dynamics of the three friends, even with their busy lives, they stay close.

Reporter Preston Bailey is still around, much to Lucy's irritation. She was hounding Lucy for a story in the first book and is now back, with Oscar Valentine's blessing, tagging along with Lucy. Preston adds another dimension to Lucy's crazy life and while there is tension between the two women, there is also an odd affection developing. Odd because they are often arguing with each other. At first I wasn't thrilled with Preston still being around but she's grown on me.

Lucy has a highly functioning dysfunctional family. Her parents are married but live like they're divorced, still friends but leading separate lives. Her grandma, Dovie, is active in protesting for causes and desperate for grandkids. And now Lucy may have stumbled into a family secret that could change her family dynamics.

Lucy and Sean can't get a break when it comes to making some times under the covers or on the couch or even on the kitchen table. Fate or Cupid's Curse seem to be conspiring to keep these two would be lovers apart. Sean's ex is back in the picture and man, did I feel sorry for Lucy and everything she had to go through. I thought she was very mature and while I understood why Sean acted how he did, it was still hard to see how it affected Lucy. This was a surprisingly emotional part of the story. Lucy and Sean finally get that break and boy do they make the most of it! I really like these two together. Webber makes the most of the characters strengths and weaknesses to create a believable couple of Lucy and Sean.

This is a fairly short read at just over 300 pages and with a lot going on but Webber does a great job keeping the different threads from becoming jumbled. There really isn't any down time. It's a fast read, keeping you reading well into the night. Don't start this thinking you'll just read a chapter or two, because the next thing you know, you'll be half-way through.

The only minor problem I had was how things were resolved with Sean's ex. It all happened rather quickly. I would have like to see more dialogue on the part of Sean and Lucy concerning what happened and how they dealt with it. Other than that, I loved this book! If you haven't started this series, what are you waiting for?!

Rating: A-

Books in this series ~

Truly, Madly
Deeply, Desperately
Absolutely, Positively