Colleen Helme

Aptly named title. Of course "half truths" isn't new territory for Shelby, but the amount of lies racked up in this Shelby Nichols adventure could cause anyone major whiplash for a lifetime. And notice there I didn't attribute these lies solely to Shelby. Even though she was the one doling out those staggering amount of lies, she was doing most of them on behalf of others and as always to protect her secret of hearing peoples thoughts. I decided to cut her some slack, because a lot of the show more trouble she found herself in this time, was just her being a good friend. Uncle Joey, mob boss extraordinaire was an even bigger cause for a lot of Shelby's troubles this time around, so I will put a lot of the blame on him. He's really digging her deeper into his world and I'm afraid of what's ahead for Shelby, and her family as well.

Speaking of trouble, it was really freaky how much she got herself into this time around and no kidding, all she did was just sit there and trouble found her. The phrase, "How does she do it" has a very different connotation when it comes to Shelby. Yes she juggles family and career like a pro, but how does she get herself kidnapped by gunpoint twice in one day, how does she get out of a getting busted in a huge lie, how does she get out of a scary situation with a dangerous gang, how many times is she going to get herself into embarrassing moments, and the list goes on. She does all this because she is total a badass, that's how. To get out of so many life threatening situations, one has to be badass, have a million and one lives and a guardian angel. Perhaps one who rides a motorcycle, is scorching hot and is all badassery and then-some, and they call him Ramos. He did come to her rescue a few times as per usual, but Shelby is getting better at saving herself. I was very proud of her a few times in this escapade.

Okay, so that was just me fangirling but I just love this series. It's a really fun, laugh out loud read every time, I'm always so pumped for the next book. I'm sorry to say this Shelby, but I am very happy you went to buy those carrots. Okay, so that was a lie, I'm not sorry, your bad luck has become my enjoyment. And now I await your next adventure in anxious anticipation. show less

Aptly named title. Of course "half truths" isn't new territory for Shelby, but the amount of lies racked up in this Shelby Nichols adventure could cause anyone major whiplash for a lifetime. And notice there I didn't attribute these lies solely to Shelby. Even though she was the one doling out those staggering amount of lies, she was doing most of them on behalf of others and as always to protect her secret of hearing peoples thoughts. I decided to cut her some slack, because a lot of the show more trouble she found herself in this time, was just her being a good friend. Uncle Joey, mob boss extraordinaire was an even bigger cause for a lot of Shelby's troubles this time around, so I will put a lot of the blame on him. He's really digging her deeper into his world and I'm afraid of what's ahead for Shelby, and her family as well.

Speaking of trouble, it was really freaky how much she got herself into this time around and no kidding, all she did was just sit there and trouble found her. The phrase, "How does she do it" has a very different connotation when it comes to Shelby. Yes she juggles family and career like a pro, but how does she get herself kidnapped by gunpoint twice in one day, how does she get out of a getting busted in a huge lie, how does she get out of a scary situation with a dangerous gang, how many times is she going to get herself into embarrassing moments, and the list goes on. She does all this because she is total a badass, that's how. To get out of so many life threatening situations, one has to be badass, have a million and one lives and a guardian angel. Perhaps one who rides a motorcycle, is scorching hot and is all badassery and then-some, and they call him Ramos. He did come to her rescue a few times as per usual, but Shelby is getting better at saving herself. I was very proud of her a few times in this escapade.

Okay, so that was just me fangirling but I just love this series. It's a really fun, laugh out loud read every time, I'm always so pumped for the next book. I'm sorry to say this Shelby, but I am very happy you went to buy those carrots. Okay, so that was a lie, I'm not sorry, your bad luck has become my enjoyment. And now I await your next adventure in anxious anticipation. show less

My original Devious Minds audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

This book really worked for me, to the point that I’ve just nipped over to Amazon to buy book 1 in the series. I haven’t read or listened to any books in this series before now and I feel that this book could have been slightly enhanced if I knew the backstory a little better.

Shelby Nichols is a the main character of this series and I adore her – she’s the perfect blend of ordinary, the kind show more of woman who packs tissues and extra socks for every journey ‘just in case’ and extraordinary, she has connections to the mob and is flown out to Paris to help Special Agent Blake Beauchaine track down a terrorist. Obviously it’s better not to think too hard about how Shelby has ended up in this situation because it’s too fun to dwell on! She finds herself being kidnapped, attacked, generally shoved about a bit and then rescued by the smoking hot Ramos, the mob-hitman who suffers from a terrible case of unrequited love. The sexual tension between the two is pretty spicy, however, she does genuinely seem to love her husband so I’m not entirely sure where the author is going to go with this relationship and I’m a little frustrated on Shelby’s behalf.

I think it’s the things that make her ordinary in contrast to her abilities that really makes her work as a character, she’s likable, she loves her family and she gets scared when faced by terrorists and murderers rather than running in and saving the day on her own each time.

The one thing that I did find quite funny was that she makes a couple of references to being a mother but the children are barely mentioned throughout the entire course of the caper that is Devious Minds – she mentions her husband quite often and speaks to him on the phone while she’s away for a week in Paris but doesn’t seem to have much to do with the kids in this book at all. I assume that there’s a lot more of them in the other books otherwise I’m a little concerned for this fictional character’s maternal instinct…

Wendy Tremont King is a spectacular narrator and the audio production was of high quality, listening to her read this book was an absolute pleasure – she brought the characters and the story to life, I don’t think there would be another voice talent better suited to the character of Shelby. I would definitely listen to her work in the future, especially if it was another book in this particular series.

Audiobook was provided for review by the narrator. show less

Carrots" is an escapist adventure that seems to be aiming for Stephanie Plumb zaniness but never quite gets there.

The premise is intriguing: 30 something stay at home mom stops to buy carrots, witnesses a bank robbery, gets a grazing head wound from a bullet and wakes with the ability to read minds.

Soon she finds herself being hunted by the robber, ensnared by a mob boss, consulting with the police and hiding things from her lawyer husband.

The plot is original and delivers several surprises show more of the "how is she going to get out of THAT?" kind but I kept being distracted by the fact that our heroine seemed implausible to the point of being insulting.

She was obsessively insecure with her looks, her weight and her age. She would flip from resourceful to ditzy in a paragraph. She constantly made stupid impulsive decisions that put her and her family in danger, had no will power and the moral compass of seven year old

I can see that she's meant to be a kind of everywoman overcoming the odds but it's a fairly insulting take on everywoman.

This is first of a series of adventures but it will be the last one I spend time on. show less