A Match Made In Hell

This is the second book in the Nicki Styx series, and it will be the last one I read. After a sluggish first book that I was iffy on, I did start this one. Sadly, I had to force myself to finish it. This one was mired in loose ends, unbelievable connections, and a rather forced premise.

First, the plot was all over the place. Nicki has not even come to grips with her "knack" (as it's referred to in the book), but now there's long-lost twin Kelly, thrown into the mix. I get that Nicki now kinda understands the "interconnectedness" of all things during her brief stint in the light, but it was a bit of stretch that the doctor who saves her life and now wants to date her *just happens* to be married to her long-lost twin. And Nicki's show more reaction on the whole thing ran too long. I get it. It's a huge shock to find out you have a long-lost twin when you believed you were an only child. But it took her nearly to the end of the book to deal, and even then, I'm not sure she had. But instead of trying to work through it, Nicki's reaction was of a petulant child ... through the entire book - it became more than irritating.

Also, a theme that kept popping up was that while Nicki was adopted by loving parents, Kelly bounced from foster home to foster home and never had any one (cue sad violins) AND she was in a terrible car wreck. Since the twins were given up at birth, I have a very hard time believing that Kelly wouldn't have been adopted. And there's no real explanation as to WHY they were separated because apparently they were *supposed* to be kept together. But we're just supposed to accept that Kelly grew up in foster care and no one ever knew about her. Alright. But the whole "Feel bad for her because no one loved her" got old fast.

On top of long-lost twin Kelly (as if that wasn't enough shock to Nicki's system), biological mother enters. Bio mom prefers to be called "Peaches" - really? Peaches? There was no clear explanation as to why when her name was Lila, except references to a peach smell and lots of pink clothing. But that seemed like a stretch. Anyway, Peaches tracks down long-lost sister. Now they're both on their way to meet Nicki. Except bio mom dies in car crash first and comes to Nicki as a ghost, but because she's a newish ghost, she's confused and doesn't recognize Nicki, but knows she's dead. Again, something that's never really explained.

Then we have Bijou, the mysterious "mother" of Peaches and "grandmother" to the twins, who *just happens* to show up at Peaches funeral. The twins pay for the funeral and have Peaches buried in Atlanta because apparently there are no other relatives. Yet, someone contacts Bijou? Again, not explained how that works either. And the whole Bijou is Leonard thing - weird. And again, not really clear what the point was other than maybe an attempt to give the story yet another twist. But it failed. It didn't work and was just dumb.

But before we learn the who Bijou-Leonard scenario, enter dead rich guy and his mistress, "Psycho Blonde." We then learn that Nicki can only see female spirits and Kelly can only see male spirits. Very yin/yang. So Kelly helps dead rich guy enter the light, even though he was not a nice guy and blatantly cheated on his wife. But Psycho Blonde does not take this well because she wants/needs his soul to burn in hell, literally. So Psycho Blonde now starts popping up periodically to screw with Nicki.

Then enter Sammy, who we learn later is the Devil in disguise. He's trying to tempt Nicki to the dark side. And he'd prefer her because apparently her "knack" is stronger than Kelly's. WTF?! We went from yin/yang to yin/ya with no clear explanation on why one of the identical twins, even though they share the "knack", would be stronger or weaker than the other. The only thing I could connect was it had to do with Nicki being raised in a loving home while poor little Kelly was the orphan no one wanted.

On top of the schizophrenic plot, the characters actually got weaker and one-dimensional. Both Kelly and Nicki became 8 year olds with two modes. Angry or whiny. No depth at all. Joe might as well not even been there, and I was actually rooting for him to get in the cab. I have no idea what he would see in Nicki, because frankly she was irritating. The only half-way interesting character, Evan, dropped out of sight completely, except a few brief conversations with Nicki.

Outside of the whole good vs. evil never-ending war, I think the point was to show the larger "interconnectedness" of the world, i.e., the message Nicki got when she went into the Light. But this book failed miserably to do so. If you want to read a book that seamless interconnects seemingly random scenes/events/characters together into one fluid plot, then read Douglas Adams' Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency and leave this book on the shelf. show less

Attrazione infernale, di Terri Garey, è il secondo volume della serie urban fantasy “Nicki Styx”, irriverente ventottenne amante del vintage e con un’avversione sconfinata verso tutto ciò che è ordinario e normale.

Nicki, a seguito di un problema cardiaco, ha affrontato, neanche un mese prima, un viaggetto piuttosto turbolento verso la Luce. Per qualcuno, però, non era ancora arrivato il suo momento e di conseguenza è stata rispedita indietro con un un’esperienza pre-morte al limite del fantascientifico e con un piccolo extra: parlare con le anime dei defunti con faccende in sospeso.

In realtà, da quella che lei reputa una “pessima” esperienza, Nicki ha guadagnato anche qualcosa di bello: Joe Bascombe, suo medico e poi show more compagno.

La sua vita sarebbe finalmente felice con il suo fidanzato, il suo negozio di vintage, il suo socio e migliore amico gay Evan. Certo, il problema di vedere anime in giro è piuttosto rilevante, ma Nicki è testardamente coraggiosa e, quindi, nonostante gli sbuffi, non nega a nessuno il suo aiuto; nemmeno ai morti.

Il problema, purtroppo, è che per chissà quale ironia della sorte (siamo sicuri che si debba parlare di “Sorte”?) l’ex moglie di Joe – e non ancora ex fino a momento della firma dei documenti – è anche sua sorella . Gemella.

Le due ragazze sono state date in affidamento da neonate e non hanno mai saputo nulla l’una dell’altra fino a quando Joe non ha mostrato una foto a Nicki con la ragionevole certezza che si trattasse della sorella. O fino a quando una donna, Lila Bourdreaux, non decide di recarsi da Nicki in cerca di aiuto: la sua auto è finita fuori strada e sua figlia è rimasta dentro, senza aiuto! Ma come spiegare a Lila Bourdreaux che, in realtà, è morta? E come mai, sua sorella, si trova in quella macchina, in fondo ad un burrone?

E' così che si avvia questa seconda avventura di Nicki Styx. Lei, Joe e Kelly, l’ex di Joe e sua sorella gemella, nella stessa casa. Nessuno potrà dire che Nicki non soccorre chi ha bisogno di aiuto! Fare sempre agli altri ciò che vorresti sia fatto a te. Ma come far uscire la sua sanità mentale intatta da questa allucinante situazione?

Il romanzo ci conferma che l’autrice sa scrivere e che le sue idee non cesseranno mai di stupirci, pagina dopo pagina. Il suo stile è esilarante, irriverente e assolutamente “chiassoso”. Proprio come Nicki che, fra un attacco di bile nei confronti dei fantasmi maligni e un colpo di gelosia nei confronti di Kelly che continua a confonderla circa le sue intenzioni con Joe, si sentirà più volte lusingata dall’idea di farli fuori tutti. Per il bene del suo cuore difettoso, s’intende.

E se a tutto ciò ci aggiungiamo un Diavolo tentatore che non le da tregua, una ritrovata famiglia con un passato così carico di scheletri nell’armadio da spaventare chiunque e una schiera di fantasmi ben decisi a mandarla al manicomio, sembra chiaro che gli ingredienti per rendere questo libro assolutamente squisito ci sono tutti. Soprattutto se consideriamo che, finalmente, avremo tutte le risposte che cerchiamo per quanto riguarda il passato delle gemelle e il loro abbandono. Avremo le risposte a tutti i nostri “perché”.

Non mancheranno anche picchi di tensione lievemente drammatici, ma l’autrice gestisce il tutto con insolita maestria per essere alle sue prime opere. Sicuramente, viste le premesse, non tarderà a farsi una schiera di fans. Ora, però, non resta che attendere di leggere le prossime mirabolanti avventure della nostra eroina dai capelli rosa shocking. show less

You really have to suspend your disbelief with this one. Nikki finds her long lost twin sister Kelly. It turns out Kelly used to be married to Joe, Nikki's current boyfriend. WTF? And upon meeting Kelly, she invites her to move in with her. All sorts of jealousy ensues. And both Kelly and Nikki can see and communicate with ghosts. And the devil wants Nikki to be his bride. Sheer craziness.

Nikki is a cool character. Kelly is unlikeable, and Joe I am up in the air about. Fun to read if you don't mind all the coincidences.

Two minute review for “A Match Made in Hell” by Terri Garey

Nicki Styx is back with a brand new twin sister. Between fighting with her and assorted ghosts, Nicki has a full plate. But Nicki has bigger problems, save her sister or one of them will be hell bound. Nicki is funny, selfish, loving, self centered, sweet and jealous in turns. She is going through so much that it makes sense that she is conflicted. Joe, her boyfriend, is to sweet and normal for such a freak but it works. I like the book, but it would be nice to have a more even pace to the writing. Some times it is too slow.

After loving "Dead Girls Are Easy", I eagerly awaited this follow up. Here Nicki meets her twin sister Kelly for the first time. Kelly is Nicki's boyfriend Joe's ex-wife, so relations are tense for the sisters from the get-go. In this story, Nicki meets not only her twin sister, but the birth mother who gave them all up and some other family members. Things aren't what they seem, and the ghosts show up routinely. Another new character makes an appearance and threatens to take away everything Nicki ever held dear. It also make her "do unto others" mentally reach shaky ground. The mysteries are a good one, the ghostly spirits enjoyable, even the rotten ones. The writing here is wonderful and the book unravels at a good pace. The follow show more through may actually have been more entertaining than the first volume. I am taking off one star because of an odd plot twist, that really didn't work for me at the end. Can't say more without giving something away. But still this was a fabulous book and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone. show less

Book 2 in this series. Its a fun, quick read. Paranormal stuff, ghosts, good looking guys, and a weird twist at the end I didn't see coming.

I like Nicki, but I get exasperated because she has these spooky experiences but never tells her friends the story or only half the story so bad things keep happening because she shrugs off stuff she never should be shrugging off.

Minor complaint, I suppose. She's a bit too flippant for someone who sees dead people, but she's likable.

Moving on eventually to book 3!

I'm waffling between 3.5 and 4 stars for "A Match Made in Hell" by Teri Garey. It started with a whimper, got better, slowed down again, then ended with a bang. How in the heck do I rate that? I would also recommend reading the first book "Dead Girls Are Easy" before you start in on this one. You don't have to (of course), but I don't think I would have enjoyed this one as much without the back story provided in the earlier novel.

Nicki has some serious issues to deal with. As if coming back from the dead and being able to see dead people wasn't enough! Now she has a twin sister she never knew about (who is her current lover's not quite ex-wife), a dead mother giving her cryptic warnings, a haunted house inheritance, and oh...did I show more forget to mention one of her relatives apparently made a deal with the Devil? And now he seems to think Nicki would be perfect for him?

While I did enjoy the story, I wish the author would step more firmly into either the humor/campy side or the emotional/relationship side, because both of them in one story was very distracting for me. I'm pulling for the humor side (no surprise there), and I'll be looking for the next one in this series to try and get a better idea of where the author's going.

If you liked "Dead Girls Are Easy", then grab "A Match Made In Hell". Watching Nicki try to cope with everything happening to her is enough to keep you reading. show less