In A Fix

Ciel Halligan, #1

Linda Grimes

Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Tor Books
Date of Publication: September 4, 2012
Number of pages: 335

The start of an original new urban fantasy series starring human chameleon Ciel Halligan

Snagging a marriage proposal for her client while on an all-expenses-paid vacation should be a simple job for Ciel Halligan, aura adaptor extraordinaire. A kind of human chameleon, she’s able to take on her clients’ appearances and slip seamlessly into their lives, solving any sticky problems they don’t want to deal with themselves. No fuss, no muss. Big paycheck.

This particular assignment is pretty enjoyable... that is, until Ciel’s island resort bungalow is blown to smithereens and her client’s about-to-be-fiancé is snatched by modern-day Vikings. For some reason, Ciel begins to suspect that getting the ring is going to be a tad more difficult than originally anticipated.

Going from romance to rescue requires some serious gear-shifting, as well as a little backup. Her best friend, Billy, and Mark, the CIA agent she’s been crushing on for years—both skilled adaptors—step in to help, but their priority is, annoyingly, keeping her safe. Before long, Ciel is dedicating more energy to escaping their watchful eyes than she is to saving her client’s intended.

Suddenly, facing down a horde of Vikings feels like the least of her problems.

I don't remember who's blog I saw this on originally, but I loved the look of the book and the blurb sounded awesome.  I had to have it. But for one reason or another, it kept sliding down the TBR pile until one day, I just forgot about it. When I was going through my extensive TBR list on Goodreads looking for the perfect books for my Month of TBRs, this one jumped out at me and I knew I needed to make sure that it make it on the list.  I am so glad that I finally explored this book.

We first meet Ciel while she is pretending to be Mina, a young, rich pampered young woman who hired Ciel to "get the ring" from her soon to be fiancé Trey while on vacation in the Bahamas. Except as it turns out, Trey too was replaced by another aura adaptor while he is doing a job for the CIA. Then of course, their is the other aura adaptor who was sent to keep an eye on Ciel during her assignment. Let's just say that I don't know which I enjoyed more, the action scenes or the comedy of who's playing who.  And that was in just the first couple chapters.

It is so hard to find new and unique ideas, but this was the first time I read anything like these human chameleons.  It was truly a breath of fresh air in the Urban Fantasy genre. Plus I was literally torn between laughing out loud and cringing at some of the situations that Ciel managed to find herself in. I'm not normally a fan of younger heroines, but Ciel is spunky enough for me to enjoy her.  Then there's the love triangle aspect - normally not a fan. But this one looks like it could prove interesting enough to overcome my normal reservations about them. I had such a good time with this book, I am kicking myself for not reading it sooner. I gave it 4 stars.