FIRST POSTED JULY 2, 2008 which is when I first read this. I just did a re-read (March 23, 2009) and loved it as much, maybe more!
This is the first in her Author Friends series, based on 4 women authors living in Boise, Idaho. I've already read books #2, 3 and 4. You can read them out of order, but in a way I'm sorry I did, because this book sets up the other books so nicely!
In Sex, Lies and Online Dating, we meet Lucy, the mystery writer. She is penning a novel about a female serial killer who meets her victims online and kills them with erotic asphyxiation. She's knocked off 3 victims in her story so far, and for research she is dating men she meets online. Her online persona is a nurse, but she does use her real name. She's managed to meet some guys whose attributes she uses in her book, but she needs one more...
Hardluvnman - I loved this handle!! Our hero is detective Quinn, also undercover on this mission - but his mission is to find Breathless, a woman who is actually murdering men using Lucy's plot MO. Although he's tall, dark and dangerous, his cover is he's a plumber whose wife died and he's trying to move on. There's an instant chemistry between them, but Quinn needs to keep it professional since after all, he is wearing a wire.
Lucy doesn't normally meet the men a second time, but Quinn pursues her since she is now the #1 suspect in the case. After a couple of dates, he gets a look at her work-in-process and nearly faints, because her character is killing the men in exactly the same way as the real life Breathless.
The one part I had a hard time with was when he invites her to his home as bait, to get her to try to kill him - the reader knows the house is wired for video and audio. He seduces her - pushes her HARD even though she's already said it's too soon. Knowing there are 2 detectives watching, I just skimmed this hot scene, almost as if I was embarrassed for her. No - I was embarrassed for her. And later in the book, when he finally reveals the truth to her, she was justifiably mortified along with me.
The book was funny, and also touching - I figured out the mystery killer a little sooner than her identity was revealed, but it was still a good suspense. I loved both the hero and the heroine - and I laughed out loud when early in the book, Lucy wonders why Clare is the only one who doesn't realize her fiance is gay!! (that's inthe next book in the series)
5 stars, a keeper! I say this in almost every Rachel Gibson review I write, but I'm so glad I gave her books a second chance. The first one I read, the only one that made the AAR Top 100, was See Jane Score. I actually gave it a 4 - but I was disappointed because I didn't feel it was as good as I was expecting. Since then I've liked (almost) every other book of hers I've read, quite a lot more than See Jane Score even when I also rated them 4 stars. Maybe it's just me.
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