Review: Love You to Death by Melissa Senate.

Hero: Benjamin Orr
Heroine: Abby Foote
Grade: 4.5 out of 5

When did Abby Foote’s life become an episode of Law & Order?

First, a former boyfriend (who dumped Abby in the most humiliating way imaginable) is found murdered the day his engagement is announced. Then two other ex-boyfriends report attempts made on their lives right after breaking up with her. Coincidence? Detective Benjamin Orr, of the Portland Police Department (and Very Probing Questions and Incredibly Delicious Face), doesn’t think so. Neither do Abby’s friends, family, coworkers and other exes–who are suddenly shaking in their shoes. Soon everyone is sucking up to her as though the Abby they know and supposedly love to death is capable of poisoning their drinks….

Is someone trying to frame her? Who? And why? She has to find out fast. Because by-the-book Ben is bound to break her heart. Which makes him next on someone’s list…

I’ve been reading a lot of writing manuals and writing how to books and in each and every single one of those books, they’ve talked about writing a book that makes your readers connect with the characters and keep them turning the pages.

I think Melissa Senate did a great job of making me connect with the main character in this book, Abby Foote. As a 28 year old single woman living in L.A. with a string of bad relationships under my belt, I felt Abby’s pain. I understood where she was coming from and I understood some of the stupid things she got herself into and I cheered her on from the time I opened this book until the time I ended it.

This book is about Abby Foote and her trying to clear her name of murder. Her ex boyfriend, Ted Puck has been murdered and Abby is the prime suspect in the case. She’s the spurned ex girlfriend of Ted and the day that his engagement is announced in the papers, he shows up dead on the pier and all leads are pointing toward Abby.

To make matters worst, the cop investigating the case is the guy that Abby had a fierce crush on in high school, the one that never noticed her and when she’s reacquainted with Benjamin Orr, she finds out that he doesn’t even remember either and that sucks for Abby because Benjamin Orr didn’t grow up to be a fat old man who went bald, oh no, the guy that Abby remembers from high school is even hotter now that he’s got a few years under his belt. Age has done this guy a whole lot of good and it’s only a matter of time before she’s right back where she was in high school, crushing on Benjamin Orr.

I really enjoyed getting to know Abby through this tale. She’s witty, she’s fun and she’s the most caring person in this whole book and to see all of these bad things happening to her made me want things to get better for her. Watching her and Ben get closer and closer was exciting and cute.

Benjamin was a great hero, one that had you guessing right up until the very ending. You knew he was digging Abby but you couldn’t tell because he was the good cop. He was a very by the book kind of guy and you just knew that he wasn’t going to act on his attraction to Abby and because you knew that he wasn’t going to act on it, it had you guessing if maybe you had it wrong and he didn’t even see Abby the way we all wanted him to.

There were plenty of things that I loved about this book, Abby and Ben being the number one thing but there was a lot of things that drove me bat shit crazy and those things aren’t the author’s fault or anything, it was just stuff that were a part of the book like Abby’s family taking out Order of Protections against Abby? You would think that her sisters would have stood up for her because she did need someone in her corner since everyone in the world was out to get her. It just really sucked that Abby had to go through a lot of the murder investigation all by herself. I hated that the only way she was allowed to get anywhere near them was by having a police escort TO HER OWN FAMILY FUNCTIONS! That really pissed me the hell off and made me hate her stupid step mom.

*sigh*

But other than that, this book was an enjoyable read. I enjoyed the storyline, the characters and I enjoyed the ending. I wanted more from Abby’s family, I wanted more groveling but I wasn’t too unhappy with their whole bit. Abby was a great heroine, very engaging and this book was a fast and fun read.

I would definitely recommend this book to those of you who enjoy chick lit with a bit of suspense in the books, the suspense isn’t over the top but it does have you guessing throughout the book about who done killed Ted? I was surprised when I found out who it was because I so thought it was someone else so good on ya, Melissa Senate for writing a pretty entertaining read. I’m looking forward to reading more by MS in the future.

This book is available from Red Dress Ink. You can buy it here.

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