Unexpected Sparks

Rating:
Summary: Lavender armchair mystery is a perfect cozy read
Review: Forty years old and a prominent businesswoman in her town, Kate Shannon is about to change her life. The owner and manager of Novel Companions, an independent bookshop in downtown, Truro, Nova Scotia, Kate has spent much of the last year becoming friends with a regular customer, Nikki Harris.

The 26 years old Nikki is a shy, intelligent, beautiful and openly lesbian woman struggling to survive small town life in the economically depressed Canadian Maritimes. A book lover, Nikki enjoys the cozy atmosphere of Novel Companions, especially since Kate started carrying gay and lesbian fiction. She also enjoys the detailed discussions with Kate of novel plots, characters, favorite authors and related political themes. In fact, Nikki has become painfully aware that she is quite attracted to Kate and has recently cut down on her time at the bookstore, in hopes of weaning her affections away from the charming, presumably straight, owner. A bleak February is looming long and lonely for Nikki.

When the insurance office across the street from the bookshop burns down one night, Nikki rushes to the scene to make certain it's not Novel Companions. A perplexed Kate had noticed the new distance from Nikki. Seeing Nikki standing out in the cold, Kate invites the young woman into her apartment above Novel Companions. The two women watch the fire and begin to speculate about its origin.

Nikki's natural curiosity is piqued when the body of Sam Madison, the owner of the insurance office, is found in the ashes. She convinces Kate to help her investigate the fire. Kate, willing to go along with an opportunity to spend more time with Nikki, agrees to help. Unexpected Sparks is a classic armchair mystery with old fashioned, timeless clues and important character revelations leading Nikki and Kate to answer the questions of why and how Sam ended up in the burning office.

Via their amateur sleuthing project, Kate and Nikki find themselves drawing closer together. Their attraction and developing romance is another theme of Unexpected Sparks. Dartt illustrates falling in love and coming out in a charming and touching manner with respect and humor for her characters. Indeed, her characterization is realistic and perceptive. The elegant and composed Kate is surprised and delighted by the depth and range of the emotions she feels for Nikki. She is also startled by the attention, positive and negative, from customers, friends and neighbors as they begin to hear about her new lavender relationship. Dartt's Truro setting is nicely detailed and provides insight into Canadian small town life, particularly for lesbians.

Unexpected Sparks is Dartt's first novel and there are some elements that could be explored more. Several aspects of Nikki's past are still a mystery and readers who know Dartt's Star Trek fan fiction stories might be surprised at the slightly reticent quality of her love scenes. However, these details are minor and take nothing away from one's pleasure in the story. In fact, the possiblities for just such future revelations have this reader looking forward to the next two Kate and Nikki mysteries. In the meanwhile, if you enjoy armchair mysteries with a lovely lavender flair, pick up a copy of Unexpected Sparks. This book is a perfect cozy evening read.

Rating:
Summary: Lavender armchair mystery is a perfect cozy read
Review: Forty years old and a prominent businesswoman in her town, Kate Shannon is about to change her life. The owner and manager of Novel Companions, an independent bookshop in downtown, Truro, Nova Scotia, Kate has spent much of the last year becoming friends with a regular customer, Nikki Harris.

The 26 years old Nikki is a shy, intelligent, beautiful and openly lesbian woman struggling to survive small town life in the economically depressed Canadian Maritimes. A book lover, Nikki enjoys the cozy atmosphere of Novel Companions, especially since Kate started carrying gay and lesbian fiction. She also enjoys the detailed discussions with Kate of novel plots, characters, favorite authors and related political themes. In fact, Nikki has become painfully aware that she is quite attracted to Kate and has recently cut down on her time at the bookstore, in hopes of weaning her affections away from the charming, presumably straight, owner. A bleak February is looming long and lonely for Nikki.

When the insurance office across the street from the bookshop burns down one night, Nikki rushes to the scene to make certain it's not Novel Companions. A perplexed Kate had noticed the new distance from Nikki. Seeing Nikki standing out in the cold, Kate invites the young woman into her apartment above Novel Companions. The two women watch the fire and begin to speculate about its origin.

Nikki's natural curiosity is piqued when the body of Sam Madison, the owner of the insurance office, is found in the ashes. She convinces Kate to help her investigate the fire. Kate, willing to go along with an opportunity to spend more time with Nikki, agrees to help. Unexpected Sparks is a classic armchair mystery with old fashioned, timeless clues and important character revelations leading Nikki and Kate to answer the questions of why and how Sam ended up in the burning office.

Via their amateur sleuthing project, Kate and Nikki find themselves drawing closer together. Their attraction and developing romance is another theme of Unexpected Sparks. Dartt illustrates falling in love and coming out in a charming and touching manner with respect and humor for her characters. Indeed, her characterization is realistic and perceptive. The elegant and composed Kate is surprised and delighted by the depth and range of the emotions she feels for Nikki. She is also startled by the attention, positive and negative, from customers, friends and neighbors as they begin to hear about her new lavender relationship. Dartt's Truro setting is nicely detailed and provides insight into Canadian small town life, particularly for lesbians.

Unexpected Sparks is Dartt's first novel and there are some elements that could be explored more. Several aspects of Nikki's past are still a mystery and readers who know Dartt's Star Trek fan fiction stories might be surprised at the slightly reticent quality of her love scenes. However, these details are minor and take nothing away from one's pleasure in the story. In fact, the possiblities for just such future revelations have this reader looking forward to the next two Kate and Nikki mysteries. In the meanwhile, if you enjoy armchair mysteries with a lovely lavender flair, pick up a copy of Unexpected Sparks. This book is a perfect cozy evening read.

Rating:
Summary: Gina is better at fanfic
Review: Gina became known for her Voyager fanfic. She wrote awesome fanfic based on the characters Katherine Janeway and Seven of Nine.
She should stick to that arena.
This book is slow moving...and well...as much as I hate to say it, it's lame.
The love scenes suck...what few there are.
Go check out her site Novel Expectations to get a glimpse of the true genius that is Gina Dartt. This book doesn't even begin to touch on the brillance of this writer.
I was so disappointed that I almost cried.

Rating:
Summary: Gina is better at fanfic
Review: Gina became known for her Voyager fanfic. She wrote awesome fanfic based on the characters Katherine Janeway and Seven of Nine.
She should stick to that arena.
This book is slow moving...and well...as much as I hate to say it, it's lame.
The love scenes suck...what few there are.
Go check out her site Novel Expectations to get a glimpse of the true genius that is Gina Dartt. This book doesn't even begin to touch on the brillance of this writer.
I was so disappointed that I almost cried.

Rating:
Summary: It's a good book .
Review: Its about a 40 yr. young bookstore owner (Kate Shannon) and a 26 yr. old Keebler supply worker (Nikki Harris). Nikki always come to the bookstore 'Novel Companions' who is owned by Kate and the two became friends. Nikki an out lesbian became attracted to the bookstore owner (Kate)and started to visit the bookstore only once a week . But all that changed when a mysterious fire started not too far from the bookstore and Nikki thinking that the bookstore is on harms' way ( mostly she's concerned about Kate)went to the store and from there the two started their adventure on finding out who started it and who killed the man that was in the burned structure . With all that they still managed to fall for each other despite the bigots in their neighborhood.

Rating:
Summary: Fabulous read
Review: Like a breath of fresh air. Here is a writer who knows how to write. You never feel like you are reading a work of fiction. You are immediately engrossed by the first chapter. The words flow together and I wished it didn't have to end. You'll love the characters as if they were your friends.

Can't wait for the next book which is due out this December.

Rating:
Summary: Love story and mystery
Review: Unexpected Sparks is Gina Dartt's first novel released through Justice House Publishing, Co. It's a compact little novel that combines a lot of themes - murder mystery, May/December romance, a woman coming out in midlife, gay and lesbian life in a small town. With that many topics, it would be easy to loose track of the story, but that doesn't happen. The story deals with Kate and Nikki, their attraction for each other, and how a murder mystery that has the whole town buzzing helps to finally draw them together. Kate, the older woman, is a major player in the small town's politics and is more cautious in her approach to everything except her attraction to Nikki. She finally feels that all of the pieces are slipping into place with her love for Nikki and doesn't see why anyone else should care. Nikki, a known member of the town's lesbian community, can't wait to solve the crime that Kate has unintentionally witnessed, especialy as it draws her together with this fascinating older woman. Her caution shows up in dealing with the relationship because she knows the problems of dealing with an alternative lifestyle in a small town. She doesn't want to hurt Kate and she doesn't want to be hurt herself. Tying all of this together is the mystery. Who is killing prominent business people and burning down parts of the town and why does this person keep targeting Nikki? It's a good mystery. It's a good story. It probably could have been longer to deal more thoroughly with all of the themes, but then it would have bogged down. Give it a try. I think you'll like it.