The Lady in Pink by J. Z. Kazimer is the second book in the Ever After series. Blue Reynolds is not having a good day. He came home to find a very crispy intern in his flat. James Wild had only been working as an intern for Reynolds and Davis Securities for a few months. Blue knows the first person the detectives will blame is him. He cannot help his little electrical problem (he was born with electricity running through his body). He has taken to wearing leather gloves to prevent shocking employees and clients. Detective Goldie Locks (I am not kidding) is the lead detective on the case. She does think that Blue might have had something to do with it until he points out that he would not have left the body in his own apartment. Then Blue notices the rock salt on the floor, water, and a lamp with a frayed cord. This was deliberate. That means someone was trying to kill Blue!

Isabella “Izzy” Davis is half human and half fairy with beautiful pink wings. She was the Tooth Fairy until she stepped down and convinced them to start a democracy government. She is now working with Blue and is rapidly expanding his business. She has hired Clark Boyer III to be their new Vice President of Marketing. Blue dislikes him on sight and even more so when he catches Clark ogling Izzy. Blue and Izzy are attracted to each other, but they refuse to acknowledge it. After someone sets Blue’s office on fire, Blue realizes someone does not want him pursuing his investigation into his parents. Blue was left at an orphanage as a baby. He has been working to find out more about his birth family. When a copy of the file is found at Izzy’s, her apartment is torched. Blue and Izzy set out to find the culprit.

The Lady in Pink is a cute book, but I was not in love with it. I liked how the writer changed the fairy tale information around to fit a human world. There is a Wonderland, gnomes, fairies (with nasty attitudes), etc. Blue is Little Boy Blue and he lives in New Never City (a take on Neverland). I just wish there was more mystery and less lust. Blue is constantly getting his knickers in a twist because Clark or another man is looking at Izzy (which leads to scorching and fires). I was hoping for more paranormal book with mystery and less romance (sex). I like some romance in a book, but I think this was just over the top. I give The Lady in Pink 3.5 out of 5 stars. I liked the idea, but I did not enjoy the whole book. There is also a case of the missing fairies (which was not solved in this book) and problems with Izzy’s family (Clayton and Peyton who like to cause trouble). The Lady in Pink can be read without having read the first book in the series.

I received a complimentary copy of The Lady in Pink from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The review and opinions expressed are my own. ( )

Blue and Izzy’s new detective agency is going from strength to strength and has become a household name (even if your house is a shoe). They have offices now and a staff and are a growing success

But when one of their interns is murdered it looks like Blue could be the target – and even so, losing an employee just has to be investigated. But as they delve deeper the opposition becomes stronger as they uncover more connections with Blue’s mysterious past. And his curse.

The plot of this book is interesting but I’m in two minds about it. The whole mystery of Blue’s origin, how it fed the conflict between Izzy and Blue, the whole opposition against their discovery and how it pops up in several different ways all work really well. I like how it’s related to several parts of the story and is both part of their profession and personal lives and allowed for some character growth

It also has a series of excellent Noir-style cross and double cross as victim and suspect constantly changed and changed and changed again. It had some really good twists and unexpected endings. I honestly didn’t have any idea where it was going or who the culprit was and I was completely surprised several times. I appreciate that in any book, especially a book with a murder mystery. Being kept guessing is always an achievement.

So lots of positive. On the negative side I feel the ending was sprung on me without any real back up to it. I didn’t see it coming – but how could I? All the relevant information was dumped in the last part of the book – there was no way to extrapolate to this and that whole revelation felt abrupt and rather sudden. There’s a twist and an abrupt change of direction. Still I am curious as to what that means for the future

I also quite like the whole debate over whether Blue’s abilities are a curse or a blessing – and I think it’s actually done really well (after I’ve read a huge number of books where the “curse” has had no real downside).

For me there’s a strange disconnect with this book’s – this series’ – world building which I’ve touched on before. On the one hand, the original elements of the story are excellent. The whole idea of fairies that produce dust and need dentin to exist – that’s an excellent original concept I really like. It takes the idea of the tooth fairy and elevates it and explains it. It’s interesting and it’s original and there’s some genuine thought behind it that I appreciated. There are other hints of things that I think have high potential – like the very original Trolls. There’s a lot of really unique elements I’m interested in here

But there’s also a lot of fairy tale elements that don’t mesh well because they’re not remotely developed. I’m going to have to draw on how this is handled in other books to make my point clear. When Jasper Fforde write The Fourth Bear we had a Goldie Locks who was very picky and needed everything to be “just right.” While J.C. Nelson’s Grimm Agency had princesses who had powers and lives that mark that. In this book we have Goldie Locks who is… a woman with blonde hair. We have a reference to people living in a shoe but no development or explanation. We have women mentioned as princesses but it just seems like it’s being used as a synonym for “woman.”

I don’t understand why these fairy tale elements are there if they are literally just going to be used as words. Goldie Locks and Peter Rabbit could be called Susan and Fred if for all the meaning their names mean. It’s frustrating because I’ve seen how well this can be done and this book isn’t doing it

Blue has a lot of wrongheadedness when it comes to his attitudes towards Izzy. He is “protective” to the point of controlling, he tries to keep secrets from her for her own good and he is constantly trying to lock her up or keep her inside for her own safety. This could be seen as a general sense of caution when we consider the threats against him but he has absolutely no regard for his own safety at all – he is reckless to the point of foolishness and it doesn’t look like daring and pursuing a case despite the risk – it looks like defiant childish rebellion. His “protectiveness” of Izzy also comes with a huge amount of jealousy, even as he acknowledges he has no claim on her, he still stalks her and seethes over the possibility she may be in a relationship with another man

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