Julie's Review: Truly, Madly

Summary: This clever paranormal mystery series launch is sure to delight fans of Webber's gardening detective, Nina Quinn (Weeding Out Trouble, etc.). The Boston Valentines have been professional matchmakers for generations, but Lucy Valentine's psychic talent tends to show her people's lost car keys rather than their ideal mates, so she's shocked when her parents stick her with running the company. A vision leaves her wondering whether a client murdered his girlfriend, so she hires sexy PI Sean Donahue to find the missing woman, but while she's imagining them naked in bed, he's suspecting her of murder. Lucy has to contend with her meddling grandmother's efforts to find her a new boyfriend as she dodges the cops, hunts a killer, and struggles to explain the truth to Sean. Fun characters, sparkling prose, and a twisty plot add up to a great beginning for Valentine Inc. ~amazon.com

Review: Looking for a fun read with an extremely likable heroine? Then pick up Truly, Madly by Heather Webber. This was a great read for me. I was looking for something I could finish in a weekend and I did. What a clever book and a genuinely likable heroine in Lucy Valentine.


This book grabbed me right form the beginning with it's clever writing and wit. I liked Lucy immediately. She's down to earth, funny, and oh yeah she's a psychic. Lucy doesn't want this ability though and has run from it for 14 years but she's about to embrace it or be forced to embrace it.

Lucy has to take over the family business, Valentine Inc., while her father rushes to St. Lucia to get over being caught in a love affair. You see, he's a matchmaker and that just can't happen. Lucy doesn't have the family gift of reading auras because it was zapped out of her at 14 but she does have the ability to find lost things. She doesn't like to shake hands because that's how she feels the lost thing(s).

Lucy's life starts to steer out of control when she goes to look for a dead body that she suspects her client knew but didn't necessarily murder. Enter, sexy firefighter/PI, Sean Donahue to help her find the client's ex-girlfriend. Of course sparks fly, literally, between Sean and Lucy and you root for them to get together. Will they or won't they? Could he be the one to exorcise the Cupid Curse from this Valentine?

With a cast of wonderfully secondary characters, this was a perfect book to read on a cold, dreary day. It would also be perfect for a beach. I loved Lucy's Grandmother Dovie, her friends Em and Marisol and her parents were a hoot. I can't say enough how delightful this book was to read. I would put it down and find myself wondering what was going to happen next. That being said, there are bits of predictability that I saw as a reader and yet threw Lucy for a loop but even with that being evident, there were a couple things I didn't see coming and neither did Lucy.

Now some would say this had paranormal aspects to it and it does but it's not the focus of the book. It's just an added characteristic of Lucy for me, not who she is.

I can't wait read the 2nd in the series, Deeply,Desperately

A big THANKS to the publisher for sending me this book. I'm only sorry it took me longer than necessary to get to it.

Final Take: 4.5/5