Chapter by Chapter

Dead and Kicking by Lisa Emme was a read that had me chuckling pretty much throughout the whole book.  With a quirky main character and a gruff sexy homicide detective, and a world filled with supernatural beings to satisfy your craving, Dead and Kicking was a solid book 1 in The Harry Russo Diaries.

Harry Russo has a gift.  Not only is she a witch, but she’s able to communicate with the dead AND another gift that comes to light later in the book.  A pretty kick ass gift if you ask me.

Unfortunately for Harry, her blind date winds up dead and contacts her for help.  Harry ends up mixed up in a whole lot of danger, and winds up making deals with one of the most feared vampires around.  And as if things couldn’t get any worse, throw in some zombies into the mix and a little shock and awe twist at the end, and I would say you’ve got a pretty good recipe for pretty intriguing supernatural read.

The opening chapter to Dead and Kicking by Lisa Emme was actually done so well that it would draw in many readers to continue.  I liked how it was revealing teaser of what to expect from main character, Harry Russo.  Harry Russo is a character that I feel people can relate to, and it always helps that she has some great one-liners.  My thoughts on the male lead, Cian Nash, is still debatable.  There’s no question that he’s a sexy brooding character, but he was way too grumpy.  Like, irritatingly grumpy.  It’s a good thing that he seems to arrive right at the nick of time, and does something/says something utterly sweet that makes up for SOME of his grumpiness.  I’m still waiting for him to make me swoon, folks.

The storyline was attention grabbing and progressed quite well.  I enjoyed the supernatural elements in the book, and parts kinda sorta reminded me of HBO’s True Blood.  Vamps, witches, werewolves, zombies…Dead and Kicking by Lisa Emme pretty much had it all.

I will say though that the way in which some of the story was written was confusing.  For example, the character is speaking directly to the reader, but some of it was in the past tense.  So I was waiting for the point in the book where the character would say something like “…and so now here I am”, and then change to present tense.  It was like a lead up to a current event.

With a little tweaking, I’m sure that The Harry Russo Diaries will become an instant hit with fans of True Blood or Supernatural.  A solid intro to the world of Harry Russo, author Lisa Emme will easily find a following with fans of supernatural reads.  Grab a copy, and check it out for yourself!