Cynthia St. Aubin

Hanna Harvey is in a bad patch. She's recently divorced and can't find a job. In order to find something to support herself and her three cats, she's willing to embellish her resume quite a bit. As a lover of art and art history, she thinks she'd be great as an assistant in an art gallery.

Mark Abernathy, gallery owner and hottie, offers her a job as his assistant. She can't wait to organize his chaotic office and help with the quirky artists who are resident in the gallery. From a misogynistic guy who's the best-selling artist to the quirky guy paints portraits of animals to the nearly blind old lady who also paints, Hanna has a lot to coordinate.

Hanna doesn't need to draw the attention of police detective James Morrison who's sure her boss is a serial killer. However, bodies of women Abernathy dates do keep turning up.

I listened to the audiobook of this title. The narrator really bought all the characters to life. I loved the personality of the quirky Hanna and the mysterious Abernathy. Hunter did a great job with the pacing of the story too.… (más)

Unassailable by Cynthia St Aubin
The Case Files of Dr Matilda Schmidt, Paranormal Psychologist series #5. Best read in series order.
Dr. Matilda Schmidt heads to Hilton Head for a break from the chaos that has become her life. Trying to escape the paranormal is an exercise in futility. She can now see ghosts and has a pirate with no pants asking for her help.

Is it Liam or Crixus or both that have made such an uproar in her life? Maybe it was the leprechaun. Matilda gets help from Liam to help the pirate and ends up in an unusual situation. (No spoilers from me but think “l o v e”.)
It’s a crazy new life for Matilda.
Ridiculous, amusing and all out entertaining.… (más)

I think my biggest issue with this book was the inconsistency in tone.

Sometimes it reads very much like a comedy but at other times it's dead serious and deals out really heavy emotions. This caused bad emotional whiplash and a kind of cognitive dissonance for me.

The entire plot is executed in a fundamentally silly way which undermines all the seriousness. As a consequence, I disliked reading the serious stuff because the surrounding goofy atmosphere invalidated it all somehow. I felt like the book disrespected the heavy feelings of its own cast and my own emotional investment with it.
I was so on board with the more serious tone that the realization of how much it would be subverted by the humor just made me lose the drive to continue.
That is not to say the humor is bad or anything. I actually enjoyed most of it a lot. It was cheeky and cute. I just couldn't handle both at the same time.

I think this is mostly a "me" problem.… (más)

Unhoppy by Cynthia St Aubin
The Case Files of Dr Matilda Schmidt, Paranormal Psychologist series book #3. Paranormal mystery romance with humor.
A Depressed Easter bunny with one leg shows up for help from Matilda. He’s tried to off himself eight times. Today. Add in Adonis who no woman can resist, including Matilda , plus a blackmailer with photos of Matilda in a comprising position with Matilda, well, it adds up to a bad day for her. And her fish. Now, Adonis only wants Matilda instead of his wives, which of course, brings the two goddesses into picture and it’s a free-for-all.

Mad cap adventures with laugh out loud antics and unimaginable craziness. A paranormal romance series that defies reality and sadness.
I’ll be reading more of these case files soon.… (más)