Rings On Her Fingers (Psychic Seasons, #1)

by Regina Welling

[Mystereity Reviews]

Edit: June 11, 2020: I was looking through my Kindle library trying to find a nice easy re-read to pass a long Thursday night with nothing on TV, so I went back into this one. And you know what? I liked it a whole lot more than I did the first time. Despite the over-the-top romance and flowery prose, this had a lot going for it: a cracking good plot, lovable characters and a world that's easy to fall into. I upped my rating to 4.5 stars (since Goodreads doesn't allow half stars, I'll stick it at 4, subtracting a tiny bit for the romance) but overall, it really is a relaxing, enjoyable read.

I picked this up as a freebie on Amazon. I'm really not sure how I feel about it. One one hand, it was a good mystery; Julie and her pals try to figure out where her great-grandfather hid his valuables, aided by the ghosts of her great-grandfather and grandmother, who couldn't tell them specifically where to look for some reason. But hey, hard to make a plot span a whole book if on page 2, great-grandfather ghostie says "it's under the floorboards" or something (it wasn't, btw). On top of the treasure hunt, Julie and her pals have to deal with Julie's menacing boyfriend. So all that was good, enjoyable plot, cute characters, a great read.

Except....

The overly flowery prose grated on my nerves. Witness this savory quote:
...his open hand quickly turning to the fist he so wanted to use to bend her will to his selfish desire.

Yeah, that would fit in Game Of Thrones, but not a Kindle mystery. Or, at least not this Kindle mystery.

Also, for some reason, there had to be a romance involved. And not the kind of flirty romance usually found in a cozy. No, it was the kind you read in a really crappy Harlequin romance, complete with ZINGING! and PASSION and Jesus,. save me from this, because it's really not adding to the story for me. I found myself zipping past pages and pages of this. And to make it worse, grandma ghostie was spying on them and making sighing noises. Seriously. Here, read for yourself,

Tyler gazed back, both lost in the connection of hearts and souls recognizing each other. Hand still tingling, Julie felt as though the universe took a breath then settled into a new rhythm One that had her heart beating, fluttering against her throat as she saw the mirror of her feelings in Tyler's eyes.

My panties were wet, but not from arousal. It was from laughing so hard I tinkled a little.

So, if you took out the cheesy romance, this would easily be a 5 star book. But with the romance drained a lot of my enjoyment.