"Abby Cooper" Finds the Mystery, but Lacks the Romance

There are four things I look for in a romance/mystery novel: good writing, a suspenseful mystery, a likable main character, and a solid romance.

As I went through this book, I managed to check three of the four requirements off my list. Good writing? I couldn't complain. A suspenseful mystery? Hell yeah. A likable main character? Abby was awesome!

Solid romance? Eh...I didn't believe it.

I mean, Abby and her love interest, Dutch, met online and had a pretty good first date. It seemed a little off to me, but, whatever maybe I just was reading into it wrong.

But...I wasn't. The rest of the book is them having few moments where they have chemistry and more moments where you want them to never come in contact again.

Like, for example, when Dutch breaks off their "kind of" relationship because she mentioned she doesn't trust cops and he is, in fact, a cop. He also doesn't believe in psychics YET HE CONTINUES TO ASK HER FOR HELP.

Uh...ok?

He also comes over to tell Abby something and, while she's on the phone, Dutch takes ice cream out of her fridge and starts eating it.

AND SHE IS COOL WITH IT.

At this point, she has went on one date with him and he's questioned her ONCE. AKA THEY BARELY KNOW EACH OTHER. If a man ever tried this on me, you can bet your sweet ass that ice cream would be smacked out of his hands and he'd be on his way out the door, cop or no cop.

This is not the only example either. Dutch would also do some weird stuff like tousle Abby's hair or call her kiddo, even though they didn't have that wide of an age gap. I don't know, that just seemed weird and gross to me because I'm supposed to want them together and, instead, I'm sensing a more brotherly-sisterly bond.

So...I don't know. There were a few times where the relationship seemed realistic and I wanted them to get together, but there were multiple occasions that tainted those moments for me. Other than that, though, the book is pretty good, especially because of Abby's gift of being a psychic. It plays an interesting role in the mystery part of the book, which I really appreciated. I recommend this if you're more of a mystery person, but, if you're in it for the romance, I'd go ahead and pass on this one.