A.J. Aalto

Wendy, from BookTrope sent me an ARC of Last Impressions, by A. J. Aalto. It’s due for publication on June 13th. You can see my review of the previous Marnie Baranuik books here.

Description:
When an FBI Internal Affairs investigation lands the Preternatural Crimes Unit in a bureaucratic spank-fest, it feels like the perfect time for Marnie Baranuik to skip town and lend her expertise to a bear-sized Canadian cop who doesn’t want her help with his case, his love life, or his car stereo. Back in her childhood stomping grounds, Marnie leaps into action, facing an exorcist in skinny jeans, a slap-happy specter, and an old friend up to new tricks. Are ghosts behind a string of unusual deaths? Why didn’t her revenant companion, Lord Harry Dreppenstedt, tell her he had a Combat Butler? Can she survive dinner with her parents? With a shifty man of the cloth offering her soul’s redemption, and a revelation that could change the future of her love life, she has her gloved hands full. She may not make a great first impression, but no one makes a Last Impression quite like Marnie.

Review:
Ms. Aalto is consistent if nothing else. I find that I could cut and paste my review of this series’ previous two books here and have them make perfect sense and be wholly accurate. But what fun would that be? The points may be the same, but I’ll make them again.

I love Marnie—Marnie’s foul mouth, Marnie’s lust crazed mind, Marnie’s sarcasm, Marnie’s need to do the right thing, Marnie’s selfish idiosyncrasies, Marnie’s ability to always come out on top, Marnie’s amazing ability to thrive in and on utter chaos, Marnie’s relationship with Harry (who is also fabulous). I love all of this. Every time I read one of the Marnie Baranuik Files I simply roll with laughter. I can’t help it.

It’s all over the top. Undeniably, it is. Marnie takes time to make smart aleck comments on the brink of certain death, she destroys more personal property than you can shake a stick at, she’s brash and has no mental-to-verbal filter. No one could really survive in such a state. You have to accept that as part of the fun though. And I do.

The only real complaint I’ve ever had, still have, and find it’s getting stronger with every book of the series I read, is the way Marnie is infantalized by the men in her life. They treat her like a favoured child and she in turn behaves like one—saying anything she likes with no regard for decorum, using ridiculously juvenile words (in and amongst all of her creative cursing), immaturely taunting people and circumstances, wearing children’s accoutrements, sulking, blowing raspberries at people, throwing tantrums, allowing the men (grownups) to talk over, around and about her in incredibly condescending ways (even if it is meant to be teasing), etc. In small doses, as in the first book, it was tolerable. But I find it’s starting to grate.

But honestly, that’s my only real issue with the book/series and it’s one I’m more than willing to put up with for the rest of the enjoyment I get from it/them. Looking forward to more.

I grabbed A. J. Aalto‘s novel, Touched (The Marnie Baranuik Files, #1) from the Amazon free list. I then borrowed a copy of book two, Death Rejoices and snatched a copy of the short story Cold Company, which is perma-free.

Description from Goodreads:
The media has a nickname for Marnie Baranuik, though she’d rather they didn’t; they call her the Great White Shark, a rare dual-talented forensic psychic. Twice-Touched by the Blue Sense–which gives her the ability to feel the emotions of others, and read impressions left behind on objects–Marnie also has a doctorate in preternatural biology and a working knowledge of the dark arts. She is considered without peer in the psychic community.

Then her first big FBI case ended with a bullet in one shoulder and a chip on the other, a queasy heart and a serial killer in the wind, leaving her a public flop and a private wreck. When the FBI’s preternatural crimes unit tracks her down at a remote mountain lodge for her insight on a local case, her quiet retirement is promptly besieged by a stab-happy starlet, a rampaging ghoul, and a vampire-hunting jackass in tight Wranglers. Marnie figures the only real mystery is which one will kill her first.

Too mean to die young, backed up by friends in cold places, and running with a mouth as demure as a cannon’s blast, Marnie Baranuik is about to discover that there’s no such thing as quitting time when you’re Touched.

Review:
I really quite enjoyed this one. Yes, it got completely ridiculous after a while. Yes, Marnie’s use of juvenile word’s like “ginormous” or “poopyhead’ almost drove me to distraction, as did Harry’s nonsensical old-English-speak. Yes, some bits of it were a tad predictable. Yes, I finished up with questions remaining. But yes, I roared with laughter and just basically had a good time with the story and the characters. What more can I really ask for? I know this is a painfully short review, but I’m off to start book two.

Description from Goodreads:
Marnie Baranuik is back, and this time, the Great White Shark of psychic investigations has “people skills” and a new assistant who seems to harbor an unhealthy curiosity about Harry, her revenant companion. Together, they’ve got a whole lot of questions that need answering. Is an ancient vampire hunting in Denver? Who is stalking Lord Dreppenstedt? How do you cure a slipper-humping bat, ditch an ogre, or give a demon king the slip? And what the hell was she thinking, swearing off cookies?

Teaming up with her sexual nemesis, Special Agent Mark Batten, and their long-suffering supervisor, Gary Chapel, Marnie discovers that vampire hunters aren’t easy to rescue, secrets don’t stay buried, and zombies sure are a pain in the ass to kill.

Review:
Marnie and her menagerie continued to crack me up in this book. I’ll admit that I found her antics a little over the top here though. Where in book one she was mildly self-depreciating and would concede to mistakes or causing chaos, here she seemed to brag about and revel in it. As a result she eventually started to convince me, the reader, that she really must be as much of a ditzy ‘silly little poppet’ as she claimed to be. I’m not really into stupid heroines. Plus, Diet Dr. Pepper! Really?

Additionally, I wasn’t able to successfully get my head around her ability to simultaneously commit herself to Harry, but also still lust over Mark. I needed some closure, either in the form of choosing one over the other or a ménage à trois. The situation was untenable and by the end its continuation started to forced and unnatural.

Despite a few grumbles on my part (Harry’s ridiculously antiquated English-ese, for example) I just plain enjoyed myself with the book. It’s fluffy and fun. Sometimes that’s all I’m looking for.