Sailing in a Sea of Words

Summary: After escaping from a private sanitarium, Adelaide Blake arrives in Burning Cove, California, desperate to start over.

Working at an herbal tea shop puts her on the radar of those who frequent the seaside resort town: Hollywood movers and shakers always in need of hangover cures and tonics. One such customer is Jake Truett, a recently widowed businessman in town for a therapeutic rest. But unbeknownst to Adelaide, his exhaustion is just a cover.

In Burning Cove, no one is who they seem. Behind facades of glamour and power hide drug dealers, gangsters, and grifters. Into this make-believe world comes psychic to the stars Madame Zolanda. Adelaide and Jake know better than to fall for her kind of con. But when the medium becomes a victim of her own dire prediction and is killed, they're drawn into a murky world of duplicity and misdirection.

Neither Adelaide nor Jake can predict that in the shadowy underground they'll find connections to the woman Adelaide used to be--and uncover the specter of a killer who's been real all along...

I received this book as an advanced reader through Penguin's First to Read program.

This is the second book in what I assume will be Amanda Quick's Burning Cove series. I had tried to get the first one as an advanced reader as well, but failed so it's waiting for me to read later.

Luckily, you don't need to have read the first in order to understand the second. It's a completely separate book - the only similarity is the location.

I really enjoyed the book. The writing is good. The characters, though slightly stereotypical in their basic outline, are memorable and fun to follow. The plot seemed a tad rushed near the end, but when I really thought about it, there wasn't much else Quick could do without risking drawing it out so I'm not taking a ton of points away.

If you like historical mysteries with a dash of romance, this book (and series) is for you. Adelaide is a fun, feisty character who knows her own mind and Jake is your typical 30s charming leading man with a hint of danger. Their chemistry is almost believable - it's one of the few parts of the novel that I wish had been more developed, but it's not the worst writing and it's not like they instantly fall in love so I can't complain too much. Quick leaves no stone unturned and no thread untied. It's a satisfying end and the only thing you would wonder after is - who is going to have their story told next in Burning Cove?

Overall, with the quality of the mystery, the characters, and the writing, I give The Other Girl Vanishes an A-.