Jane returns from her trip to Europe with Gabriel unsure of where
their relationship stands - did he dump her? Were all the mystery
notes and phone calls evidence of his cheating? Who the heck is
Janine? With more questions than answers Jane returns home unsure
of where she stands with Gabriel, and makes plans to create a
"Brave New Jane". She throws herself into the launch of her
bookstore and develops a steady clientele of human and non-human
customers. Dick and Andrea play a larger role in this book as they
help Jane with her store and her attempts to get over Gabriel and,
of course, Dick helps Jane get into trouble.
Although she and Gabriel are still on the outs Jane starts
receiving anonymous letters from a person claiming to be a former
lover and warning Jane of Gabriel and warning her to stay away from
him. To add to her troubles Mr. Wainwright's estranged nephew shows
up and insists on hanging around the bookstore much to everyone's
chagrin. There are a couple of side-plots that didn't really go
anywhere other than to allow final resolution between characters,
but I think that's part of the charm of the series - it's all about
the little things. Harper was initially contracted for three books
(not sure if this will change) and she provides satisfying
conclusions for most of the characters.
I've liked this series more and more with each book to the point
where I think I'm in love with Jane. Harper writes with intelligent
humour (it's great to see a herione who is smart and humerous
rather than the hummour being at the expense of the lead character)
and her books are really quite funny. The Nice Girls series is a
little closer to general fiction than urban fantasy in my opinion -
yes there are vampires, but the plots centre on more traditional
themes (we've seen fiendish realtors and conniving mothers - no big
bad world ending demon plots here) and centre around Jane's family,
friends and the community of Half-moon Hollow. What Nice Girls
Don't Live Forever does have is geriatric cat-fights, stun guns and
sibling mud wrestling - and really what more can you ask for in a
book? 9 out of 10