Truly, Madly: A Novel [Mass Market Paperback]

Heather Webber (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2, 2010

Lucy Valentine is as smart as can be, as single as you can get, and so not qualified to run a matchmaking service. But when her parents temporarily step down from the family business, Valentine, Inc., it’s Lucy’s turn to step up and help out—in the name of love.

Plus, her rent is due.

Here’s the problem: Lucy doesn’t have the knack for matchmaking. According to family legend, every Valentine has been blessed by Cupid with the ability to read “auras” and pair up perfect couples. But not Lucy. Her skills were zapped away years ago in an electrical surge, and now all she can do is find lost objects. What good is that in the matchmaking world? You’d be surprised. In a city like Boston, everyone’s looking for something. So when Lucy locates a missing wedding ring—on a dead body—she asks the sexy private eye who lives upstairs to help her solve the perfect crime. And who knows? Maybe she’ll find the perfect love while she’s at it…

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This clever paranormal mystery series launch is sure to delight fans of Webber's gardening detective, Nina Quinn (Weeding Out Trouble, etc.). The Boston Valentines have been professional matchmakers for generations, but Lucy Valentine's psychic talent tends to show her people's lost car keys rather than their ideal mates, so she's shocked when her parents stick her with running the company. A vision leaves her wondering whether a client murdered his girlfriend, so she hires sexy PI Sean Donahue to find the missing woman, but while she's imagining them naked in bed, he's suspecting her of murder. Lucy has to contend with her meddling grandmother's efforts to find her a new boyfriend as she dodges the cops, hunts a killer, and struggles to explain the truth to Sean. Fun characters, sparkling prose, and a twisty plot add up to a great beginning for Valentine Inc. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

With a name like Lucy Valentine, and the legacy of a hugely successful family matchmaking business, Valentine, Inc., one would think that Lucy would be set in her career. There is only one problem: she doesn’t have the knack for matchmaking. Not even when it comes to her own love life. Lucy blames this lack on a freak accident, during which an electrical surge deprived her of her matchmaking abilities but left her with the power to find lost objects. So Lucy makes the best of her abilities and helps the city of Boston locate lost items, including someone’s missing engagement ring, which she happens to find on a dead body. Lucky for her, a handsome private detective just happens to work upstairs. Lucy is a charming and lovable enough character to guide the reader through Webber’s unbelievably zany but truly irresistible mix of clever romance and a wildly inventive mystery. --Claire Orphan

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 305 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks; First Edition edition (February 2, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312946139
• ISBN-13: 978-0312946135
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (103 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #247,623 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Heather Webber grew up in a suburb of Boston, where she learned early on how to ride the T, skip rocks in the ocean, and root for the Red Sox. As a young mother, she tried her hand at writing novels and hasn't looked back. These days she lives in southwestern Ohio with her high school sweetheart and their children. She is currently hard at work on her next novel. For more information on Heather and her books, go to: www.heatherwebber.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The start of a fun new series, December 29, 2009

By 

Sandy Kay (Twin Cities, Minnesota USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Truly, Madly: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

(What's this?)

This is the first of a series of books (at least two more) with the main character Lucy Valentine. I enjoyed this book and will definitely read the next one to see where the story goes. It is romantic, but is not a romance; has some mystery, but is not a mystery; and has a little bit of psychic abilities but is not in the paranormal genre. Added to all that, it has some light comedy. Put it all together and it was a fun book to read.

The Valentine family has matchmaking ability as a result of their ability to read auras and Lucy's father asks her to take over the family matchmaking business while he recuperates in the Caribbean. But Lucy's ability was zapped away when she was 14 and now she can only find lost objects. One of her clients leads her into a mystery and shows her a new use for her abilities. She hires the sexy private investigator whose office is upstairs to help with her the matchmaking and the mystery.

The tone of the book is light, romantic and a little bit comedic. You might even call it a fun bit of fluff. It's a great book to curl up and read in front of the fire or on the beach.

I think what makes the book so fun is that it is filled with interesting characters. In addition to Lucy, her parents and grandmother, and the private investigator, there is her father's driver (who is also looking for love) and Lucy's two best friends. This book introduces us to Lucy and her family and friends and plants the seeds of some future romances involving several of the characters. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Deeply, Desperately: A Lucy Valentine Novel due out in August 2010.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a pleasant surprise, January 30, 2010

By 

alpha_grrl (Olympia, WA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Truly, Madly: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

(What's this?)

I enjoyed reading "Truly, Madly" a great deal. This surprised me because I started one of the author's other books, from her Nina Quinn series, and couldn't finish it. I didn't like the characters and the story wasn't fun at all. But I immediately liked Lucy Valentine and her family. The premise of the Valentine family business, matchmakers who use a secret, hereditary, psychic ability to find matches, is interesting and not too "out there" to be unbelievable (for me anyway). Lucy can't matchmake because of an accident with lightning as a teen, instead she can locate lost objects. The book follows her discovery of ways to use this talent and the feelings she struggles with over it. Of course, there are the obligatory sexy men, but the author makes them part of the story and it works well, the romance novel flavor doesn't take over the mystery. "Truly, Madly" is filled with humor, mostly centered around the foibles of Lucy's parents and her grandmother, which gives the story enough lightness to be enjoyable for me (I think that's what was missing in the Nina Quinn books). I would recommend for any reader who enjoys lighter mysteries not slotted into the "cozy" category.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully light and funny paranormal, chick lit mystery series!!, January 5, 2010

By 

Steph "booklover" (California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Truly, Madly: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

(What's this?)

Truly Madly is a wonderfully funny romance, that looks to be a continuing series. I really enjoyed this lighthearted romp but I must warn readers that the romance in the story is ongoing and does not conclude at the end of the story. In fact, I believe the author intends this to be a paranormal, chick lit mystery series.

Lucy Valentine was lucky enough to be born in the famous Valentine clan. A heritage that includes special powers that allow all their family to see auras of people. This helps them match couples and their success rate has made them rich and famous. However, although they can match other people they are cursed to never be able to find their own perfect match! So when Lucy's married father is caught in an affair he asks Lucy to take over the business while he goes with her mother to hide and let the publicity die down. But there is a BIG problem, Lucy is a Valentine but she lost her power to see auras when she was electrocuted which mysteriously changed her powers. Now she has the ability to find lost objects. Lucy feels like a fraud and useless but circumstances teach her that maybe she has more abilities than she believes. When she thinks she discovers an unsolved murder and asks for the aid of the new and handsome investigator, Sean Donahue her world spirals gets out of control!

This is a quick and enjoyable book that is perfect to get you in the mood for Valentine's.