Have you ever been glad you took a chance on something? You know what I mean. When you thought, okay, I'm going with my gut and trust my instincts. Well, about 6 weeks ago I received a message about a new book called 'Clean Break', from a new author, Abby Vegas. She enclosed a short excerpt with her review request. It didn't take me long to email her back that I was intrigued. (I think those were my exact words even.)
Once I started reading this book, I was completely taken by surprise that this is her debut book. The writing is strong. I mean really strong.
I would classify this as Chick-lit with a hint of suspense. There is a romantic angle, but it isn't necessarily a contemporary romance that most of you have come to know. The reason I am prefacing this is I don't want any disappointed readers looking for the romance (which comes later in the book, with fade-to-black sex scenes).
When the story starts, we learn Lane has just spent almost all of her money in a spending spree. She needed a "clean break" from the past, we don't know why just yet, only that she needed to move forward. Now she is virtually penniless, her part-time job won't pay the bills and she doesn't have a home or family. To make matters worse, she just got scammed out of a large sum of money from what was supposed to be a downpayment for an apartment, which she no longer has either. After filing a police report, the detective makes some calls to the manager of the apartment complex, a deal is struck and Lane finds she has an apartment thanks to the help of the detective.
The basement apartment isn't the greatest, but it is at least somewhere to sleep that's relatively safe. She only has her suitcases, so on her agenda is getting another job so she can furnish it, hopefully with a bed. Of the people she first meets, are the building's handymen. One of them is a sleazeball, the other, is Viktor, who proves to be quite helpful in a number of ways.
Lane ends up finding a job as an assistant to a spoiled wealthy woman with two kids and a husband who works too much. She has nothing to do, but try and loose weight, keep up with other rich folks and drown herself in charity work.
'Clean Break' takes us on a heartwarming, at times funny, journey of our protagonist, Lane Haviland as she navigates adulthood. She is a strong woman who never lets her circumstances dictate her future. There is a suspense element with our hero, Viktor as he is seemingly tangled with the Russian crime element in the neighborhood.
As I mentioned before, I really enjoyed this book, the writing and the story. I only have a few criticisms; I felt at times, the story tended to get wordy in a few places and I was confused as to why Lane went on the spending spree. That is all and really, these are very small.
If there was an award for breakthrough author, I would nominate Abby Vegas. I truly believe she is one to watch in the future!
I have received a free advance PDF copy of the book “Clean Break” by Abby Vegas to review. This is Abby’s second book but her first novel. To find out more about the author you may visit her website.
The book begins with Lane already down on her luck, being scammed out of the $800 deposit for renting an apartment room. She had borrowed the money from her boss Randy and when she reports it to Detective Mike Jarrett, he advises her that the only way she will get her money back is if the bank refund it. That would be a minimum of 60 days, so Lane’s options are pretty limited.
Lane takes the only accommodation available, a tiny unfurnished basement flat. The agent sends a couple of Russian handymen, Viktor and Sergey to reconnect the water. With her only income via her part-time work for Randy, Lane manages to land another part-time role as PA to Cynthia. But at only $15 / hour, it is still far from enough to pay the rent. However she is in for a surprise when she goes to tell the agent she can’t afford to pay. A month’s rent has mysteriously been paid by Viktor.
These first few chapters were enough to have me gripped by the storyline. I didn’t want to put it down. I don’t want to say anything which might spoil it for you, but Abby has done a fantastic job of bringing the characters to life. And there is a real twist towards the end of the book.
There were all the little things of how to deal with situations when Lane has no money and only 2 suitcases of possessions. Like although she now has a basic phone, she kept her old cracked smartphone which can’t hold charge, just to use to access free WiFi to find the job opportunities. And only being able to offer tap water to drink and in a disposable beaker too. It all gave such a depth to conveying the story.
I did have to look up one word – sable. This was in the context of a cream cheese and smoked sable bagel. I initially guessed salmon and I wasn’t too far off. Sable is a fish, namely black cod. Not something we get here in the UK. All our cod is white and it is never smoked. Sounds tasty, so if I ever get a trip to the US, that will be on my list to try.
Clean Break willl be published on May 16th and is available to pre-order on Amazon, currently priced at £2.08 on Kindle. I loved it and highly recommend it, Looking forward to Abby’s next novel.
