Phone Kitten - Marika Christian (2011)

I wasn't quite sure what to expect with this book but with a likeable heroine and quirky supporting characters, Phone Kitten is a charming, humorous page-turner. Meet Emily, a slightly overweight up-and-coming reporter who finds herself jobless thanks to a back-stabbing co-worker. She stumbles upon a seemingly perfect job with flexible hours, the only catch is she'll be a phone-sex operator. With her soft and raspy voice, Emily overcomes her shyness and morphs into this sexy, confident woman; on the phone anyway. Her two worlds begin to collide when she catches the eye of a handsome guy in her history class. Should Emily confess her occupation, or would that send him running for the door? But maybe he's keeping a little something from her too. And if her life wasn't crazy enough, one of her regular callers is found dead the same night they run into each other and he threatens her. Emily could be considered a suspect in her client's death. She puts her reporter skills to the test to clear her name, solve this case and write a story that will leave her old newspaper colleagues wondering why they fired her. She begins to put the pieces together surrounding the mysterious murder, but with her luck the more she knows the more trouble it will cause. For a first-time author Christian hits all the right notes with a highly entertaining book, with a dash of romance. I'm looking forward to reading more of her books. Her writing style is clever, fast-paced and laugh-out-loud funny. (CF)

Phone Kitten, the debut novel by Marika Christian, introduces a phone sex worker who becomes a sleuth. The summary says: "Shy, slightly overweight Emily would die if she had to talk dirty face-to-face - especially to her hot cop boy friend. She sure didn't set out to do phone sex - she wanted to be a writer. But when her BFF framed her for plagiarism, she got in a tiny financial hole and saw this ad for "phone actresses"... Hey, it's not nearly as bad as it sounds. No pantyhose or pantsuits, no regular hours, you're your own boss, and lots of people to talk to. Guys, that is. But here's the odd thing - lots of them want to talk about more than Emily's imagined attributes; they start to think of her as the best friend they'll never have to meet. Next thing you know, one of her customers gets killed and Emily knows a lot more about it than she should. But she can't tell the nearest cop, who's also her own true love, because then he'll find out about her secret life. What's a phone kitten to do? Solve the murder herself, of course - because wouldn't it be a great story for the newspaper that wrongly fired her? It's her ticket back to her real life - if it doesn't get her killed.

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