Books for Christian Girls: "Ready to Fumble" by Christy Barritt

About this book:

“I'm not really a private detective. I just play one on TV.
Joey Darling, better known to the world as Raven Remington, detective extraordinaire, is trying to separate herself from her invincible alter ego. She played the spunky character for five years on the hit TV show Relentless, which catapulted her to fame and into the role of Hollywood’s sweetheart.
When her marriage falls apart, her finances dwindle to nothing, and her father disappears, Joey finds herself on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, trying to piece her life back together away from the limelight. A woman finds Raven—er, Joey—and insists on hiring her fictional counterpart to find a missing boyfriend. When someone begins staging crime scenes to match an episode of Relentless, Joey has no choice but to get involved.
Joey’s bumbling sleuthing abilities have her butting heads with Detective Jackson Sullivan and kindling sparks with thrill-seeking neighbor Zane Oakley. Can Joey channel her inner Raven and unearth whodunit before she ends up totally done in? And where is her father anyway? Can she handle fame, or is disappearing into obscurity the wiser option?”

Series: Book #1 in “The Worst Detective Ever” series.

Spiritual Content- Church going (once); When Joey went to LA, she was done with church, but does go to church in this book to find hints about what happened to her father; Mentions of churches, services, hymns, & a youth group; A couple mentions of faiths; A mention of a priest;

*Note: A few mentions of shrines; A couple mentions of a man turning into Satan; A mention of believing cards are the devil’s tool.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘dumb’, a ‘freaking’, a ‘what in tarnation’, two ‘heck’s, two ‘screwed up’s, two ‘sucker’s, three ‘kick-butt’s, twelve forms of ‘stupid’; Eye rolling & Sarcasm; Finding a body, seeing someone shot, blood, & how it happened (up to semi-detailed); Attacks, being grabbed, being threatened, & a stalker (up to semi-detailed); Passing out & being tied-up (barely-above-not-detailed); Being held at gunpoint; Going to a bar (for research, Joey does not drink there); Joey & her (now ex-)husband are divorced; Many mentions of murders, deaths, killing, killers, bodies, & threats; Mentions of being left to die & fake blood (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of crimes, criminals, crime scenes, & jail time; Mentions of suicides, suicide attempts, & those possibly suicidal; Mentions of near deaths & nearly dying; Mentions of disappearances; Mentions of Joey’s (now ex-)husband slapping, hitting, & pushing her down the stairs (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of attacks, pain, injuries, blood/bleeding, & scars (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of car accidents; Mentions of threats; Mentions of assaults & breaking-and-entering; Mentions of gangs & there being a hit out for someone; Mentions of drugs, pills, drug selling, & a drug ring; Mentions of alcohol, alcohol poisoning, drinking, being forced to drink, & bars; Mentions of separations & divorces; Mentions of lies, lying, & liars; Mentions of gossip & rumors; Mentions of tattoos; Mentions of debt; A few mentions of passing out & tranquilizer darts; A few mentions of (Hollywood type) parties; A few mentions of throwing up; A mention of slaughtering sheep; A mention of farting;

*Notes: Many mentions of celebrities (actors, singers/bands, etc.); Many mentions of movies, TV shows, & fictional characters; Mentions of car brands; A few mentions of Women’s Lib; A couple mentions of designer brands; A mention of TMZ; A couple mentions of Disney; A mention of Good Morning America; A mention of a zombie series.

Sexual Content- a semi-detailed kiss, and a detailed kiss; Remembering a kiss (up to semi-detailed); Talks about kissing & kisses; Touches, Shivers, & Nearness (up to semi-detailed); Noticing & Smelling (up to semi-detailed); a ‘baby’, a ‘hunky’, and two ‘hot’s; Many mentions of dating, dates, boyfriends, girlfriends, breakups, & exes; Mentions of cheating & affairs; Mentions of kissing & kisses; Mentions of a player/womanizer & his types; Mentions of Joey’s mother who left her father when Joey was a baby; Mentions of men checking Joey and other girls out; A few mentions of Joey & other girl being hit on; A few mentions of lovers; A few mentions of cheek kisses; A few mentions of winks & gooey insides; A couple mentions of domestic violence; A couple mentions of a guy trying to pick a girl up at a bar; A couple mentions of touches that weren’t okay with Joey from a “fan”; A couple mentions of unmarried couples living together; A couple mentions of Joey noticing how good-looking a shirtless guy is; A mention of suggestive-sounding words; A mention of a secret rendezvous; Love & the emotions;

*Note: Mentions of a restaurant that only hires women and requires them wear shorts & a tank top; Mentions of places with names and people with nicknames that have dirty double innuendos; A few mentions of eating disorders; A couple mentions of women being worth more than their measurements; A couple mentions of a woman’s figure & her using those attributes to her advantage; A couple mentions of menopause; A mention of a guy kissing his muscles; A mention of someone getting their mind if out the gutter.

-Josephine “Joey Darling” Schermerhorn, age 27
1^st person P.O.V. of Joey
292 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

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My personal Rating-

I’ve heard high praise for this author and this book—including from my Memaw (that’s Southern for ‘Grandmother’, she’ll tell you ;) ). So, needless to say, this book has been on my TBR and radar for a while now.

While reading “Ready to Fumble”, I was very much reminded of Jenny B. Jones’ writing style—only cleaner. This one still had some comments I could have done without, but it was much cleaner than the another first-person-POV murder mystery I recently read.

When it all was revealed near the end, though, it took me quite a bit of searching to remember who the killer was. In all honesty, when I finally figured it out (after wracking my brain for five minutes), I got it! It seemed a bit of a stretch to me, since when Joey is listing out everything that she noticed, I don’t recall reading those parts. Especially since it’s written a first-person POV, so shouldn’t we be seeing what she’s seeing…?

Overall, I plan to continue the series, so I did enjoy it. There were a few parts I laughed out loud at. I was disappointed at the lack of Spiritual Content, though. I do hope the next books in the series has Joey growing in her faith/coming back to her faith. That would be a nice positive feature! :)

See y’all on Wednesday with a new review!