| Title | : | Body Movers (Body Movers, #1) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0778324826 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780778324829 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Mass Market Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 384 |
| Publication | : | First published July 25, 2006 |
She's coping. Until…
…her lovable brother is arrested, and the hunky cop decides to reopen her parents' case.
…her brother becomes a body mover for the morgue and his sexy boss gets Carlotta involved.
…her former fiancé's wife is murdered, fingering Carlotta.
With three men in her life, Carlotta has added motivation to help bag a murderer to keep her own well-dressed body from being next on the list!
Body Movers (Body Movers, #1) Reviews
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The weirdest thing happened when I got to the end of this book - I discovered "Questions for Discussion. As if this was some deep book that book clubs would be ordering by the dozen. Sometimes reading ebooks leads to unexpected surprises. But for some odd reason, none of the questions asked me to list the reasons why Carlotta and Wesley are TSTL (too stupid to live). But they are numerous. Too numerous to list here. I'll do my best to summarize.
Everyone makes mistakes, but Carlotta and her brother Wesley don't do anything right. Maybe I'm just too old, at the advanced age if 39.5, to appreciate the stupidity of youth. It irritates me too much. Gambling to the point of being in debt to 2 thugs who break into your house and threaten your family, buying guns, running drugs, driving with a suspended license, meddling in a murder case, and wasting more money in a day than I spend in a month is just a short list.
The weirdest thing is that I thought the auhor did a great job writing the characters. Every one, no matter how small, was vividly described and felt completely real to me. Maybe that's part of why the stupidity of the lead characters annoyed me so much, because I just couldn't enjoy watching them do so many potentially tragic things. As for Carlotta, our heroine, yes, every character in every mystery, especially cozy mysteries, is a horrible meddler. But her reasons were so weak. She had many really serious reasons to walk away, over and over, but she stuck it out to make sure a woman who treated her like dirt got justice. As though the police were unmotivated idiots.
I almost gave it 3 stars, because the characterization were so good. But then this whole rant poured out of me and I just couldn't. I do think a lot of people would like it more than I did, especially people under age 30. -
Our heroine is in the dangerous job of retail. I say that as someone who worked in retail for years and dealt with insane customers.
So when one of her customers shows up dead things really heat up. Especially since she was the wife of our heroine’s ex-fiancé. Now our heroine has to deal with a hot detective who wants to find her fugitive parents, the ex who is now free, and her brothers hot boss who is the body-mover.
But the guy giving her the most trouble is her little brother who keeps stacking up gambling debts with bad guys.
BTW for those of you who don’t like the cheating spouses, might want to skip these. Our heroine’s best friend usually dates married men and our heroine gets a bit close to her ex before his wife is disposed of. -
When I working at the bookstore, I kept seeing these books. They were in the Body Movers series, and they had clever titles. The cover copy--as well as funny blurbs from the author's family members--drew my eye. However, we never had book one in stock, and I wasn't interested enough to actually order the book.
This weekend, I found books one and two at my local library. I happily checked them out, eager to discover the wonders within the covers. I shouldn't have bothered.
I've rarely read such a slow moving book with so little to recommend it. The death mentioned on the back cover doesn't occur until about 150 pages into the book. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem, but the pacing of the book was just plain odd. Bond spent far too much time setting up Carlotta's story and too little actually advancing the story itself.
Carlotta is an interesting character, as is her brother Wesley. However, I've realized over the years that life is too short to waste on books that I don't enjoy (unless they're necessary for my diss), so I quit this one. Maybe someone else will love it. Sadly, I'm just not into it. -
Miss Bond, you and I are going to have a long relationship - well at least as long as the Body Movers continues!
Carlotta Wren and her then nine-year old brother were abandoned by their parents after her father was accused of embezzling funds from his clients and jumped bail with their mother. Carlotta's fiance broke off their engagement and any hopes for college were destroyed since Carlotta was now her brothers keeper.
Ten years pass. One night at a party, Carlotta runs into her ex-fiance, Peter Ashford, and it seems like there is an ember or two still burning in the ash pile that was once their romance.
A few days later, Peter's wife is found dead in their pool, a victim of an accidental drowning, however the police soon learn she was murdered and Peter is their number one suspect.
Carlotta is upset to discover Peter is a suspect. The head detective on the case, Jack Terry, is giving Carlotta a hard time after learning she was once engaged to Peter and the detective isn't too sure Carlotta didn't have something to do with the murder!
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This one had me going back and forth on my opinion... Most of the time, i found Carlotta to be sooo annoying. The writer is trying her hardest to make this heroine appear tough as nails under the surface, yet, her stupidity just had me going : 'Huh'? a lot of the times. It just didn't make sense to me and just ended up aggravating me. And everywhere she went, this woman just seemed to attract EVERY mans attention, to her absolute disgust... i mean cooome oooon...
The beginning was a bit of a drag but the story picked up after a while, and i really liked Coops character. Also the little cliff hanger at the end, always a nice touch... so yeah, just average in general.
I am a bit curious to know what would have come next - and i can see that this series goes on a couple of tomes, but, yeah... it's a 'not now" for me. -
This was a fun read. Fast paced and funny overall. I liked the characters and the plot - lots happening.
Only the ending didn't work for me. I like it when the main protag solves the puzzle and she was doing so good, but.... Also she didn't really change over the course of the story - she had a number of insecurities and weaknesses and I'd hoped by the end she'd grow. However, there is a second book (first one ends with a bit of a cliff hanger) so perhaps the author is waiting to show her character's growth in book 2.
Despite the ending, I will be reading the second book to see what happens with the characters :) -
Maybe I'm silly but it just seemed to me like the main character is just way too hung up on her brother. I got a decent ways into the book but I just wanted to smack the heroine for letting her brother rope her into such stuff. I know people in reality have family members that seem to drag them into their problems but I have enough of that going on in my own life. I suppose I just didn't want to have to read about it as well. I hear this series is really good, I guess just it was just the wrong time for me.
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What I thought would be a cute read (one I could suggest to Evanovich fans?) turned out not to be so. This is paced all wrong. Near the end of the first disc, this self-described "sexy mystery" has no spark of romance, no hint of mystery, and a main character that caused me to roll my eyes several times. Stronger elements may have been just out of reach, but readers shouldn't have to work so hard to get to the hook. I just don't care enough.
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This book was a lot better than I thought it would be. It has a really engaging female lead and the sexual tension is wonderful. An wonderful fun read!!
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I loved this book! Super funny, interesting characters and an engaging mystery. Looking forward to the next one.
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Carlotta Wren, amateur detective, is embroiled in a murder investigation. Angela Ashford, married to Carlotta's ex-boyfriend, Peter, (from 10 years ago) has been murdered. Carlotta feels that Peter is innocent and begins an investigation since she believes that the police aren't investigating properly.
Carlotta's brother, Wesley is having troubles with the law (computer hacking) and he's in deep with loan sharks (gambling). So Carlotta's got a lot on her plate not to mention the fact that her parents skipped town 10 years ago on an embezzlement charge and left her and her much younger brother to fend for themselves. Wesley gets a job working for a funeral home collecting dead bodies (hence the title) and his boss Cooper has the hots for Carlotta but unfortunately, Carlotta is hung up and Peter and ignores Coop.
Very exciting and action packed adventure -- the first in a series. I really enjoyed the characters in this book. The detective Jack Terry is funny with a dry sense of humor and interested in Carlotta regardless of the trouble she is in. Cooper is interesting in a macabre kind of way and interested in Carlotta. Her best friend Hannah is something else - piercings, 80s hair and loud and proud...too funny at times. Peter is an ass and hopefully this is the end of him in the series. -
Carlotta and Wesley are brother and sister. Carlotta has been Wesley's guardian ever since their parents disappeared. Wesley has always been mischievous, but this time he's outdone himself. When he is arrested and put on probation for hacking into the city's computer system, Carlotta thinks Wesley may finally change his ways. Part of his probation requires him to find a job. While it's not the most glamorous, body moving pays well. But when his job brings him to the home of Carlotta's ex-boyfriend, things really start to go wrong. Carlotta is even under suspicion for the murder. Will Carlotta be able to clear her name?
I have had this book on my TBR for a very long time. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but I really enjoyed this story. I don't think that I could ever be a part of a body moving service. I get queasy when I have to clean up my own kids vomit.
Carlotta and Wesley have lived in town all of their lives. They still live in the home they last lived in when their parents disappeared. Carlotta works for Nordstrom and tries her best to take care of Wesley, but he is reaching the age, where he should be able to take care of himself.
Ex-boyfriends, jealous wives, cigar smoking players, death, and a love interest. This book has it all and I can't wait to see what happens next with Carlotta and Wesley. -
What an hilarious, light, beach read. It is similar to the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. The main character works at Neiman's at Lenox Mall in Atlanta and I enjoyed all the references to areas I know well. The mystery and fast action make it a page turner and Carlotta always seems to be in the middle of something. This is just a fun read to take a break from all the serious reading. AS one book ends it jumps right into the next book. I ended up reading the 6 books so far in the series in 2 weeks time. Needless to say not much got done around the house. The sexual tension gets more explicit in the later books, which wasn't really necessary. The tension alone was more fun.
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Body Movers by Stephanie Bond would have earned a four star rating from me except for the fact that Carlotta's brother Wesley has to be one of the worst characters, let alone, brothers in the universe. Self-centered to the extreme, he's a messed-up excuse for a sibling (who supposedly loves his sister, who has sacrificed a lot to care for him since he was nine). Wesley's escapades nearly ruined my enjoyment of an otherwise light, quick read. Carlotta ought to try a little tough love and kick Wesley to the curb for any future installments of this series.
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Really good if you like murder mysteries! Fast read and a good cliff hanger at the end, can't wait to read the next!
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I’ll definitely be continuing with this series. -
I really enjoyed this. I liked the characters - you can't help but root for Carlotta. I'm looking forward to seeing how the relationships develop between all the characters in future books. The story was good and the mystery definitely kept me guessing.
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I'd been suffering from a book hangover and browsing through my selves, when I noticed a note on this book that I left unfinished. While I have been trying to save myself some time and frustration by removing books and series I no longer enjoy from my TBR, my OCD side is still less than happy with me for not finishing books.
Guess which side won this battle... I knew I'd find fault with any book I started at this point, and since I'd already started this one and had found enough faults to actually put it aside for quite some time, I figured it might be the right one to compliment my current mood, and it didn't exactly disappoint.
I was drawn to the description of the book initially, but the story veers off from it pretty early on and doesn't return to the path I was expecting it would take. The heroine is not one I could particularly identify with and her tenacity, among other things, annoyed me at times, but she does remain consistent throughout so there's that.
The resolution of the mystery is not something I saw coming, which is another thing in the positives column, and so is the relationship between the siblings. They both love one another and try their best, despite their flaws and bad judgement that sometimes causes problems between them.
I was also intrigued by a couple of the men that could turn into romantic interests, but am less than impressed with the one the heroine gave her attention to. .
The story ends with a number of unresolved issues, to which are added, but I'm not sure if I'll ever get to the next one in the series,
2 Bodies for the Price of 1. Then again my OCD side might win again at some point in the future. Who knows...
Apr 06, 2015:
A lot less light than the description would have you think. More than halfway through and I don't particularly care to see what happens next.
On hold for now. -
Initial Impressions 4/29/12: Hmm, I'd actually say 3.5 stars for this one. I really did enjoy most of it, but I just kept feeling slightly let down at the end of the book. I wasn't quite sure I liked the way the mystery was resolved, but there were some really enjoyable characters in the book and I'm very interested to see how Carlotta's relationships develop in the next couple books! Also, I want to see them get more involved in the body-moving business. I had the impression that this was already the family business so I was caught off guard that it wasn't, so maybe that will take off in the next book.
Full review originally posted on The Book Addict's Guide: Well, this was enjoyable, but I do have to say that I was hoping for better. Maybe since there were three possible romances, I really wanted one of them to start panning out. Coop’s lust for Carlotta is just a crush, she’s hopping back on the Peter-train against her better judgment, and I personally was also rooting for the detective (as well as Coop) just because she seemed to hate him so much that she liked him. As for the murder mystery, well played out, but still not quite the ending I wanted it to have. Carlotta does some good sleuthing and like any good mystery heroine, hunts down her own clues instead of leaving it to the professionals! Very good with that side of the novel, but I was even still just mildly disappointed with who ended up being the murderer here. Somehow just not satisfying. Maybe I was also led on by the fact that it was called Body Movers and I just expected all of the characters to be involved in the title business and not just her brothers happening upon it. Oh well. I did still like the characters that were introduced and I’d like to continue on in the series! -
Carlotta is barely keeping it together. Ten years ago her parents were under indictment for embezzlement when they skipped town, leaving 18 year old Carlotta to raise her nine year old geeky brother Wesley. Her fiance dumped her and married someone else in her former social class.
Now she works on commission at Neiman Marcus, serving her former fiance's rich bitch of a wife, and trying to keep her brother safe from loan sharks. Wesley is arrested for hacking and her tenuous finances become more strained as she deals with collectors, murder, her former fiance, a cop with a professional interest in her parents' disappearance and other interests in her own pretty self. When the wife is murdered, life becomes more complicated as Carlotta tries to find sense in life, to find the murder, and to just survive. Oh yeah, and Wesley's on parole with a real job picking up bodies for the morgue, working with another hunky man with a past.
Charming, engaging, absurd, and believable. Everyone has secrets they keep badly and try as hard as they can to survive and thrive in this chick lit, comedy, mystery. -
Body Movers was a fantastic read. Carlotta and her brother Wesley Wren are abandoned by their parents 10 years earlier, because her father did not want to go to jail for embezzlement! Carlotta is now in her early 30's and working at Neiman Marcus as a personal shopper for the rich and spoiled! Wesley is 19 years old and always getting into some kind of trouble. This time he gets arrested for hacking in the City Hall computers, presumably to fix some traffic tickets for his friend. He is placed on probation and he must make restitution of $5,000 and do community service. Wesley thinks he is this great card player, but he borrows more then he can pay back, which brings some shady characters to his and his sister's house. When Carlotta tells Wesley that he must get a regular job, that gives a regular paycheck and health benefits, Wesley answers an ad as a Body Mover. The fun begins once you open the book! Two of the rich and spoiled wind up dead, one looks like an accident and the other is classified as murder! You will not be able to put this book down, for fear you might miss something that just could be juicy!!!
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Looking forward to reading the rest of this series!
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Body movers
Good read. Fast pace. Humor and mystery. Character could be a little less obsessed with clothes and shoes but, otherwise excellent. -
Very entertaining easy read, great plot twists to keep you hooked!
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Rating: very subjectively BAD, a bit less subjectively TBA
I am not very familiar with chick lit and cozy mysteries but it sure is not what I expected. Hard to rate a book when basically these kind of stories make no sense to me whatsoever?
But I have to say the characters were pretty well fleshed although very much unlikable. Wes was an irresponsible jackass that forgot to grow up and Carlotta had a tough life but made sure it couldn't go better. And for broke people, there was an incredible amount of money going hand to hand and a lot of facepalm on my part. -
I've been on a mystery/suspense kick lately and was intrigued by the storyline. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the book and can't wait to read the next one.
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Enjoyed the book very much. First book by the author. Enjoyed the narrator’s voice. Liked the story line.
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I enjoyed parts of the book, but was unhappy about the mystery and its solution. If I say anymore, I'll spoil it. I liked it well enough to try another in the series.
