It’s high time I posted some more reviews – I am SO far behind! I read this one months ago, and somehow missed reviewing it at the time. I only realised I hadn’t done so, when I finished reading book #3 in the series over Christmas, and took a look at my past reviews to find #2 missing!
To rectify that, here’s my review of Book #2
A Vet Vanishes by N.M. Howell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A Vet Vanishes is the second book in the Cats, Ghosts and Avocado Toast novels – a fun, light-hearted, reverse harem series.
Price, her hot trio of sometimes-men-sometimes-house-cats, and Agatha, the ghost of the old witch with the bad attitude, are settling into life together. It isn’t always smooth, but things are looking up for Price now she’s no longer a murder suspect. That is, until her friend, local vet, Tracy, vanishes.
There are other disappearances to add to the mix, and why is Salem suddenly overrun by stray cats?
With a bunch of dodgy suspects, unhelpful police, and no guarantee that her cohorts won’t suddenly turn furry at inconvenient moments, Price is up to her neck in another mystery she can’t let go.
Finn, Tom and Pussy (who still won’t admit to a human name) are slowly developing as they begin to unpick their pasts, which might lead to answers about why Agatha cursed them to become cats in the first place. Some of the situations Price and her men/moggies get into are truly hilarious, and, like the first book, I found myself smiling along at the silliness of it all, while still wanting to read on and find out the answer to the central mystery.
The characters and dialogue are great, the men are hot, and the ghost is as snarky and deliberately inopportune with the timing of her appearances as in book one. I just wish the authors had taken the time for better proof reading – there are quite a few extra and missing words left over from editing, which I find disappointing in an otherwise well-written novel.
These books really should be read in order. Although each has a complete mystery which wraps up by the end, the character development is ongoing over the series, as is the slow burn romance, and the building number of hints about secrets and future reveals I’m looking forward to reading.
I went straight on to buy the next one, so this is a series I will continue to recommend for those who enjoy a fun paranormal romp filled with plenty of inuendo and a healthy dollop of humour.
Find my review of book #1, A Thrift Shop Murder, HERE
Find A VET VANISES on Amazon HERE
Proofreading
I’d love to know how much the editing/proofreading of a book affects your enjoyment if the story is good?
I know I find proofreading mistakes distracting, and it’s rare to find a completely clean book, even from a traditional publishing house, but I’m interested in whether it puts you off reading next in series.
I notice that some of my own reviews specifically mention the lack of proof errors in my books (so far), but as I approach my next release (fingers crossed for March, yay!) I’m feeling a little paranoid about the subject, as I’ve set myself quite a tight schedule, and I know it takes time to pick up on those pesky, tiny mistakes.
Or is this more of an author thing, than a reader thing? What’s your experience?
deborahjay 
Good review. The title (about a Vet) caught my attention, with two kids in the military! But I was off target.
Editing errors do annoy me. I have one author who has horrendous errors constantly in his books but I’ve read 35 books in his series! He’s that good of a storyteller. So I’d say, you better have something else going on to get past editing errors!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I can understand how you were caught off guard by the title. For me, as someone who works with animals, t’s the other way around.
Sounds like we have the same opinion, but wow, 35 books even with terrible errors – you clearly like his stories! I have noticed that’s my approach too, which is a shame in a way, as it seems to be condoning the errors. On the other hand, if they’re popular, voting by not buying their next book isn’t going to register, is it?
I did offer these authors a list of proof errors after I read the first book, which they thanked me for. Unfortunately they don’t seem to be that bothered about making corrections 😦
LikeLike
Bad editing can be a distraction, but as a writer myself I know how easy it is to not-see my own errors online. I can only speculate that things might get worse the more we rely on online editing programs…it is just nothing like editing hard copies…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Too true, it just sometimes seems to me that some authors aren’t as dedicated to trying to produce clean copy as they might be. On one author’s FB group I belong to, said author moaned about a reader who criticised her for typos, and stated that she felt the existence of ‘only 10 typos’ in a 90K word book was reasonable.
I’m mortified if I find more than 2 in my 125K books.
I guess everyone’s values are different.
LikeLike