Tiger's Eye (A Stacy Justice Mystery Book 3)

I love reading this series of books. They are whimsy,funny, entertaining, they make me laugh out loud. The story lines, the characters, and of course the faithful familiar Thor. Can't wait for another story!!!!

I wasn't expecting a "magical" storyline when I chose this book. I had not read her previous ones. But, it held my interest and I especially liked the humor carefully placed. It wasn't an over the top vampire, or silly magical stuff which I don't like at all. Just enough to keep you interested.

I have recommended this series to friends as a light hearted read with a twist. There is this zany young witch who finds herself in all sorts of trouble and this provides the story line to keep you intrigued throughout.

The Stacey Justice books are an easy quick read. I enjoy how they pick up where the previous book left off. The three crazy aunts are always up to something. If your looking for something fun, this would be for you.

The Stacey Justice books are an easy quick read. I enjoy how they pick up where the previous book left off. The three crazy aunts are always up to something. If your looking for something fun, this would be for you.

Reading Tiger's Eye (Stacy Justice #3) felt like running an obstacle course. Instead of everything flowing naturally to the finish line, I felt like I was constantly jumping over tangents and trying to maneuver through a tangle of subplots just to figure out where I was going. And, as much as I wanted to love this book, I found it frustrating and exhausting.

The second book, Bloodstone, ended in a cliffhanger when Stacy receives a mysterious phone call telling her that her father's death wasn't an accident, he was murdered.

With that kind of earth shattering news, I totally expected to pick up Tiger's Eye and be launched into a fast-paced plot where Stacy tracks down her father's killer. I mean, she is the supposed "seeker of justice" after all. Instead, Tiger's Eye opened up with charity softball game, and the only thing Stacy was seeking was to connect her bat with the ball and, afterward, get in a little "me time."

Alright, so it wasn't exactly the dynamite beginning I expected, but I figured Stacy would be back on the case of finding the person who murdered her father soon enough.

WARNING: Plot Analysis. If you don't want to know anything that happens in the book, you may want to stop reading.
------------

But then she couldn't find Thor, her Great Dane and familiar, and decided the appropriate action to take would be to perform an enchantment in a wide open field that would bring Thor back home. Okay, so she was a little tipsy. Of course, the spell goes awry and ends up attracting all kinds of animals, including those from a nearby pet cemetery. Thor returns, accompanied by a beautiful Collie that appears to be sick. Stacy takes the animal to her Aunt Fiona, a witch and, apparently, animal whisperer. Meanwhile, after leaving the Collie, Stacy is taking a leisurely swim at the lake when she's dragged below the surface by the ghost of a man who had been drowned in that very spot. Now she has to solve that mystery.

Oh, and I almost forget, there's that whole thing about her dad being murdered. I'm sure she'll get to it, eventually. It wasn't just all the sub-plots that made this book frustrating, it was the lack of dedication to any of them. For example, when Stacy goes to see what Aunt Fiona learned about the Collie (her name is Keesha), the plot digresses into a long story about Aunt Lolly and how, more than 50 years ago, she was supposed to get married but the groom disappeared. Uhm, okay?

And I haven't even mentioned the whole tiger that sparked the Tiger's Eye title. That's another one.

About 200 pages into the book (it's only 279 pages long), Stacy finally gets around to discovering some documents left behind by her father that could lead to his killer, so what does she do? She puts them aside to go pee on a stick with her cousin, who suspects she's pregnant. She actually says, "Since the folder had been tucked away for all this time, I guess it couldn't hurt to wait one more day."

In a good mystery novel, this would be the point the story would be heating up and preparing for the climax. It obviously didn't bother Stacy, but I was tired of waiting. When the climax finally does happen, it was so abrupt and convoluted that I had to go back and read pages over and over again because I couldn't understand what was happening or why it was happening. I kept thinking I missed something, but I eventually gave up and figured either I wasn't smart enough to figure it out or it truly didn't make sense. Either way, it wasn't all that exciting.

Then there was the issue of Stacy. She refuses to tell Leo about the call she received because she thinks he'll stop her from investigating, to the point where, as further events unfold, her withholding of information becomes more like obstruction of justice -- all because she wants to solve her father's murder (whenever she gets around to it). Of course, she runs right to Leo's office to investigate a license plate number when someone almost hits Keesha in the vet parking lot. (Did I mention the license plate number was caught by Thor who was wearing spy goggles? But that's another tangent...)

But Tiger's Eye did have a few cute moments I loved the canine story line. As always, I love Thor, but I'm a sucker for big puppies. I also liked Thor #2, a feisty chihuahua with a grudge against Stacy. I actually wish more of the plot would've focused on Keesha.
-----------------------------

I genuinely like Annino's writing and slightly-snarky sense of humor. I thought it was great in the first two books, so I feel like maybe this was just an awkward book with too much going on. I'm hoping for much better in the next installment of the series, Emerald Isle, which is scheduled for release in July 2013. Given the name, I'm guessing it will focus on Stacy rescuing her mother.