Miranda Parker's A Good Excuse to be Bad ~ Reviewed

A Good Excuse to be Bad

By Miranda Parker

Published by Kensington Publishers Corp

ISBN#978-0-7582-5950-9

323 Pages

Back Cover:

REVIEW: I enjoyed the review copy of this novel for a number of reasons. First, Angel, the main character is feisty, a tough, smart single mom. She was a bounty hunter with a few tricks up her sleeves. I liked her honesty and spunk. Angel was trying to do the best for her and her daughter. A bail recovery agent was hard work but she also didn’t have to punch a clock from 9-5p.m.

Second reason I liked this book is Angel’s honesty about the church and her life. She knows it’s best to be there, but she sits on the back pew ready to run out the door as soon as the sermon was over. She liked Jesus and all but it was the Christians she had issues with. Especially the ones at her sister’s mega church where her brother-in-law was the pastor. Her twin sister referred to her husband as, “the Bishop…any woman who refers to her husband as a job title had issues!” Angel tried to tell her sister something wasn’t quite right with that church but she didn’t listen. Her sister distanced herself from her and the entire family, which is never good.

Angel had been a reporter and did a story on her sisters Mega Church and how they used their money. That’s when troubles started between her sister and her husband, the Bishop.

Angel was fun to read about, and I enjoyed her search for God, love and her search for a way to support her child that wasn’t so dangerous.

She sat on the back pew for another reason, the Pastor. She liked what Justus had to say but, “His words, his tone of judgment in them was why she sat on the back pew in the first place… I wanted to wrestle my own demons in my own time, especially what happened to Bella’s daddy.” Another reason she didn’t want to talk with Justus personally was the way she felt about him. She wanted to stay clear away from feelings like that for a man. She wasn’t pastor’s wife material.  Her feelings would pass, they had to. No way was she going to love someone with her whole heart and have them die on her again.

Miranda Parker pens a fun, suspenseful story with a smart strong single mom doing her best to provide for her daughter Bella. This author takes the reader on a mysterious ride as she keeps them guessing as to who killed a prominent religious leader in their community.

I enjoyed the suspense and the cat and mouse game Justus and Angel played with each other. Justus wants to help Angel in her investigation into the murder of a pastor! That’s where the fun begins!

This book leaves the reader hanging and waiting for Book two. Where you’ll know who sent the note Angel reads at the end of the book and how it just might lead her to Bella’s daddy, Gabe’s murderer. Readers won’t have to wait too ling. The Sequel is called, Someone Bad, Something Blue out July 2012, from Daphne Books.

Nora St.Laurent

The Book Club Network

www.bookfun.org