Title: Original
Sin – A Sally Sin Novel
Author: Beth McMullen
Review: Sally Sin is an Ex-USAWMD (United States
Agency for Weapons of Mass Destruction) aka Spy for the United States. Sally is now Lucy Hamilton, a stay-at-home mom
in San Francisco and no one knows her past not even her husband.
Sally Sin\Lucy used to
be a trained spy and killer but now she is a stay-at-home mom to Theo and
instead of tracking terrorist though the jungle or desert she is chasing around
a 3 year old who is a potty training toilet tourist. Lucy's old boss Simon has decided he needs
Sally Sin\Lucy back but Lucy rejects him several time because she gave that
world up. Simon insist and informs Sally Sin\Lucy she only needs to stand
around doing mommy things while waiting to be kidnapped by the worlds deadly
terrorist Mr. Blackford.
Lucy is married to a
save the world green husband who is from a wealthy family. The author kind of
flushed out Sally\Lucy's husband but not enough leaving that, the only part of
story flat. I hope in the next book the
author flushes out her husband a bit more so the reader can care about the
family as much as the reader cares about Sally\Lucy.
I do not want to give
away any spoilers but the reader only figures things out when Lucy does.
The authors different
characters in the book are all very colorful. Simon Sally\Lucy's old boss,
Simon puts her in situation where Sally\Lucy will either sink or swim. Mr.
Blackford is a dark but interesting character because though out the book he
kidnaps Sally\Lucy but you can never figure out if he is going to killer her.
Beth McMullen had me
laughing so hard because I am a stay-at-home mom and I could see myself in the
story with getting down and dirty playing with kids, not taking a shower for
three days and the best of all wearing the same jeans for days in a row without
realizing it. The story is fast paced
and makes the reader unable to put the book down until the wee hours of the
morning. Original Sin is so much fun
that putting the book down to make dinner was such a chore that dinner ended up
being chicken nuggets and leftovers.
There is quite a lot
of language in the book but sometimes it make for humor when her 3 year old son
repeats a swear word in front of her neighbor, a retired British
journalist.
Beth McMullen was able
to mix the adventures of a stay-at-home mom with her past adventures creating a
character that most women will be able to relate to and care about. I truly laughed out loud so many times I had
people staring at me and my kids constantly asking me what was so funny. I am so excited to read the next book in the
series Spy Mom: The Adventures of Sally Sin.
It’s so hard to find an author who can mix adventure with the real world
and Beth McMullen did it in a amazing way.
Original sin is a laugh out loud book for Stay-At-Home moms who love
adventure but only get to play at the park, on the floor of their house or
sitting in line picking up their kids at school.
Thanks Heidi for this review.
Publisher: Published July 12th 2011 by Hyperion
ISBN:
9781401324216
Copyright: 2011
Pages: 304
Quick Review: 5 stars (out of 5)-
Why I Read It:
Purchased on my Kindle.
Synopsis: "Smart,
sassy, sexy Sally Sin is an absolute delight of a heroine whom I predict will
be around delighting readers for a very long time. And her first adventure,
"Original Sin, " is pure entertainment gold." --John Lescroart,
author of the "New York Times" bestselling Dismas Hardy novels After
falling in love and making a quick exit from her nine-year career in the USAWMD
(United States Agency for Weapons of Mass Destruction), ex-spy Sally Sin does
her best to become Lucy Hamilton, a stay-at-home mom in San Francisco. No one,
not even her adoring husband Will, knows about her secret agent
escapades--chasing no-good masterminds through perilous jungles, escaping evil
assassins, and playing dangerous games of cat and mouse with her old nemesis,
Ian Blackford, a notorious and dashing illegal arms dealer. In her new life as
Lucy Hamilton, she squeezes inside forts crafted from couch cushions by her
three-year-old son Theo, makes organic applesauce, and frequents the zoo. But
sometimes her well-honed spy reflexes refuse to lay low. She can't help
breaking into her own house to check on the babysitter or stop herself from
tossing the yoga instructor who gets on her nerves. And when Ian Blackford, who
is supposed to be dead, once again starts causing trouble for the USAWMD, the
agency becomes desperate to get Sally back on the job. How can Sally or Lucy or
whatever her name is save the planet while at the same time keeping her own
family's world from spinning out of controlEvery bit as much fun as a spy-mom
thriller ought to be, "Original Sin "is a fast-paced adventure story
for mothers and spies, and anyone who has ever dreamed about being either.
Author Biography: Beth
McMullen used to have a normal life. Until she had kids. Then, everything
changed. She has channeled her often hilarious and sometimes distressing
experience with parenting into two novels that tell the tale of a life she is
definitely not leading. The title of her upcoming release (Hyperion, June 12,
2012) says it all: Spy Mom, the story of a stay at home mom who used to be a
spy.
The idea of a San
Francisco mother with a secret life was born about six months after Beth’s son.
Thinking ‘how hard can it be?’ she left a job in Silicon Valley for full time
mothering. Well, we all know the answer to that question, don’t we? Had she
realized at the time it would be a while until she spoke to adults again about anything
other than diapers, organic baby food and the odd, sometimes embarrassing
effects of chronic sleep deprivation, she probably still would have opted for
the baby. He was really cute, after all.
But right around the
time when that cute baby learned to sit up, Beth realized she was frequently
checking under the bed for where she might have left her sanity. Thinking it
was probably important for her son to have a mother who hadn’t lost all of her
marbles before he even started to drive, she decided to go back to work.
Two years later,
Original Sin was acquired by Hyperion and published in July 2011. The sequel,
Spy Mom, will be released June 12, 2012.
Other Reviews:
Thanks for linking this in to Books You Loved, Lisa. Have a good week.
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