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writings_of_a_reader's review
2.0
"YOU CAN'T PICK YOUR FAMILY... "
In 'Scuse Me While I Kill This Guy, the main character Virginia (Gin) Bombay belongs to a family of assassins. In the Bombay family there is no leaving the family business unless you want to die.
"BUT YOU CAN PICK THEM OFF."
A family meeting is called and usually this only takes place if one of the family members is in big trouble, like they betrayed the family kind of trouble, and that usually means one of the other family members will be chosen to carry out the assassination. Yeah, real warm and fuzzy family we have here...
I went into this book hoping that it was truly laugh out loud funny, maybe like Mr. and Mrs. Smith was funny, especially after she meets a guy who claims to be a bodyguard, which is what she uses as her cover. There was so much potential there. He could have been secretly working against her or something, but unfortunately that wasn't the case.
With the exception of one paragraph about Chia Pets with supersonic listening devices, this book didn't make me laugh at all. I know I was supposed to find the main character's inner monologue about the hot guy she had just started dating funny but to me it was just cheesy (and the insta-love thing ugh!). I was probably also supposed to laugh at the first names of the whole Bombay family in which every one of them is named after a place, like Uncle Lou whose name is Louisiana (who would do that to a guy?), or cousin Missi. That's short for Mississippi in case you couldn't figure that out. The whole name thing might have started out mildly amusing, but it got old and repetitive after a while, which resulted in me rolling my eyes every time a new relative was named.
However, my biggest problem with this book beyond it not being funny was the fact that the Bombays were all forced to start training to become assassins at the age of 5 and Gin's daughter is now turning 5. If there was anything funny about this book, it would have been trumped by this as I just couldn't stand the thought of training 5 year olds to be killers and there was no way the book could make this seem ok to me. Also Gin suddenly realizes her daughter is turning 5 and kind of freaks out about it because, oh my goodness she forgot her daughter was going to have to start her assassin training. I'm pretty sure that any real mother would have been thinking about that for years.
So overall this was a letdown and it seems I'm still looking for a really funny, lighthearted mystery. This is a series but I will not be continuing with it.
Review also posted at Writings of a Reader
In 'Scuse Me While I Kill This Guy, the main character Virginia (Gin) Bombay belongs to a family of assassins. In the Bombay family there is no leaving the family business unless you want to die.
"BUT YOU CAN PICK THEM OFF."
A family meeting is called and usually this only takes place if one of the family members is in big trouble, like they betrayed the family kind of trouble, and that usually means one of the other family members will be chosen to carry out the assassination. Yeah, real warm and fuzzy family we have here...
I went into this book hoping that it was truly laugh out loud funny, maybe like Mr. and Mrs. Smith was funny, especially after she meets a guy who claims to be a bodyguard, which is what she uses as her cover. There was so much potential there. He could have been secretly working against her or something, but unfortunately that wasn't the case.
With the exception of one paragraph about Chia Pets with supersonic listening devices, this book didn't make me laugh at all. I know I was supposed to find the main character's inner monologue about the hot guy she had just started dating funny but to me it was just cheesy (and the insta-love thing ugh!). I was probably also supposed to laugh at the first names of the whole Bombay family in which every one of them is named after a place, like Uncle Lou whose name is Louisiana (who would do that to a guy?), or cousin Missi. That's short for Mississippi in case you couldn't figure that out. The whole name thing might have started out mildly amusing, but it got old and repetitive after a while, which resulted in me rolling my eyes every time a new relative was named.
However, my biggest problem with this book beyond it not being funny was the fact that the Bombays were all forced to start training to become assassins at the age of 5 and Gin's daughter is now turning 5. If there was anything funny about this book, it would have been trumped by this as I just couldn't stand the thought of training 5 year olds to be killers and there was no way the book could make this seem ok to me. Also Gin suddenly realizes her daughter is turning 5 and kind of freaks out about it because, oh my goodness she forgot her daughter was going to have to start her assassin training. I'm pretty sure that any real mother would have been thinking about that for years.
So overall this was a letdown and it seems I'm still looking for a really funny, lighthearted mystery. This is a series but I will not be continuing with it.
Review also posted at Writings of a Reader
ssfoster95's review
5.0
I don't know why I waited so long to read this series by Leslie I absolutely love her Merry Wrath series and this Bombay Assassin's series is every bit as good. I find myself laughing out loud often and an on the edge of my seat just waiting to see what happens next. I just can't read her books fast enough.
read_n_chill's review against another edition
Too much soccermom, too little assassin-action. Kinda boring.
stbeaners's review
1.0
This was a terrible book, 1.5 because a story did occur, and there were many opportunities for it to be a fun, badass assassin woman book. It just never became that. (Spoiler, it’s also not even close to a romance - which doesn’t bother me other than I’d have maybe given it more credit for committing to a thing). The opportunities were why I saw it through - but I won’t recommend it.
I like another reviewer’s comment that was spot on re: end of book: “She never has to do the thing she’s actually competent at again, despite the fact that she didn’t lose much sleep over it before and only felt bad because the hunky guy she’s bedding was upset.”
I like another reviewer’s comment that was spot on re: end of book: “She never has to do the thing she’s actually competent at again, despite the fact that she didn’t lose much sleep over it before and only felt bad because the hunky guy she’s bedding was upset.”
pn_hinton's review
3.0
I had gotten this book a few years ago when it was a freebie and just recently got around to reading it in what will hopefully be my year of putting a decent dent in my TBR. It was cute and entertaining enough even though I wouldn’t call it her best work. There were some predictable elements in there, such as the villain and I found that the ending was a bit too ‘neat’ considering the family’s vocation. However, her trademark humor was still here, and I did laugh at loud at a couple of parts.
One thing that was initially confusing for me is I read the short story Have Yourself a Deadly Little Christmas already, so the change of narrator threw me since I wasn’t aware that different stories have different ones. However one thing to call out is that the writing style did mature from this book to that story, so I would imagine that the rest of the series is the same, which is reassuring if I decide to pick it up.
While not my favorite series by her so far, it was still enjoyable and is a nice way to spend an afternoon with a comfy blanket and beverage of your choice. If nothing else it will make you snort at least once or twice however I do find her later works to be more enjoyable all around.
One thing that was initially confusing for me is I read the short story Have Yourself a Deadly Little Christmas already, so the change of narrator threw me since I wasn’t aware that different stories have different ones. However one thing to call out is that the writing style did mature from this book to that story, so I would imagine that the rest of the series is the same, which is reassuring if I decide to pick it up.
While not my favorite series by her so far, it was still enjoyable and is a nice way to spend an afternoon with a comfy blanket and beverage of your choice. If nothing else it will make you snort at least once or twice however I do find her later works to be more enjoyable all around.
shaekin's review
3.0
The writing style was fun, characters were fun and snarky with interesting relationships, the basic idea was unique with a lot of potential, so good base to begin from. One major problem is the love story was incredibly unbelievable (no one falls in love that fast and certainly not with all they had to overcome. It was actually kind of creepy, not cute and romantic). The bad guy was pretty predictable which also ruined some of the suspense. I think that the author will definitely get better in time, so I'm willing to try another one of these books, but not rushing out to add the whole series to my list just yet.
tmedwards's review
4.0
I have been reading this book on and off for months now. It's a really funny read, and sometimes it's nice to just have a laugh while reading a not-so-serious book.
marbles66's review
4.0
Gin Bombay is your typical soccer-mom/assassin, trying to balance killing bad guys with PTA meetings.
This was a good book. A little on the silly side but enjoyable.
This was a good book. A little on the silly side but enjoyable.
cynpra1520's review
4.0
I have had this book for a long time and this is the first time I read it. Loved it! Turns out its first in a series about a family of assassins. Humorous just the way I like it without making the characters dumb or mean, just improbable. Off to read the next one.
jayceeash's review
4.0
I bought this book because it was offered as one of the discount books on Amazon and I thought it would be something different to try. I was so very pleasantly surprised! It had great characters, funny, quick jabs, overall great! It was a fast read where the storyline flowed smooth. Such a wonderful read and I can't wait to read the others in the series!