Julie Moffett

No One Lives Twice

Colleen

3 Stars
 
*A corny yet entertaining Chicklit spy story*
 
The story stars Lexi Carmichael, a computer analyst for the NSA, whose biggest problem is avoiding blind dates set up by her mother. That is until Lexi tries to help out a friend and ends up in the middle of some international intrigue.
 
The story isn’t anything groundbreaking. It was entertaining, but simple. It did start to drag towards the end. There was a plethora of hot, mysterious guys which is nice on the one hand, for aesthetic reasons. But on the other, it lacked focus because none of them had much character development (mostly due to trying to keep them mysterious), and I had no idea whether I was supposed to root for any of them to develop a relationship with the main character. Maybe that is something that is developed more in the rest of the series.
 
One of my dislikes about this book is due to a personal pet peeve: the author’s use of punctuation. She never uses the Oxford comma! That drives me nuts! And it was so noticeable, because she frequently included lists. Moffett also often left out the commas on compound sentences as well. Yes, yes, I am that person who can be a total grammar snob. I don’t care what the Twitter-deadened masses want; use correct punctuation, you heavens!
 
Another issue I had with No One Lives Twice was that Lexi is an extremely insecure heroine who nonetheless is swarmed by hot guys. I get that Lexi lacks confidence, but her self-image is pretty toxic. She constantly compares herself to her former-beauty queen mother. And despite being 5’11” and only 134 pounds (definitely underweight!), she is always dieting, worrying about her weight, and chastising herself for every food indulgence. And it isn’t like the author was making any points about self-acceptance. Her character’s insecurities are reinforced. I’m tired of the same old toxic tropes – particularly when it comes to gorgeous women who don’t know they are gorgeous, and refuse to accept it, and need men to constantly reassure them. Yuck.
 
Other small grievances include her claim that less than 5% of Americans even know the NSA exists and factual errors about martial arts. There were some other things along those lines, but those were the two that stuck out the most. I have my doubts about all of the computer and hacking info too.
 
The story was entertaining enough, but so rough around the edges. I haven’t decided whether or not I’ll check out the sequel. These are probably fine if you want the coziest possible spy story, but they do lack realism and depth.
 
Oh, it’s published by Harlequin… that explains a lot.


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 4 Stars
Writing Style: 3 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 3 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 3 Stars
Level of Captivation: 3 Stars
Originality: 3 Stars

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No One Lives Twice

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