Review: Nice Girls Don't Live Forever by Molly Harper

I really enjoyed the first two books in this series, Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs and Nice Girls Don't Date Dead Men. This book was my favorite of the three. I loved this book - nonstop laughs and an interesting story, and lots of my favorite character, Dick Cheney. I'm only going to say this once (maybe): I love Dick. We see a side of him in this book only hinted at in the previous two books. I could write this whole review around Dick, but I'll behave.

As Nice Girls Don't Live Forever opens, Jane and Gabriel (her sire) are on a European vacation; it's not going well. Gabriel is acting weird, and at every hotel they stop at there's a fancy linen envelope waiting for him at the front desk. It's upsetting Gabriel and he won't tell Jane why. He's keeping her out all night and their sex life is in the toilet. Jane knows he's having an affair, and when she sees one of the letters torn up in the wastebasket, she pieces it together while Gabriel is in the shower and she reads it. It is from another woman (vampire) and Jane is devastated. She leaves to come back to the USA immediately and Gabriel doesn't try to stop her; that upsets her more.

Back in her hometown, Jane takes comfort in her friends - Andrea, Dick, Zeb, and Jolene. Andrea is working at the bookstore with Jane, and Dick "helps out". (One of my favorite parts of the book was when Dick took Jane for a "guys night out" to get over Gabriel.) Jolene is pregnant and Zeb is having "I'm not ready to be a father issues". Jolene's werewolf family is making it hard for them to have a house built away from the werewolf compound and both families are getting crazy about the impending birth.

It was fun to watch Jane settle back into her life without Gabriel. She joins the Chamber of Commerce and meets "the Courtneys". Dick's great-great-great grandson comes into the bookstore and decides to stay, making attempts to wrestle it away from her, and Jane has to deal with him because Dick and Mr. Wainwright refuse to deal with their progeny. Weird things are happening - there was a break-in at the bookstore and someone throws stink-fruit at her house. Then Jane starts getting threatening letters and photos, and someone makes an attempt on her life. Gabriel's come back to try to patch things up but is he sincere? He still won't tell Jane what's going on.

There is so much going on in this book it's impossible to get bored. Between seeing Jane's relationship with her mother and sister grow, Zeb and Jolene's pre-birth fiascos, the crazy Courtneys at the Chamber, Jane's relationship with Gabriel, the mysterious letter-writer, and Dick and Andrea's attempts to cheer Jane up, this book kept me turning the page to find out what was next.

Jane is as snarky as ever:

After she sips some coffee: "Gah! That's awful! My cousin Muriel isn't that bitter and she has two gay ex-husbands...who now live together."

When asking a werewolf about her pregnancy: "...Can you still transform? Are werewolf babies born able to transform? Do you give birth in a big cardboard box with towels in it?"

If you haven't started this series yet - do it!!! I really hope they give Ms. Harper a new contract for more books - I give Nice Girls Don't Life Forever 5 stars.