Review: The Girl Whose Luck Ran Out

The Girl Whose Luck Ran Out by Gayleen Froese

Rating: 5 stars
Buy Link: Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Length: Novel (~212 pages)

I really liked this book. Ben is a private detective, who was once a cop. He was blackmailed into quitting the force because of reasons (I won’t spoil you, but I do think he was dumb to have put himself in that situation). But generally, he’s a good guy. Jesse is his ex who is now a super star musician. And he’s pretty good too. I like it when my characters aren’t jerks.

Ben is asked to find a missing girl and Jesse joins in, (who is sick, so can’t perform) helping where he can. Both of their past angst and issues come out through the story, a way to show the characters are slightly broken so they can heal each other. I wasn’t as into that, but I loved the teamwork, Jesse’s fun confident manner, and Ben’s surety. The mystery plot and the romance plot both continued steadily throughout the book. Also, social media is evil.

They mystery is followed through naturally. I felt the steps made sense based on the clues he was given. There were a few red herrings and great secondary characters. I was worried for Kim and had my heart squeezed by the end of the story.

The title connection with the girl’s reason for being missing I thought was great. Tricksy and lovely.

The attraction between the two exes was great and expected in this kind of story. I like that they had a past so it wasn’t an instalove.

I was pushed out of the story on two occasions. Both, when the author’s opinions/politics came to the forefront. I skimmed both politics discussion and anti-depressant discussion. Didn’t even read those sections and found when the discussion ended and started again, because I was enjoying the story. But other readers might not even notice.

Definitely recommended for those who like to follow mysteries, enjoy engaging characters, and second chance romances.

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I asked Gaylene to let us know more about her, and she agreed to be interviewed! So let’s get to know this great author of a fun detective series.

 

I’m a mystery writer who lives in Edmonton, Canada with a house full of pets, including three dogs and a three-foot tegu lizard named Marlowe. My housemate, Laird Ryan States, is also an author. Marlowe hasn’t written anything yet. They say everyone has a book in them but it’s possible this doesn’t apply to lizards.

I have two previously published books, Touch and Grayling Cross. The Girl Whose Luck Ran Out is my first book with DSP Publications and the first in a series. If you’re looking for me online, my website is gayleenfroese.com and I’m on Twitter @gayleenfroese

Are you promoting a book now? Tell us about it.

I’m promoting my new detective novel, The Girl Whose Luck Ran Out. I met the main characters, Ben and Jesse, in a dream, which is how I usually meet the characters I end up writing about. The book is set it, in part, in a real place called Dead Man’s Flats. It used to be called Pigeon Mountain and it got its new name in 1985 because someone thought it would encourage tourism. I think, if a town is going to have a name like that, it should earn it.

The Girl Whose Luck Ran Out is the story of a P.I. named Ben Ames, who’s looking for a missing university student. It’s also the story of Ben’s musician ex-boyfriend Jesse, who gets pneumonia on tour and crashes at Ben’s house, then winds up coming along for the ride while Ben works the case. There’s nothing better than a long highway drive for aggressively not discussing your failed relationship. There’s also nothing better than getting everything you think you want for making you question the whole idea of luck.

The trade paperback and e-book are available June 14, 2022, and you can find pre-order links and an except at https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/the-girl-whose-luck-ran-out-by-gayleen-froese-12145-b

What was your ‘ah ha’ moment when you realized you wanted to be a writer?

I don’t remember a time when I didn’t plan to be a writer but I didn’t think I would write novels. I thought I’d write for television and I went to university with that in mind. The more I talked to working TV writers, though, the more I realized TV writing wouldn’t be for me. I’m more suited to connecting with my characters on my own and working through the story myself than I would be to having to advocate and negotiate for them in a writers’ room. That’s definitely not disrespect for TV writers or writers’ rooms—it’s just my temperament and how I prefer to work.

What are you working on right now?

I’ve sold the sequel to The Girl Whose Luck Ran Out to DSP Publications. The working title is The Man Who Lost His Pen, which may not sound dramatic, but you’d be surprised how bad losing a pen can be.

Now I’m working on a book about a teenager who gets mysterious superpowers, and accidentally comes out to his family and friends, on the same night. He takes one of these things much more seriously than the other.

Do you have any writing rituals?

I often put together music playlists to write to. I might have an overall playlist that covers the main themes and settings of the book and then scene-specific playlists that are more geared to generating a specific mood. If I can’t find exactly the song I need, sometimes I have to write one, but I’m a painfully slow songwriter and this approach soon begins to look like avoidance of the book I meant to be writing in the first place.

Avoidance. Yes, I think we all recognize that. Thank you Gayleen for the interview. And good luck with the launch of The Girl Whose Luck Ran Out! I know your other readers will love it.