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Dec 22, 2011

Henry rated it:

Better than I thought it would be. The only thing I found is that being written in first person, the entire book is in valley girl speak, and the fashion angst (duh read the title) got to be a bit much. "This book is so not cranky old man." But in the author's defense I don't think that I would fall in her target demographic. Despite being permanently caught in a 90201 wannabe status, Maddie, the protagonist, does have a vein of morality and is a very smart young woman. Not norma More...

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Sep 03, 2011

Julie rated it:

I would expect better writing and command of the English language from someone who has been the "recipient of numerous awards" (according to her website). There were times I had to stop and re-read a sentence to make sense of it, due to lack of punctuation. I had to stop counting the dangling participles and incomplete sentences, which were very distracting.

Aside from the language and writing errors, this book is a light beach read at best. By the time I hit the halfway mar More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jan 20, 2012

Jessica rated it:

DNF

I made it halfway through and couldn't take any more. What was entertaining behavior from the teenage heroine of Deadly Cool was unbearably annoying in the adult heroine of this novel.

Also, if you've read Deadly Cool (which I have, and which is the reason I picked this one up) the story is almost exactly the same -- I had a little mental checklist going:

* vacuous but charming heroine who has a hard time facing reality and a fondness for junk food matched only by More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 12, 2011

Heather rated it:

All I can say about this one is that it was ok. Maddie, our heroine, came across as immature, spoiled, and just ditzy most of the time. I don't really understand the decision to continually put herself in danger for a man who increasingly obviously not who she thought he was. And the ridiculous experiences she had trying to take the pregnancy test (for the entire book!!!) really stretched my patience. We've all had to take them at one point or another. It just isn't that difficult.
And I wa More...

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Sep 23, 2011

Ruth rated it:

c2010. One of the best things about the free Kindle downloads is that some of them do take you out of your normal comfort zone so there is always a chance that you will find a new author or genre that will then tempt you to purchase more of the same. This book did not do it for me at all. It was rather like listening to one of those teenage girls that just blather on and on about nothing with a few kernals of bits that do matter- with some menaningless and inane bits of TMI. Sadly, I don't have More...

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Sep 16, 2011

J9 rated it:

Fun, sassy and all about Fashion this mystery will have you guessing to the end and laughing as Maddie bumbles her way through a murder, fraud and embezzlement investigations to prove that her Boyfriend is innocent.

Shoe Designer Maddie had great dreams of being a fashion designer in NYC, but is stuck designing children’s shoes, in LA, very far from NYC. But the one thing she is sure about in her life is her boyfriend Richard, who is the whole package. However, when Richard disappears a More...

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Mar 19, 2011

Meg rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 18, 2012

Chrissy rated it:

I honestly didn't expect a lot from this title because, well, ok -- I hate mysteries.

So, why am I reading a mystery? No idea. It seemed like a good idea at 2AM when I started the book, when I was looking for some kind of distraction when the internet was down. And, apparently I hadn't actually downloaded many books from the section of purchased books on Kindle to the section I could actually access without the internet. This one was there, so this one won. For the moment at leas More...

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Sep 19, 2011

Mainon rated it:

Shouldn't have read this so soon after The Mysterious Affair at Styles, because Agatha Christie obviously puts Gemma Halliday to shame. On the other hand, the title of the book is Spying in High Heels, so I should have known that going in. It was a Kindle freebie, so I didn't waste any money on it, at least, and it did keep me moderately interested all the way through.

Two annoying things: it takes the main character literally the entire book to take a home pregnancy test successfu More...

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May 26, 2011

Kristi rated it:

Light, fun read with a mild taste of romance thrown in. A good read if you're looking for a break from a more intense read. Overall, I enjoyed this book, but several annoyances had me rolling my eyes and sighing. As many others have mentioned, the whole fear with taking the pregnancy test, and the 2 failed tests were just ridiculous after so long. Yes, I get it that it was meant to be apart of the story, but seriously, it dragged out until the very end. Once, she clumsily spills diet coke o More...

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Feb 03, 2012

Brittiany rated it:

Maddie Springer is a fashionista on a budget whose Ken Doll boyfriend has suddenly gone missing. Oh, and she's late... as in late late. She refuses to go through this alone, so she's is on a mission to find out just what's happened when she meets hot cop, Jack Ramirez. While on the case she finds a dead body, lets her best friend convince her to dress as a hooker and winds up at the scene of another murder, and finds out that said boyfriend is married.

It's a whirlwind of craziness w More...

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Feb 04, 2012

E rated it:

Just finished this book and I must admit, I have mixed emotions about it. As far as the mystery storyline goes, I thought it was creative and inventive. I really enjoyed the twists and turns. And the LAPD's sexist cop was a lovely treat. Unfortunately, the character that annoyed me the most was Maddie herself. I wanted desperately to like her, but... She was intelligent and independent when it came to the case. She routinely takes matters into her own hands. When it comes to men and her own pers More...

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Jan 02, 2012

Jill rated it:

Actually probably more of a two and a half. Very light mystery, funny at times. Heroine is like an LA version of Stephanie Plum. I ordered the first five on my kindle during the amazon daily deal ($1.99 for five books) and I will probably read all five, but I don't know if I'd continue with the series after that.

Things that bugged... Many "topical" cultural references which fit with the LA theme but felt very dated, even though the book is only five years old. In fact, More...

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Jan 11, 2011

Laura rated it:

A fluff book, brain candy, vacation read - call it what you will, I had a good time reading this book today, courtesy of Ellie's impromptu (to me) Read-a-thon. Like a blonder, California-er version of Stephanie Plum, Maddie Springer could be your typical girly-girl shoe designer with the handsome lawyer boyfriend and wacky best friend. Only her boyfriend disappers, she finds a couple of dead bodies and a hunky LAPD cop comes in asking questions and makes her re-think how wonderful her relationsh More...

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Oct 24, 2010

Iris rated it:

A friend gave me the book because she knew how much I like the Stephanie Plum series.

So this is more or less the same cliché – female character starts to investigate two murder because the suspect could be the father of her “perhaps” child; add a hunk of a cop, a great friend and voila ...

But, even though a nice story, it just hasn’t got the same touch not to mention the same class as the Plum books. AND I more or less had an idea of who the killer could be half way thro More...

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Dec 26, 2011

Jenny rated it:

This book was okay. I'm not much of a murder mystery fan but it was cheap on Amazon. (One of their daily deals... all five high heel books for $1.99) If not for that deal, I probably wouldn't have read it.

Like I said, it was okay. There were a couple times I laughed out loud but it's not comparable to the Stephanie Plum series as several people wrote in reviews on Amazon. Maddie finds herself a reluctant detective after her boyfriend goes missing. She's very lucky and ends up s More...

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Aug 24, 2011

Dori rated it:

Ok, first I will say that if you are looking for a highly dramatic, intense, "Hunger Games" kind of book, then stay far far away from this book!! There's not an ounce of seriousness or stress anywhere in this story! It is, however a light, easy and very fun read. I found myself almost embarrassing myself by laughing out loud while sitting in Starbucks or B&N when I was reading it. I just couldn't help it, though!! The book was written with the type of humor that was very easy to visual More...

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Jan 19, 2012

Valerie rated it:

This is a witty little chick lit mystery that was fun to read.

Maddie, the main character, is frankly a hot mess and I’m not entirely sure that I liked her. However, her madcap adventures made for an enjoyable read. The books also included some solid story-telling and serious chemistry in a romantic subplot that did not overshadow the story (therefore was acceptable to me). She is beyond ditsy blonde with endearing moments, but had perhaps even more shallow moments.

More...

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Dec 28, 2011

Sarah rated it:

Obviously a chick lit, guilty pleasure kind of book that I found myself reading simply because it's free in my iPad's library. The first person narration was pretty irritating in that Maddie Springer was constantly voicing her remarks on so-and-so's outfit for that day or how many times she had been to Starbucks and how many calories were in her dozen mocha lattes. That kind of stuff bugs me, but I was actually surprised by how into the story I became just because A) I wanted to know if she was More...

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Aug 04, 2011

Mikaela rated it:

This is the first book in the High Heels series. I have to confess that I downloaded it when Dorchester offered it for free a year ago.
It languished on my laptop, unread, until I decided to load on to my Sony and read it on my holiday in Turkey. I am glad I did, since after what happened in Oslo, I needed something light and funny. I read it on the plane trip back, and it hooked me from the start. What hooked me wasn’t the plot. No, it was the characters and how they reacted. More...

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Feb 14, 2012

Sophie rated it:

This is a book that starts out cute and entertaining and then outstays its welcome. What begins as cute and quirky becomes tedious when stretched out over the length of the book (Maddie's pregnancy scare, for instance). Occasionally, it felt as if the author was trying too hard to fit the chick-lit mold. There are only so many times I want to read the phrase "mental forehead smacking," for instance, and when Maddie says things like "This happens to be my Bond girl outfit" out More...

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Jun 20, 2009

Hannah rated it:

A fun amateur detective/adventure romp, recommended for readers who can stomach a rather 2D heroine, contrived plot elements, and a 'mystery' that isn't all that mysterious. Not intellectually challenging or unique (sticks with what's been done before, in fact), but not a bad read before bed. Maddie's quite "blonde" and it makes for some pretty funny situations where she completely embarrasses herself. She's not entirely stupid, though, and her spunky, never-give-up attitude is likeabl More...

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Jan 23, 2012

Raygun rated it:

ok i have to say that i had eye surgery and actually had to use my kindle text to speech ability to read this to me... and if i can still thoroughly enjoy a book being read in the dullest monotone robot voice ever then it had to be really good... this book will make you laugh out loud and want to slap maddie all at the same time... it was a nice change from all the paranormal books out there to read about just a normal woman with normal problems... who also happen too get caught up in the big my More...

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Jul 28, 2011

Peace Love rated it:

I have a craving for mystery genre, after reading the Stephanie Plum series, I wanted to read more but I need a change of hero/heroine and Gemma Halliday's High Heels mystery came highly recommended.

Maddie was not the heroine I expected her to be, in fact my initial reaction was idiot, naive, and cliche. If your boyfriend bailed and there was a $20 million embezzeled funds missing along with him, found a condom in his office while you were snooping, or was told by a Detective that y More...

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Oct 15, 2011

Gina rated it:

Ok so this book was on my TBR shelf and was recommended to me as part of a book club. I got the book for free from Amazon and when I downloaded it, I didn't have high expectations for it but, when someone actually recommended it, I thought I would give it a fair chance. Welllllll....I did try to like it. The books opens with Maddie, the main character and shoe designer, going to meet her lawyer boyfriend. He cancels on her for lunch and then doesn't show up later. He disappears, a murder ta More...

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Jul 18, 2011

Daiana rated it:

A lot of the reviews complain about the grammar. They are right, some sentences did not make sense due to the lack of punctuation marks. She used a lot of stereotypes for her characters, but I overlooked it. However, there was a thing that really annoyed me. Anytime the character realized something, she would say "I smacked the palm of my hand to my forehead" or variations of it. The author did this to show that Maddie felt silly that she didn't notice before, or to show that she was a More...

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Dec 26, 2008

Gail rated it:

This would be another chick-lit meets murder mystery except the main character, Maddie Springer, is so much fun. She's a fashionista and an upscale kids shoe designer. Her boyfriend disappears at the same time she's worried about whether she's pregnant or not. In addition, her lawyer boyfriend's client is caught cheating and embezzling millions and everyone assumes he did it. Maddie can't help but investigate, while attempting to dress what she thinks the part should look like. At one point More...

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Aug 17, 2011

Barbara rated it:

Maddie Springer is a somewhat ditzy children’s shoe designer living in a small studio apartment in Studio City. When her lawyer boyfriend Richard is accused of embezzlement and then disappears and Maddie thinks she may be pregnant, she decides she needs to find him before she takes a pregnancy test so she doesn’t have to deal with it all alone. Maddie keeps running into sexy detective Jack Ramirez, and as Richard’s partners in crime begin showing up dead, he tries to convince her to stay out o More...

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Dec 27, 2011

Doreen rated it:

I wasn't too sure about this book, but it was high on Amazon's list of free e-books, so I gave it a whirl.

And I really enjoyed it. Think Stephanie Plum crossed with Betsy from the Undead and ... series. (It's the shoes that did it.) There's the policeman boyfriend, the eccentric family and friends, the constant getting into trouble from sticking her nose in. The eating and eating and not putting on weight much. But it doesn't read like a rip-off Evanovich, unlike at least one othe More...

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Sep 13, 2011

Debbie rated it:

If you like Stephanie Plum you will like this series. I won't say it is a rip off, but....

-On again off again (hispanic cop, Jack Ramirez) boyfriend. Loaded with sexual tention.
-Best friend Dana(very promiscuous)
-Mom wears 80's bad fasion and is constantly vexed by Maddie's lateness.
-Comic relief Marco a flaming gay beauty shop receptionist.
-Maddie Springer wears T-shirts and jeans(although designer) and eats mass quantities of junk food and doesn't exercise w More...

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