Bombshell: An Ava Romantic Mystery

What Doesn't Kill You, Book 9

By: Pamela Fagan Hutchins

Narrated by: Chanté McCormick

Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

A musical career in the making. A murdered childhood friend. One chance to catch the killer. 

Ava dreams of building a better life for her daughter through her island pop songs. Her new temp job leads to a once-in-a-lifetime shot at a record deal, but before she can pack her bags for New York, she discovers a dead body outside her office building. Horrified, Ava recognizes the murdered sex worker as her childhood friend. 

The single mother finds herself torn between pursuing her life’s passion or justice for her murdered friend. When another friend is killed, she worries the deaths are connected to a shared trauma that she’s been running from her whole life. After dumping her cop boyfriend, she realizes the pain she keeps locked inside could be sabotaging her shot at lasting love. Before Ava can move on to a bright future in music, she must confront the truth behind her dark past to catch the murderer or she'll be next on his kill list. 

Bombshell is the first audiobook in Ava’s trilogy within the What Doesn’t Kill You romantic mystery saga. If you like sexy single moms, shocking suspense, and journeys of self-empowerment, then you’ll love Pamela Fagan Hutchins’ award-winning series. 

Buy Bombshell to get into the rhythm with a fast-paced pop murder mystery today.

©2017 Pamela Fagan Hutchins (P)2018 Pamela Fagan Hutchins

Enjoyed the Narration

The narration on the book, with the Caribbean accent (when appropriate), gave this book the little extra something special to the book. The book had a great story line, although I do feel as if the main character, Ava, maybe could have been portrayed a little different (not so much as a whole, a mother that rather party than spend time with her baby, mooching off of her parents, having an abortion, sleeping with best friends brother, and possibly even hit on best friends husband (mentioned first part of book).....really puts a black light on her morals and ethic), however, I suppose then if the main character would have changed, then we would not have the story that we do have. I also did not enjoy the author talking negative about our current president-it was distasteful and lacked grace. Political opinions are best left to ones self

I received this audiobook at no-cost from Audiobookworm Promotions. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

The narrator killed it!

This is my first book by McCormick and I sincerely enjoyed it. She slipped so easily into her island dialect and was quick to switch to the other character's. Her narration was like a one-woman theatrical performance and is what took center stage with this listen.

The story was just okay. I absolutely did not like Ava. She was a tad selfish (and over-sexed) and I just did not care to be in her head. (I can't believe how she kept saying she needed to do something for her kid and was constantly palming said kid off to be babysat.) I was constantly struggling to keep listening since this book was told from Ava's POV. If not for the narrator. I would have stopped.

The other books in this series did not have Ava as the main protagonist. I hope this is the last.

Fun and Spunky Heroine

Ava is a spunky heroine. She has some ups and downs, but sees the job through to the end. I had some trouble following the storyline at first - the characters came so fast I was having trouble separating them. I think if I had read other books in the series, I would have picked up on characters faster. It does stand alone, but there was an adjustment period for me to figure it out.

Ava is sassy and looking for love - possibly in the wrong places. Her sass and spunk may be her undoing. The mystery was top notch and it was just a fun and playful book. Very enjoyable. Thank you to Audiobooks Unleashed for the copy to listen to.

Could not stop listening!

This audiobook kept me on the edge of my seat! I never knew what Ava was going to get herself into next! It was impossible to imagine what would happen next and I love that! The characters kept the story going! The narrator was amazing! This story is for adults and had something for everyone.

A Good Story. An Even Better Performance.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Ava is a troubled soul. That is the bottom line. She is a series of "want to be": a good mother, a successful singer, a supportive daughter, a worthy girlfriend, an appreciative friend, a model employee. At the end, she just struggles to be herself. She depends too much on others, and gives herself freely as an overcompensation for her internal demons that have made her the tormented woman she has become. It is not easy to live a normal life with a childhood that was anything but normal. She is beautiful, has a great voice, knows how to charm, has supportive parents and a sweet daughter, even a man that loves her for what she is. But that is not enough, it's never enough to be able to drown memories that hurt too much to be faced. Then the bombshell receives her own bombshell... The way the story unfolds brings us to the islands and back to New York City accompanied by the powerful and masterful narration of Chanté McCormick. She is truly the reason this audiobook is so successful and soulful. The mystery is not the main point of the story, just a small part of it. To me it is all about Ava's struggles and expectations. Well written, and even better narrated.

Earns 5/5 Caribbean Conundrums…Clever!

Ava Butler, a thirty-something, single mom, is very excited about her new temp assignment with a virtual currency company, but her first day doesn't go smoothly. A run in with a pothole forces her to get a lift to work which leads to a side trip down an alley and the discovery of a dead body. Although a few years apart the murder victim attended the same Catholic school. The memories of her own time there reopens old wounds about her tragic “Me, Too” experiences she believes the dead girl shared. Then more young women are dead, her employer has issues, law enforcement has issues, a possible record deal is dangled, and another tragedy is more a horrific déjà vu memory…this can't be happening!

As an all-time multi-tasked, I greatly enjoy audiobooks, and “listening” to Pamela Fagan Hutchins’s book was the perfect opportunity to go a bit outside my “cozy” comfort zone. With a lot to unpack in Pamela Fagan Hutchins’s story, the plot is engaging addressing contemporary themes, edgy with sexual innuendo and a few adult situations and language to match. It is less mystery in a “cozy” sense and more a suspense thriller expanding into different directions with rich characters including a jumbie spirit? But it all links with more than a few perilous situations and a “Wow!” ending that made me eager to read the rest of Ava’s trilogy.

Chanté McCormick is quite the narrator. She went beyond a traditional reading enriching Ava’s first-person narrative with a pleasant natural voice, but it's the fun and very entertaining dialogue for the “Calypso” accent of Ava and the other island residents, southern drawl from Ava’s BFF, and variants in common American that Chanté did well. For female narrators mastering the male voices is quite a challenge, but Chanté did more than a satisfactory job. I found the audiobook very entertaining, and well-worth picking it up.

The story is good, the narration is outstanding!

Bombshell was recommended to me, so I decided to give it a try . The story overall is a good one, however, with this being a trilogy, there is more set-up time needed to lay the groundwork. Once you get past the first half, the story begins to roll. While the book is good overall, the narrator is the star of this show. She (Chante McCormick) gives a true performance through her vocal acting of this book. If you want a monotone or basic book reading, this is not the audio book for you, it's an all-around performance. I was impressed when I first heard her island accent. I thought, "Hey, that's pretty good." But I was pleasantly surprised when several other accents came out that were equally as impressive. I followed the story as Pamela Fagan Hutchins weaves her tale of murder suspense and throws in characters from all over the United States and Islands. The story came alive when Chante vocalized the characters' accents such as Texan, Georgian, New York and Islander accents (just to name the ones on the top of my head). I could visualize the NY characters with their sometimes raspy voices and attitudes.The Texan accents were nicely done without being given the typical way-over-done Southern drawl. I have listened to other audio books before (as I have a job that requires extensive travel) but this is the first one where the narrator was so engaging. It felt the same as when I've had a movie playing in another room and I can hear the actor talking but can't see the screen. That's the type of performance to expect with this audio book. Great job, I look forward to more performances like this. Makes my commuting so much more enjoyable!

Audiobook newbie

Bombshell was my first audiobook. I was skeptical at first when my book club selected it as our next read because I prefer books in print. I was pleasantly surprised that I liked it and listened for five hours straight at first. Chante McCormick, the narrator, has the perfect voice for audiobooks. She changed my mind about them. I felt like I was present in Ava's world and found myself laughing out loud.
Ava is funny, smart and reminds me of many independent, hardworking Caribbean women I know. I definitely recommend reading other books written by Pamela Fagan Hutchins.

Pretty Enjoyable Audiobook Experience for a Newbie

This was my first time listening to an Audiobook and I would say that I found it to be fairly enjoyable. I thought it was entertaining and pretty well written, and her use of different characters made it interesting. The story had a good mixture of humor, drama, and suspense/ mystery.
The author does a great job of transporting us to the fictional island of Marcos . Some sections of the book were very vivid in describing the atmosphere and I truly felt like I was transported and could visualize the scene. I noticed that there wasn’t a lot of character development outside of Ava and maybe we’ll see more in the future books that are part of the trilogy. She also did a good job interweaving different subplots into story.
At times, I had to replay certain sections to fully comprehend what was going on as not to get lost in the development of the mystery. It did take some extra attention, especially in the beginning to figure out the direction of book due to so many characters introduced into the first chapters.
The narrator, Chante McCormick did a wonderful job bringing characters to life. She was able to do the different accents quite well and make the experience more vivid. The book got a special boost from this narration and helped to keep my interest.
The main character Ava wasn’t the most saintly of women and definitely had her shortcomings. I tried not to be too judgmental and thought there are women out there in society that do fit this bill. I looked at her as a colorful character that contributed to storyline. Never a dull moment when she was around.

Sassy Female Sleuth in the Carribean

Bombshell is the ninth book in the “What Doesn’t Kill You” romantic mystery series by Pamela Fagan Hutchins and also the first book of three with Ava Butler as the main character. Ava is a single Mum who has returned to the Carribean island of St. Marcos after breaking up with a boy-friend in the States. She is now living with her parents, working a temp job, and singing in bars at night. When she comes across the body of a murdered woman, who she recognizes from her childhood, Ava becomes embroiled in a dangerous mystery.

The premise of this sounded really exciting and I enjoyed the unique Caribbean island setting. The mystery aspects were intriguing and the plot quite complex. My problem was the protagonist. Bombshell is presented from Ava’s first-person point of view. I don’t usually need likable characters to enjoy a story but I found Ava very difficult to warm up to. She came across as extremely self-centered, was using people, and treating everyone rather badly. I know she’s meant to be this sassy, sexy, and outwardly confident woman, but a lot of her behavior rubbed me the wrong way.

I haven’t listened to any of the other books in this series. This worked fine as a standalone, although there were a couple of instances where I thought I would have probably felt more engaged if I had further background information on some of the characters and their history with each other.

This was a fantastic book to devour in audio format. Ava regularly switches from Carribean dialect to American, and the narrator, Chanté McCormick, absolutely killed it with her superb reading. She enhanced the story to no end with her wonderful changes of accents and her wide range of voices. She made a rather average story into an enjoyable listening experience for me.

So while Ava certainly stands out from other heroines in romantic mysteries, which was good, my dislike for her ultimately made it difficult to care about her or become fully invested in the plot. Bombshell is advertised as a romantic mystery, but I wouldn’t really describe anything that happened as particularly romantic.

Overall, this was ok, but I’m not sure I want to spend any more time with Ava. However, I would certainly want to listen to Chanté McCormick again.

There were no issues with the production of the audio.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author/narrator/publisher.
Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog.
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Mystery

I enjoyed listening to Chanté McCormick

I loved the pace and plot of this book. It made me laugh, made want to keep listening. I wanted the primary character to succeed.

Good

I was given this free review copy at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
Good

Bombshell boom

I enjoyed this book, it did slow down a bit on the middle but by the end it exploded with a bang. Ava is a different character for this series and I did find her annoying to start with, the way she jumped from man to man- she sounded like the girl every man is in love with and every woman hates but as the story went on and you learnt more about her story she grows on you and you see a more likeable side to her.
Ava a single mum starts a new job as a temp but on the way to the interview she stumbles over a body. It is not long before she realises that the murdered girl was one of the three girls she use to babysit for as a teenager and the other two girls are missing. With the police slow to start investigating a strippers murder Ava vowels to do right by the girls and keep pestering the police to find the killer. Being the bombshell Ava is it is not long before she gets noticed at work and her boss on hearing her sign sends her to New York to sign a demo cd. When she comes back to the island she falls fowl of the police and has to make a deal with them that have far reaching consequences.
The island twang this narrator uses for the characters is excellent and makes the book fun to listen to.