The book is about a young woman who dreams of being a detective, but (due to her diminutive size, not because she's a woman) she can't successfully complete the physical portion of the exam required to be a police officer in her town. She is, however, hired as a meter maid. That doesn't stop her from solving crimes.
The book is cute and funny. It would probably qualify as a cozy mystery. Fair warning here, although the main character (Chloe) rarely swears in her attempts to be a "nice girl", there is some adult language in this novel. This comes from her other goal as an aspiring romance novel. While Chloe tries not to swear, she does read aloud a bit of a draft of her romance novel at a writer's club meeting. Let's just say that this "nice girl's" writing would cause a drunken sailor to blush. While on leave. It's all part of the fun and quirky character of the protagonist, and a little blue language (probably) never killed anybody. In addition, this is only one sentence of adult language in the book. There is only one other incidence of blue language--one word uttered earlier in the book.
I did find about 10 editing errors in the book. This is often a bone of contention in the Kindle Forums. There is a side that argues that a self-published eBook should be every bit as polished as a traditionally published book from a large publishing house. There is another side that feels that a self-published book has to have some leeway, as the author absorbs all of the production costs on themselves. I see the point of both arguments, and I waver on the fence. Some days I agree with the latter argument. Most days, I agree with the former.
For this book, which side you are on doesn't really matter. Because this book is every bit as polished as a traditionally published book from a large publishing house. I routinely find at least 10 errors in any book that I read (I mean, really, no one is perfect). The difference (for me) is that with a traditionally published book, it is much harder to find someone who is willing to listen to complaints (or what I prefer to call suggestions), and it's even harder to get them to make the corrections.
With self-published novels, especially with eBooks, I find it easy to contact the author. I, typically, find that they are pleased with my suggestions and routinely make my corrections. I say "typically" because I currently have a mostly positive review of another book by another author waiting for publication. I have been unable to publish my review because I found about 100 minor errors in the book. I attempted to contact the author, and she has not responded in any way.
I'm not being petty here, I understand that she may disagree with my corrections (although I am right, I mean grammar is not really that subjective). The fact of the matter is that I cannot, in good faith, recommend the other book to my subscribers in its current condition. The story was pleasant (although a good bit of "willing suspension of disbelief" was required), but the errors (while minor) were frequent enough that they warranted distraction. I can't endorse that.
That was not a problem with Moving Violation. First, none of the errors were major enough to cause any distraction for the reader. Second, I contacted the author and received an email back from her the same day. I also received an email from her husband, who is also a writer (they function as a writing team and often write their novels together, although the Chloe Boston novels are written solely by Mrs. Jackson). Both emails were appreciative. They gratefully and graciously told me that they were making the corrections the same day (yesterday), and even sent me a free copy of another of the books in the series as a "thank you" gift (the third book, as I had already purchased the second, I'm telling you, I like Chloe Boston).
I mention the "thank you" gift in the interest of full disclosure as well. But, I can assure you that it in no way affected the review of this book (besides being an interesting story). As you can see, I write the basis of my reviews prior to contacting the author. For this book, I would not have allowed the minor errors from keeping me from publishing this review because, as I have said, the editing on this book is of high quality, just as high as a traditional publishing house. The tiny glitches caused me almost no distraction, and my unkempt mind is easily distracted.
I am pleased, however, that the response from the author was so quick. That means that you can download the book today and will likely not ever see the errors that I found (I don't really know how quickly the Kindle Store queues revisions, but if it is like the Blog updating, it can take less than an hour). I have downloaded the updated copy, and the corrections have been made. So, I can honestly offer a recommendation of this book without hesitation.
I hope that you enjoy the Chloe Boston novels as much as I do. I'm currently reading the second novel The Pumpkin Thief (and yes, it's about more than stolen squash) and am truly enjoying it. When I finish the novel, I will provide you with a review of it as well.
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Christy Parker is the author of three blogs: Ruminations from and Unkempt Mind, Learn to Crochet - In Minutes a Day, and You Be the Editor.
For comments, questions, notes or suggestions; Mrs. Parker can be reached in the blog specific forums on the product information pages listed above or via email at unkemptruminations@comcast.net.
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