Bad Day For Sorry: A Crime Novel (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
Now this is what I'm talking about! Ain't no sissy female characters in this gem of a book. Pretty awesome for a first novel. Way to go Sophie Littlefield!!! I couldn't put it down. The characters are some real characters! Funny, strong women with some quirks. The bad guys are really bad. The main one is a real scuzzbucket. The kind you love to hate.The pacing is excellent, and I like that it's an easy, entertaining read without being dumbed down. It's not steroetypical chick lit. It's a great mystery/crime novel. I can't wait to read the next one.This is an author I'll be reading everything she puts out there. Sophie Littlefield’s Hero - Stella Hardesty - Kicks Butt in a Bad Day for SorryOverall recommendation: Four starsIf you like your female heroes strong enough to give more hurt than they take, you’ll love Sophie Littlefield’s A Bad Day for Sorry.Overview: The first in Littlefield’s Bad Day series stars Stella Hardesty as a widow who defends battered women by kicking ass and taking names. Stella’s new client is Chrissy Shaw, a young woman whose no-good husband has disappeared along with her two-year-old son. To find this miscreant and retrieve the missing child Sophie must go up against cruel and dangerous mafia types. Character (five stars for character)Stella Hardesty is delightful as the hero. Stella was widowed when her abusive husband hit her one too many times and found himself on the wrong side of a fast moving pipe wrench. Stella was swinging the wrench.Stella reminds me of Janet Evanowich’s Stephanie Plum with a redneck streak. Stella lives in small town Missouri and runs a sewing shop by day and a sideline business protecting battered women by night. Stella doesn’t look dangerous, being a little overweight and on the north side of fifty, but in reality she is in great physical condition and knows a lot about self-defense, guns, and other assorted weapons (including sewing scissors.)The story is well written, with colorful description that pulled me into the scenes with Stella, and great narrative to convey Stella’s thoughts and emotions.Littlefield tells the story in single third-person point of view. It would have been easy for her to use first person but this technique worked well. Stella is the focal point of every scene and the third-person POV allows Littlefield just enough distance to round out the character.Plot: (four stars for plot)A Bad Day for Sorry has a strong plot. Littlefield engaged me from the first page by having Stella fire bullets into an abusive husband’s trailer when he wouldn’t answer the door. The inciting incident arrived soon thereafter when Stella’s client reports her child is missing. A subplot love story between Stella and the local sheriff barely gets off the ground by the end of the novel, but there is clearly room for this relationship to develop further in the series.The complications throughout the second act were engaging, and the climactic scene was harrowing and fast-paced.Action: (four stars for action)There are fine action scenes in A Bad Day for Sorry. Stella is clever at overcoming obstacles and defeating enemies, but she is also fallible and makes one mistake that lands her in the hospital.The climactic scene between Stella and the mafia goons is suspenseful, explicit, and satisfying.Littlefield’s description of the fight scenes and Stella’s accompanying pain were realistic but not gruesome.Dialogue (three stars for dialogue)Dialogue was the weakest part of Littlefield’s otherwise strong writing style. The lines of dialog themselves were fine, but the pace was interrupted by the narrative. Several times a full page of thoughts and exposition were placed between lines of dialogue that were supposed to be part of an intense conversation.Other (four stars)Stella is a likable hero; I wanted her to win from the first page. Her opponents are bad people who deserve everything they get and then some.I took one star from the “Other” category for plausibility. Stella goes into the climactic scene with only her female client for backup. It would have been more reasonable for Stella to call in the law, particularly given her connection with the local sheriff.Overall, A Bad Day for Sorry was a great read, and I look forward to reading the next in the series, A Bad Day for Pretty.
What do You think about Bad Day For Sorry: A Crime Novel (2011)?
This book is quick, funny, avenging, and feel good. Simple to digest, but great characters.
—Lisa
Very fun start to a hard-boiled series. Who knew there was such a thing as Ozark Noir?
—brooklyn89
Great Book! Makes you laugh and cheer for brave women!
—shannonkitten
