Color Me Grey / J. C. Phelps

Genre: Action-Adventure/Spy Thriller

Approximate word count: 75-80,000 words

Availability Kindle: YES    Nook: YES    DTB: YES

Author:

Author J.C. Phelps has written three books in The Alex Stanton Chronicles (Color Me Grey is the first). She lives and writes in South Dakota. For more visit her blog.

Description:

A petite twenty-something tomboy with an unconventional upbringing and a yearning for adventure, Alexis Stanton is bored with her life. So she quits her job and starts the search for something more exciting. A strange and ambiguous help wanted ad might be the answer. Then again, it might be more than she bargained for.

Appraisal:

I started reading Color Me Grey late one night as I was supposed to be falling asleep. This was a mistake. I liked the character of Alexis immediately. Despite her unconventional and privileged upbringing (which could easily have had the opposite effect) she had an attitude and style I loved. She has a passion to experience life that most of us lack. She is always thirsting for knowledge, a quality very few people have. One thing that really stuck with me, since it hit close to home, was when Alexis said:

Reading is a habit of mine, not a hobby, but a habit. It seems I just can’t get enough. I will read anything.

Perhaps some of you can relate. I know I did.

The characters, including Alexis, are “larger than life.” Their adventures are beyond what you’d expect from real life, yet aren’t as over-the-top as you might find in a James Bond type novel.

If this sort of adventure-thriller is your sort of read, Color Me Grey might be the perfect read, although Alexis is a different kind of hero than you might have experienced before.

The only caution I have is Phelps writing style, at least in this book, is very narrative driven. One friend described it as stream-of-consciousness, although I’m not sure that description is quite right. But if you’re looking for lots of dialog, you won’t find it, if for no other reason than many of the characters tend to be close-lipped, letting their actions talk for them. If you’re not sure, read the sample. If your reaction is anything like mine, that will be more than enough to hook you. Just don’t start reading if you should be sleeping, or risk paying the consequences the next morning as I did.

Format/Typo Issues:

A small number of typos that should not affect your reading enjoyment.

Rating: ***** Five stars