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In a Fix series

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In a Fix (In a Fix -1) by Linda Grimes

In a Fix (In a Fix #1) by Linda Grimes

In a Fix series, aka Ciel Halligan series by Linda Grimes. 

Genres and Sub-Genres[]

Light Chic-Lit / Humor / called light Urban Fantasy by author and publishers (see Notes)

Series Description or Overview[]

BOOK BLURB: The start of an original new urban fantasy series starring human chameleon Ciel Halligan. Snagging a marriage proposal for her client while on an all-expenses-paid vacation should be a simple job for Ciel Halligan, aura adaptor extraordinaire. A kind of human chameleon, she’s able to take on her clients’ appearances and slip seamlessly into their lives, solving any sticky problems they don’t want to deal with themselves. No fuss, no muss. Big paycheck. This particular assignment is pretty enjoyable... that is, until Ciel’s island resort bungalow is blown to smithereens and her client’s about-to-be-fiancé is snatched by modern-day Vikings. For some reason, Ciel begins to suspect that getting the ring is going to be a tad more difficult than originally anticipated. Going from romance to rescue requires some serious gear-shifting, as well as a little backup. Her best friend, Billy, and Mark, the CIA agent she’s been crushing on for years—both skilled adaptors—step in to help, but their priority is, annoyingly, keeping her safe. Before long, Ciel is dedicating more energy to escaping their watchful eyes than she is to saving her client’s intended. Suddenly, facing down a horde of Vikings feels like the least of her problems. ~ Goodreads

Lead's Species[]

  • Chameleon, shape adaptor, aura adaptor,

Primary Supe[]

  • Adaptors

What Sets it Apart[]

  • Humor

Narrative Type and Narrators[]

  • First Person narrative told by Ciel Halligan, protagonist.

Books in Series[]

In a Fix series:

  1. In a Fix (2012)
  2. Quick Fix (2013)
  3. The Big Fix (May 12th 2015)

World Building[]

Setting[]

Places:

  • Sweden
  • Bahamas
  • Gotland

Supernatural Elements[]

✥ Chameleon, shape adaptor, modern-day Vikings, , ,

Glossary:[]

  • Aura Adapter: ability to assume the appearance of anyone he/she has come into contact with. Adapters have a genetic quirk who don't actually shape-shift but deal in energy, with the talent emerging fully in adulthood.

Groups & Organizations:[]

  • Neo-Viking group: modern-day Vikings intent on restoring the male populations flagging masculinity; red-flagged by the CIA.

World[]

✥ The premise of the series is that the female protagonist and her two love interests are all adaptors. That means that by just touching another person, they can pick up that person's aura and make a complete physical change to become an identical copy of that person. The adaptors themselves can't tell whether another person is real or an adaptor, which is the crux of many of the jokey situations that occur in the story. 

Ciel Halligan is the female of this trio of BFF adaptors. She hires out her adaptor skills to clients who find themselves in situations they want to avoid. Billy Doyle is Ciel's womanizing best friend; they were raised together like sister and brother but are not related by blood. Their friend Mark is a sexy CIA agent who is the best friend of Ciel's brother. Mark is also Ciel's long-time, not-so-secret crush. The relationship among the three is filled with meant-to-be funny sarcastic dialogue and silly pranks. ~ Fang-tastic Fiction: Linda Grimes: CIEL HALLIGAN SERIES

Protagonist[]

✥ Ceil Halligan is an aura adapter. Just by touching you she can assume your looks. After some research she will be able to seamlessly slip into your life and handle difficult situations for you. Her clients are all obtained through word of mouth and can afford her hefty fees. She is quirky, awkward, brave and snarky. After Mark convinces her she is not cut out to be an agent, Ceil opens her own successful business helping clients. Besides meddling from her family and the boys(Mark and Billy) she is quite happy and very determined to hold her own. She has had a serious crush on Mark and wonders if he will ever see her as a woman. Ceil is bright but compulsive and this has a tendency to get her in a pickle or save the day. It all depends on who you talk to! ~Caffeinated Book

✥ Her best friends, Billy and Mark use their abilities on the job. Mark is a CIA agent who finds his skill set useful and Mark handles odd assignments. — Billy, he is smexy but also a big goof-ball. He protects Ceil but also realizes how badly she wants to spread her wings. Mark is mister serious, and maybe a little bit of a male chauvinist. It’s hard for him to see woman doing dangerous work- especially Ceil. There is a bit of a love triangle or should I say sexual- tension- triangle. ~ Caffeinated Book Reviewer

Sidekick[]

  • Name: / What: / Sidekick-to: / About: / Book First Seen:

Characters Chart[]

Characters What About
Ciel Halligan aura adaptor own business as a facilitator she's able to solve her client's problems by 'becoming' them
Billy Doyle aura adaptor womanizing best friend; notorious flirt & childhood-tormentor-turned-suitor; he and Mark come in un-invited as back-up after things start going bad.
Mark aura adaptor Ciel loves Mark, Mark views Ciel as a sister; he and Billy come in un-invited as back-up after things start going bad.

To expand the table, in Edit–Visual mode, right-press on a Row of the table (Control-press on a Mac)—choose add Row or Column. Or, in Source Mode: copy-paste rows.

Linda Grimes

Linda Grimes

Linda Grimes sm

Linda Grimes

Author[]

Linda Grimes

Bio: Linda Grimes grew up in Texas, where she rode horses, embarrassed herself onstage a lot, and taught high school English to students who were more interested in heckling her at the theater where she moonlighted than in learning to conjugate verbs. Somewhere after horses and before teaching, she spent a semester abroad at Stockholm University, where she picked up enough of the native language to become linguistically entertaining. At least, her Swedish teacher seemed entertained when Linda, while attempting to relate, in Swedish, how her aunt had laughed at her, instead claimed her aunt had peed on her. (In Linda's defense, you'd be surprised at how similar "laughed at" and "peed on" sound in Swedish, at least to American ears.) Linda currently resides in northern Virginia with her theater-god husband, who succumbed to her charms after seeing her in a musical number at the now defunct Melodrama Theater in San Antonio. ~ FF

Cover Artist[]

Artist: Craig White — Source: Bibliography: Cover: Quick Fix

Publishing Information[]

  1. In a Fix: Paperback, 336 pages. Pub: Sept 4th 2012—ISBN 0765331802
  2. Quick Fix:
  3. The Big Fix:

Book Cover Blurbs[]

✤ BOOK ONE—In a Fix (2012): The start of an original new urban fantasy series starring human chameleon Ciel Halligan. Snagging a marriage proposal for her client while on an all-expenses-paid vacation should be a simple job for Ciel Halligan, aura adaptor extraordinaire. A kind of human chameleon, she’s able to take on her clients’ appearances and slip seamlessly into their lives, solving any sticky problems they don’t want to deal with themselves. No fuss, no muss. Big paycheck. This particular assignment is pretty enjoyable... that is, until Ciel’s island resort bungalow is blown to smithereens and her client’s about-to-be-fiancé is snatched by modern-day Vikings. For some reason, Ciel begins to suspect that getting the ring is going to be a tad more difficult than originally anticipated. Going from romance to rescue requires some serious gear-shifting, as well as a little backup. Her best friend, Billy, and Mark, the CIA agent she’s been crushing on for years—both skilled adaptors—step in to help, but their priority is, annoyingly, keeping her safe. Before long, Ciel is dedicating more energy to escaping their watchful eyes than she is to saving her client’s intended. Suddenly, facing down a horde of Vikings feels like the least of her problems. ~ Goodreads

✤ BOOK TWO—Quick Fix (2013): The second installment of the original urban fantasy series starring human chameleon Ciel Halligan. Ciel Halligan, an aura adaptor with a chameleon-like ability to step into the lives of her clients and fix their problems for them—as them—is working a job at the National Zoo with her boyfriend, Billy, and his ten-year-old sister, Molly. It's supposed to be a quick fix, giving her time to decide if it's wise to pursue the romantic relationship her charming scoundrel of a best friend wants, or if she should give Mark, the CIA spook she's crushed on since hormones first rattled her pubescent brain, a chance to step up to the plate. Molly has already begun to show signs of being an adaptor herself. She's young for it, but she's always been precocious, so it's not impossible. What is impossible is her taking on the form of the baby orangutan she touches — adaptors can only project human auras. Until now, apparently. Worse, Molly is stuck in ape form. She can't change herself back. Escaping from the zoo with their new baby orang, Ciel and Billy head for NYC and the only person they know can help: Ciel's brother James, a non-adaptor scientist who's determined to crack the aura adaptor genetic code. But when Billy winds up in jail, accused of attempted murder, Ciel begins to suspect Molly's unusual adapting ability is more than just a fluke. Who's been experimenting on Molly, and what do they hope to gain? And will Ciel survive to find out? ~ Book Passion for Life: A Review for Quick Fix (In a Fix #2) by Linda Grimes

✤ BOOK THREE—The Big Fix (May 12th 2015): Linda Grimes’s sexy and hilarious urban fantasy series that began with In a Fix and Quick Fix continues in The Big Fix. Aura adaptor extraordinaire Ciel Halligan, who uses her chameleon-like abilities to fix her clients’ problems—as them—is filling in on set for action superstar Jackson Gunn, whose snake phobia is standing in the way of his completing his latest mega-millions Hollywood blockbuster. There’s only one thing Jack fears more than snakes, and that's the possibility of his fans finding out he screams at the sight of one. Going from hero to laughing stock isn’t part of his career plan. Seems like a simple enough job to Ciel, who doesn’t particularly like snakes, but figures she can tolerate an afternoon with them, for the right price—which Jack is offering, and then some. What she doesn’t count on is finding out that while she was busy wrangling snakes for him, his wife was busy getting killed. When Ciel goes to break the sad news to the star, she finds out Jack was AWOL from her client hideaway at the time of the murder. Ciel begins to suspect Jack’s phobia was phony, and that he only hired her to provide him with an alibi—but if she goes to the police, she’ll have to explain how she knows he wasn’t really on set. Up against a wall, Ciel calls on her best-friend-turned-love-interest Billy, and her not-so-ex-crush Mark, to help her set up the sting of a lifetime. ~ Goodreads | The Big Fix: A Novel by Linda Grimes — Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists

✤ BOOK FOUR—:

First Sentences[]

  1. In a Fix (2012) — The ideal vantage point for observing a half-naked man was definitely across the rim of a crystal champagne flute.
  2. Quick Fix (2013) — Decapitation, I thought the second time the hand landed on my butt.
  3. The Big Fix (May 12th 2015) — 

Quotes[]

“My favorite aerobic activity is reading steamy romantic thrillers. I figure an increased heart rate is an increased heart rate. Why quibble about methodology?” ― Linda Grimes, In a Fix
“Ah-ha! On the stove was a cast-iron skillet. Perfect. Precisely how hard did you have to hit someone on the head to knock him out without killing him? I wasn't sure. Guess I'd just have to bash away and hope for the best.” ― Linda Grimes, In a Fix 

Trivia[]

Awards[]

Read Alikes (similar elements)[]

Light UF, Chick-Lit:

Shape Adapters:

Doppelgangers:

Notes[]

NOTE: The author is calling the series "light urban fantasy," but this isn't urban fantasy by any definition. It's feather-weight chick lit fantasy, with much attention being paid to wardrobe descriptions, clothing styles, and shopping—all with an overload of scatterbrained zaniness. ~ Fang-tastic Fiction

WARNING: Once again, I'll warn you that despite the cover art and the marketing, this is definitely not an urban fantasy (UF) series. It's strictly light-weight chick lit with a touch of fantasy. Ciel could never be a UF heroine because she doesn't ever do anything meaningful and she has absolutely no street cred. All of the men do their best to keep her out of the action, and she allows them to manipulate her each and every time. She never knows what the men are up to, and she is never on the front lines of the plot until the very end, when she has a major TSTL moment and puts Molly and herself in deadly danger from which she has to be rescued by—you guessed it—a man. If it weren't for one slightly graphic sex scene in this book, this could be a YA series. Click HERE to read chapter 1 of Quick Fix. ~ Fang-tastic Fiction

See Also[]

See Category links at bottom of page

External References[]

Books:

Summaries:

World, Characters, etc:

Reviews:

Interviews, Guest Posts, Author Commentary:

Artist: 

Author:

Community, Fan Sites:

Gallery of Book Covers[]

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