Little Miss Straight Lace is the debut suspense-romance novel from Maria Romana. The focus is on Josie Natale, a beyond-brilliant biostatistician who uncovers too much while doing pharmaceutical research for one of her clients. Josie’s journey will lead readers into a web of lies, deceit, murder, sex, and drugs. The plot is suspenseful, and there are enough twists in the game to make your head spin, but Romana clearly knows her way around the pharmaceutical world and her knowledge can keep readers interested. I enjoyed the love story between Josie and Nic, the security expert from South America, and the fierce friendships between the core group of characters. I have said before that I love mysteries that leave me guessing until the end, and this book definitely had me thinking until the very last page.
I did have a few issues with Little Miss Straight Lace. First, the amount of characters was a little intimidating. With so many different characters and their stories and them each having a voice, I got confused trying to keep track of everyone. And I found a few contradictions along the way in reference to the characters and their attitudes and beliefs that would throw me off. The consistency seemed to get jumbled as the story progressed. I think my biggest upset with the story is that it seemed to never end. I felt the story could have been a lot shorter and still just as suspenseful, without the plot dragging along and bringing more and more characters into each scene. By the time I was ready for the novel to be wrapped up, I still had another five chapters to read!
Though Little Miss Straight Lace will not be reaching my Favorites List, I still think Maria Romana is a talented writer, and I think the mystery will interest many readers. I will warn that there are some uncomfortable subjects discussed in this novel, including rape and religious cults, so if you are not a fan of those subjects, I would suggest passing this one by.
Rating: 3/5
