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The Shop-Til-U-Drop Collection #2
A Steal of a Deal
When gemologist Andrea Adams gets a chance to go to the Kashmir region of Pakistan for a mission trip, she jumps at it. But her boss at the S.T.U.D. home shopping network wants to turn the trip into another on-location shoot for the station. That means Andrea's co-host Max is part of the deal, and she isn't happy about it. When their guide turns up dead and a famous sapphire turns up in Max's possession, Andrea thinks all her worst fears are confirmed. Is this her chance to get rid of this know-nothing pretty boy? Or is Max innocent after all?
Fast-paced and full of exciting action and exotic locales, A Steal of a Deal is the perfect escape for readers looking for a thrill.
Fast-paced and full of exciting action and exotic locales, A Steal of a Deal is the perfect escape for readers looking for a thrill.
253 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2008
9 people are currently reading
140 people want to read
About the author
Ginny Aiken
51 books97 followersGinny Aiken, a former newspaper reporter, lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and their three younger sons--the oldest is married, has flown the coop, and made her a doting grandmother. Born in Havana, Cuba, and raised in Valencia and Caracas Venezuela, Ginny discovered books at an early age. She wrote her first novel at age fifteen while she trained with the Ballets de Caracas, later to be known as the Venezuelan National Ballet. She burned that tome when she turned a "mature" sixteen. An ecletic list of jobs--including stints as reporter, paralegal, choreographer, language teacher, retail salesperson, wife, mother of four boys, and herder of their numerous and assorted friends, including the 135 members of first the Crossmen and then the Bluecoats Drum & Bugle Corps--brought her back to books in search of her sanity. She is now the author of twenty-seven published works, but she hasn't caught up with that elusive sanity yet.
http://ginnyaikenwrites.com/About_Me....
http://ginnyaikenwrites.com/About_Me....
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 29, 2012
I have to say I was somewhat disappointed with this book. This is the second in the Shop Til You Drop series. I felt like I was reading the first in the series all over again with just a few changes. Andie still has a smart mouth. She makes another trip to a foreign country with her aunt, her boss, her co-host on her Gem TV Shopping show, and some co-workers. And she gets involved with another crime. Andie keeps praying about her snide remarks but doesn't seem to ever stop making them. There is a third book in this series but I doubt very much I will read it.
April 23, 2008
ohmyGOSH! it was SO GOOD!!!! and I loveLoveLOVE THE ENDING!*squeels happily*
June 29, 2008
A quick read and occasionally amusing. Too much like the first in the series but without some of the better elements.
June 3, 2023
This one had funny Writing, characters were hilarious, and I liked them quite a bit. HOWEVER, the plot didn’t do it for me.
It was simultaneously inconsequential information, and chaotic stories that jumped around all over the place - all within under 300 pages.
I think the author has potential for me to really like, but this story/series doesn’t seem to be it.
It was simultaneously inconsequential information, and chaotic stories that jumped around all over the place - all within under 300 pages.
I think the author has potential for me to really like, but this story/series doesn’t seem to be it.
August 15, 2016
©2008
17 chapters/248 pages
My Review—I don’t know if since the time I read book one of this series to now, I’ve done extra maturing or what, but I read the first chapter of this installment, book two, and knew I could NOT read on. Starting with page one, I was already irritated with the heroine, Andrea Autumn Adams, and remembered my dislike for her in the first book: She has this VERY annoying manner about her (as if she’s stuck in 1980s’ L.A. “Valley” and on permanent “perky”), AND she’s really quite myopically arrogant—she STILL doesn’t get the perfect duo for her kind of setup is one expert and layman, the former answering the questions the latter (who’s just representing your average shopping viewer) asks. He, Max Matthews (you know, her name being Andrea Autumn Adams and his being Max Matthews give this book a sort of Soap Opera-alliteration feel), doesn’t HAVE to know gems; his lack of knowledge is as most people AND, since he doesn’t mind asking questions (and showing everyone he DOESN’T have a clue), makes you look very smart and shows off YOUR specialized education!
So, she’s annoying. From page one! Not a good sign. Next source of annoyance: Christians contemplating relationships with non-Christians. It’s called being unequally yoked, and the Bible’s against it. How can we expect others to want to adhere to our faith when WE don’t even follow its basic tenets? So, Andrea, Max should be off-limits to you, no matter how cute he is. And just because he GOES to church DOESN’T make him a Christian. Does he claim Jesus as his Savior and Lord? It sound as if he does to me (I can’t remember what was said in book one, but I just can’t get into this one enough to find out).
Third and final irritation (just in chapter 1!): She’s exceedingly silly. And not in the funny, “ha-ha,” “she-has-SUCH-a-great-sense-of-humor” kind of way but in the silly, giggling-school-girl-who-pretends-she-hates-the-boy-she-has-a-huge-crush-on kind of way. She’s an adult with a Master Gem degree (or whatever it’s called, and of which she’s constantly reminding people) and she’s acting as if she’s back on the elementary school playground—and it’s not just with Max but with ALL people, repeatedly ridiculing, belittling, and demeaning Max around family and coworkers in an attempt to prove she “doesn’t like the guy.” It was old in book one, yet continues on in the first chapter.
So, strike 3, and I pass. I won’t be finishing this series, though I will try another just to see if I can get into another novel by Ginny Aiken. I hope so because I’d like to find Christian authoresses (and there’s another issue—she doesn’t use the female titles for her heroine, e.g., hostess, conspiratorESS, etc. (though I’m not positive the spelling of the second one there)) I can read. And I’m sorry I can’t take this heroine because I think the series idea is interesting, unique. So we’ll see if it’s just this heroine or the authoress (hopefully the former because secular authoresses are REALLY annoying me with their glorification of gutter living).
Grade: F (based solely on chapter one only since this is as far as I got)
17 chapters/248 pages
My Review—I don’t know if since the time I read book one of this series to now, I’ve done extra maturing or what, but I read the first chapter of this installment, book two, and knew I could NOT read on. Starting with page one, I was already irritated with the heroine, Andrea Autumn Adams, and remembered my dislike for her in the first book: She has this VERY annoying manner about her (as if she’s stuck in 1980s’ L.A. “Valley” and on permanent “perky”), AND she’s really quite myopically arrogant—she STILL doesn’t get the perfect duo for her kind of setup is one expert and layman, the former answering the questions the latter (who’s just representing your average shopping viewer) asks. He, Max Matthews (you know, her name being Andrea Autumn Adams and his being Max Matthews give this book a sort of Soap Opera-alliteration feel), doesn’t HAVE to know gems; his lack of knowledge is as most people AND, since he doesn’t mind asking questions (and showing everyone he DOESN’T have a clue), makes you look very smart and shows off YOUR specialized education!
So, she’s annoying. From page one! Not a good sign. Next source of annoyance: Christians contemplating relationships with non-Christians. It’s called being unequally yoked, and the Bible’s against it. How can we expect others to want to adhere to our faith when WE don’t even follow its basic tenets? So, Andrea, Max should be off-limits to you, no matter how cute he is. And just because he GOES to church DOESN’T make him a Christian. Does he claim Jesus as his Savior and Lord? It sound as if he does to me (I can’t remember what was said in book one, but I just can’t get into this one enough to find out).
Third and final irritation (just in chapter 1!): She’s exceedingly silly. And not in the funny, “ha-ha,” “she-has-SUCH-a-great-sense-of-humor” kind of way but in the silly, giggling-school-girl-who-pretends-she-hates-the-boy-she-has-a-huge-crush-on kind of way. She’s an adult with a Master Gem degree (or whatever it’s called, and of which she’s constantly reminding people) and she’s acting as if she’s back on the elementary school playground—and it’s not just with Max but with ALL people, repeatedly ridiculing, belittling, and demeaning Max around family and coworkers in an attempt to prove she “doesn’t like the guy.” It was old in book one, yet continues on in the first chapter.
So, strike 3, and I pass. I won’t be finishing this series, though I will try another just to see if I can get into another novel by Ginny Aiken. I hope so because I’d like to find Christian authoresses (and there’s another issue—she doesn’t use the female titles for her heroine, e.g., hostess, conspiratorESS, etc. (though I’m not positive the spelling of the second one there)) I can read. And I’m sorry I can’t take this heroine because I think the series idea is interesting, unique. So we’ll see if it’s just this heroine or the authoress (hopefully the former because secular authoresses are REALLY annoying me with their glorification of gutter living).
Grade: F (based solely on chapter one only since this is as far as I got)
November 30, 2015
Second time through this one, and it wasn't quite as enjoyable this time through as it was the first.
In some ways I like Andie as a heroine. She struggles a lot with some things, and that makes her very real to me. She knows she needs to change how she treats her co-host, Max, but she's so stuck in her behavior that it's hard for her to do so. So sometimes her behavior really did get on my nerves, the way she kept sniping at him instead of giving him the benefit of the doubt and making a genuine attempt to get along with him. And sometimes she whines a lot, which does begin to grate after a while.
Also, the showdown at the end seemed a little - weird. I don't know, it just didn't quite ring true or realistic to me, and while the identity of the "bad guy" didn't really surprise me, there were some loose ends about that person's motive and who she was working with, at least on the America side of things, which bothered me.
As far as the technical side of the book (which, let's face it, is why I read this series the first time anyway), it does show slight improvement from the first. Though the jeweler's loop (which should be loupe) faux pas was still, unfortunately, very much in evidence, she thankfully did not misidentify any gemstones as being from the wrong family (such as the alexandrite as a garnet in the last book). This book focused on Kashmir sapphires, some of the highest quality examples of that gem in the world. Max is slightly more knowledgeable in this book, which was a plus, and it was nice to see him able to hold his own more.
On the whole... 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 for the purposes of GR grading.
In some ways I like Andie as a heroine. She struggles a lot with some things, and that makes her very real to me. She knows she needs to change how she treats her co-host, Max, but she's so stuck in her behavior that it's hard for her to do so. So sometimes her behavior really did get on my nerves, the way she kept sniping at him instead of giving him the benefit of the doubt and making a genuine attempt to get along with him. And sometimes she whines a lot, which does begin to grate after a while.
Also, the showdown at the end seemed a little - weird. I don't know, it just didn't quite ring true or realistic to me, and while the identity of the "bad guy" didn't really surprise me, there were some loose ends about that person's motive and who she was working with, at least on the America side of things, which bothered me.
As far as the technical side of the book (which, let's face it, is why I read this series the first time anyway), it does show slight improvement from the first. Though the jeweler's loop (which should be loupe) faux pas was still, unfortunately, very much in evidence, she thankfully did not misidentify any gemstones as being from the wrong family (such as the alexandrite as a garnet in the last book). This book focused on Kashmir sapphires, some of the highest quality examples of that gem in the world. Max is slightly more knowledgeable in this book, which was a plus, and it was nice to see him able to hold his own more.
On the whole... 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 for the purposes of GR grading.
June 10, 2012
Andie, Max, Miss Mona and Aunt Weeby are off on another adventure in the second installment of the Shop-til-U-Drop mystery series.
What starts out as a missions trip to Kashmir to help at an orphanage, turns into a trip to see the famous Sapphire mines. Things turn deadly when the houseboy is found murdered soon after they arrive. After the filming of the mines another tragedy strikes. They arrive back home safely, only to become victims of several deadly attacks. What do they want? Andie is trying to figure that out before someone close to her winds up dead.
I liked this story, but not as well as the first. Being a mystery you know something is going to happen, but it seemed kind of predictable. The love interest with Max is more developed and it is no surprise how the book ends, again kind of predictable. That being said it was a good story and was consistent with the first. I believe there is one more in the series. I want to read it, hoping that it isn't quite so predictable as this one was.
What starts out as a missions trip to Kashmir to help at an orphanage, turns into a trip to see the famous Sapphire mines. Things turn deadly when the houseboy is found murdered soon after they arrive. After the filming of the mines another tragedy strikes. They arrive back home safely, only to become victims of several deadly attacks. What do they want? Andie is trying to figure that out before someone close to her winds up dead.
I liked this story, but not as well as the first. Being a mystery you know something is going to happen, but it seemed kind of predictable. The love interest with Max is more developed and it is no surprise how the book ends, again kind of predictable. That being said it was a good story and was consistent with the first. I believe there is one more in the series. I want to read it, hoping that it isn't quite so predictable as this one was.
September 29, 2008
Why oh why did I read the second book of this series? Probably because I had already checked it out and was stuck at home with nothing better to do. And I did have a sick curiosity to find out what happened...did she get the guy in spite of being a total witch? Amazingly - YES she does!! That is what I have been doing wrong this whole time. When a handsome and kind man pays me attention I need to treat him like CRAP and then he will fall madly in love with me!
AND - the plot - once again - did not make any sense at all and was very confusing and left a lot of ends not tied up.
I could write a better book than this!
AND - the plot - once again - did not make any sense at all and was very confusing and left a lot of ends not tied up.
I could write a better book than this!
January 16, 2014
This is a dramatic novel with a light-hearted narration style; those don't exactly fit together, which ruins this book as a whole. Andie--the protagonist and narrator--makes jokes and such, but it's hard to laugh at a book where innocent people are thrown in prison, others are murdered, and a vehicle blows up with people inside. Suffice it to say: I did not enjoy this one.
June 30, 2011
Sorta cute story, but I didn't like how some of the mysteries were never explained. I'm guessing it'll be explained in the next story??
December 28, 2012
This book had some really funny parts in it. It had danger and death as well. A good read.
February 10, 2009
Too much like the first book.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews