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Renovation
JK Lassiter moved to Dallas for a chance at a normal life. But normal is a hard thing to come by when he's at the mercy of the rogue psychic power that robbed him of a decade of friendships and joy.
At twenty-eight he's finally making up for those lost years. He's landed a job renovating a long-neglected house. He's met eccentric neighbours, made new friends, and after sexy man-next-door, Nick Collier, shows up, he's even begun to hope that romance might not be impossible.
But when JK's extra-sensory abilities reveal evidence of a brutal crime, he finds himself embroiled in a murder investigation and feels his dream of attaining a normal life slipping away again. Even worse, the list of suspects starts with JK's new neighbours, his new friends, and, as far as the police are concerned, ends with Nick.
Now with the lives of people he cares for on the line, JK he must fight to control the abilities he never wanted to hunt down a killer.
At twenty-eight he's finally making up for those lost years. He's landed a job renovating a long-neglected house. He's met eccentric neighbours, made new friends, and after sexy man-next-door, Nick Collier, shows up, he's even begun to hope that romance might not be impossible.
But when JK's extra-sensory abilities reveal evidence of a brutal crime, he finds himself embroiled in a murder investigation and feels his dream of attaining a normal life slipping away again. Even worse, the list of suspects starts with JK's new neighbours, his new friends, and, as far as the police are concerned, ends with Nick.
Now with the lives of people he cares for on the line, JK he must fight to control the abilities he never wanted to hunt down a killer.
- GenresMystery
228 pages, Paperback
First published May 17, 2015
About the author
Lane Robins
10 books57 followersLane Robins was born in Miami, Florida, the daughter of two scientists, and grew up as the first human member of their menagerie. When it came time for a career, it was a hard choice between veterinarian and writer. It turned out to be far more fun to write about blood than to work with it. She received her BA in Creative Writing from Beloit College, and currently lives in Lawrence, Kansas, with an ever-fluctuating number of dogs and cats.
She also writes under the pseudonym Lyn Benedict.
She also writes under the pseudonym Lyn Benedict.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 25, 2015
Review can be read at It's About The Book
3.5 stars
JK Lassiter is going to live his own life on his own terms. His psychic power is going to make that difficult, but he’s going to do it. JK is going to renovate the Barton house and his boss is going to flip it for a big profit. It’s something JK could really make a career out of. Unfortunately, the Barton house is not only ugly it’s full of horrible memories and emotions. JK plans to overwrite the bad feelings with new positive feelings, take his meds as prescribed, and hunker down and get to work. The attractive guy next door, Nick, is just a bonus. JK has trouble working in the house. Foolishly, he takes his gloves off to see if he can learn anything about the house. Barton was a horrible person. JK has some real difficulties staying in the house. He does enjoy his burgeoning relationship with Nick. He even manages to get Nick to go on a coffee date. JK quickly learns Nick’s life has been in upheaval for a while. Nick’s friends are extremely protective and quickly latch onto the fact JK is different.
While working in the backyard JK has a major psychic experience that leads him to believe Barton is dead and buried in the backyard. Nick’s friend doesn’t want him digging. Finding Barton’s body leads to police scrutiny of the neighborhood, the neighbors, and Nick’s circle of close friends. JK decides to investigate despite the fact he’s opening himself up to severe problems as a result of using his psychic powers, but he can’t let a killer go free even if Barton was a horrible man, and he can’t leave the wrong person in jail.
Unfortunately I had this book solved by page 25. I kept hoping I was wrong. For a while I thought I might be, but at the same time the real killer was just being cemented more strongly into my brain. I enjoy the locked room mystery trope, but sometimes it’s just really obvious and this was, for me, one of those times. So yeah, the whole mystery aspect of the story was a bit of a wash for me.
I’m not sure how I felt about Nick asking JK to use his abilities. It was everything JK’s brother feared would happen to him. Nick regretted it when he saw the end result and JK had the power to say no, but I just didn’t like it. Especially after Nick was so offended JK could use his ability to look into his life and he had no similar power. It added an interesting element that this relationship was lopsided and not in favor of the person with the special power. Hopefully that was intentional, as this whole book had a vibe that JK had a psychic disability rather than a psychic ability.
I expected more from the mystery, but the paranormal and relationship aspects of the story took up some of the slack. JK’s psychic powers never felt like a way to solve the story’s problems and fit in well with the plot as a whole. I’d recommend the book to die-hard mystery fans.
3.5 stars
JK Lassiter is going to live his own life on his own terms. His psychic power is going to make that difficult, but he’s going to do it. JK is going to renovate the Barton house and his boss is going to flip it for a big profit. It’s something JK could really make a career out of. Unfortunately, the Barton house is not only ugly it’s full of horrible memories and emotions. JK plans to overwrite the bad feelings with new positive feelings, take his meds as prescribed, and hunker down and get to work. The attractive guy next door, Nick, is just a bonus. JK has trouble working in the house. Foolishly, he takes his gloves off to see if he can learn anything about the house. Barton was a horrible person. JK has some real difficulties staying in the house. He does enjoy his burgeoning relationship with Nick. He even manages to get Nick to go on a coffee date. JK quickly learns Nick’s life has been in upheaval for a while. Nick’s friends are extremely protective and quickly latch onto the fact JK is different.
While working in the backyard JK has a major psychic experience that leads him to believe Barton is dead and buried in the backyard. Nick’s friend doesn’t want him digging. Finding Barton’s body leads to police scrutiny of the neighborhood, the neighbors, and Nick’s circle of close friends. JK decides to investigate despite the fact he’s opening himself up to severe problems as a result of using his psychic powers, but he can’t let a killer go free even if Barton was a horrible man, and he can’t leave the wrong person in jail.
Unfortunately I had this book solved by page 25. I kept hoping I was wrong. For a while I thought I might be, but at the same time the real killer was just being cemented more strongly into my brain. I enjoy the locked room mystery trope, but sometimes it’s just really obvious and this was, for me, one of those times. So yeah, the whole mystery aspect of the story was a bit of a wash for me.
I’m not sure how I felt about Nick asking JK to use his abilities. It was everything JK’s brother feared would happen to him. Nick regretted it when he saw the end result and JK had the power to say no, but I just didn’t like it. Especially after Nick was so offended JK could use his ability to look into his life and he had no similar power. It added an interesting element that this relationship was lopsided and not in favor of the person with the special power. Hopefully that was intentional, as this whole book had a vibe that JK had a psychic disability rather than a psychic ability.
I expected more from the mystery, but the paranormal and relationship aspects of the story took up some of the slack. JK’s psychic powers never felt like a way to solve the story’s problems and fit in well with the plot as a whole. I’d recommend the book to die-hard mystery fans.
May 17, 2015
JK Lassiter can pick up psychic atmospheric readings just by walking into a room and with the touch of his hand, assimilate memories, good and bad, along with the overpowering surge of physical and emotional feelings attached to them. His gift has proved to be more of a curse to JK, one he has to manage with medication and protective gloves to stop from being completely overwhelmed by. Now 28 years-old, he’s tired of his life being ruled by his abilities – which is why he’s excited when a new career path flipping houses opens up, offering a road towards independence and a chance towards a new, normal life. The chance at normal pretty much gets thrown out the window when it becomes apparent that the house he’s flipping has dark secrets tied to the sudden disappearance of the former owner.
Renovation is a great whodunit in a classic nosy neighborhood setting. The neighborhood is populated with all the usual characters you’d expect – the elderly, garden-obsessed couple down the way, the retired military man across the street, the single mom struggling to take care of her son, the house a few young college kids are renting – not exactly an original cast, but they provided a great list of suspects to chose from.
There’s also a great romantic aspect to the story with JK’s slightly-agoraphobic neighbor, Nick. The two share a pretty good connection, and some semi-explicit-to-explicit intimate scenes. I loved how the romance played out between the two, not insta-love, but not a slow burn either; it was paced pretty well, although the intense events in the book kind of accelerate the depth of closeness in their relationship towards the end.
Be warned there’s some drama and angst here – JK, our poor, relatable everyman main character, suffers some serious mental trauma while investigating the mystery. Some of the memories he has to re-live, and then live with, are memories that no one should have to endure.
I really enjoyed this book and found myself staying up until 3 a.m. on a week night because I just couldn’t put it down. I definitely see potential for a series here and I would absolutely love to read more of JK’s adventures in crime solving using his “rogue psychic power”.
*I received an ARC of this book to review. You can find this review and others like it at BookAndCoffeeAddict.com, along with recommendations for a fantastic cup of coffee.
Renovation is a great whodunit in a classic nosy neighborhood setting. The neighborhood is populated with all the usual characters you’d expect – the elderly, garden-obsessed couple down the way, the retired military man across the street, the single mom struggling to take care of her son, the house a few young college kids are renting – not exactly an original cast, but they provided a great list of suspects to chose from.
There’s also a great romantic aspect to the story with JK’s slightly-agoraphobic neighbor, Nick. The two share a pretty good connection, and some semi-explicit-to-explicit intimate scenes. I loved how the romance played out between the two, not insta-love, but not a slow burn either; it was paced pretty well, although the intense events in the book kind of accelerate the depth of closeness in their relationship towards the end.
Be warned there’s some drama and angst here – JK, our poor, relatable everyman main character, suffers some serious mental trauma while investigating the mystery. Some of the memories he has to re-live, and then live with, are memories that no one should have to endure.
I really enjoyed this book and found myself staying up until 3 a.m. on a week night because I just couldn’t put it down. I definitely see potential for a series here and I would absolutely love to read more of JK’s adventures in crime solving using his “rogue psychic power”.
*I received an ARC of this book to review. You can find this review and others like it at BookAndCoffeeAddict.com, along with recommendations for a fantastic cup of coffee.
April 3, 2015
So, murder mystery in a house with a psychic renovator who reads vibes/events through touch. The beginning was choppy and I found it a bit difficult to get into. The romance was ok, but I wanted more broody and emotion going on. The characters were too nice, so the romance fell a little flat. Bit beige. The mystery was not that much of a mystery, bit obvious, so I felt like I wanted more at the end. 2.5-3.
December 6, 2017
awesome! adorable gay dudes!
June 24, 2015
A Joyfully Jay review.
3 stars
Renovation is an interesting murder mystery held together by a romance arc. It’s got a riveting premise. The writing is skilled enough, and the plot is solid, But with all its virtues this book was a miss for me. Hence my middle-of-the-scale 3 stars.
As an 18 year-old, JK was playing hockey on the lake when he fell through and died. He’s resuscitated, but when he recovers he is acutely psychic, uncontrollably absorbing the emotionally charged memories stored in anything he touches with his hands. He has psychotic episodes. His parents keep him medicated and locked in the basement for years.
Now at 28, he’s been rescued from his parents’ basement by Jesse, his pushy and guilt-ridden/over-protective brother, who is a cop. Jesse’s wife is a doctor who provides unspecified medication for JK. JK has a job now, renovating houses.
Read Lloyd’s review in its entirety here.
3 stars
Renovation is an interesting murder mystery held together by a romance arc. It’s got a riveting premise. The writing is skilled enough, and the plot is solid, But with all its virtues this book was a miss for me. Hence my middle-of-the-scale 3 stars.
As an 18 year-old, JK was playing hockey on the lake when he fell through and died. He’s resuscitated, but when he recovers he is acutely psychic, uncontrollably absorbing the emotionally charged memories stored in anything he touches with his hands. He has psychotic episodes. His parents keep him medicated and locked in the basement for years.
Now at 28, he’s been rescued from his parents’ basement by Jesse, his pushy and guilt-ridden/over-protective brother, who is a cop. Jesse’s wife is a doctor who provides unspecified medication for JK. JK has a job now, renovating houses.
Read Lloyd’s review in its entirety here.
September 18, 2015
I don't often come across a book where I'm more interested in the main character's relationship with another character than the plot. It could have been better but it's hard to put a finger on it right now of what the plot was lacking.
June 1, 2015
A fun and gripping mystery with a touch of paranormal.
June 29, 2015
I loved the budding relationship between JK & Nick! The mystery was absorbing and made it difficult to put the book down. I hope the is the beginning of a series. Way to go, yet again Lane!!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews