Not quite grey, but not bright either – Color Me Grey, a review

Color Me Grey (Alexis Stanton Chronicles #1)

J.C. Phelps

…exciting, highly paid position for person with specialized training…

Recently unemployed after quitting a boring office job, Alexis Stanton finds a mysterious ad in the help wanted section that might prove to be the answer to her desire for excitement and adventure.

After an intense application process, including actually fighting with her competition, she gets the job of her dreams.

But is it going to kill her?

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I first read this book several years after winning a copy in a competition and recently re-read it to see if my opinion had changed.

As you can see from the 3* I’ve given it I like this book but it’s a long way from being a favourite. It has a decent storyline and some good characters, but also some definite flaws.

First off the good points: I like the character of Alexis Stanton, a.k.a. Miss Grey, she has a decent personality, and a lot of useful skills, as well as a determination to see things through no matter how difficult they might be. I also like the character of Mr Black, he’s tough, and no-nonsense, but can relax, and the older brother/little sister relationship he develops with Miss Grey is nice without being cloying.

The story moves along with a reasonable pace, and even the time Miss Grey spends training with Mr Black is entertaining enough not to drag the story down. If anything that is one of the better sections of the book as the characters of Miss Grey and Mr Black are developed.

In contrast with the training section the ‘mission’ is over a little too quickly for me, though there is a nice aftermath to the mission that shows a slightly different, softer, side to Miss Grey and leads to a nice conclusion.

Unfortunately, outside of Miss Grey and Mr Black, and to a lesser extent Mr White, the characters are a little one-dimensional. You don’t see enough of them, whether it’s the other partners in the company, Miss Grey’s family, or the bad guys, to really get to know them, or to feel a sense of danger during either the mission or the conclusion.

My biggest complaint regarding characters is not about the one dimensionality of them, it’s about Miss Grey – as much as I like her, she is a bit over the top; I’m a big fan of strong female characters, both physically and mentally, but it seemed to me that Miss Grey was able to pick up any skill shown her far too easily, not only that but she was capable of beating almost anyone in a fight.

I would have preferred it if she had at least taken some more time to learn new skills, and had had a little more difficulty during the fight scenes.

One final gripe is the occasional misuse of homophones through the book that kicked me out of the scene.

Overall I enjoyed the book, and will be reading the others in the series. If you like a lighthearted action story that doesn’t require much thinking then this could be for you.