Viviana Valentine Goes Up the River

Written by Emily J. Edwards

Narrated by Stephanie Willing

Perfect for fans of Ashley Weaver, the second Girl Friday mystery takes Viviana to new heights—and new lows—as she and Tommy are drawn into case involving a science lab.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dreamscape Media
• Release date: May 2, 2023
• ISBN: 9781666633580

Emily J. Edwards

Emily J. Edwards is the author of the Girl Friday series. She earned her degree in writing, literature, and publishing from Emerson College and took the long road to becoming an author, working for over a decade as a wine and spirits journalist, radio producer, and podcaster. She currently lives with her husband and several quadrupeds in Connecticut.

Reviews for Viviana Valentine Goes Up the River

[Megan Patrick · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This one was a 3.5 for me. Enjoyable but decidedly more busy/disjointed than the first book, mostly due to the side stories. There was just too much focus on some of them and not nearly enough for others. Most of it didn't really serve the furthering of the main story, which could have used the extra focus. I knew who the murderer was pretty early on and the attempts to draw suspicion elsewhere weren't fleshed out enough to do the job. If I didn't enjoy Viv and Tommy, I likely would have left this on the DNF pile but the characters remained delightful, so it wasn't a slog to finish the audiobook. Although I found the ending decidedly less delightful.


******SPOILERS AHEAD
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Look, I love Viv and Tommy together, loved them from that first snarky conversation about the new client. And it was more or less a given that they would eventually wind up together. But I never anticipated it happening now because there's been almost no build-up. I hate having a will-they-won't-they that's drawn out way too long as much as the next person, but half the fun of a romantic plotline is watching the characters either fall in love. We didn't get that with them and as a result, it feels like part of the story was missing.

I mean, the author set things up with a 'only one bed' trope and made the most tepid use of it I've ever seen. And their banter actually did feel more like two close friends joking around that lovers-to-be moving in that direction. It was just so...meh and rushed. I couldn't even be excited about it, which is a shame as there was such good potential for at least a little bit of a slow burn.

Which makes the portion of the word count given to the situation with Tally and Bet especially odd. Viv seemed to be complaining about Tally every third paragraph and worrying about Beth every other chapter. Neither needed that much focus since the moment Tally chose to go to her appt rather than stay with Viv for the case, it was pretty clear she'd be going her own way later in this book or, at most, in the next. The situation with Beth admittedly took up less page room, but it wasn't hard to guess what happened with her, or that it all set the stage for her to replace Tally. And since that was one of the most obvious outcomes, the amount of time dedicated to it felt unnecessary.