Reading Indie: T.B. Markinson's The Miracle Girl & The Fall Girl

Back in September, there was a huge MyLesFic sale, and I snagged the second book in Markinson's TMG series. I already had the first, and with the release of book 2, it was the perfect time to read both.  Interested in your own copies? The images above are linked to the Amazon purchase pages.

Read on for my review, and know I do not do spoilers, so you're safe to continue.​

The Miracle Girl was released in 2015, but it is quite timely even now. The whole backdrop of the newspaper business and how the internet has changed news media is still fresh, and as we meet J.J. Cavendish and see her at work to save a failing newspaper, her character is believable. The story covers her move back to Colorado, where she's from and where her parents still live, how she got her nickname "The Miracle Girl," and her overall character backstory. We also meet Claire, the girl who got away.

The first book is pretty solidly a steamy romance. The level of steam? Let's just say the book is explicit enough that there's no mystery about the action between the sheets.

Book 2 picks up where Book 1 left off, and the steam level is comparable. In The Fall Girl, Markinson ramps up the overall plot, though, delving deeper into the dangers of the Internet and adding a cyber bullying mystery. This helps to add some character development and complicate the novel beyond just relationship issues.

Markinson's characters are well-developed but still maintain a sense of mystery that will keep the series going. We learn more about J.J. Cavendish in Book 2, and about Claire, J.J.'s former boss and now business partner, and Avery, the assistant who has plenty of secrets. The books leave enough up in the air that the reader (this one, at least) is hooked and wants more books in the series to figure out the back story that is often hinted at but never fully disclosed.

As a lover of thrillers, I found the "Mean Heather" angle in Book 2 entertaining, but in the end I felt the plot line could have been more fully developed. The ending of the novel felt a bit rushed, and some backstory for secondary characters, like Nicki, could have been better developed.

Both novels are told from the first person POV, however, which does account for the limited point of view.  More dialogue with characters like Cora in the last quarter of the book might have helped answer some of the questions both J.J. and the reader have as the book winds down.