Hurrah .. new refreshing PI with real problems and in this novel, wonderful ghostly episodes that Ravi can sort with aplomb and. clever out-of-box solutions... there is so much satisfaction when underdog succeeds.. political figure sees his dead wife ever. night, running his tagged. Well. Ravi sees gods on weird days, so he's just the right guy to investigate. No one knows this but closest friends .. and they take it seriously. Really enjoyable, and I look guessed to a new episode with this guy (and television series!!)

An okay start to a series. I did like some of the overall plot and some of the characters. I just feel that the story overall was a bit of a let down for many reasons.

Fun and entertaining mysteries solved by a crew of characters. Fast-paced and interwoven cases. Has some elements of Janet Evanovich, Elmore Leonard and Blake Crouch. Has been picked up for TV series. May make a more entertaining series than book.

A refreshing and engaging new voice in crime fiction that effortlessly combines magical realism with the police procedural to create an engaging and entertaining new series. The novel's witty voice and style manage to allow the author to capture the maddening nature of contemporary culture.

Okay, I love the idea of this book. And when I started reading it, it was just as charming as advertised (and who doesn't need more Sendhil Ramamurthy in their lives?) The twists and turns are entertaining (with one very large exception that I'll get to in a minute) and Adi Tantimedh's inclusion of a diverse cast of characters lent for some great humor and set pieces. But towards the end of the book, it started to feel less like a novel and more like a screenplay. I kept having to envision actors adding nuance to the words with expressions, gesture and inflection. As a former actress myself, I found this very distracting because it felt less like reading for pleasure and more like reading for my former work, ironic considering the work I do now. I wanted to start scribbling in the margins as if this were a script, with questions for the writer a/o director as to motivation, interpretation etc. It all felt very thin of everything but dialog and action. Tho perhaps Her Nightly Embrace might have benefited from being a graphic novel instead, with an artist to draw panels? It certainly did not work well as just prose.

Anyway, that's all well and good, and HNE might have just been a promising first installment of a series that definitely needs work, but then something happens in the book about a third of the way through that left me acutely uncomfortable with the rest of the novel. <spoiler>You find out that the guy being visited by a seeming succubus is actually being raped (with a little help from the Rohypnol he's been prescribed by his doctor as a sleep aid) by his dead fiancee's sister Julia, who is a sex addict who subbed in his bed while her sister Lou was dying because something nonsensical about Lou having cancer but still wanting the guy to get his rocks off. Jesus fuck, Lou, tell the idiot you don't want to have sex because YOU HAVE CANCER. If he can't deal with it, dump his stupid ass. Don't have your sex addict sister fucking impersonate you! Anyway, even tho the guy forgives Julia when she's found out, I thought it was extremely gross that she used her sex addiction as a reason to (continue to) victimize the guy once her sister died. But fine, feelings and family and forgiveness are all complicated beasts, and I would have been okay with it if it had been left at that, but then Julia fucking joins the Golden Sentinels detective agency that Ravi works for and becomes his girlfriend and I'm just all "no, hell no." I cannot be made to root for her and their relationship because she is a <i>rapist</i>. Her redemption is so matter-of-course as to feel completely unearned, and godfuckingdamnit, sex addiction is not an excuse for rape. She is awful and I hated having to feel like I should care about her because what she'd done was treated like not that big a deal when, in fact, it is.</spoiler>

Anyway, I'm still going to read the sequel because I have to, for work, and will likely pretend that all that ^^ never happened so I can be objective about Her Beautiful Monster but oh, man, HNE was not a great book, with some really bad messaging. Plus, the Hindu gods Ravi sees are never used in an interesting manner, another thing I'm hoping improves in the sequel. I just... ugh. This should have been so much better than it was and I'm just so appalled that it wasn't.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a big fan of diversity in entertainment. So when I received the promotional material for the new novel by Adi Tantimedh, I was intrigued. The main character of Her Nightly Embrace is Ravi Chandra Singh, a London-born Indian man, a failed religious scholar and former high school teacher turned private detective working at Golden Sentinels, an agency staffed with different characters from all over the globe. The book is only part of series in a major multimedia release, including a corresponding podcast and a TV show starring Sendhil Ramamurthy (formerly of NBC’s show, Heroes).

With all the hype and a well-known TV star on the cover, I must admit I went into the story with somewhat higher expectations than I would normally have for what is essentially a novelized teleplay. Regrettably, this turned out to be a mistake. I can say without hesitation that the book was one of the most disappointing I have read in some years. The writing is choppy, brusque, and full of clichés, with the supporting characters becoming parodied archetypes – the brilliant Asian hacker; the charming but deadly British mastermind; the perky American with a secret agenda – that basically defeat the purpose of diversity in the first place. I can’t say, based upon this book, that I have much hope for it, but I can only hope that the upcoming show does a better job with the material.

Thank you NetGalley!
Her Nightly Embrace was a hoot!
I will definitely be looking for the rest of the series. It moved along at a good pace and I loved the collection of quirky characters. I also appreciated their compassion and humanity. All in all a very satisfying read.

Hardcover (edit)
Review Her Nightly Embrace by Adi Tantimedh is a 2016 Atria/ Leopaldo &Co. Publication.

I had no idea what to expect from this book, but the publishers were so enthusiastic about it and their plans for audio and television projects featuring “Heroes” star Sendhil Ramamurthy, I couldn’t resist taking a look at it.



When Ravi Chandra Singh gave up his religious studies after his reputation was impugned, he is hired by Golden Sentinels, a detective agency located in London. While Ravi may not seem like detective material, he’s a quick study. However, he does have a few, shall we say, abnormalities. Every time Ravi is stressed out, he sees a variety of Hindu Gods, and they seem to be tweeting about him. No matter how many pills he pops the visions persists, causing Ravi to continually question his sanity.

This is an introduction to Ravi, but we soon learn a great deal more about him and his family, as he gives us an up close and personal view to his highly unusual adventures as a private detective and the offbeat and occasionally dangerous cases he and the eclectic team at Golden Sentinels are hired to handle.

It’s no secret this book is being shopped for a television series and I do think the book was written in such a way that it would appeal to anyone who enjoys media tie-in material, perhaps with the hopes the book will enjoy cross-media attention and sales.

There are four complete short stories in one book, all individual cases worked on by Ravi and his team, but there is a common thread or continuance that binds the stories together.

I like Ravi’s voice and the stories are imaginative, fast paced, quirky and are even humorous on occasion. Over the course of the four installments, the cases become more serious, more dangerous, and more intriguing.

I always applaud creativity and imagination and I’m all for giving books a little boost by offering podcasts, movie or television tie-ins, or even some kind of interactive multi-media enhancements to keep readers engaged and to promote a love of reading. To that end, this book gets my seal of approval.

I thought the stories were stylish, if a bit outlandish, but the characters were terrific, each member having a unique skill to bring to the table. There are several well placed twists that propel the story along from one installment to another and the dynamic between the characters and the plot is ever evolving.

I can see how this book would easily translate to the small screen and I predict it will appeal to a certain demographic. It could pick up steam easily, but I’m not sure how long it would sustain the audience in that fickle environment. However, in the book world, if the author plays their cards right and doesn’t let the video appeal mar the integrity of the books, this is a series that could see a long and successful run.

Personally, I got a kick out of this book, for the most part, and would be interested in reading more about Ravi’s adventures in the future.