Bubbles is definately a "guilty pleasure". No, it's not great literature, but it's certainly a lot of fun to read these books! Bubbles Unbound is one of the better installments in the series, in my opinion. I left it laying around the house, and my husband picked it up. Next thing I knew, he'd gotten hooked too (an entirely unexpected development).

Bubbles Yablonsky is a hairdresser-sleuth-would-be reporter. The author has created a marvelous street-wise character who capable of crime solving. She is humorous, sensitive, and down to earth. The book keeps you guessing from beginning to end and is well worth the read.

Many friends suggested the Bubbles series and I took the opportunity recently to try it out, starting at the beginning. It was very enjoyable.

Bubbles is a hairdresser, she's also got a model's figure and she's blonde. She also has taken the opportunity offered her by her ex-husband trying to take away her allowance (after her supporting him throughout his courses to become a lawyer) by inventively doing as many courses as she can in the local community college. She thinks that she's found her role in life in the Journalism course, but she's still doing hair in Sandy's House of Beauty, after all she does have a daughter to support.

She gets drawn into a murder with the delectable Steve Stiletto, and her vow of celibacy and her very life is in danger.

It owes a lot to Janet Evanovich but is quite a fun read. It kept me enthralled throughout. The Twists that the story took weren't very unexpected but did add to the enjoyment and kept it from being stale.

Don't bother with this book. Nobody could be that stupid in real life. There is very little plot to go with the idiot main charecter.

Strohmeyer is of the Evanovich school as she writes a quirky, gung-ho beautician/reporter-wannabe who finds herself involved in mysteries. "Bubbles Unbound" may be the first book in the series, as it gives a solid introduction to everyone, including the beauty shop, Two Guys College, and Stiletto. There are a few laugh-out-loud moments.

There's also a nice little mystery here. Because I read "Bubbles Ablaze" first, I knew that two red herrings were actually good guys, and I also learned the ultimate fate of the perps there. I can't really recommend "Bubbles Ablaze" because it was so strung-out and unfocused, but that problem is not present in "Bubbles Unbound."

Instead we get a stream of colorful characters and a mystery that won't leave you depressed. One of the minuses from a reader's point of view is that Strohmeyer inserts "beauty recipes" at the end of a few chapters, much as some romance writers print recipes there for reasons I have yet to figure out. There aren't many and by golly, I'm going to take notes on some, but they do interfere with the reading. For instance, a color rinse concoction has to be preceded by someone using it in the text. (But it sounds like it'll cover up my gray hairs well.)

One of the things I hope the author plays with is that Bubbles, while she never paid attention to much of her schooling besides journalism, has had an extensive and far-reaching (sometimes obscure) education, thanks to her ex-husband being forced by the courts to pay for it. She does take advantage of that in one (two?) place(s) here but I'd like to see more. It's a really fun concept, especially for the sometimes-ignorant Bubbles!

A co-worker recommended this series to me because it's one of her favorites. I can certainly see where a vacation could only be improved by packing this book instead of some dreary, too-serious murder mystery.