Believe It or Not by Tawna Fenske

               Psychics, male exotic dancers, rock music, humor, and romance.  What else could a book possibly need?             

                Violet does not believe in psychics.  For most people this is not a big deal.  You just go along with your life not believing in psychics, end of story.  This is not a possibility for Violet.  She does not believe in psychics and her mother, Moonbeam, happens to be one.  Living across the country as an accountant alleviates some of the difficulties with this situation.  It actually seems to work out very well for Violet.  She can have a “normal” life.  Then Moonbeam becomes injured and Violet must return home to care for not only her mother but the psychic business.  Violet is not quite sure how she is going to pull this off.  While Moonbeam believes Violet is also psychic, Violet does not.  Despite this, Violet is determined to keep her mother’s business running.

                While keeping a psychic business going would be interesting enough, Violet meets the owner of the bar next door.  Drew runs a different sort of bar.  A couple nights a week he hosts male exotic dancers.  It does not take long for sparks to fly between Violet and Drew, but a man who owns a bar with male exotic dancers is definitely not what Violet would consider normal.  Violet fights her feelings, but sometimes there are things more powerful than the logical mind.

                There are a lot of great characters in this book.  One of my favorites is Jamie.  He is Drew’s ex-brother-in-law and the exotic dancer teacher.  A very sweet man, Jamie tries hard, but it is not always quite clear what is going on in his head.  Then there is the use of rock music which in many ways is a character itself.  Somehow when Violet conducts her readings, just the right song comes on to give her the answer she needs.  Is this simply coincidence, or something else?

                As much as I loved this book (I laughed all the way through), there is one frustrating element.  The progression of the relationship between Drew and Violet was too protracted and not protracted enough all at the same time.  The romantic relationship between these two progressed very quickly, but then it did not grow for a very long time.  Instead, over and over it kept getting to the same point and stopping.  In my opinion it would have been better to have the relationship go slower and be more gradual or keep with the rapid pace and just finish it off earlier in the book.  The constant start/stop drove me crazy.  Although there was one start/stop scene I did greatly enjoy.  The author was very clever with the use of an animal nature show.  I will not tell you how the show was used.  That can remain a surprise.