As a wannabe journalist, I should be spending all of my spare time writing articles and features and job searching. However, my main distraction to doing these things is reading, and over the past week I have become hooked to the Sophie Green Mystery series by Kate Johnson.

I stumbled across the series whilst looking on amazon for e-books, in order to suitably take my attention away from what I should be focusing on, and once I’d found them I couldn’t put them down. This series isn’t just full of romance; it is also witty, funny and full of drama and unexpected twists.

The protagonist, Sophie Green, is so full of charm and wit that you instantly fall in love with her, and I became so eager to find out the next drama that would follow her that I immediately purchased each of the five books in the series. The first novel, I-Spy?, introduces the reader to the lovable Sophie, who works on the check-in desks at Stansted airport. Sophie is laid-back, clumsy, easily distracted and unlucky in love, but the latter soon changes when the gorgeous Italian Luca, who works with her in the airport, turns out to be the blonde bombshell that is Luke Sharpe, a secret government agent.

After stumbling upon his true identity and unwittingly catching one of the bad guys Luke is after, Sophie is quickly installed into the small, secretive government branch, SO17. The few other members of the team are at a loss as to why Luke has chosen Sophie as his protégée, as she doesn’t appear to be the most subtle, strong or daring of characters. However, Luke’s reasoning soon becomes clear when the pair embark on a passionate relationship, and Sophie soon proves herself to be clever, resilient and never one to back down.

Over the course of the first four books, which include Ugley Business, A is for Apple and Still Waters, Sophie, Luke and the team have managed to solve a number of hair-raising crimes, and get themselves into a bit of trouble at the same time. Sophie is never far away from danger, and I soon lost count of the amount of times that someone was trying to kill her. The different plot twists, elements of danger and the many accidents and injuries that both Luke and Sophie incur do become a little overwhelming and slightly unbelievable at times.

I mean, Sophie has a building fall on top of her, almost drowns, is involved in a serious car crash, is shot numerous times, escapes a burning building, gets knocked out a few times and is stabbed by a crazed ex-girlfriend of Luke’s, but still somehow manages to survive. However, the crazy life of Sophie Green definitely draws you in so that, no matter how silly the story line may seem to get, the reader is always right there with her, willing her on.

By the fifth book, Run Rabbit Run, where Sophie is no longer a government agent and is on the run for a murder she did not commit, I was left wishing it wouldn’t end. I was captivated by the budding relationship between Sophie and Luke, and the last installment in the franchise includes Luke’s viewpoint.

This is an interesting addition as, in the first few books, the reader is never truly clear of Luke’s intentions or feelings for his rebellious but beautiful other half.

However, Run Rabbit Run, really shows the level of love and commitment between the two, and I found myself willing Luke to propose to Sophie the entire way through the book.

The real draw of the books is the fact that Sophie is such a real character, that readers can truly relate to. From her love of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, to her loving attachment to both her cat, Tammy, and her car, Ted, there are so many qualities to her that I found both endearing and familiar.

The whole colourful cast, (also including Angel, Harvey, Maria, Macbeth and others), are depicted in such a wonderful way that, although the situations they find themselves in couldn’t be further away from the average person’s daily life, they still have a sense of realism about them. The storylines are thoughtful, inventive and Kate Johnson shows a real knowledge of many things, which makes the somewhat strange situations seem all the more believable.

So, if your looking to escape from your every day life and lose yourself in imagination, this series of books come highly recommended from me.