Review: Dear Wife, by Kimberly Belle

Dear Wife, by Kimberly Belle

Harlequin Audio - 2019
Thriller
Audiobook
Narrated by Vivienne Leheny, Chris Andrew Ciulla, and Pete Simonelli

9 Hours, 37 Minutes

Dear Wife is an edgy and compelling thriller. 

Two women, one on the run from an abusive husband, the other mysteriously gone missing.  Who are these two women, and how are their stories related?  

Beth Murphy has carefully planned every aspect of her escape from one life and the beginning of her next.  She knows her abusive husband is smart and her only hope of escaping him is to be smarter, to never underestimate him, and to never slip-up. 

Another woman - Sabine Hardison, is missing. There are few clues to her disappearance. She has taken almost nothing with her. Even her car - the only clue to her disappearance, is found abandoned and has little in the way of clues to offer. Police suspect foul play, but without any real evidence, the investigation falters, but Marcus, a local detective, is determined to find answers.

Told in alternating points of view, this story is a well woven and intricate tale of escape and survival. The tension rose in a steady arc as each chapter carefully revealed clues and laid the groundwork for the next. Though i was able to figure out some aspects of the plot, I was also shocked and surprised by several others. The main character was well developed and Belle does very well at rendering a character that displays the desperation of a an abused and tormented woman attempting to flee her abuser. 

As the story went on, the rising tension and gaining momentum elevated my interest in the story, and by the final chapters I was desperate to find a few more minutes here and there to carry on with the story. The final chapters tied things up with a very satisfying adding.

Narration was provided by a trio of performers - Vivienne Leheny, Chris Andrew Ciulla, and Pete Simonelli.  As always, a multi-performer cast adds depth and enjoyment to the audiobook experience. Each performed well offering suitable emotional range to their character.  

Dear Wife is a well timed and captivating domestic thriller. Edgier and updated but still  reminiscent of the 1987 novel Sleeping With The Enemy, by Nancy Price.

Happy Reading,

Christine

Review: Follow Me, by Kathleen Barber

Follow Me, by Kathleen Barber

Simon & Schuster Canada - Available February 25, 2020
Thriller
E-book

352 Pages

* I received this digital ARC courtesy of Simon & Schuster Canada, via NetGalley in exchange of an honest review. This does not influence the following opinions which are my own.

A thriller for the age of social media.

In a world where it is not uncommon for some individuals to post the minutiae of their daily existence on social media, Barber has written a timely thriller to make people think twice about how much they share on their timelines.

Audrey lives her life on the internet. With a million Instagram followers she carefully cultivates, designs, photographs, and filters things that most of us do by rote.  She lives for the "likes" and the comments.  

When Audrey accepts a job that combines her two passions - art history and social media, she moves from New York to Washington to become a social media manager for part of the Smithsonian group.  

The move brings her closer to her college bestie who for her own reasons lives her life as privately as Audrey lives hers publicly, and her ex-boyfriend who she cannot seem to stay away from. Not everything in her new life is picture perfect though.  Her new apartment is not exactly a glamorous insta-worthy backdrop, it has a broken lock and the land-lady's son who lives just upstairs is creepy. Speaking of creepy, there is also some man hanging around her work all the time.  After a few happenings, Audrey realizes that she has a stalker, and while her stalker knows everything about her, she knows nothing about them. Audrey is learning that when you share every bit of your life online, there is nowhere left where you can hide.

Follow Me is a thriller centered around social media, now so much a part of our everyday life. This makes it easy for the reader to relate to the basic premise of the story if not the character of Audrey herself. We all have that one friend (or two) that simply shares too much information on their timelines. The story easily captures the reader's attention early on and the reader is soon considering and re-considering characters from page to page. The tension increases in a steady arc resulting in a taut well executed thriller. 

A quick and easy read, Follow Me is a gripping and cautionary story that will have you checking the privacy settings on your social media accounts.

Happy Reading,

Christine

Review: An Illusion Of Thieves, by Cate Glass

An Illusion of Thieves, by Cate Glass

MacMillan Audio - 2019
Fantasy
Chimera - Book 1
Audiobook
Narrated by Saskia Maarleveld

9 Hours, 24 Minutes

A thrilling story that brings the magic of fantasy together with the edge of your seat tension of a heist style adventure-thriller.

In a land where magic is forbidden, and those who wield it (and often their family as well) put to death, Romy was born into poverty. Afraid that Romy would one day expose her magic she was sold off by her mother as a young girl and sent to the "Moon House" to be trained as courtesan to the local nobility and ruling elite. She became the favored companion to the Shadow Lord, and as such she lived a very comfortable life, with all the finer things, and not completely without love. 

When her brother Neri commits and act of reckless greed, and thieving that jeopardizes their entire family, Romy is called upon and attempts to use her influence with the Shadow Lord to save them. While their lives are spared, the consequences are nonetheless steep.  Her father takes the fall, and he and the rest of the family are evicted from the city, She is banished from the castle, but confined to the city and made responsible for her careless and impulsive brother Neri who is now on probation - and any wrong move on his part could cost them both their lives. 

Despite the Shadow Lord's attempts to create a peaceful and prosperous life for all in the city of Castanga, there are those who plot to steal the his power and incite a civil war. A small act of kindness on Romy's part as she is being evicted from the castle returns to haunt her as she is called upon when the plot is discovered, and she is put in an unfair and seemingly impossible situation. Failure would mean the death of not only Romy and Neri, but thousands of others in the resulting war and unrest. Romy must put her wisdom and education to the test, and she must put her trust in a motley little group of other skilled people from Beggars Circle trying to live discretely and without notice. 

This book a a fresh and welcome addition to the fantasy scene. One reason I found this book so exciting is that as a reader who has always tolerated the strong romantic sub plots prevalent in many fantasy stories but never particularly enjoyed them, I am thrilled to say that romance is not a significant part of this story. The second main reason is that the romance has been replaced with a taut and intricately orchestrated heist type adventure element.  The lead in to the climax was slow, but not boring, and once the real action started it had me eagerly listening and hanging on to every word. 

Narration was performed by Saskia Maarleveld who is a well respected audiobook narrator.  She has a wonderful voice with a very good character range, as well as providing a good emotional scope to those characters. Her tone and cadence is on par with what you would expect from such an experienced and well respected narrator.  She makes listening a pleasure and  makes it easy to get lost in the story. 

If you like magic, and you like a good heist adventure, you will probably enjoy An Illusion Of Thieves!

Happy Reading,

Christine

Review: The Reflections of Queen Snow White, by David Meredith

The Reflections of Queen Snow White, by David Meredith.

David Meredith (Indie) - 2019
Fantasy
Audiobook
Narrated by Robin Waters

6 Hours, 18 Minutes

* I received this audiobook review copy courtesy of *the author in exchange of an honest review. This does not influence the following opinions which are my own.

"...and they lived happily ever after." So many of our childhood fairy tale books ended with those words; but does anyone ever really get to have a "happily ever after"?   What really happened to our beloved childhood characters after we closed their books?

In The Reflections of Queen Snow White, David Meredith writes a sequel of sorts, for the classic story of Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs. 

In Meredith's story we see Snow White, now a middle-aged queen and deeply depressed widow on the eve of her daughter Raven's marriage, too broken by grief to help plan the wedding. As she roams aimlessly through the castle, she stumbles upon her step-mother's mirror. Gazing into its depths, she is compelled to examine the truths of her past and how it has molded who she has become. Can she ever find happiness again now that her husband is gone?

I do enjoy a good fairy tale - all grown up and re-told, and this book was no exception. Couples do not often die peacefully and simultaneously in each-other's arms, and even the luckiest of us must deal with a certain amount of grief in this life. That is something that our childhood stories didn't always address or prepare us for,  

Meredith has re-created Snow White as well as her relationship with Charming with depth and dimension; even the mirror is not what we would believe on the basis of our childhood readings. This book was an imaginative and well thought return to the kingdom of long ago and far away. 

Narration for the story was provided by Robin Waters with a pleasant and clear tone, and she provided for an array of characters,  

The Reflections of Queen Snow White, by David Meredith was a bitter-sweet re-visit to childhood favorite. 

Happy Reading,

Christine

Sunday Summary November 3 - November 30, 2019

Well, another month has come and gone.  This time of year is always hectic. As I write this, I am just home from my son's 8th birthday party.  I give little thought to Christmas until after his birthday (I never wanted his birthday to become lost in the holiday shuffle), but once his birthday has been celebrated, I know that the holidays will come and go in a blur of stress and excitement.  It is a perfect time to read - even just a little. While I may not have a lot of time to read, I find it grounds me and offers me an opportunity to slow down and de-stress when I need it most. 

By the time the next Sunday Summary is posted, it will be all over but the clean-up as they say,  so let me take a moment to wish you the best of the holiday season. Whatever traditions you celebrate, I hope you feel a reason to celebrate (even if it is just life itself) and loved ones to celebrate with. Wishing everyone good health and good fortune, and hoping that the new year sees us being a little kinder to each other globally. I think the world really needs a little more kindness. 

Click on any of the images below to be linked to the full review.

November 10th was world Keratoconus day.  Keratoconus is a debilitating and progressive eye disease.  You can read more about this disease, the symptoms and warning signs, as well as how having Keratoconus has affected my reading experience by clicking the image below.

I am currently reading Follow Me, by Kathleen Barber, a thriller for the Instagram age! 

I am currently in between audiobooks. 

I have many titles on my list that I am excited to get into.  Depending on my moods for whichever genre at the time, these are the books I will be diving into next:

When We Were Vikings, by Andrew David MacDonald, a book described by the publisher as: "A heart-swelling debut for fans of The Silver Linings Playbook and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time." - Available January 28th from Simon & Schuster Canada. 

West Of Sin, by Wesley S. Lewis - A mystery/Thriller set it in the exciting city of Las Vegas. - Available February 4th, from Books Go Social

Master Of Sorrows, by Justin T. Call - this fantasy is one of my most anticipated for early 2020. A fantasy in which the main character may not be our hero, but instead a dark power. - Available February 25th, from Blackstone Publishing.

There is more - including some previously released titles from Indie/small press authors to fit in as time allows between ARCs, and as always, more on the way!

Happy Reading,
Christine