Forevermore (Darkest London #7) ~ By Kristen Callihan – 4.5 Stars

Tags

Alternate History, Historical Romance, Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy

Thank you NetGalley and Forever, for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: June 28th, 2016

Synopsis: Miss Layla Starling, the young, beautiful, and extremely wealthy heiress, is the talk of London. Until now, she’s managed to evade the marriage noose. Despite the fact that that she is unfortunately an American, she’s received a staggering number of offers. And turned down every one.

St. John Evernight does not want to admit the relief he feels every time he hears that she’s rejected one of her suitors. Which is unfair of him. Layla deserves to be happy. But he can not offer her happiness. He will never be normal, never be anything but a freak in her world. So St. John resolves to keep his distance, until he is recruited by the Society for the Suppression of Supernaturals to guard Layla. For she is in grave danger, and he’s about to learn the full extent of his powers.

I can’t believe after four years my favorite historical romance/urban fantasy series has come to an end. I’ve been a devoted fan of Kristen Callihan since her first book, Firelight, was published, and subsequent books proved that she could be relied on for incredible storytelling. I became completely attached to the characters in this magical world she created, so you’ll have to forgive me. It’s difficult to let go. As I started reading Forevermore, it was with mixed emotions. I was anxious as to how everything was going to come to an end.

Yet at the same time I was looking forward to another enthralling read, and as usual the author did not disappoint. I’ve been looking forward to Sin’s story for a while now and I think Callihan made a wise choice ending things with him. He’s such a sympathetic character that you can’t help but become emotionally attached. He’s a tragic sort of hero, in as much as all the heroes in the Darkest London series are, but I think out of all of them Sin is now my favorite. The author always does a wonderful job matching up her romantic couples, so it’s not a great surprise that Layla is the perfect match for sin. She’s sweet, fierce and loyal to a fault, and does whatever it takes to protect her loved ones. The romantic scenes between her and Sin literally sizzle off the pages. And well before the exciting conclusion, all of the characters from the previous books come back to assist in this final battle against evil. There are a couple of subplots involving Augustus, Layla’s guardian, and Archer, whose story kicked off the series. With these and all of the previous players returning, their intertwined pasts and Augustus’s hidden role in their lives are completely revealed. The only isue I have is that I think the final battle is a bit rushed. But honestly, with everything else going on this is a minor flaw. 

If you’re a fan of the Darkest London series and are anxious about how it all ends, you have nothing to worry about. It’s a spectacular finale to this wonderful series. And if you haven’t tried these books and you love steamy historical romances mixed with urban fantasy and the paranormal, I beg you to try these. I promise you won’t be sorry! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must go find some Kleenex.

All The Missing Girls ~ By Megan Miranda – 5.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Mystery, Psychological Suspense, Thrillers

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: June 28th, 2016

Synopsis: It’s been ten years since Nicolette Farrell left her rural hometown after her best friend, Corinne, disappeared from Cooley Ridge without a trace. Back to tie up loose ends and care for her ailing father, Nic is soon plunged into a shocking drama that reawakens Corinne’s case and breaks open old wounds long since stitched.

The decade-old investigation focused on Nic, her brother Daniel, her boyfriend Tyler, and Corinne’s boyfriend Jackson. Since then, only Nic has left Cooley Ridge. Daniel and his wife, Laura, are expecting a baby; Jackson works at the town bar; and Tyler is dating Annaliese Carter, Nic’s younger neighbor and the group’s alibi the night Corinne disappeared. Then, within days of Nic’s return, Annaliese goes missing. 

Told backwards–Day 15 to Day 1–from the time Annaliese goes missing, Nic works to unravel the truth about her younger neighbor’s disappearance, revealing shocking truths about her friends, her family, and what really happened to Corinne that night ten years ago.

I’m going to be honest and admit I was planning on skipping this. First, because my NetGalley e-ARC pile has grown to outrageous proportions, and second, because just the idea of having almost the entire story told backwards made my head hurt. But then the publicist emailed me and, well, I’m weak okay? It turns out that I’m beyond thrilled that I did cave though, because in my humble opinion All The Missing Girls is one of the best books I’ve read this year! It has all the right elements that make for a perfect psychological suspense tale. There’s actually three mysteries here. What really happened to Corinne a decade ago; what has happened to Annaliese; and how are both disappearances connected? Although I wouldn’t say any of the characters are particularly likable, this doesn’t make them any less compelling, especially Nic whose motives are murky throughout the story. What’s really great about the way these characters are written is that you see them as teens through flashbacks, as well as what kind of adults they’ve developed into and how Corinne’s disappearance shaped them all. None of them including Nic are trustworthy but they’re so well-written this adds rather than distracts from the story. The big reveal when it comes is brilliant! I can honestly say I didn’t see it coming. While I was initially concerned that I’d get confused because of the format, not once did I get lost or feel disconnected. By going backwards, day by day, it actually ratchets up the tension. I started this at about 7:00 p.m. Saturday and finished it at 1:00 Sunday morning. I literally could not put this down once I started! I highly, highly recommend this to anyone who loves a good, twisty mystery that’s creative and totally original. I guarantee you won’t be able to put it down!

 

 

The Binding ~ Nicholas Wolff – 2.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Haiti, Historical Fiction, Horror, Mental Illness, Mystery

Thank you NetGalley and Gallery Books for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: June 28th, 2016

Synopsis: Convinced that evil spirits have overtaken his daughter, a desperate father introduces her to Nat Thayer, a young psychiatrist in their sleepy blue-blooded Massachusetts college town. Thayer quickly diagnoses the girl with Cotard Delusion, an obscure condition sometimes described as “walking corpse syndrome”. But Thayer soon realizes his patient–and many of the local families–are actually being targeted by a malignant force resurrected by the town’s wicked history. Thayer must discover the source of the spreading plague…before there is no one left to save.

As soon as I read the premise for this book I knew I had to read it. A horror tale set in the state where I live, and what sounded like a neat twist on zombies. What could possibly could go wrong? Sadly plenty. In fact, so much so that I struggled to finish this. The first problem are the characters, in particular Nat who I found not only unlikable but creepy as well. He’s in his mid-thirties yet lusts after one of his patients who’s nineteen. Yes she’s of legal age, but barely. Plus he’s her doctor for goodness sake! She’s either mentally ill or possessed by an evil spirit. Either way, his romantic feelings toward her leave much to be desired. His best friend John, who’s a police officer comes off marginally better, but as a whole is flat and uninspiring. His six-year-old son Charlie was my favorite character in the story, but in my opinion Wolff didn’t do nearly enough with him. What really almost made me stop reading though was this scene in a morgue of an attendant fondling a dead co-worker he had just found. If this had any meaning behind it, or some kind of connection to the rest of the story, I wouldn’t have had a problem with it. Instead, it seemed as though it was written for pure shock value, which annoyed and disgusted me. I settled on the 2 star rating because I did like the part of the book which takes us back to Haiti in the early 1900s (through the reading of a journal), where the actions of certain Northam natives, who are soldiers there, set into play the evil which is taking so many lives. I thought the author did a good job capturing the time period, but it just wasn’t enough for me. When I finally dragged myself to the end, the outcome was both predictable and unsatisfying. While The Binding wasn’t my cup of tea, it has received some positive reviews on Goodreads. So, if you’re a fan of horror that features unique twists on zombies and voodoo, I encourage you to try this. Hopefully you’ll have a better reading experience than I did.

 

 

And I Darken ~ By Kiersten White – 4.0 Stars

Tags

Alternate History, Dracul Family, Historical Fiction, Islam, LGBT Relationships, Ottoman Empire, Wallachia, YA Fiction

Thank you NetGalley and Delacorte Press for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: June 28th, 2016

Synopsis: NO ONE EXPECTS A PRINCESS TO BE BRUTAL.

And Lada Dragwyla likes it that way. Ever since she and her gentle younger brother, Radu, were wrenched from their homeland of Wallachia and abandoned by their father to be raised in the Ottoman courts, Lada has known that being ruthless is the key to survival. She and Radu are doomed to act as pawns in a vicious game, an unseen sword hovering over their every move. For the lineage that makes them special also makes them targets.

Lada despises the Ottomans and bides her time, planning her vengeance for the day when she can return to Wallachia and claim her birthright. Radu longs only for a place where he feels safe. And when Mehmed, the defiant and lonely son of the sultan, who’s expected to rule a nation, Radu feels that he’s made a true friend–and Lada wonders if she’s finally found someone worthy of her passion.

But Mehmed is heir to the very empire that Lada has sworn to fight against–and that Radu now considers home. Together, Lada, Radu, and Mehmed form a toxic triangle that strains the bonds of love and loyalty to the breaking point.

And I Darken has been a much-hyped book since last year, and has been compared to George R.R.Martin’s Game of Thrones. While I didn’t find much in the way of similarities between the two books, I wound up really enjoying this. The story is told in the third person and alternates between Lada and Radu who are both fascinating and memorable characters. Lada gives new meaning to the term anti hero. The first part of the story focuses on her and Radu as young children. Even at the young age of five, it’s obvious that Lada is very different from most girls. To be perfectly honest she’s scary as hell. She’s basically a feral child who is violent even toward her year-younger brother Radu who isn’t as adept at defending himself. Growing up, their personalities pretty much stay the same, with Lada maintaining her ferocity and Radu being weak. When they’re thirteen and twelve they’re traded by their power hungry father to the Ottoman Empire and this is when things really start getting interesting. Held as political prisoners and completely on their own, Lada and Radu’s relationship becomes closer, although Lada can still be fairly brutal in her treatment of him. She believes he’ll be better off toughening up, in a certain way she’s right. As they both reach their late teens, Lada’s temper and violent nature become a little more controlled, and Radu becomes quite adept at traversing the political undercurrents of the Sultan’s court. They’ve also become close friends with Mehmed, the Sultan’s youngest son and an interesting love triangle develops. Lada does everything she can to deny her feelings for Mehmed, who represents everything she hates about her predicament, while Radu struggles with his embracing of Islam, and his growing feelings for Mehmed. He’s torn between his love and loyalty for his sister, and his yearning for what may be an unattainable relationship. I actually found Radu to be the most interesting and sympathetic character out of the three. I don’t know very much about the time period and the Ottoman Empire, but it seems as though the author definitely has done her research. And the idea to have the historical figure the world has come to know as Vlad Tepes, or Dracula, be female is sheer genius! I do think there’s some parts of the story that are a bit slow and at almost 500 pages, it could have been edited a bit more. But I still finished this in three days, mainly because I became so emotionally invested in Lada, Radu and Mehmed. While the ending isn’t a cliffhanger per se, it’s obvious that a second book is in the works, and I’m definitely looking forward to it. And I Darken has made me want to do more research on both the time period and the characters, and for me, right there, makes the book a success. I highly recommend this to older teens and adults who like historical fiction with a bit of a twist.

 

Dr. DOA (Secret Histories #10) ~ By Simon Green – 4.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Adventure, Family Relationships, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Science Fiction, Steampunk, Thrillers, Urban Fantasy

Thank you NetGalley and Roc for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis: The name is Drood, Eddie Drood, also known as Shaman Bond. My family has been safeguarding humanity for generations, facing the hidden horrors of the world so you can sleep at night and remain oblivious to the existence of the monstrous nightmares that walk and stalk among us.

Speaking of predatory night terrors, there is a man who gets away with murder. A man who specializes in removing the problems from other people’s lives, by killing the people who cause those problems. He operates from the darkest shadows of the hidden world, coming and going unseen. No-one knows who he is, just his nomme du muerte. Dr. DOA.

Somehow, this demented doc poisoned me. I don’t know how he did it, when or where, but whatever is coursing through my veins seems to be immune to magic cures and treatments. But that’s not going to stop me from finding him and whoever hired him and give them both a taste of their own medicine…

First let me say that this series absolutely has to be read in order. There’s just too much that happens in each book for you to jump in midway. There are also links to Green’s other popular Nightside series, but you needn’t have read any of those books in order to enjoy these. So, if you have surmised that The Secret Histories is a tongue-in-cheek play on the James Bond series by Ian Fleming than you would be correct. The titles are all nods to the originals, and they even have characters based on “Q” and “M”. Except for those similarities though, the books are completely different. They’re an eclectic mix of urban fantasy, fantasy, steampunk, horror and science fiction. Eddie himself is nothing like Bond. He’s definitely not a flirt, holds onto a lot of guilt, and in the last few books has been completely devoted to Molly Metcalf, a powerful witch and former arch-nemesis. In this book they continue to play off each other really well, and their bantering provides for some of the most enjoyable parts of the story. There’s also much more in the way of emotional development with Eddie facing the prospect of his own mortality and Molly’s determination to save him. I find it amazing that even after ten books, Simon Green continues to pack in plenty of new revelations and surprises particularly about the mafia-like Drood Family. His world-building is so well written that you can’t help but feel as though you’re right there with the characters whether they’re in London or some bizarre alternate universe. There’s a few problems with Dr. DOA though that keep it from being a perfect read. First of all, there’s a couple of unnecessary subplots that detract from, rather than add to the main plot. While there’s plenty of action to keep the pace moving quickly, I felt these slowed the narrative down a bit. There’s also a fair amount of repetition particularly in regards to the admittedly awesome Drood armor. After ten books now I don’t think readers need to be reminded in every fight scene that basically nothing can get through this stuff. And finally, after nine previous books where Green always wrapped up each story while at the same time making it clear that there would be a next, now, NOW he decides to end on a cliffhanger? Argh! Since the eleventh book won’t be out until next year, this has left me considerably cranky. Overall though, I did really enjoy Dr. DOA. If you’ve read the previous books in the series, you don’t want to miss this. And if you haven’t read The Secret Histories I highly recommend them, especially if you’re a fan of urban fantasy and authors like Jim Butcher.

Let Us Not Forget

Tags

Bigotry, Mass shootings, Orlando

Almost one week ago forty-nine people lost their lives to a deranged man with evil in his heart. They went to the Pulse nightclub to have fun and because it was someplace safe where they could be themselves without fear of being judged or attacked. That itself makes me both sad and angry. People who are LGBT shouldn’t have to have “safe havens”. They shouldn’t have to worry about being seen in public, holding hands or kissing. They shouldn’t have to fight for the most basic of rights afforded to other U.S. citizens. Likewise, those of the Muslim faith shouldn’t have to be afraid of being accosted by so-called Christians because their religion is being hijacked by one segment of its followers. Donald Trump and others like him are trying to use this tragedy as fuel for their bigoted, racist agendas and it’s up to us to tell them that we’re not going to buy into their hateful and dangerous rhetoric. Enough is enough! It’s time to stop judging and hating people based on their race, religion, sexual orientation, or any other reason. What is it going to take for us to stop? Isn’t America supposed to be the “great melting pot”? If the massacre that took place in the early hours of Sunday June 12th can teach us anything it’s that there is no place in our society for bigotry of any kind. If we continue down this path it’s not going to be a matter of if another mass shooting/killing will occur, but when. The forty-nine people who lost their lives last week had family and friends who loved them. They had hopes and dreams just like all of us. They were us. Please let their deaths not be in vain.

Security~ By Gina Wohlsdorf – 4.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Horror, Mystery

Thanks to NetGalley and Algonquin Books for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis: Manderley Resort is a gleaming, new twenty-story hotel on the California coast. It’s about to open its doors, and the world–at least those with the means to afford it–will be welcomed into a palace of opulence and unparalleled security. But someone is determined that Manderley will never open. The staff has no idea that their every move is being watched, and over the next twelve hours they will be killed off, one by one.

Security is one of those books that while not perfect, is so different from everything else out there that you wind up loving it anyway. So, let’s get the bad out of the way first. My main criticism is over the formatting of the e-ARC. The book is narrated by someone unknown (for most of the story), who’s watching what’s happening in the hotel from multiple security cameras. While this is a very clever gimmick, the constant flipping of the different scenes leads to sentences being cut off abruptly or beginning midway through. For example:

“The Thinker solitaire, and the Killer is–again–sitting on the is–still–playing–bed in room 717.”

Needless to say this made reading a bit of a challenge sometimes. The other issue I had was the repetitiveness of some of the scenes. We see (through the eyes of the omniscient narrator via the cameras), the hotel workers as they go about their duties using the stairs or the slow moving main elevator. After the first few times whenever a character entered the elevator or stairwell, I felt like banging my Kindle against my head. The Manderly has security cameras all over the place, including the majority of rooms. I think the story would have been better served if some of those had been explored more instead of relegating most of the action to a few places. And finally, the author threw in this unusual romance between Tessa (the hotel manager) and a former foster brother. Since they’re not related I didn’t really find this particularly creepy, it’s almost added in as an afterthought and doesn’t really do anything to further the story. Gina Wohlsdorf includes elements many other horror stories, including secret passages, sinister hedge mazes, and the eerily slow moving glass elevator which makes the story even more enjoyable. The name of the hotel itself pays homage to Daphne du Maurier. For all the jumping back and forth between characters, you still get a real sense of who they are, even the villains. And the mystery itself regarding the two killers and who hired them is deliciously tantalizing. Adding to the mystery is the identity and motives of the narrator, which keeps you guessing until right near the very end. I’m going to be honest and say most of what happens in the book is extremely implausible starting with the question of why, if the killers want to wipe out all the staff, who are unarmed, why not gather them all in one place? But this is just a story where you put those questions away and just have fun with the gory mayhem and dark humor that ensues. Security is an unapologetic slasher story, that makes no pretensions to higher literary fiction and never takes itself seriously. At under 300 pages it’s a quick read that had me finishing in one sitting. I would recommend buying this in print because I think the unusual formatting would be easier to read, but other than that, if you’re looking for an entertaining beach read, and you’re an unabashed enthusiast of slasher flicks, please try this. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

The House Of Secrets ~ By Brad Meltzer and Tod Goldberg – 4.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Conspiracy Thriller, Historical Fiction, Mystery

Thank you NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

Synopsis: When Hazel Nash was six years old, her father taught her: mysteries need to be solved. He should know. Hazel’s father is Jack Nash, the host of America’s favorite conspiracy TV show, The House of Secrets.

Even as a child, she loved hearing her dad’s tall tales, especially the one about a leather book belonging to Benedict Arnold that was hidden in a corpse. 

Now, years later, Hazel wakes up in the hospital and remembers nothing, not even her own name. She’s told she’s been in a car accident that killed her father and injured her brother. But she can’t remember any of it, because of her own traumatic brain injury. Then a man from the FBI shows up, asking questions about her dad–and his connection to the corpse of a man found with an object stuffed into his chest: a priceless book that belonged to Benedict Arnold. 

Back at her house, Hazel finds guns she doesn’t remember owning. On her head, she sees scars from fights she can’t recall. Most important, the more Hazel digs, the less she likes the person she seems to have been.

Trying to put together the puzzle pieces of her past and present, Hazel Nash needs to figure out who killed this man–and how the book wound up in his chest. The answer will tell her the truth about her father, what he was really doing for the government–and who Hazel really is.

The House of Secrets is one of those books that are tough to review without giving away any spoilers, but I’ll endeavor to do my best. It’s basically a giant puzzle, with all these various clues and pieces thrown out there in the wind. First and foremost there’s Hazel’s mysterious background. She’s a very complex character and tough to figure out. What put me firmly in her corner is when she takes truth serum in order to get some answers. She’s willing to do whatever it takes to uncover the truth, even if she uncovers some unpleasant truths about herself. There’s also the question of exactly whose side her brother Skip is on. He and Hazel have an odd relationship and I found myself questioning his motives throughout the book. And the biggest puzzle piece of all involves the death of Jack Nash himself, and what exactly was he up to while hosting his show and tracking down Benedict Arnold’s bibles. The truth behind the books caught me completely by surprise. It’s a huge twist which had me gasping out loud. There were a couple of things which prevented this from being a perfect novel for me. The first involves a trip that Jack takes for his tv show back when Hazel and Skip are still children. He should have known the potential for danger, yet he still brings Skip along anyway. Up until this scene, Jack isn’t really portrayed as a careless or neglectful father, so this didn’t make a lot of sense to me. The second issue I had involves the main villain. Through most of the story his motivations are unclear, but when they’re  revealed I thought it a bit anticlimactic and it left me rolling my eyes. Overall though, this is another outstanding book by Brad Meltzer. I haven’t read anything by his co-author Tod Goldberg, but I can say that they make a very good team. The writing is seamless and I found it impossible to determine which chapters were written by whom. The House of Secrets is a perfect beach read, especially for fans of books like The Da Vinci Code. It’s a perfect blend of historical fiction and thrilling mystery that makes it difficult to put down.

Whimsical Wednesday

Tags

Alice In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll, Whimsical Quotes

“But I don’t want to go among mad people”, Alice remarked.

“Oh, you can’t help that”, said the Cat. “We’re all mad here. I’m mad, you’re mad.”

“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.

“You must be.” said the Cat. “Or you wouldn’t have come here.”

~ Lewis Carroll, Alice In Wonderland ~

This is dedicated to my friend Jonathan at http://husbandandhusband.net who loves all things Alice.

Break Me Like A Promise (Once Upon a Crime Family #2) ~ By Tiffany Schmidt – 4.0 Stars

Tags

Fairytale Retellings, Illegal Organ Transplants, Mystery, Suspense, YA Fiction

Thank you NetGalley and Bloomsbury USA Children’s for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis: All Magnolia Vickers has ever wanted was to follow father’s path as head of the Family Business. But new legislation is poised to destroy the Family’s operations in the black-market organ trade and Maggie’s recent behavior has wrecked the business-savvy reputation she’s worked her whole life to build.

She’s given an ultimatum: shape up or step aside.

Then Maggie messes up: she downloads a virus onto her father’s computer , and must sneak it off-estate for repair. When Alex, a tech wiz, uncovers the type of information on the machine, he offers Maggie a choice: her Family can give him a kidney, or he’ll irreparably scramble the data. Maggie agrees, but has no intention of keeping her promise or ever seeing him again. That night, Alex shows up at her Family estate with copies of the confidential Family files and the shocking revelation–the kidney is for him.

The Vickers aren’t willing to let Alex out of their sight, so he moves onto their estate and Maggie is assigned to be his keeper. A task she resents and he enjoys making as challenging as possible. But procuring black market organs is becoming increasingly difficult, and as Alex’s health declines, she’s surprised to find herself falling for him. 

Like it or not, Maggie must accept that if she wants to save Alex’s life and carve out a place in the new legalized organ business, she’s going to have to fight for both.

Break Me Like A Promise is the second book in Schmidt’s Once Upon A Crime series, after last years Hold Me Like A Breath. While the first book is loosely based on The Princess and the Pea, the sequel puts a modern day spin on The Frog Prince. I had some issues with the first book in regards to character development and world-building. It was intriguing enough though that I’ve been looking forward to this sequel. And I’m happy to say I actually wound up liking it more. The main character in this story is Magnolia who appeared in a small secondary role in the first story. I have to be honest and say for the first half of the book I couldn’t stand her. She’s a pampered, entitled, spoiled little princess, who cares nothing for anyone around her. Especially aggravating is her disinterest in the patients who rely on her family for providing organs for transplant. This is partly explained by her phobia of blood, but her self-involved attitude and callousness gets to be incredibly annoying. But then Alex enters her life, and while the signs are initially subtle at first, it eventually becomes obvious that he has a profound effect on her, and it’s for the better. Not surprisingly they pretty much despise each other at the onset, but slowly they realize they have more in common than they think, and a very sweet romance develops. Alex is the main reason I wound up liking this book as much as I did. He may not have had the privileged upbringing that Maggie did, but he displays a strength of character that in the beginning of the story, she does not possess. The interplay between them, beginning with insults and teasing, develops into more meaningful exchanges, which were pure pleasure to read. However, because so much attention is focused on Maggie and Alex, other parts of the book suffered. Secondary characters for the most part are neglected and while the concept of organ-trafficking is developed a little more–mainly by bringing in the battle to legalize the business–it takes a back seat to the romance. Overall, though this is a case where the sequel successfully builds upon the original book. There’s something nefarious happening besides the main plot line involving some mysterious hacking into the Families computers, and it’s left me quite curious as to how things will play out in the next book. Break Me Like A Promise is a solid read and I unhesitatingly recommend it for fans of YA suspense and mystery.