REVIEW: "Stranger at Sunset" - by Eden Baylee (author request)

BLURB

Vacation can be a killer.

Dr. Kate Hampton, a respected psychiatrist, gathers with a group of strangers at her favorite travel spot, Sunset Villa in Jamaica. Included in the mix are friends of the owners, a businessman with dubious credentials, and a couple who won the trip from a TV game show.

It is January 2013, following the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. The luxury resort is struggling, not from the storm, but due to a scathing review from caustic travel writer, Matthew Kane. The owners have invited him back with hopes he will pen a more favorable review to restore their reputation.

Even though she is haunted by her own demons, Kate feels compelled to help. She sets out to discover the motivation behind Kane’s vitriol. Used to getting what he wants, has the reviewer met his match in Kate? Or has she met hers?

Stranger at Sunset is a slow-burning mystery/thriller as seen through the eyes of different narrators, each with their own murky sense of justice. As Kate's own psychological past begins to unravel, a mysterious stranger at Sunset may be the only one who can save her.

AMAZON  *  GOODREADS



ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Eden Baylee

Eden Baylee left a twenty-year banking career to write. Incorporating some of her favorite things such as travel, culture, and a deep curiosity for what turns people on, her brand of writing is sensual and literary.

She has written three collections of erotic novellas and flash fiction ~ SPRING INTO SUMMER, FALL INTO WINTER, and HOT FLASH.

On June 30, 2014, she released her first novel--a psychological mystery/thriller set in Jamaica called STRANGER AT SUNSET.

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DISCLAIMER: A copy of the book was given to me in exchange for a fair and honest review, which follows. 

REVIEW
A bunch of people thrown together under odd circumstances can often cause high-stress situations with unusual results.  Add in a tropical paradise, burning attraction, and fiercely competing agendas, and you are left with a book worthy of the cast of "Lost". 

LONG STORY SHORT
It is 2013, shortly after Hurricane Sandy.  A small, intimate resort tucked into the beaches of Jamaica is struggling thanks to a scathing travel review penned by an extremely demanding critic.  It just so happens that a highly successful psychiatrist - Dr. Kate Hampton - is called upon to help the resort's owners address that demanding critic in a way that might help their now-floundering business.  The solution?  Re-invite the critic to experience the resort while the owners are present.  What the critic - Matthew Kane - knows is that he is hard to please and he doesn't hold high expectations for this trip.  What he doesn't know is that the owners have also invited several of their closest friends and allies, as well as some random bookings, to surround them while he is present.  Told from multiple viewpoints, this extremely well-written thriller managed to genuinely surprise me.  Passion, lust, eccentric characters, beautiful settings, a plot that unfolds at the perfect pace - this book is a little treasure.  I've read a lot of mystery/murder books, and this one genuinely shocked me.  That said, I kept finding myself wanting more - more backstory to the characters, more explanations of motivations, etc.  Despite this....

On an ascending scale of 1 to 5, I give this work a 5.

LONG STORY
The Good
Well, Baylee certainly knows how to hook readers and tantalize them with every suspenseful, engaging page!!  I was positively glued to this book for awhile!

Kate is a high-achieving psychiatrist with demons in her closet that threaten to break through if she lets her guard down for even a second.  Matthew is an insecure travel reviewer who finds security in writing harsh reviews if his incredibly picky demands are not met.  Adam is a man who runs a business for which many women would slug him.  Jessica is a southern belle who wants to prove she is not just a belle.  Rob is Jessica's slovenly, selfish boyfriend.  Greg and Tom, as well as Nadine and Ben, are long-time friends of Anna and Nolan, the owners of a charming resort in Jamaica.  And they are all sharing the resort for the week.

The resort is in trouble.  When Matthew Kane last visited, he wrote a scathing review in an influential travel magazine when the resort "failed" to meet up to his incredibly picky demands (wash his clothes separately because he's sensitive to soaps/fragrances, make him separate food because many foods make him sick, etc).  Anna reached out to Kate for advice, who said to invite him back but not to go "above and beyond" for him as that would stroke his fragile ego a tad too much.  Anna and Nolan did so, but they invited their aforementioned friends, as well as scheduled several random bookings (Adam, Rob, Jessica).  

It turned out to be a rather interesting week as personalities and personal agendas clashed on the beach, in the bedroom, and elsewhere.  A rather interesting week full of, um.....steam and murder.

I have to give Baylee credit where credit is most certainly due - this incredibly engaging book surprised me.  Now, I'm not saying I'm the most well-read person on the planet.  Certainly not.  But I have read a lot and a LOT of that reading has included murder/mystery because I like to try and figure out whodunitandhow by the middle of the book.  Let's just say that by the middle of this book we don't yet know who even dies or how it happens, much less whodunit.  Once that information was revealed, I'm sure someone several states over heard my jaw clunk to the floor.  :)  The murder happens in a way that is positively chilling, extremely surprising, certainly entertaining, and oddly gratifying.

Let's start at the beginning.  This book opens with a voyeur spying on a naked woman standing on a balcony.  He marvels at her beauty, but cannot believe what he just saw her do: dump a body into the unforgiving ocean waves below.  Then the story immediately leaves this scene and travels back in time, visiting characters who are descending on the charming resort mentioned above for a week of relaxation and supporting Anna and Nolan, a loveable couple who are struggling to keep their resort open after Matthew's scathing review scared off travelers. 

The story itself is told from multiple viewpoints as Baylee uses different chapters to switch between characters having a turn at being the center of attention.  In this way we are able to figuratively (of course) crawl inside the inner minds of most of the major characters.  Several character's viewpoints dominate the book (Kate, for example) and not every chapter focuses on any one character.  I realize this sounds confusing, but Baylee writes it so incredibly well that it is easy to track who is speaking, why they are the focus at that particular point, and what is going on.  I don't think I've honestly read many books where this is done quite so well.  I was never confused about who was speaking.  It helps that everyone's voice is distinct and makes sense given their backstory.  

The plot unfolds at a pace not unlike that of a relaxing place on a tropical island - leisurely.  It doesn't clip along super quickly, nor does it dwell on any one scene for far too long.  Rather, it unfolds rather delicately and in manner that keeps the pages turning.  Baylee plants enough foreshadowing and "but they didn't know....." kinds of lines to keep readers engaged without becoming bored in any way.  Chapters/sentences/dialogues are extremely well constructed.  Rarely did I have to back up and re-read anything to figure anything out; it just flows so extremely well. 

Characters are done amazingly well also.  There are the loveable people, the ones you want to slap, the ones impossible to please.  And the psychiatrist.  I felt a particular kinship with her as I also work in psychology (though she is infinitely further along in her career than I) and can relate to someone who is always observing others' behavior and trying to figure it out.  She's got quirks and dings in her armor, but they just make her more relateable.  

Then comes the murder.  A murder done in a meticulously thought out manner that would send chills down a seasoned investigator's spine.  But will the murderer get away with it?  Why did it happen?  And is anyone sorry?  I better quit asking leading questions or I'm going to give away too much.  :P

Anyways, this is a very well-written, very thought out, extremely surprising thriller.  It kind of feels as though Agatha Christie and Alfred Hitchcock got together with the writers of the television shows "Castle" and "Lost".  Not sure how that combination really makes sense, but somehow it works.  Oh, and let's throw in elements of the movies "Hitch" and "Hannibal" in for good measure, because they are for sure at play.  Want to know what I mean?  Read the book.  :)

The Bugly (bad/ugly)
I really didn't have a lot to complain about here.  There were a couple of typos, but I identified no more than 5 in the entire book.  My biggest issue is this: BACKGROUND!!!  I kept wanting more to explain why characters acted the way they did.  WHY was Matthew so difficult to please? WHAT was Kate running from (well, this is kind of explained near the end....but not really)?  WHAT DROVE PEOPLE?  Of course, I'm always interested in explanations of why/how/what, so I'm always a tad chagrined when these explanations come up short.  I just felt like there was a ton of material to work with and this book could have easily been much longer.  The only character who is really explained thoroughly is Kate....but I guess that kind of makes some sense: she seems to be the character that Baylee is developing further in subsequent works.  But that means there are going to be subsequent works in what may turn out to be a series.  Yay!!

REVIEW: "A Foolish Plucking" by Dee Wilbur

BLURB
Yeah, Gary is a womanizer and a boozer, but is he a murderer, too? The police sure think so. True, they don’t have a body, but they do have the big fight between Gary and Alice, his wife, at the country club. And they do have Alice’s blood on the wall behind the bed. And in the shower drain. And in the back of Alice’s Escalade. Unfortunately for Gary, the jury sides with the police and gives him life without parole.

Melissa, Gary’s mistress, brings him another surprise; she is pregnant. She and their daughter move to Richmond, hoping to leave the Scarlet A behind them in Dayton, trading one small Texas town for another. Melissa enlists Jon Miller as attorney to get Gary a new hearing.

Sandy had married Jon without meeting his family. She doesn’t realize that while Jon solves Gary’s problem, she and Jon will struggle with a family crisis involving their sister-in-law.

AMAZON  *  GOODREADS



ABOUT THE AUTHOR - Dee Wilbur
Beatrice Dee Pipes and Charles Wilbur Yates, Jr. write under the pen name Dee Wilbur, a combination of their middle names. This is their second work of fiction. A Texas native, Dee Pipes grew up in a small Texas town. Her degree from Rice University is a B.A. in English. She currently runs a company that helps other companies with marketing, project management, and other tasks. She has been married to her husband Bryan for thirty years. Also a native Texan, Charles Yates, Jr., was also reared in a small Texas town. He graduated from Rice University in Houston with a B.A. and Ph.D. in Biology. He received the M.D. degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. He has been married to his wife Sally for forty-five years. They have four adult sons and six grandchildren. He now tends his garden in Richmond, Texas.

AUTHOR PAGE  *  WEBSITE  

REVIEW
I received a copy of this book in return for a fair and honest review, which follows.

Prosecuting a murder should be a relatively straight-forward operation: figure out how and when the person was killed, the murder weapon, who was present, etc.  As anyone who watches crime dramas regularly can attest, however, prosecuting a murder is rarely "relatively straight-forward."  But what do you do when the one thing you need to examine for sure is missing....the body?

LONG STORY SHORT
A fairly quick read, this little book with a plot worthy of Matlock is another installation into the crime series by Dee Wilbur.  Riveting plot, quirky characters, drama drama drama...  A man fights with his wife, passes out drunk on their front porch, and wakes to find himself in the middle of a murder investigation seeking to pin him for the death of his wife.  There's just two major problems - he knows he didn't do it and the body is missing.  Can the legal system really put him in jail for a murder it can only prove on the basis of circumstantial evidence?  Well, read the book and you'll see!  There isn't much for character development when it comes to the main characters, but this is the 3rd book in a series - you can read the first two books for that.  What you will find is an attorney entangled in an interesting legal battle where his womanizer, boozer client may not have actually "dunit" while he and his wife are simultaneously entangled in a difficult familial situation where one woman's extreme mental illness may spell disaster for her husband and children in more ways than one.  There are some editing issues, as well as extremely long dialogue scenes that made my head spin a bit (a stylistic choice that isn't my favorite, but there ya go), but all in all this is a really good book.  Warning: the ending will make you want more!

On an ascending scale of 1 to 5, I rate this book a 3.  

LONG STORY
The Good
I love good mystery books, particularly when they leave me lifting my lower mandible up off the floor like this one did.  :P  Seriously, my jaw dropped at something near the end.  Not the major "whodunit" (I kind of figured that was going to be the conclusion), but something else....something that also made me go "Darn you, Dee Wilbur!"  Let's just say there's a smidgeon of a cliff hanger.  

What do we have here?  Well, a guy gets into a major blow-up argument with his wife in front of the social elite in their Texan town during a Valentine's Day get-together at a local country club.  After passing out on the floor of the club, the guy gets a cabbie home and proceeds to pass out on the porch of his house (couldn't do that in MN in Feb - he'd wake up with frosty appendages).  When he wakes up, he finds himself embroiled in a battle with local police and prosecutors as they attempt to put him behind bars for the murder of his wife.  There is one thing the prosecution lacks - a body.  Does this stop them? Nope.  Oh, and to make things infinitely more complicated, the man's mistress announces that she's carrying his child.  Oh boy. 

Can Jon get to the bottom of what is going on with this murder case?  Maybe, but what about when you throw in the fact that he and Sandy are dealing with some family drama of their own?  You see, Jon's brother has a wife who is having difficulty that is negatively impacting her relationship with her husband, their children, and her husband's campaign to keep his judge seat.  Just small things like that.  

Nothing about this book is small, except maybe it's physical size.  Big issues, big problems, big solutions, etc.  I'd make a Texas joke but I'm from Alaska, where everything is bigger.  :P

As in the previous books, the writing is very efficient and straightforward.  Few superfluous words exist.  This is part of why a huge and complicated story fits into a relatively small book.  

Character development progresses fairly well.  I enjoyed picking up Jon and Sandy's story again, particularly as we get to see them grow together a bit since their marriage in the previous book.  It was also good to see how some of the other character progressed (particularly Diego....let's just say he gets himself into a bit of a hilarious pickle).  The new characters are developed just right considering their short stints in the overall story line.  I do wish there was a bit more about the legal secretaries' lives considering how much time was spent on them in the previous book, but there is plenty of time for that.  

The plot itself is fantastic.  I won't lie - I figured out the whodunit fairly early on (I've spent much time with my nose buried in mystery books, there isn't a lot that will surprise me when it comes to whodunit....this is part of the reason I refuse to write such a book), but I thoroughly enjoyed how the story unfolded.  While the ending itself didn't surprise me a whole lot (there are some foreshadowing bits tossed in here and there early on that clued me in to what was going to happen), the journey to get there was full of lots of surprises that kept me riveted.  :)

All in all this is a very "real" book - I could actually see each and every thing here happening (maybe certain characters are a little strong-handed in getting other characters to do something), including all of the things with the legal system.  It is intriguing, riveting, and develops characters well - all in all a pretty good book.

Oh...and just a random note - this book is fairly stand-alone, but less so than the previous two in the series.  It would help to have read the previous two books - at least Justice Perverted.  

The Bugly (bad/ugly)
I'm a tough grader.  I've made noises about teaching writing classes, and my husband's response has been, "those poor students".  When pressed, he'll state that I'm really hard on writing.  He's right!  Keep that in mind as you read this section. 

The reason that I gave this book a 3 instead of a 4 is because several of the problems I point out in the first two books (A Jealous God, Justice Perverted) are present here as well, and are glaring enough that sometimes I found myself too distracted from the amazing plot:

• Again, there are not enough indicators of "he said BOO" and "she said EEEK".  There are more than in past books in the series, so I didn't get as lost all of the time....but enough that it was distracting, especially because punctuation was not completely consistent and so I couldn't always rely on paragraph indentation to figure out who was talking.  
• The characters all sound like each other.  Very efficient, no wasted words.  I wouldn't have an issue with this (my husband is one who has a very efficient speech pattern), except that EVERYONE talks that way.  This is part of what made it a little difficult to figure out who was talking...everyone's speech pattern was exactly the same.  
• Too much dialog, not enough other stuff.  Same as the last book.  This is purely a stylistic preference - I am not a huge fan of a HUGE majority of a fiction book being dialog.  I liked the first few chapters of this book in particular a lot because dialog was well balanced with the rest of the text, but after the scene was set, it was mostly dialog.  Very efficient, clipped dialog.  Part of the reason this bugs me is because this style doesn't leave a lot of space for exploring what is happening inside of characters' heads....which is half of the reason why I read - I like knowing what characters are thinking (I am someone with a background in psychology, after all).
• Some of the forensic stuff just didn't mesh really well in my head - wouldn't the original forensic people have realized some of what the later forensic person realized?  Wouldn't the same tests have been run?  

REVIEW: "Meant for Me" - by Faith Sullivan

    

Having read/reviewed the prequel to this book recently, I was super excited to get a chance to read the continuation of the story.  I wasn't disappointed! 

BLURB
"Eric thought he had forever...before.


Divided between reliving the past and embracing his new life with Ivy, Eric fears that love will once again be ripped from his grasp. Having faith in the future is hard. So many things can go wrong.

Ivy is convinced that what they have is meant to be...but no one can escape the wheel of fate.

Her love for Eric and the life they're creating make every sacrifice seem worthwhile. Until she's forced to reveal the truth surrounding her delicate condition. Even if it shatters his hope.

Can they hold onto their newfound happiness or are events already in motion to keep them apart?"



GOODREADS  *  AMAZON




ABOUT THE AUTHOR - FAITH SULLIVAN
"I really hate talking about myself. My goal is to have the shortest author bio imaginable. I would much rather have a conversation with my readers. Are you able to escape within my pages? Does my writing make you feel something? Are there characters that you can't get out of your head? Let me know!" 

EMAIL  *  TWITTER  *  BLOG 

REVIEW
Pregnancy is a joyous time as brand-new parents anticipate their upcoming little one.  What will s/he look like?  What will s/he like to eat?  What will his/her hobbies be? What/Who/Where.......but what if that pregnancy is in jeopardy and those who may be able to save its little life are embroiled in an emotional spaghetti that would make the writers of "Passions" sit up and take notice?

LONG STORY SHORT
"Dangit, Faith!"  When I'm mentally hollering at the author of a book when I finish it because I didn't get enough, that is a good thing!  Meant for Me jumps right in where Take Me Now left off, albeit after it seems a few weeks/couple months have passed.  This is a wonderfully accessible and well-written book that reads quickly, and the gut-wrenching drama will have you pulling for the main characters in a way that is well-informed as we see the situation from every angle (viewpoints of good and bad guys included).  The emotional roller-coaster continues as we journey with Ivy and Eric down the next few steps of their path...as expectant parents who have a lot of some baggage with which to contend.  I still want to hug everyone in this story line.  Well, almost everyone. 

(Oh, and by the way - this is a book solely for those aged 18+.  Sorry, young ones - too much steam.)

Overall, I give this book a 5 out of 5 on a 1-5 rating scale. 

LONG STORY
The Good
Faith, Faith, Faith...what am I going to do with you?  A cliffhanger of that magnitude?  Seriously?  :P  

There, now that my frustration with the author has been vented, I can get to the book (in reality, I'm quite fond of the author, just frustrated with where the story left off...imagine your favorite television show ending a season on one of the biggest cliffhangers EVER.  Yeah.)

=)

Let's see, Meant for Me picks up right where the prequel (Take Me Now) left off, soon after Ivy and Eric have learned that their *ahem* physical relations have caused the beginning of a new entity.  Yep, they are pregnant (sorry dudes, I'm totally of the "if the woman is prego, the couple is prego" mindset).  We rejoin them a couple of months after learning the joyous news.  Ivy and Eric are living together in his little cabin.  Will is getting Ivy's help writing his big screenplay.  Lauren is out of all of their lives for a good long time....or is she?  duh duh duh *cue dramatic music*

Just like in the last book, I can't delve too much into the plot without giving away significant points that you should read the book to find out (beware, though, that this is an 18+ book!).  Suffice to say there is drama drama drama.  This drama, however, threatens Ivy's very life in a way that puts Eric through flashbacks and seriously threatens the stability of their relationship....something Lauren delights about, I'm sure.  Oh boy, there I go again just about to ruin the plot.

Anyways, this book is still set in small-town America where everyone knows everyone, and everyone knows the color of your new dress before you even get back to the house (can you tell I grew up in a tiny town?).  It has a small-town feel: ostensibly super simple and easy to understand, until you actually get to know the people and truly figure out just how everything and everyone works.  Drama + complication begets more drama + complication begets more drama + complication.....

Sullivan truly set the stage for these characters in the first book, so she didn't have to spend a whole lot of time here setting up the scene.  She did, however, go into the past of certain figures a bit more than in the last book.  Writing in a style that takes up multiple viewpoints (each chapter is told from a different person's point of view), Sullivan here has crafted a piece that truly allows readers to get a glimpse of the background, inner thoughts, and motivations of characters in a unique, matter-of-fact way.  We get a sense of what is motivating Lauren, Will, Ben (oh wait, you may not have met him yet...) and a deeper sense of what is behind Eric and Ivy's actions/thoughts/words.  I love this!   As someone who is forever trying to get people to look at where another person may be coming from, I absolutely love that Sullivan has here written in a way that does just that.  Yayz!

Everything in this work is just so real.  I could actually see a scenario like this playing out in my hometown (and I've an idea who would be whom....) or among those in my friend group.  Miscommunications lead to undue frustrations, which leads to certain people manipulating those miscommunications for their own self-serving interests.  Assumptions are made, feelings are hurt, and we are caught in a web of interactions that tugs on our own heartstrings as we pick out who we feel is villain and hero.

Let me just say this as well - Ivy at one point nearly loses her baby due to a medical condition that is very similar to one that almost caused me to lose my baby as well.  While the ending for Ivy and her baby is unclear (c'mon Sullivan....that next book should come out very soon.....that cliffhanger is going to drive me insane!!), my baby boy survived the condition.  The child of one of my friends did not.  I drew near to Ivy on a very personal, emotional level in this book since I'm a mother who as "been there, seen that, heard those "options" and hated them too".  Okay, probably TMI, but there you go.

This book is very well-written, accessible (it's not terribly "deep" in a philosophical way, but in an emotional way - while it is fiction that I enjoy, it is not something that my philosophically minded husband would be able to get into), a fast read, and one that will leave you craving more.  Seriously - I'm considering sending Sullivan an email every week until the next book is released.  I need to know what happens!  

The Bugly (bad/ugly)
I'm happy to report that one of the buglies that I noted for the first book (Eric and Ivy sounding too much like each other in their respective chapters) is resolved here.  In this book, each author has his/her own unique voice.  I'd like them to be a tad more distinct, but they are distinct.  Awesome!

Also, motives for specific characters are made much more clear in this work, which resolves my other bugly.

That all being said, my major bugly with this book revolves around the absolute fourteen-teen mile high cliffhanger which closes the work.  It ends...but it doesn't.  Yeah, yeah, yeah - I know this is to keep people reading, and it for sure worked for me!  You can bet I'm gonna stalk the release date of the next book.  Seriously people, I need to know what happens!!

So I guess I don't really have a bugly.....this feels weird.