In this second book of THE LOST BRIDE trilogy, Sonya McTavish is living in a beautiful mansion she inherited on the coast of Maine, along with her friend Cleo and an assortment of ghosts, because the gorgeous home holds a lot of haunted secrets. And not all of the ghosts are friendly. There is one horrible witch who has killed seven brides on their wedding day. Sonya finds an enchanted mirror and is able to travel back in time to those murders to try and stop her.
The magical realism works very well in this story. Nora Roberts does a great job of making the house come alive with magic and sometimes evil. The backstories of the ghosts and of Sonya herself are intriguing. This wasn’t marketed as horror, but does have some horror elements and sometimes gets a little dark for my personal taste, but overall this is a wonderful second book in the series. It ends on a cliffhanger, but the third book of the trilogy is coming.
My rating is 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 on sites with no half-star option.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.
In the new crime thriller from #1 New York Times-bestselling J.D. Robb, a small and easily concealed weapon wreaks havoc, and the killer is just a face in the crowd.
Jenna’s parents had finally given in, and there she was, at a New York club with her best friends, watching the legendary band Avenue A, carrying her demo in hopes of slipping it to the guitarist, Jake Kincade. Then, from the stage, Jake catches her eye, and smiles. It’s the best night of her life. It’s the last night of her life.
Minutes later, Jake’s in the alley getting some fresh air, and the girl from the dance floor comes stumbling out, sick and confused and deathly pale. He tries to help, but it’s no use. He doesn’t know that someone in the crowd has jabbed her with a needle—and when his girlfriend Nadine arrives, she knows the only thing left to do for the girl is call her friend, Lieutenant Eve Dallas.
After everyone on the scene is interviewed, lab results show a toxic mix of substances in the victim’s body—and for an extra touch of viciousness, the needle was teeming with infectious agents. Dallas searches for a pattern: Had any boys been harassing Jenna? Was she engaging in risky behavior or caught up in something shady? But there are no obvious clues why this levelheaded sixteen-year-old, passionate about her music, would be targeted.
And that worries Dallas. Because if Jenna wasn’t targeted, if she was just the random, unlucky victim of a madman consumed by hatred, there are likely more deaths to come.
BOOK REVIEW
This book was compelling from beginning to end. The author, as always, does a great job of detailing the crime and the investigation. The futuristic setting only adds to the appeal. The perpetrator is slowly revealed, but their horrible crimes splash across the page immediately from the beginning of the book. As Eve Dallas begins to peel away the layers of this crime, the reader will be transfixed, both by the complexity of the investigation and the potential for more crimes that would surely be coming.
This book is hard to put down.The characters just flame to life, and the personalities of the victims, their friends, and the perpetrator are so well described.
I listened to the audiobook as well, and the narrator Susan Ericksen portrayed teenagers in such an authentic way. She was also able to expertly convey drama, horror, grief, sadness, and love in such a powerful way.
Eve Dallas’s personal life is subtly layered throughout the book, but never takes over from the crime and investigation.
This thriller is horrifying, enthralling, and captivating throughout. J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts) has done it again. She has created another quality book that keeps us all mesmerized.
I received a free copy of this book from St. Martin’s Press. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.
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