Review: BELIEVE ME by J.P. Delaney
/12 Comments/by SuzanneAlso by this author: The Girl Before, The Perfect Wife
Published by Ballantine Books on July 24, 2018
Genres: Mystery, Thriller
Pages: 352
Source: Netgalley
Amazon
Goodreads
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
MY REVIEW:
J.P. Delaney is back with another riveting psychological thriller that is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat. Believe Me follows Claire Wright, a young British woman living in America who aspires to be an actor. When we meet Claire, she is struggling financially. She doesn’t have a green card which makes it difficult to find legitimate employment. She ends up working on the sly for a team of divorce lawyers, where she uses her acting talents to entrap cheating husbands and obtain video evidence for their wives.
Everything changes in Claire’s life, however, when one of the wives she is trying to obtain evidence of cheating for turns up dead. Believing that the woman’s husband is the murderer and that his wife might not be his only target, law enforcement officers approach Claire about using her talents to try to lure the husband into a confession. With the promise of a green card and a lot of cash dangled in front of her, Claire agrees.
Claire is a brilliant actor, but will she be able to help law enforcement catch the killer or will she end up in over her head? All I can say is buckle up and prepare for a wild ride!
Believe Me is one of those novels that I feel like I can’t say much about because I don’t want to give anything away, so I’m just going to mention a couple of quick highlights that I really enjoyed.
It probably seems weird to start off talking about the structure of a novel, but I have to admit this was my favorite part about Believe Me. The main character Claire, who as I’ve mentioned is an aspiring actor, often goes through life imaging incidents in her life as if they are scenes from a script. Since we are watching the events of the story unfold from Claire’s perspective, Delaney actually weaves together a tale that is mostly straight narrative, but which occasionally has little bits of script incorporated in as well to mimic how Claire imagines certain scenes playing out, complete with stage directions and dialogue she has scripted out in her head. At first, I worried that the script bits might seem a little gimmicky, but in the end, they really worked well for me.
Aside from the unique structure, I also enjoyed that the plot was filled with suspenseful twists and turns that kept me guessing from start to finish. The twists were such that it oftentimes made it hard to distinguish between what was real and what was fake in terms of Claire’s role in the murder investigation as well as what exactly was going on with the husband. I tried to predict what direction the story was taking a few times along the way but was so wrong each time that I finally decided to just settle in and enjoy the wild ride Delaney was taking me on. The fact that his writing flows so smoothly makes it easy to do that and just trust that the ride is going to be worth it in the end.
The main issue I had with Believe Me was that I just never really felt a connection to Claire. Because she played so many different roles throughout the course of the novel, I never felt like I knew who the real Claire was. Whenever she said something about herself, I took it with a grain of salt because I was never convinced she was being honest. While that kind of personality was helpful in terms of maintaining the novel’s premise of not knowing what was real and what was fake, it left me feeling very detached from Claire. Even when she was potentially in danger, I found that I didn’t really care. I wanted to know what was going to happen, of course, but it wasn’t a case where I was worried for her well being at all. If I had been able to better connect with Claire, this would have easily been a 4 star read for me.
There’s so much more I would love to say about Believe Me, but because I don’t want to spoil the mystery, I’m just going to say that I’d highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys riveting psychological thrillers and to fans of Delaney’s last book, The Girl Before. If you enjoyed that one, I think you would also enjoy Believe Me.
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:
In this twisty psychological thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Before, an actress plays both sides of a murder investigation.
A struggling actor, a Brit in America without a green card, Claire needs work and money to survive. Then she gets both. But nothing like she expected.
Claire agrees to become a decoy for a firm of divorce lawyers. Hired to entrap straying husbands, she must catch them on tape with their seductive propositions. The rules? Never hit on the mark directly. Make it clear you’re available, but he has to proposition you, not the other way around. The firm is after evidence, not coercion. The innocent have nothing to hide.
Then the game changes.
When the wife of one of Claire’s targets is violently murdered, the cops are sure the husband is to blame. Desperate to catch him before he kills again, they enlist Claire to lure him into a confession.
Claire can do this. She’s brilliant at assuming a voice and an identity. For a woman who’s mastered the art of manipulation, how difficult could it be to tempt a killer into a trap? But who is the decoy…and who is the prey?
About J.P. Delaney
J. P. Delaney is the pseudonym of a writer who has previously published best-selling fiction under another name. .
Weekly Recap #63: Week of 7/22 – 7/28
/28 Comments/by Suzanne
It’s time for another weekly recap post of all things happening on and off the blog. This week I’ll be linking to the Sunday Post, which is hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer and to Stacking the Shelves, which is hosted by Tynga’s Reviews.
This was a very good writing week for me. I was 6 reviews behind at the beginning of last week but managed to get five written this week so I’m not feeling nearly as bad about backlogged reviews as I had been. Of course I also finished reading two more books so I still need to write 3 to be fully caught up but such is the life of a book blogger, right? LOL!
I hate when this happens, but I am a few days behind on blog comments and visits. I’m fully placing the blame for that on Mother Nature. After the rainiest summer I can remember in recent memory, we finally had three days of sun in a row so I’ve been outside as much as possible trying to work on those home improvement projects we started weeks ago and haven’t had enough dry weather to complete. We’re so desperate to get those projects wrapped up that I even spent part of my Saturday night helping my husband start hanging our newly painted shutters. We hung shutters until about 9pm when I finally had to quit because it was too dark and because the mosquitoes were eating me alive. We still have two sets to paint but the end of that project is finally in sight!
In other blog-related news, I actually set up an Instagram account for my blog this week. Now that I’ve set it up, I of course have cold feet about posting anything but we’ll see how that goes. I may just end up using it to follow other book bloggers and like their pics.
Not too much else is really going on. We’ve already started back-to-school shopping, which has my son a little crabby. The county we live in voted to change the school calendar, starting with the upcoming school year. We have historically gone back to school after Labor Day in September but this year because of the calendar change, the kids lose three weeks of their summer break and go back to school on August 13. It will be nice in the spring because they’ll end up getting out before Memorial Day, but my son is mad as hell about losing so much of his summer break this year. I’m sure he’ll get over it as soon as he’s back with his friends, etc., but right now, it’s like living with a grumpy old bear every time someone even mentions the word “school.” Fun times!
I think that’s it for me. I hope everyone else has a great week! 🙂
WHAT I POSTED LAST WEEK
- [22 Jul] Weekly Recap #62: Week of 7/15 – 7/21
- [23 Jul] A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin ★★★½
- [23 Jul] Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo ★★★★
- [24 Jul] Top Ten Tuesday – 10 Books That Take Me Back to the Innocence of My Youth
- [25 Jul] Can’t Wait Wednesday – SUMMER BIRD BLUE by Akemi Dawn Bowman
- [27 Jul] Save the Date by Morgan Matson ★★★★½
- [27 Jul] Not the Girls You're Looking For by Aminah Mae Safi ★★★½
WHAT I’M READING THIS WEEK
UPCOMING REVIEWS
STACKING THE SHELVES
TOTALLY RANDOM
Source: inkygirl.com
Backlist Briefs – Mini Reviews for SAVE THE DATE & NOT THE GIRLS YOU’RE LOOKING FOR
/20 Comments/by SuzannePublished by Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers on June 5, 2018
Genres: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
Pages: 417
Source: Library
Amazon
Goodreads
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS
Charlie Grant’s older sister is getting married this weekend at their family home, and Charlie can’t wait—for the first time in years, all four of her older siblings will be under one roof. Charlie is desperate for one last perfect weekend, before the house is sold and everything changes. The house will be filled with jokes and games and laughs again. Making decisions about things like what college to attend and reuniting with longstanding crush Jesse Foster—all that can wait. She wants to focus on making the weekend perfect.
The only problem? The weekend is shaping up to be an absolute disaster.
There’s the unexpected dog with a penchant for howling, house alarm that won’t stop going off, and a papergirl with a grudge.
There are the relatives who aren’t speaking, the (awful) girl her favorite brother brought home unannounced, and a missing tuxedo.
Not to mention the neighbor who seems to be bent on sabotage and a storm that is bent on drenching everything. The justice of the peace is missing. The band will only play covers. The guests are all crazy. And the wedding planner’s nephew is unexpectedly, distractingly…cute.
Over the course of three ridiculously chaotic days, Charlie will learn more than she ever expected about the family she thought she knew by heart. And she’ll realize that sometimes, trying to keep everything like it was in the past means missing out on the future.
Review:
Prior to reading Save the Date, I had never read a novel from Morgan Matson before. I had always heard great things about her books though so when I was recently looking for a fun summer read and saw this book’s hilarious cover, I knew this was the book I had been looking for. Everything about that cover just screams fun! And let me tell you, this book seriously delivered too. I devoured it in just over a day and was thoroughly entertained from start to finish.
Save the Date follows the Grant family and is set over the course of the three days leading up to daughter Linnie’s wedding. And wow, what a three days it is! Seriously, everything that can possibly go wrong with the wedding preparations goes wrong and then some. The wedding hijinks had me literally laughing out loud and oh so grateful that my own wedding went so much more smoothly than poor Linnie’s. In addition to the wedding chaos and its ensuing hilarity, however, Save the Date has a heartwarming focus on family that I adored even more than the humor. The Grant family is what I would call perfectly imperfect and Matson does a beautiful job making each family member so loveable, flaws and all. I was able to relate to each of them easily, especially Charlie, the youngest Grant. It is from Charlie’s perspective that we watch the story unfold and it’s such an interesting perspective because she has always seen her family as picture perfect and practically worshipped the ground they all walked on. Now that she’s older and watching her family reunite for Linnie’s wedding, she has to come to the somewhat painful realization that no one is perfect, not even the family that she idolizes. It really makes her rethink her own identity and choices in life, and I loved that the novel had that coming of age theme included to really add some depth to the overall narrative.
If you’re looking for a fast-paced read that will make you laugh out loud but also shed a tear or two at a flawed but loving family coming together as a team when it counts, I’d highly recommend Morgan Matson’s Save the Date. As I said, this is my first Morgan Matson read, but I can guarantee it won’t be my last! 4.5 STARS
Not the Girls You're Looking For by Aminah Mae Safi
Published by Feiwel & Friends on June 19, 2018
Genres: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
Pages: 336
Source: Library
Amazon
Goodreads
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS
Lulu Saad doesn't need your advice, thank you very much. She's got her three best friends and nothing can stop her from conquering the known world. Sure, for half a minute she thought she’d nearly drowned a cute guy at a party, but he was totally faking it. And fine, yes, she caused a scene during Ramadan. It's all under control. Ish.
Except maybe this time she’s done a little more damage than she realizes. And if Lulu can't find her way out of this mess soon, she'll have to do more than repair friendships, family alliances, and wet clothing. She'll have to go looking for herself.
Review:
I’m a complete sucker for books that center around female friendships, so as soon as I heard that Aminah Mae Safi’s Not the Girls You’re Looking For features Lulu Saad and her best girl friends, I knew I had to read it. While I did love getting to know Lulu and her friends and watching them go through their ups and downs, I have to say that overall, this was just a good read for me, not a great one.
I thought the author did a brilliant job of accurately portraying the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to friendship dynamics. I also liked that even though these girls clearly loved each other and would have each other’s backs no matter what, it’s definitely not all sunshine and roses for them. Some of their fights really took me back to my own high school days and made me think back to my core group of friends back then and all of the ups and downs that we managed to make it through. Safi perfectly captures all of those messy high school relationships that we’ve all experienced and it made the book so relatable (almost too relatable at times, lol).
Along similar lines, I was also a huge fan of the portrayal of Lulu’s family, both immediate and extended. Lulu’s family on her father’s side is Muslim and I loved seeing that side of the family interact, both with each other and with Lulu’s mother, who is not Muslim. The awkwardness is palpable as Lulu is caught in between and then gets herself into hot water when she disrespects one of her relatives. I have a thing for messy family dynamics so Lulu’s family was a highlight for me.
So, what didn’t I like? There were a few times in this book where it just felt like I was following Lulu around waiting and hoping for something exciting to happen. Thankfully, exciting things eventually did start to happen, but for a few chapters there, my attention was starting to wander. I was also a little disappointed because I found what I think was supposed to be a huge plot twist regarding Emma way too predictable. I still loved the plot twist and her friends’ reactions to it; I just wish I hadn’t guessed it so early on. All of that said, however, I still think this is a wonderful read, especially if you’re into realistic and sometimes messy portrayals of families and female friendships. 3.5 STARS
About Aminah Mae Safi
Aminah Mae Safi is a Muslim-American writer who explores art, fiction, feminism, and film. She loves Sofia Coppola movies, Bollywood endings, and the Fast and Furious franchise. She’s the winner of the We Need Diverse Books short story contest. Originally raised in Texas, she now lives in Los Angeles, California, with her partner, a cat bent on world domination, and another cat who’s just here for the snacks. NOT THE GIRLS YOU’RE LOOKING FOR is her first novel.
About Morgan Matson
Morgan Matson was born in New York City and grew up there and in Greenwich, Connecticut. She attended Occidental College as a theater major, but halfway through, switched her focus to writing and never looked back. She received an MFA in Writing for Children from the New School, and then a second MFA in Screenwriting from USC.
She is the New York Times bestselling author of five books, all published by Simon & Schuster.
She currently lives in Los Angeles with her rescue terrier, Murphy, in a house with blue floors that’s overflowing with books.