Unfortunately, this book did not go the way I expected. The narrator asked me to provide an honest review for this title. I was hesitant at first but the things that influenced my decision were the protagonist is a West Indian woman and the genre a romantic mystery.
The story took me days to get through. I put it down several times before finally completing it. I enjoyed a few aspects but unfortunately; the issues overshadowed them.
I enjoyed the mystery arc. It took a while to develop, but when it did, it was exciting, twisty and unpredictable. I could never figure out who the villain’s identity and when it was revealed it was a jaw dropping moment.
My issues lay in:
1. The protagonist: Sadly, I did not like Ava. I had difficulty connecting with her. I found her to be shallow and self-centered. I especially did not like how she treated the man she claimed to love. Even her relationship with her parents seemed forced. I also had issues with her interaction with her daughter. From what I saw, she barely spent time with her, always leaving her with parents while she goes about gratifying her desires.
2. The portrayal of the book: The book is advertised as a romantic mystery. Well, I am still waiting for the romantic element of this story. There was absolutely no romance. I do not consider Ava’s hookups with her ex and Samuel, her co-worker romantic.
3. Pacing: The slow pacing made it difficult to get through the story. Majority of the story focused on Ava’s job, her interaction with Samuel and her struggles with Colin, the guy she recently dumped. It was not until around the sixty percent mark that the story improved where the pacing and the mystery were concerned.
Narration
I thought Chante McCormick did a great job with the narration. For someone who is not from the West Indies, she captured the accent and the island patois well. I loved how she seamlessly switched between the West Indian and American accent. I loved the voices she used for the characters, which helped to make listening to the story bearable.
Conclusion/Recommendation
The story received quite a few rave reviews, but I am in the minority. It did not work for me. It is book 9 in the What Doesn’t Kill You Romantic Mystery series and the first book in the Ava trilogy, but it can be read as a stand-alone. I am not sure if I will continue the trilogy, but I may try the books from the other series.
STORY
NARRATION
Overall Rating
Sassy, sexy new heroine for the What Doesn’t Kill You series, USA Best Book Award-Winner, Cross Genre Fiction.
If you like your mysteries exotic and fast-paced, then Ava’s your girl, and Bombshell’s the novel for you!
Temp worker by day, lounge singer by night, single mom Ava is having a hard time breaking up with her long-distance boyfriend and making it without the support of her parents on the island of St. Marcos. Things improve dramatically when she lands a too-good-to-be-true job at a virtual currency exchange, where she meets a seriously sexy man, and goes to work for a boss so incredible he sponsors her on a trip to New York to record a demo. But when Ava stumbles across the raped and murdered body of a young woman, she recognizes her from a shared trauma back in their school days. Ava is devastated and throws herself into avenging the girl’s death. From that moment on, it’s one bombshell after another, going off closer and closer to Ava and the people she cares about most
Nadene's addiction to reading began at an early age, when a family friend gifted her a copy of Wuthering Heights. From that moment she was never without a book.She will read anything as long the material is compelling enough to hold her attention. She gained many experiences through the pages of the books she had the opportunity to read.She created this blog to share her love of books with like minded individuals hopes that in sharing reviews of the books read visitors to the blog will discover their next addictive read. When not reading, Nadene enjoys cooking, listening to music and watching television.
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So no romance in a rom sup? Not cool.
Also that blurb gave me meh feels, then I read your review and saw that you did not like Ava that much, and yes, I got that feel for myself from the blurb alone
Isn’t it funny how books can be raved about by some and then when you get to them you only think they are so so? Kind of disappointing when that happens. Sorry this didn’t quite work out for you.
Sorry the story didn’t work too well for you but I am glad that the narration was so well done.
Sorry to hear you didn’t like it more.
It is just one of those things.
It’s hard when expectations don’t meet execution. I am glad the narration was well done.
Yeah, the narration was the bomb.
ah complicated there… I can unsterdand your issues
So no romance in a rom sup? Not cool.
Also that blurb gave me meh feels, then I read your review and saw that you did not like Ava that much, and yes, I got that feel for myself from the blurb alone
Isn’t it funny how books can be raved about by some and then when you get to them you only think they are so so? Kind of disappointing when that happens. Sorry this didn’t quite work out for you.