Title:Until I Met Her
Author:Natalie Barelli
Series:Emma Fern, #1
Narrator:Kate Rudd
Published:July 2017, Brilliance Audio / Thomas & Mercer
Length:8 hours 42 minutes / 304 pages
Source:Audio – Personal copy via Audible / Print – ARC E-copy via Netgalley
Beatrice Johnson
Greene, a bestselling crime writer, has an unusual favor to ask. When a
chance encounter brings Emma Fern into her life, she thinks she’s found
just the person for the job. Soon Beatrice will wish they’d never met.For
Emma, desperate to please, it’s an offer she can’t refuse. All she has
to do is lend her name to Beatrice’s next novel, her first in a new
genre. But when the book becomes a huge triumph, Emma finds herself the
toast of the literary world. From nobody to somebody without writing a
word.It’s her first taste of success, and now Emma wants more. This is her masterpiece, after all. It says so on the cover.
Only Beatrice knows the truth. And surely there’s a solution to that.
My thoughts:I think when you read as many psychological suspense novels as I do, you tend to find that they somehow have the same feel to them in some way or another. Yet, this one, this debut novel from Natalie Barelli, totally breaks that mold. It is unique, witty and grabs your attention from the very beginning.
This is the tale of a friendship…until it isn’t. It’s about how far you are willing to go to protect something that shouldn’t even be yours in the first place. I loved the craziness of Emma. But what I loved the most is the way everything played out. You aren’t quite sure just what is going on…who is really manipulating who here.There are some really twisted, crazy characters here, not at all likeable, but compelling to say the least. They get under your skin and you just have to keep reading to find out what is going to happen next.
This is the type of book where you are not sure where it is going to go. It’s very captivating and takes on some rather intriguing moral and ethical dilemmas. An addictive read, for sure, and I cannot wait to start the next one in this series, which I hope is just as addictive and crazy!
Audio thoughts:I thought Kate Rudd did a great job with this audio production. She was really able to bring these characters to life and use just the right amount of tension and emotion in her voice as needed.
Books in this series:
- Until I Met Her
- After He Killed Me
