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4.17 AVERAGE
4.17 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
A book full of twists and turns and an ending I didn’t see coming until right before I read it.
A perfect mix of mystery and romance, all wrapped up in a nice bow.
A perfect mix of mystery and romance, all wrapped up in a nice bow.
Good thing I had no idea what the book was about because I usually pass on kidnap/rape storylines.
I guess with this book, I just entered a new era.
I’ve read suspense romance before, but none were as good as this one. Probably because the romance is heavier than the mystery in those. And I kinda expected the same with this one. But let me tell you, I struggled to put it down, to stop myself from reading chapter after chapter. I swear, sometimes I even forgot to go pee because I just couldn’t stop.
I can’t even find the words to describe this book and what I felt; the pain was so real I could feel it at times. Josie was such a strong woman, nothing like I expected from the introduction of her character. The plot twists left me with my jaw hanging, even though I had mixed feelings about the killer's ability to interpret other people.
If you like a good mystery plot with deep insights into investigations, then this is it.
I’ve read suspense romance before, but none were as good as this one. Probably because the romance is heavier than the mystery in those. And I kinda expected the same with this one. But let me tell you, I struggled to put it down, to stop myself from reading chapter after chapter. I swear, sometimes I even forgot to go pee because I just couldn’t stop.
I can’t even find the words to describe this book and what I felt; the pain was so real I could feel it at times. Josie was such a strong woman, nothing like I expected from the introduction of her character. The plot twists left me with my jaw hanging, even though I had mixed feelings about the killer's ability to interpret other people.
If you like a good mystery plot with deep insights into investigations, then this is it.
I really liked this book. Would have been a 5 star read for me except for 2 things towards the end. Don’t want to spoil it but neither thing wrapped up in a conclusion I would have liked
4.5 Stars
This was a fast paced story of abduction, murder, mystery and intrigue. Narrated by Teddy Hamilton and Callie Dalton. This is the tale of a college girl Josie who is kidnapped and held prisoner for months until she is amazingly able to escape her captor. The years go by as Josie tries to heal and recover but a recent series of crimes and events occur that appear to to be related to Josie's kidnapping in the past. This is a dual narration that goes between the present and the past.
This story was so well done! Layer after layer seemed to peel back as the book progressed giving us clues and insight until the full truth is revealed. I was so intrigued for the entire story and I love that feeling of absolutely needing to know how the book ends. Mia Sheridan has definitely mastered the romantic suspense genre! The protagonists were so well developed. I felt like we really got into the psychology of these characters, understanding what motivated them to make certain decisions.
The ending made my heart so full! Love, selflessness and sacrifice shined through and I couldn't be more happier with how the story wrapped up. I definitely recommend the audiobook. These narrators were excellent!
4.5 Stars
Romantic Suspense/ Mystery/ Crime Fiction
POV: Dual
Heat Level: Mild
HEA: Yes
Follow me for your next comfort read!
This was a fast paced story of abduction, murder, mystery and intrigue. Narrated by Teddy Hamilton and Callie Dalton. This is the tale of a college girl Josie who is kidnapped and held prisoner for months until she is amazingly able to escape her captor. The years go by as Josie tries to heal and recover but a recent series of crimes and events occur that appear to to be related to Josie's kidnapping in the past. This is a dual narration that goes between the present and the past.
This story was so well done! Layer after layer seemed to peel back as the book progressed giving us clues and insight until the full truth is revealed. I was so intrigued for the entire story and I love that feeling of absolutely needing to know how the book ends. Mia Sheridan has definitely mastered the romantic suspense genre! The protagonists were so well developed. I felt like we really got into the psychology of these characters, understanding what motivated them to make certain decisions.
The ending made my heart so full! Love, selflessness and sacrifice shined through and I couldn't be more happier with how the story wrapped up. I definitely recommend the audiobook. These narrators were excellent!
4.5 Stars
Romantic Suspense/ Mystery/ Crime Fiction
POV: Dual
Heat Level: Mild
HEA: Yes
Follow me for your next comfort read!
4 - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
She’d looked like a warrior, being wheeled into that hospital. Half dead. Still fighting. Josie. Josie Stratton. Her eyes had been large and dark. Haunted. He wondered if they still were. How could they not be?
Where The Blame Lies is not a read that is for the faint-hearted. It's a spine-chilling story that kept me on edge.
It gripped me from the very first page until the end. My brain was tossed around more than I can count with every plot twist that made me jump from my spot.
If you think you can sit still while reading this book, yeah... that's not gonna happen.
This book is disturbing and unsettling yet quite addictive.
The suspense made me want to find some relief by biting my own nails because I felt a sense of temporary paralysis creeping through my body.
On the other hand, it was an emotional wreck.
The mystery surrounding the heinous crimes targeting specific women for specific reasons was done brilliantly and the little clues and evidence tracing the perpetrator made my nerves tie themselves up into knots to lessen the rapid beating of my heart.
But... the riveting account of what Josie Stratton suffered during her 10-month captivity was utterly heartbreaking.
The book shifts between the past beginning with an prologue of when Josie was kidnapped and the present-day cases of a copycat killer mimicking the same crime Josie suffered through targeting different young women.
Kidnapped
Shackled to a wall
Sexually assaulted
Starved
The only difference is: they are found dead while Josie managed to escape and survive.
It does not escape Cincinnati Police Detective Zach Copeland that these crimes are done in a similar fashion of the Stratton case years ago.. but.. as far as they know, Josie's kidnapper, Marshall Landish, was found dead by suicide. He remembers the traumatized woman whom he stood guard to her hospital's room when he was a 25-year-old rookie.
If Marshall Landish is dead then.. who is the copycat?
Will this copycat be a threat to Josie Stratton?
What is the motive behind these sinister crimes?
Zach still remembers the haunting eyes of Josie Stratton and he vows to keep her safe.
People always said things like, “Everything will work out,” or, “That won’t happen.” But what about when things didn’t work out? Or when the unthinkable did happen? You had to walk around with the knowledge that life could sweep the rug out from under you at any moment. It could, because it had.
Josie's past chapters during the time of her captivity is told from 3rd person POV. Even though I would've preferred it was told from first-person but it did not dilute the enormity of the suffering and the trauma Josie had lived through. It shredded my heart and I marveled at her perseverance. I don't think any person can survive this and can preserve their sanity.
Mia Sheridan did not shy from detailing the horrific and highly disturbing occurrences in Josie's past chapters and it did the job at hitting me hard with the grief and devastation I felt for Josie.
What I even liked more was that Josie wasn't an entirely innocent person. She is deeply flawed and she is a person carrying the weight of her sins and mistakes. Mia did not create this perfectly innocent character, you had to question which choices sentenced Josie to live through during that horrific period of her life.
But the fact remains is that: Josie is innocent and she did not deserve one ounce of the torture she had suffered under the hands of a depraved psychopath.
I would've loved to explored more of Zach's background. I adored him very much but I wanted to see more of the man behind the police badge and although Mia sprinkled some details of his personal life but I was eager for more.
Nevertheless, the romance was a balm to the wounds cut open by the other scenes in this book. It took its sweet time to develop especially that the romance involves a victim that had been sexually assaulted and abused years ago. Zach was so sweet and patient with Josie and Josie overcame her shame and allowed herself to have a shot at love.
And yet… she’d discovered that she could still feel pleasure. That she wasn’t ruined as she’d once thought. In that way too, she was no longer a victim. And yes, she’d have to learn to fully trust again, but the relief that filled her that morning at the knowledge that she wasn’t permanently and irrevocably broken, could hardly be described. To her, the reawakening of her body filled her with a glorious sense of hope.
The conclusion was satisfying and unsatisfying at the same time. I'm torn between what I'm happy with while I still feel outraged by how it concluded.
Mia Sheridan proves to be a brilliant writer, I believe this is the 5th book I read by her and I always find her books to be quite addictive.
I'm surprised to find that this book has a follow-up book called Where The Truth Lives and finding out who the hero of that book is was a pleasant surprise.
I look forward to reading that one in the near future.
Trigger warnings: death, graphic crime scenes, rape, physical abuse, trauma, abduction.
She’d looked like a warrior, being wheeled into that hospital. Half dead. Still fighting. Josie. Josie Stratton. Her eyes had been large and dark. Haunted. He wondered if they still were. How could they not be?
Where The Blame Lies is not a read that is for the faint-hearted. It's a spine-chilling story that kept me on edge.
It gripped me from the very first page until the end. My brain was tossed around more than I can count with every plot twist that made me jump from my spot.
If you think you can sit still while reading this book, yeah... that's not gonna happen.
This book is disturbing and unsettling yet quite addictive.
The suspense made me want to find some relief by biting my own nails because I felt a sense of temporary paralysis creeping through my body.
On the other hand, it was an emotional wreck.
The mystery surrounding the heinous crimes targeting specific women for specific reasons was done brilliantly and the little clues and evidence tracing the perpetrator made my nerves tie themselves up into knots to lessen the rapid beating of my heart.
But... the riveting account of what Josie Stratton suffered during her 10-month captivity was utterly heartbreaking.
The book shifts between the past beginning with an prologue of when Josie was kidnapped and the present-day cases of a copycat killer mimicking the same crime Josie suffered through targeting different young women.
Kidnapped
Shackled to a wall
Sexually assaulted
Starved
The only difference is: they are found dead while Josie managed to escape and survive.
It does not escape Cincinnati Police Detective Zach Copeland that these crimes are done in a similar fashion of the Stratton case years ago.. but.. as far as they know, Josie's kidnapper, Marshall Landish, was found dead by suicide. He remembers the traumatized woman whom he stood guard to her hospital's room when he was a 25-year-old rookie.
If Marshall Landish is dead then.. who is the copycat?
Will this copycat be a threat to Josie Stratton?
What is the motive behind these sinister crimes?
Zach still remembers the haunting eyes of Josie Stratton and he vows to keep her safe.
People always said things like, “Everything will work out,” or, “That won’t happen.” But what about when things didn’t work out? Or when the unthinkable did happen? You had to walk around with the knowledge that life could sweep the rug out from under you at any moment. It could, because it had.
Josie's past chapters during the time of her captivity is told from 3rd person POV. Even though I would've preferred it was told from first-person but it did not dilute the enormity of the suffering and the trauma Josie had lived through. It shredded my heart and I marveled at her perseverance. I don't think any person can survive this and can preserve their sanity.
Mia Sheridan did not shy from detailing the horrific and highly disturbing occurrences in Josie's past chapters and it did the job at hitting me hard with the grief and devastation I felt for Josie.
What I even liked more was that Josie wasn't an entirely innocent person. She is deeply flawed and she is a person carrying the weight of her sins and mistakes. Mia did not create this perfectly innocent character, you had to question which choices sentenced Josie to live through during that horrific period of her life.
But the fact remains is that: Josie is innocent and she did not deserve one ounce of the torture she had suffered under the hands of a depraved psychopath.
I would've loved to explored more of Zach's background. I adored him very much but I wanted to see more of the man behind the police badge and although Mia sprinkled some details of his personal life but I was eager for more.
Nevertheless, the romance was a balm to the wounds cut open by the other scenes in this book. It took its sweet time to develop especially that the romance involves a victim that had been sexually assaulted and abused years ago. Zach was so sweet and patient with Josie and Josie overcame her shame and allowed herself to have a shot at love.
And yet… she’d discovered that she could still feel pleasure. That she wasn’t ruined as she’d once thought. In that way too, she was no longer a victim. And yes, she’d have to learn to fully trust again, but the relief that filled her that morning at the knowledge that she wasn’t permanently and irrevocably broken, could hardly be described. To her, the reawakening of her body filled her with a glorious sense of hope.
The conclusion was satisfying and unsatisfying at the same time. I'm torn between what I'm happy with while I still feel outraged by how it concluded.
Mia Sheridan proves to be a brilliant writer, I believe this is the 5th book I read by her and I always find her books to be quite addictive.
I'm surprised to find that this book has a follow-up book called Where The Truth Lives and finding out who the hero of that book is was a pleasant surprise.
I look forward to reading that one in the near future.
Trigger warnings: death, graphic crime scenes, rape, physical abuse, trauma, abduction.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4.5⭐️Where The Blames Lies is a romantic suspense story that leans a bit heavier on the suspense/ thriller side. It follows college student Josie during the time when she was held captive by a kidnapper and 8 years later when she finds out there is a copycat attacker on the loose and the police need her help. When she agrees, Josie meets Zach and the two end up falling for each other in the process. I loved the slow burn build up between them but do think the romance takes a back seat when compared to other books that fall within this genre. In regards to the mystery, this one had me on my toes. It was full of twist and turns, and I had a ton of fun trying to guess what was going to happen. The audiobook was narrated by two of my favorites, Callie Dalton and Teddy Hamilton, and they did a tremendous job keeping me engaged and feeling all of the emotions!
Read if you like:
-Romantic suspense
-Dual timelines and POVs
-Police investigations
-Slow burn romance
-Hero who’s a detective
-Burying Water/ Rose Canyon Series
Read if you like:
-Romantic suspense
-Dual timelines and POVs
-Police investigations
-Slow burn romance
-Hero who’s a detective
-Burying Water/ Rose Canyon Series