Abigail Baskin met and fell in love with millionaire Bruce Lamb. After a whirlwind courtship, they became engaged. While on a bachelorette weekend with some friends, Abigail meets Scott Baumgart and has a drunken one-night stand. Writing that night off to too much alcohol, Abigail marries Bruce, and they go on their honeymoon to a remote island resort off the coast of Maine. The honeymoon is just beginning when she realizes that Scott is on the island too. He insists that he is the man for her and wants to win her back.
This book got off to a slow start. The first 1/4 of the book was reading about Abigail's past relationships and her bachelorette weekend. I didn't like Abigail at all and wasn't endeared by Bruce either. The story started getting interesting when they arrived on the island. After that, I wasn't sure what would happen next. I'll stop there since I don't want to give anything away. Overall, I'll say it was a good premise that really didn't work for me. I would call it implausible but entertaining. My rating: 2.5 Stars.
This book got off to a slow start. The first 1/4 of the book was reading about Abigail's past relationships and her bachelorette weekend. I didn't like Abigail at all and wasn't endeared by Bruce either. The story started getting interesting when they arrived on the island. After that, I wasn't sure what would happen next. I'll stop there since I don't want to give anything away. Overall, I'll say it was a good premise that really didn't work for me. I would call it implausible but entertaining. My rating: 2.5 Stars.
I decided to read Peter Swanson's Every Vow You Break on the strength of how much I enjoyed his previous book, Eight Perfect Murders. I have to admit that I did have a couple of reservations. First, the title. I found the Police's mega-hit Every Breath You Take to be downright creepy and could never understand why anyone in their right mind would want to play it at their wedding. It's stalker music, folks, and Swanson's book title directly refers to it. My second reservation was my spotty track record with domestic thrillers. Especially in this subgenre, if there's not at least one character I can like, chances are slim that I'm going to like the book.
Well, my reaction to Every Vow You Break was decidedly lukewarm. To begin with, I had to wade through all of Abigail Baskin's previous relationships in order to understand how different Bruce Lamb was. All that did was make me care less and less about Abigail. Sooner or later, Abigail's going to find fault with anything no matter how perfect it originally was. Her drunken one-night stand made me roll my eyes because it was so obvious something was going to go wrong, and even Bruce seemed too bland and too good to be true, no matter how much money he had.
Okay. I didn't like Abigail. I didn't like Bruce. Having been the victim of a stalker, I wasn't about to find One-Night Stand Man appealing. So what kept me reading Every Vow You Break? I kept reading because I knew something was going to go wrong and I had to know what it was and how Abigail would manage to get herself out of it. That's why I kept reading.
How did that work out for me? I can see something like that actually happening, but more than anything else, it made me angry. Angry that something like that could actually happen. If you couldn't finish watching The Handmaid's Tale because it made you so angry (like me), you might want to avoid Every Vow You Break. And that's all I'm going to say about what Abigail had to deal with at the end.
I said that my reaction to Swanson's book was lukewarm, but that's not exactly true, is it? My Dislike button was firmly pushed several times. My curiosity was totally engaged, and a match was struck to my temper. Swanson kept me reacting and kept me turning the pages all right. I just wish I'd paid more attention to my track record with domestic thrillers. Of course, your mileage can certainly vary, and I hope it does.
Well, my reaction to Every Vow You Break was decidedly lukewarm. To begin with, I had to wade through all of Abigail Baskin's previous relationships in order to understand how different Bruce Lamb was. All that did was make me care less and less about Abigail. Sooner or later, Abigail's going to find fault with anything no matter how perfect it originally was. Her drunken one-night stand made me roll my eyes because it was so obvious something was going to go wrong, and even Bruce seemed too bland and too good to be true, no matter how much money he had.
Okay. I didn't like Abigail. I didn't like Bruce. Having been the victim of a stalker, I wasn't about to find One-Night Stand Man appealing. So what kept me reading Every Vow You Break? I kept reading because I knew something was going to go wrong and I had to know what it was and how Abigail would manage to get herself out of it. That's why I kept reading.
How did that work out for me? I can see something like that actually happening, but more than anything else, it made me angry. Angry that something like that could actually happen. If you couldn't finish watching The Handmaid's Tale because it made you so angry (like me), you might want to avoid Every Vow You Break. And that's all I'm going to say about what Abigail had to deal with at the end.
I said that my reaction to Swanson's book was lukewarm, but that's not exactly true, is it? My Dislike button was firmly pushed several times. My curiosity was totally engaged, and a match was struck to my temper. Swanson kept me reacting and kept me turning the pages all right. I just wish I'd paid more attention to my track record with domestic thrillers. Of course, your mileage can certainly vary, and I hope it does.
Swanson is not an author I'd seek, I only try his books when they pop up on my library home page.
I've tried several of his books and it's a half and half rating, I don't really like his style of writing and in this book after I got tired of reading about her previous escapades I skipped about 50+ pages and I hit on the right spot that finally got to the point of this book
So my rating is a 3 but that's on the weak side as it takes over half the book before the actual plot gets started
I've tried several of his books and it's a half and half rating, I don't really like his style of writing and in this book after I got tired of reading about her previous escapades I skipped about 50+ pages and I hit on the right spot that finally got to the point of this book
So my rating is a 3 but that's on the weak side as it takes over half the book before the actual plot gets started
