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Debbie Howells is the author of The Bones of You, her debut thriller which sold internationally for six-figures in several countries. While in the past she has been a flying instructor, the owner of a flower shop, and a student of psychology, she currently writes full-time. Debbie lives in West Sussex with her family, please visit her online at DebbieHowells.com.
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Howell's storytelling is wondering. I love touch of the fantastic in her works. Keep them coming, please. Great characters and plots that keep you guessing.😊
At the beginning I loved the book and I thought we had another 'Girl On the Train' however, the characters were weak and the ending more so, predictable! Won't be reading another.
Published writer and former lawyer, Noah Callaway lives a seemingly quiet life. Tucked away in his late aunt’s cottage, Noah just wants to write about crime and forget his past. He wants to forget about his obsession with April Moon which started in high school. Noah calls April a goddess and paints a perfect picture of the girl he sees. Throughout their lives, Noah and April have an on again off again relationship and are even engaged to be married at one point. However, the perfect girl that Noah has dreamt up has a dark past that he’s chosen not to notice. Finally, free of the obsession, Noah receives a phone call from his estranged friend, Will who says April is the prime suspect in a murder and suicide attempt. The Beauty of the End follows Noah as he attempts to uncover years’ worth of secrets left behind by a woman he thought he knew, in order to prove her innocence.
I was quite impressed with the way this story started out and unfolded. The Beauty of the End is a gripping tale and I found myself flipping through the pages quite quickly. There are (mostly) believable characters and the style of writing is easy to follow. This is my first book written by Debbie Howells and I can’t wait to read more. That being said, I absolutely hated how naïve Noah’s character is. I can understand how April was able to keep some secrets from him, however, (without giving away spoilers) there were a few things that he SHOULD have noticed. I find it hard to believe that he was so wrapped up in the person he wanted her to be that he missed completely who she really was.
I had several of the clues pinpointed from the beginning but I wasn’t able to solve all the mysteries that April laid out until the very end. Also, the ending didn’t quite add up for me. It was not as smooth as the rest of the story was. Even though this wasn’t my favorite psychological thriller, Howells is still a brilliant writer and I urge you to give her a shot.
I received a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I have previously read and enjoyed "The Bones of You" so I was quite excited to get my hands on this book. I also had quite high expectations which I am pleased to say were, on the whole, very well met. Our main character is Noah, a sort of lawyer/writer who has moved into an inherited house in the middle of the countryside. One day, he gets a call from Will, an old friend he no longer speaks to saying that a mutual friend is in trouble. This mutual friend is in fact April, love of Noah's life, a bit on again / off again and who jilted him several years previously. Believing April to be the innocent party, Noah rushes to her side and thus begins the unraveling of secrets carefully hidden. But, as Noah delves deeper, he uncovers things that others would prefer remain hidden and then it's a race against time to get to the truth. And what of Ella, who we here from in her own therapy sessions? Who is she, why is she seeing a therapist and what the heck has she to do with Noah, April and Will? Ooo, it's a delightfully twisty turney kind of thriller that kept me guessing throughout and I do love me a good one of these. There are secrets and lies aplenty and a definite quota of manipulation thrown in for good measure. The characters are all very well drawn and came across as quite real. Even the main character who we really don't meet properly other than in others' stories and perceptions. It's also definitely the type of book where a reader's allegiance is questioned and changed - in my case, several times through the book. It definitely kept me kn my toes trying to guess and double guess who was good and who bad, who is trustworthy and who is selling who out. Ok yes, I do have to agree with some that Noah was a bit of a wet blanket who mostly needed a good shake. He is also one of them that doesn't learn from mistakes and probably never will. That said, he also doesn't really do much to help himself so I didn't really like him. I always say that I don't need to like the characters in a book, I just need some connection on an emotional or relational level and I did get it with Noah, albeit in the form of anger mostly! I just wanted to rip his rose-tinted glasses off his face and make him be in the real world for once... And breathe! Plotting was tight, pacing was good. There was sufficient description to enhance and complement the narrative but not too much so the story got on with itself at a fair lick. And it was a bit of an emotional roller coaster throughout, heavy on the infatuation though! It is a bit of a time hoppy book but the chapters are headed with every date change so it was pretty easy to follow - especially impressive being as I am usually chronologically challenged! All in all another book I devoured in less than a day, cementing Ms Howells place on my watch list.
I received a free ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
This is my first book by Debbie Howells and it blew me away. This is a great psychological suspense novel that I finished in one day.
Noah Calaway is an ex-lawyer turned writing who gets a disturbing phone call from his estranged school friend Will that his ex-fiancée Alice Moon has been accused of a brutal murder and is in coma after trying to kill herself. Noah decides to defend Alice as he cannot believe that she is capable of such an heinous crime even though her betrayal still hurts him. Meanwhile we are also introduced to 15 year old Ella who is dealing through a family situation herself. The two stories though confusing converge beautifully in the end as Ella holds an important key to solving the heinous murder.
Debbie Howells has a beautiful way with words and she has woven a complex storyline with great well developed though most of the times unlikeable characters. The different timeline is interesting and the pace though slow at the start picks up real fast. A definite must read and will go back to read other books written by Debbie Howells
Many thanks to Kensington Books & NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and fair review.
I really enjoyed Debbie Howell’s books. This wasn’t as good as The Bones Of You but still very good. Her books are easy to get into and you want to read more as she keeps you gripped.
It's definitely readable but I found myself being disappointed by the 5 star reviews. Perhaps just not for me, a bit too emotional and written from a male perspective it lends itself to being fairly unbelievable, a lot of it reads like a dream sequence.