political thriler

Secrets and Thrills in The Bitter Truth by Shanora Williams

by Stefani

The Bitter Truth by Shanora Williams

Published: June 25, 2024 by Dafina

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

For Jolene “Jo” Baker, the least she can do for her adoring husband, Dominic, is give unwavering support for his North Carolina gubernatorial run. He is not only the love of her life, he’s also helping her prove that she’s far more than just a pampered trophy wife. With huge crowds showing up at Dominic’s speeches and the polls consistently in his favor, she’s never been happier to stand proudly by his side . . .

Until she and Dominic start seeing the same, strangely ominous woman turning up all along the campaign trail. Until their tour starts becoming a nightmare of botched events, crucial missed information, and increasingly dangerous “accidents.” Suddenly Jo can’t get any answers from Dominic—or understand why he is acting so paranoid and terrified . . .

What Jo can do is start digging into his past—one she’s never really questioned beyond his perfect image and dazzling accomplishments. What results is an alarming series of events that leave her baffled: Good friends turn into enemies, truths are revealed to be lies, and all clues lead back to one secret, shattering weekend that changes Jo’s entire life. With her world splintering into pieces, can Jo risk trying to set things right? Or will hiding the bitter truth by any means necessary destroy her as well?

Rating:

Review:

***Disclaimer*** I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Dafina and Edelweiss!***

This book was a fun little popcorn thriller. Like I said in one of my progress update posts, if you wants to read this in an afternoon then you easily could. I also like that the book delivers exactly what this synopsis sells. That doesn’t always happen so I appreciate it even more when it does. Political thriller, check. Shocking secrets, double check. Revenge on the bad guy, check.

The characters in this book were well fleshed out and felt like real, genuine people. Jo was smart and canny, you got the sense from her early on that while she may trust easily she isn’t going to be anyone’s fool. I liked that about her. Of course, we know from the beginning that her husband is a piece of garbage, that’s the whole point, but I also felt like we got a glimpse of why Jo loved him enough to marry him. At this point in the story she is finished with the marriage, but recognizes that they need to remain a united front for the sake of his political office. The political marriage in full display. She spends her time focusing on her tea shop, in between campaign events. Dominic spends his time campaigning. At least until the threatening messages start arriving.

This book sold me on secrets, and boy, are there secrets! A lot of them. And some of them get really dark. Frankly, I didn’t quite expect how dark this book went. But I loved it. It made things much more sinister and desperate. No wonder Dominic got so desperate to cover up the past. However, I did feel like some of the twists and secrets were easy to guess. To avoid giving away too big of a spoiler, typically if a character can narrate it means they aren’t really gone. Typically.

The only other thing that brought down this rating for me was the ending. It was just rather unnecessarily complicated. The “stalkers” had a plan, Jo had a plan, everyone had a plan. And the plans were intertwined, but then at a certain point there was an entirely different secret plan. It was too much. After everything in the book, Dominic isn’t that smart. We didn’t need a CIA level takedown here. That and the obvious twists brought this to a 3 star or me. I enjoyed it, and it was exactly what it was supposed to be as a popcorn thriller.

Progress Update – September 30, 2024

by Stefani

The Bitter Truth by Shanora Williams

Progress: 151 of 320 pages

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

An upstanding political candidate. A determined stalker. A shattering lost weekend. Now, when his worst secret comes calling, how far will one man’s elegant, all-too-devoted wife go to uncover the truth . . . or bury it?

For Jolene “Jo” Baker, the least she can do for her adoring husband, Dominic, is give unwavering support for his North Carolina gubernatorial run. He is not only the love of her life, he’s also helping her prove that she’s far more than just a pampered trophy wife. With huge crowds showing up at Dominic’s speeches and the polls consistently in his favor, she’s never been happier to stand proudly by his side . . .

Until she and Dominic start seeing the same, strangely ominous woman turning up all along the campaign trail. Until their tour starts becoming a nightmare of botched events, crucial missed information, and increasingly dangerous “accidents.” Suddenly Jo can’t get any answers from Dominic—or understand why he is acting so paranoid and terrified . . .

What Jo can do is start digging into his past—one she’s never really questioned beyond his perfect image and dazzling accomplishments. What results is an alarming series of events that leave her Good friends turn into enemies, truths are revealed to be lies, and all clues lead back to one secret, shattering weekend that changes Jo’s entire life. With her world splintering into pieces, can Jo risk trying to set things right? Or will hiding the bitter truth by any means necessary destroy her as well?

How it’s going:

I put this one down for awhile, but not because I didn’t enjoy it. The ARC I received has VERY small print, so even though I was enjoying the story that aspect was a bit offputting and made it difficult to read. But, this is a perfect popcorn thriller. If you wanted to, you could read it in an afternoon. It’s also getting pretty dark. I expected this to be about bad people who do bad things, but these are really bad things. I wasn’t entirely prepared for how bad. I am also getting an idea about who is stalking Dominic, we’ll see if my theory pans out.

There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak

Audio progress: 4.5 of 16.5 hours

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synosis:

In the ancient city of Nineveh, on the bank of the River Tigris, King Ashurbanipal of Mesopotamia, erudite but ruthless, built a great library that would crumble with the end of his reign. From its ruins, however, emerged a poem, the Epic of Gilgamesh, that would infuse the existence of two rivers and bind together three lives.

In 1840 London, Arthur is born beside the stinking, sewage-filled River Thames. With an abusive, alcoholic father and a mentally ill mother, Arthur’s only chance of escaping destitution is his brilliant memory. When his gift earns him a spot as an apprentice at a leading publisher, Arthur’s world opens up far beyond the slums, and one book in particular catches his interest: Nineveh and Its Remains.

In 2014 Turkey, Narin, a ten-year-old Yazidi girl, is diagnosed with a rare disorder that will soon cause her to go deaf. Before that happens, her grandmother is determined to baptize her in a sacred Iraqi temple. But with the rising presence of ISIS and the destruction of the family’s ancestral lands along the Tigris, Narin is running out of time.

In 2018 London, the newly divorced Zaleekah, a hydrologist, moves into a houseboat on the Thames to escape her husband. Orphaned and raised by her wealthy uncle, Zaleekah had made the decision to take her own life in one month, until a curious book about her homeland changes everything.

How it’s going:

The writing in this book is absolutely beautiful. The author uses a single drop of water as a vehicle to weave these diverse stories together. What was a raindrop that fell upon the Mesopotamian king became a snowflake that fell on Arthur’s face at his birth, that became a tear shed for Narin, that later fell on Zaleekah. Water is the vehicle for describing these humans and it’s just perfect. I love this story so much so far. It is beautiful and moving. So far Arthur is my favorite story but Narin is very compelling too.