Friday 31 March 2023

🖤 Sylvia Day ⭐ SO CLOSE 🖤 Blacklist Duett #1 🇩🇪

 ©  Bianca ✰ 



S O  C L O S E
Sylvia Day

• 1 April 2023
(Das Taschenbuch erscheint am 12. April!)
• Buch #1 im #Blacklist Duett
• Buch #2 kommt am 15. November
★★★★★
4.5 Sterne

Lange trauerte Kane um seine geliebte Lily. Da taucht sie plötzlich wieder auf. Ist es ein Wunder? Oder ist es Wahnsinn?

Seit sechs Jahren ist der steinreiche Witwer Kane Black gefangen in der Trauer um seine tödlich verunglückte Frau Lily. In seinem exklusiven Penthouse in Manhattan führt er ein luxuriöses, aber einsames Leben, das durchdrungen ist von der Sehnsucht nach ihr. Da taucht sie plötzlich wieder auf – kann es sein, dass sie den mysteriösen Bootsunfall damals überlebt hat? Seine Familie hat da so seine Zweifel. Gemeinsam führen sie das milliardenschwere Kosmetikimperium Baharan. Und Kanes Mutter Aaliyah weiß genau, was sie will. Eine aus dem Nichts aufgetauchte Hochstaplerin, die die Kontrolle über ihren Sohn und damit über das Familienvermögen übernimmt, gehört nicht dazu. Auch Kanes skrupellose Schwägerin Amy hat eine Rechnung mit Kane und der angeblichen Lily offen. Ein gefährliches Spiel nimmt seinen Lauf ...





So Close ist nicht das erwartete normale erotische Romänzchen....

Zumindest hat das Syliva gesagt und das hat mich doch leicht verunsichert.
Ich liebe diese sexy Romänzchen. Und der Klappentext hat mich auch dezent verängstigt. Von daher war ich leicht unmotiviert als ich anfing zu Lesen.
Aber ich war auch mega aufgeregt und voller Freude, weil endlich was neues von unserer Crossfire Queen rauskommt.

So. Dann hab ich angefangen zu Lesen.
Am Anfang dachte ich noch... OK. Der Schreibstil ist irgendwie wunderschön aber auch dezent seltsam. Syliva hat auf Englisch so viele 'große' Worte benutzt, dass ich nach ner Weile aufgegeben habe sie zu gugeln.
Dann kriegen wir die Story nicht nur aus einer oder zwei Sichten. Nein. Wir kriegen... den Butler. Die Mutter. Die Schwägerin. Die ex-tote Frau.
Aber wir hören nichts von Kane.
Das ist wahrscheinlich der Teil, der mit der nicht-so-normalen-Romanze zusammenhängt. Wir sollen nicht wissen, ob wir Kane als unseren Helden lieben sollen, oder dürfen.
Weil kein Mensch weiß, was vor sechs Jahren mit seiner Frau passiert ist.
Wir hören nur wie alle anderen über ihn reden und was sie denken.
Was an sich eine super Art und Weise ist die Spannung aufzubauen und um alles interessanter zu machen - aber auch den Leser zu verwirren.

Ich kann nicht sagen, dass ich das Buch mega geliebt habe. Vor allem weil man so an Gideon Cross gewöhnt war und ihn so sehr mag. Ich bin halt ein Romanzen Mädel - ich muss meinen Helden lieben können.
Aber ich hab das Buch auch nicht gehasst! Gar nicht. Ich hab versucht Kane zu lieben und gehofft, dass er der Gute ist. Oder bzw. nicht der ganz böse Böse. 🤣

Um das Buch etwas verständlicher zusammenzufassen kommt jetzt der folgende Versuch meinerseits:

Stellt euch mal folgendes vor:
Eine 8-12-teilige Netflix Serie.
Sie spielt im wunderschönen New York (Manhattan). In wunderschönen Gebäuden und Penthäusern und Büros und mit ganz tollen Einrichtungen und alles ist super elegant und edel.
Die Leute die dort leben und arbeiten sind ebenfalls extremst schön und interessant.
Das sind die Darsteller des Buchs, bzw. der Netflix Show.
Der Ehemann. Die nicht-mehr-tote Ehefrau. Die Mutter. Die Schwägerin. Der Butler und die zwei jüngeren Brüder und die Schwester. Und natürlich werden wir auch Gideon und Eve Cross ein paar mal sehen.
Jetzt stell dir vor du guckst die erste Folge der Serie.

Vierzig Minuten voller schöner Orte und Leute und das Drehbuch ist wunderschön geschrieben und ... alles wunderschön.
Aber.
Am Ende der ersten Folge bist du kein Stück schlauer als am Anfang. Du hast keinerlei Rätsel gelöst, bist noch genauso, wenn nicht noch mehr, verwirrt als zu Beginn.
Und das passiert dir mit allen Episoden der Staffel. Du errätst nix! Du verstehst nix! Du bist verwirrt. Und das wird so weitergehen bis zur letzten Sekunde der letzten Folge. Eventuell sogar noch länger, weil wir ja ein zweites Buch bekommen. Also wird die Netflix Serie wohl auch einen Cliffhanger haben.
ABER.
Durch all diese verwirrenden Stunden TV-Guckens und während dein Hirn versucht irgendwas zu kapieren ... verliebst du dich in all das was du da siehst. Irgendwie. Vielleicht. A weng. Ich hab zwar keine Ahnung wie und warum. Man müsste das alles eigentlich hassen, weil einem ja nichts verraten wird. Jedenfalls nicht die Wahrheit. Aber trotzdem. Du bist fasziniert.

ENDE.

Noch Fragen??

😂😂

Also ich glaube, dass Syliva hier eine faszinierende Welt erschaffen hat.
Man wird sie vielleicht nicht sofort lieben wie eine süsse Romanze. Aber ich mochte das Buch. Ich liebe es sogar irgendwie. Ich werde es wohl nie vergessen. Man ist einfach fasziniert ... oder so irgendwie was ähnliches in der Art. 😂

Ich kann euch verraten, dass es zwar ein zweites Buch gibt, aber das Ende hier ist nicht schlimm. Es gibt aber noch SO viele offene Fragen und Mysterien zu beantworten und zu enträtseln. Es gibt noch einiges zu erzählen. Ich kann's kaum abwarten bis es im Oktober weiter geht!

Und wenn das Buch nicht bald auf Netflix kommt, dann weiß ich auch nich....

Lest das Buch! Auch wenn ihr sauer auf Sylvia seid, weil sie uns so lange hat warten lassen. Oder weil es nicht wie Crossfire ist. Oder weil ihr in den ersten Kapiteln schon aufgeben wollt... Es ist es wert gelesen zu werden. Irgendwie. Eventuell. Vielleicht. Keine Ahung warum aber bitte versucht es!  😁

Mit - SO CLOSE - hat Sylvia Day eine so wunderschön geschriebene, mysteriöse, sexy, aufregende, seltsame, spannende, komplizierte und verwirrende Welt erschaffen - ihr werdet beim Lesen selten wissen was was ist und wo und wie und warum - aber ist das nicht das Beste was einem mit einem Buch passieren kann? Rennt zu eurem nächsten Buchladen und kauft euch diese Story bevor sie ausverkauft ist!



 Links zum Buch und zur Autorin


Buch #2 vorbestellen:


englische Ausgabe - ab 26. Oktober:
 


#Crossfire noch nicht gelesen? Sofort nachholen!


Sylvia im Internetz:




Die Nummer-1-SPIEGEL-Bestsellerautorin Sylvia Day stand mit ihrem Werk an der Spitze der New York Times-Bestsellerliste sowie 29 internationaler Listen. Sie hat über 20 preisgekrönte Romane geschrieben, die in mehr als 40 Sprachen übersetzt wurden. Weltweit werden ihre Romane millionenfach verkauft.

Tuesday 28 March 2023

🖤 Sylvia Day ⭐ SO CLOSE 🖤 Blacklist Duology #1 ⭐

  ©  Bianca ✰ 



SO CLOSE
Sylvia Day

• 28/30 March 2023
• Book #1 in the #Blacklist Duology
• Book #2 will be out in October
★★★★★
4.5 Stars

From the No 1 Sunday Times bestselling author of the Crossfire saga comes the beginning of a twisty tale of obsession and fury, as a trinity of women protect what they covet at any cost.

You can't believe all of them, but can you trust any of them?

Widower Kane Black remains ruinously married to his late wife, Lily. Grief has hollowed him ... until he sees a woman with his wife's inimitable beauty on Manhattan's streets. He whisks her up to his towering penthouse, protectively guarded, nestling her in dark opulence where Lily's memory is a possessive, beguiling force.

Aliyah, Kane's mother, deals in science. There are too many questions, too few answers, and too much at stake. "Lily" has dangerous control over Kane and there can be only one queen on this throne.

Amy, Kane's sister-in-law, has been bloodied by deceit and betrayal, and she's devolving into murderous rage. She's paid too high a price and now intends to claim what she's owed.

Three women, linked by buried secrets, circle the man who unquestioningly accepts the return of his beloved long-dead wife. Kane is happier than he's ever been, and he'll do anything to stay that way.

A lushly gothic novel of domestic suspense, So Close is an emotionally intense and scorchingly sensual story of love, greed and ambition from multimillion-copy international bestseller Sylvia Day.




This is not your typical romance....

That's what Sylvia said and that's what I was a bit worried about. Also the blurb worried me - so as a romance lover I was a bit scared to start reading. But I was also super excited to get something new from Sylvia, because I was such a huge Crossfire fan.

And then I started reading.
At first I thought. Okay. The writing is kinda beautiful but also a bit weird. She uses soo many big words. I gave up googling them after a couple.
And then ... we get multiple POVs. The butler. The mom. The sister in law. The ex-dead-wife.
But we don't get to hear Kane Black's POV.
And I guess that's the thing. The not-so-typical-romance thing. We're not supposed to know if we should love him as our hero.
Because nobody knows what happened to his wife six years ago.
And we only get to hear all the others talk about him and what they think.
Which is a super way of building up the mystery and confuse the reader even more.
I can't say I love-love-loved the book. Especially coming after Gideon Cross. I'm a romance girl. I want to love the hero.
But I also didn't hate it. Not at all. I still tried to love Kane and hoped that he's the good or rather the not-so-bad bad guy in this book!

Maybe to wrap the book all up into an explainable vision for you ...
Imagine ... if you will ...  an 8 to 12 episode Netflix show in a beautiful setting in New York City with the most stunning buildings and offices and apartments and furniture. Living and working there is the cast of this book. Again extremely beautiful and intriguing people. The Husband. The ex-dead Wife. The Mother. The Sister-in-law. The Butler. And the two younger brothers and sister. And of course the Gideon and Eva Cross cameos.
And then imagine yourself watching the first episode.
40 minutes of beautiful scenery and people and script and words and just everything.
But. By the end of the first episode you are not one bit closer to uncovering any mysteries or any anything basically. You're just as confused as you were going in. And the same will happen with every single episode. You're not guessing anything. You're not understanding a thing. You're confused. And you will be until the last second of the last episode. And maybe even longer - because there will be a second book. So I imagine any Netflix show will have a cliffhanging season finale too.
But. Through all those confusing hours and through all the gymnastics your brain is doing while watching.... you still love it all. So much. Kinda. No idea why though. You should hate it. Nobody is telling you anything. Not the truth anyway. But still. You're fascinated.
The end.
Any more questions???
😂😂

I think Sylvia created an amazing world here.
I might not love it like I would have loved an amazing and sweet romance, but I appreciate it and I cherish it and I will probably never forget it.
I can tell you that we don't have a super cliffhanging cliffy. But there's SO much more left to uncover and to unmystify. Just a lot more to tell. Can't wait to read TOO FAR in October!

And if this does not appear on Netflix anytime soon - I don't know what's wrong with people!

Please read this book. Even if you might be mad at Sylivia for letting us wait for so many years. Even if you might want to stop somewhere along the first chapters. It's worth it. Somehow. Kind of. No idea why. But try it. 😁

With - SO CLOSE - Sylvia Day created such a beautifully written and mysterious and sexy and weird and exciting and suspenseful and complicated and confusing world - you won't know what's what for most of it - and that's just the most amazing place to be while reading a book! Run to your nearest bookseller before it's all sold out!



 Links to the Book & Author 
 



Book #2 - coming in October!
 



If you haven't read Sylvia's #Crossfire series yet - DO IT NOW! ☺


Stalking Sylvia:





 Sylvia is the #1 New York Times, #1 USA Today & #1 international bestselling author of over twenty award-winning novels, including ten New York Times bestsellers and thirteen USA Today bestsellers. Her work has been translated into forty-one languages. With over twenty million copies of her books in print, she is a number one bestseller in twenty-nine countries.

Over her career, Sylvia’s novels have taken spots among the top bestselling books on global year-end sales roundups, making her one of the most widely read authors in the world today. She served as the 22nd President of Romance Writers of America and presently serves on the Board of Directors of both the Authors Guild and the Authors Guild Foundation.

Hailed as “one of the most successful romance writers in the world” by Fox News, Sylvia’s work has been covered in Time, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, People, the Wall Street Journal, Cosmopolitan, the Associated Press, USA Today, and Entertainment Weekly – to name just a few. She has been the subject of trivia questions on the television game shows Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and Jeopardy!, as well as a Kit Hoover recommended read on Access Hollywood Live. Her novel Afterburn / Aftershock was developed into a motion picture by Passionflix and released in November 2017. The documentary following her 2016 world tour, Beyond Words: Sylvia Day, released in October 2018.

In addition to her novels, Sylvia has written numerous novellas and short stories. Her work has been called an “exhilarating adventure” by Publishers Weekly and “wickedly entertaining” by Booklist. She’s been honored with the RT Book Reviews Reviewers’ Choice award, the National Readers’ Choice Award, and multiple nominations for Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA® Award of Excellence. She’s been nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Author and her work has been honored as Amazon’s Best of the Year.

🖤 Mia Sheridan 📚 BAD MOTHER 🖤

 ©  Bianca ✰  


BAD MOTHER
Mia Sheridan

• 28 March 2023
• romantic psychological thriller
• 
 standalone 
★★★★★
4.75 Stars

From New York Times bestselling author Mia Sheridan comes the twisted story of one detective’s pursuit of a serial killer who’s taunting her…and the familiar connection between them that’s haunting her.

When Sienna Walker is nearly fired from the NYPD, the last thing she expects is a second chance in the one place she vowed never to return to. But she can’t afford to turn down the job offer, even if a painful familial past and a broken engagement hardly make Reno, Nevada, home sweet home.

It’s made even less sweet by Sienna’s first case—a serial killer with a curious fixation on her. Along with his victims, the killer leaves perplexing clues and chilling journal entries addressed to Sienna detailing the murders he claims his mother committed. The case continues to get personal when her ex-fiancé is called out by the killer as well. Whoever’s behind the diabolical murders, Sienna can only be sure of one thing…it’s someone close to home.

As the twisted truth forces Sienna to face her complicated feelings, she learns that no matter how far you run from your past, it always catches up to you in the end.




Sienna + Gavin

Sienna got into a bit of trouble as a NYPD detective - that's why they sent her off to a new job in Reno - of all places. Her home town.
She left the trailer park as soon as school was done more than ten years ago.
And now she's back. Back with all those memories about her horrible family life and about the boy that got away - or rather the boy who left her at the altar without a word.
And there might also be a serial killer on the loose - with connections to her?

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO SIENNA + GAVIN?
WILL THERE BE A HEA?
READ THE BOOK TO FIND OUT 



Another thrillery mystery thingy from Mia. And I loved it!
I could see this all so clearly in my mind - like I was watching a cop show on TV.
We get the adorable second chance love story part. And we get a mysterious serial killer. Lots of detecting to do. Falling back in love to do.
I really enjoyed this story.
There are those readers who immediately guess or notice the bad guy and what is what. I'm usually not one of those people. And I'm proud to say I was one at least halfway this time. LOL.
I figured out the who really soon but I didn't know how and why and what until much later.
I really loved this book. It was mysterious. Exciting. Romantic. Heartbreaking. Sad. Scary. We had lots of detecting and guessing and riddle-solving to do. I enjoyed reading this. I even cried a bit!

I would so love to watch it on TV - as a movie or a series.
Sienna and the others were all really great and interesting. I wouldn't mind getting a (book) series with these people.

A fun fact you'll notice. The Reno PD seems to be run by lady cops! I loved that. Sienna, her partner Kat and their boss Ingrid. Go Girls!

BAD MOTHER was a mysterious and scary and heartbreaking Reno-Cop-Show-Psycho-Thriller-Serial-Killer-Romantic-Second-Chance-Love-Story thingy?! LOL! GO READ IT!

Tiny little complaint - not really a complaint - just something that bothered me a bit. Or bothers me in Mia's suspensy books. Just like in the last books she again uses the word CRIMINALISTS way too many times. Before reading Mia's previous suspense books I had never heard the word. On TV we only get words like CRIME SCENE PEOPLE. CSI. FORENSIC GUYS et cetera. Those might not always be the correct terms for whatever those people's jobs are, but we are used to those words! I googled criminalist and of course it's a real word and a real job. But I just wish that Mia wouldn't use it THIRTY TWO TIMES in one book! Change it up a bit - even if it's not the totally correct job title - just say CRIME SCENE PEOPLE please! 😁


 LINKS TO THE BOOK AND AUTHOR 
 



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Most of all You

  




Mia Sheridan is a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestselling author. Her passion is weaving true love stories about people destined to be together. Mia lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with her husband. They have four children here on earth and one in heaven.