This book took me awhile to get into, but then I did I'll have to say it did throw me for a loop in what really happened. I won't go into details I'll leave reading to everyone who is reading it and let you figure things out. I'm not one to ruin books for other, you will have to read it to find out what is going on. I will though say for star rating be giving the book 3 out of 5 stars for the fact that the start of this book just didn't interest me, along with a few other parts of which I won't mention. I quite liked the first Scarlett Wakefield book, it was imaginative and the plot twist clever and unexpected. Sadly, book 2 does not even come close. It's lurid, melodramatic, and almost laughably unrealistic. The author seems to have thrown together as many ghastly plot points as possible to give extra shock value. First off, Dan who was the nice guy in the first book turns out to have a secret collection of Polaroids of naked girls, to provide a possible motive for his murder. Next Scarlett finds herself attracted to Callum, Dan's twin brother, which is rather creepy if you ask me. Yes, I suppose you could say it's an unconscious transference of her feelings for Dan, but it comes across as very forced and contrived. Callum is out-and-out hostile to Scarlett, whom he holds responsible for Dan's death. Who wouldn't fall in love with someone who's yelling at you to get out of his home? Not to mention that Scarlett is also entangled in a relationship with Jase back at Wakefield Hall.What's next? Scarlett gets shot at by Callum's jealousy-crazed girlfriend because she "didn't like the way Callum was looking at Scarlett". Another twist to compound the mystery. And Moira the housekeeper was up in London at the time of Dan's death, throwing a smidgen of suspicion on her. It gets more complicated but less believable. Then Taylor shows up suddenly, after being left behind in England, to lend a hand to Scarlett very conveniently when Scarlett needs her. And if that's not enough drama, the twin's older sister Catriona is so determined to inherit the entailed family castle that she plots to kill both her brothers. The author must have watched too many soap operas. It was actually pretty obvious because Cat has been feeding Scarlett a lot of red herrings and is the only one in the family who is not blaming Scarlett for Dan's death. Well that's because she knows the truth, isn't it? Dan's murder was ingeniously camouflaged as an accident thanks to Scarlett. But with Callum's birthday coming up, when he will attain the age of majority, Cat has to move quickly and ends up attempting to force Callum to jump from the tower on the edge of a cliff. Scarlett gets there in time to witness the attempt, and of course jumps in to save Callum. Cat pulls a gun on her and they're both about to die, but there's enough time for them to have a moment of connection and Scarlett to notice how attractive Callum is. When he's hanging off the tower about to fall off the cliff. Ok, now continue the dying moment. They're both about to die, when... Surprise, surprise! Taylor shows up again and tackles Cat, so the gun goes off and Cat is accidentally shot. How did Taylor even know where they were? Scarlett hadn't even known where Callum was, and had to run all over trying to find him. She didn't get a chance to text Taylor the location of their deadly struggle. Taylor wasn't even living at the castle, she had a long way to travel to get there. The McAndrews family isn't supposed to know that she's there, or even where Scarlett, Cat, and Callum have gone, so there's no way anyone could have given her directions. And if the tower is so hidden and out of the way that Scarlett hadn't known it was there - and she was actually living on the grounds - how did Taylor find it? This book was a disappointment, and you can be sure I'm not about to read the next two instalments. I've had enough lurid Gothic melodrama with this one book.
What do You think about Zoenen & Leugens (2010)?
I really like this book, kept me in suspense, Can't wait to get the last issue.
—Thomas
I liked this sequel, and was impressed at how the mystery unraveled.
—IamCindyT
