I am currently going through my Shelf to clear out books that I either DNFed or was not able to write a full review for whatever reason. Unfortunately this is the case with this title.
I hope to pick up a physical copy soon as it looked intriguing and a very interesting title, particularly considering I read a lot of true crime and this seems like a very wild story.
Thank you for the opportunity to read this book, and I hope to read more in the future.

This is Lee's Memoir of how she fell prey to a charming con man whom she met while on vacation in Wales and then later married. She receives all sorts of warnings but still continues to believe his lies. The book is written in a very factual matter and really only tells her side of the story. She does do some research after the fact about his other cons but not a lot of that information is presented. She also never fully explains why she believed all his lies despite the mounting evidence. And why he chose her instead of wealthy women to fleece. The book is easy and quick to read I just wish there was some more background on his cons before and after he met Lee. Read this book for an interesting slice of life true crime. Enjoy

Review was declined. Thank you for the opportunity.

Thank you to Netgalley for letting me read The Charming Predator by Lee Mackenzie and to write an honest review.

I was looking forward to read this book and it started off as a very powerful true crime story.
However, I became bored half way through and started to Scream at the book! I hate giving up on something I have started but I carried on to the end.

I did feel sorry for the author Lee MacKenzie who wrote how she fell for and married a con man from Wales back in the 1980s. He came over a gent! very helpful and charming, he wined and dined her, showered her with loving letters, every woman's dream! Then, he stole everything she had.
There were a lot of warning signs showing throughout their relationship. Why didn't an intelligent woman ignore these?
However, I think we have all done this at some point in our lives! and looked back and thought why didn't I see it!? Love is blind!
She wanted to see him as a true Gentleman, at his best and not see the dark side of him. The walls came crumbling down and reality of the situation was accepted.

An engaging and compelling tale of how Lee Mackenzie fell under the spell of Kenner Jones and how he turned out to be a skilful and ruthless con man. The book is perhaps overly long and at times too detailed but it’s a real-page turner in that as a reader you can’t quite accept how self-destructively the author ignored all the warning signs and allowed herself to be so comprehensively duped. Reading the book is like watching a car crash in slow motion. An instructive and thought-provoking read.

Unfortunately, this was a book I was unable to finish. I really hated giving up on this book, but it was really hard for me to connect with the main character, even though we’re both from the same place.

The premise of this novel was intriguing, and I wanted to know how a smart woman could have been duped by such a terrible conman. The problem was that after the prologue and the first chapter, I just found myself not connecting to either the main character, Lee, or her writing style. For a book such as this, the writing needs to be really engaging, and I felt that it was lacking. I got about halfway through the second chapter before I stopped. I mean, it was really obvious that Kenner was a liar and there were just so many warning signs that went ignored.

There isn’t a lot else for me to say about this novel. I just didn’t feel like reading it any longer.

It took Lee Mackenzie thirty years to feel comfortable writing this memoir about her experiences with Kenner Jones, a con man she met and married, who eventually nearly destroyed her, emotionally and financially. She thought he would be the perfect husband but she had no idea what he had in store for her.
There were a few warning signs before the marriage, but she chose to believe in him and ignore them, as many people would. At one point, they took an evening walk and ended up in a deserted area. She saw a change come over his face that frightened her so much that she felt an urge to escape to a public place as soon as possible. However, in the light of day, with his seemingly charming demeanor, that incident didn't seem real and she decided to overlook it.
After getting married and moving to his home country of Wales, she began to notice things that didn't add up. At first, she believed all the excuses he invented when she confronted him about these unusual circumstances, but became increasingly suspicious as time went on. Finally, she realized that he had been constantly lying to her about almost everything. He had cleaned out her bank accounts and left her with mountains of debt. It took her ten years to pay off all the debts he left her, and the unseen emotional effects lasted even longer.
I would like to think that stories like these might save some readers from becoming prey to a sociopath like Jones, but he and others like him are not easy to see through. Several law enforcement officers, who deal with sociopaths regularly, were fooled by him. They said he was one of the best. That said, maybe some readers will pay a little more attention to those gut feelings that warn that something is not right and do some investigating.
I recommend this book for an engaging read about a woman caught up in a harrowing web of lies and manipulation. It was well written and the pages flew by. Warning: you may stay up late reading this, as I did.
Note: Thank you to the author and publisher for giving me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am sorry that I am unable to read and write a review for the Charming Predator today because the file expired early.

Absolutely fascinating! A real insight into an extraordinary personality and a real lesson to be learned here - that intelligent and perceptive people can and do get tricked by skillful con-men!
The portrait of Wales from an American perspective was also very engaging and I absolutely loved this section of the book where we begin to see a tiny insight into the boyhood of a man whose morality was unlike any I'd ever seen.
Kenner is a real Frank Abnagale and it is easy to see that he was not aware of where fiction ended and reality began. Lee's brave and relentless tale lets us see the human side to the cost of loving someone such as this - which was a really unusual and fascinating perspective on a conman. The way that he went on to beguile other women was also dealt with in a compelling way by Lee. I just couldn't put it down and wanted to keep on reading more about the wonderful world of Kenner. Fascinating, startling and terrifying in equal measure. I 100% recommend this book for anyone interested in what makes humans tick.

Ms. MacKenzie fell for a con artist and married him. Thirty plus years later, she shares her story. Maybe it is because of the passing of time, but the narration feels very disconnected. At some point this lead me to not care about what was happening to Ms. MacKenzie. It was the classic story: fell for flattery from someone she wasn’t even attracted to, ignored obvious signs that there was a problem, and got married too quickly without learning about the person she was marrying. Add to that the heavy and unnecessary foreshadowing and the resulting book feels as though it is the product of an adult night school writing class.

This book was sooo boring and not crafted very well. There are parts where you wanted to know more but they just seemed to drop off and no details and then there are parts that take forever to get through.

Donna is on a backpacking adventure when she meets Kenner and it goes downhill from there for her. I feel so horrible that she went through all of this with a psychopathic narcissistic SOB but there were so many warning signs. She prefaces this as she came from a place where people didn't even lock their doors. I am sorry just because you trust people doesn't mean that you should be oblivious to lies that are in black in white to you.

Donna told her story and had parts of letters and things that Kenner sent her which showed how bad he truly was and hindsight is 20/20 and she felt worthless which didn't help her. I am glad she got the nerve to divorce him and move on with her life.

This book could have been really good if there were more details of who he was and what she went through not just the high level skimming of parts. There didn't seem to be a connection, like she was just typing and not really putting herself in the book.

Lee Mackenzie has climbed her way back up from rock bottom. At the bottom of the pit she was known to those close to her, particularly her husband, as Donna. This book is the true story of how she met and married her husband, Kenner Jones, despite being countries apart.
Donna had traveled to London and met Kenner at a tourist shop. Through conversation, Kenner discovers that Donna is in need of a place to stay. So he offers his mother’s hospitality and Donna takes him up on it. She endured story after story from Kenner’s mother, Primrose, but took it as worth the money she saved.
Donna had returned to her home country, Canada, and started receiving letters from Kenner. Kenner had ended up in prison as the victim of a misunderstanding and his mother is in need of financial assistance. Donna sends money from each paycheck to Primrose and continues to correspond with Kenner. This is the second step down into the pit of naiveté.
Upon Kenner’s release, Donna goes back to London to visit him. He proposes. She accepts and goes back to Canada to save up for their wedding and future. They marry in Canada and then everything starts to fall apart. The deception builds as their marriage crumbles. Donna is caught in a landslide of broken dreams, debt, and torn between her husband and her future.

This is all told in Donna’s point of view and partly in letters from Kenner to Donna. These letters provide a deeper glance into who Kenner portrayed himself to be. Without these letters, I do not believe I would have continued to read the book. I would have just tossed it aside as a bitter tale of a woman scorned. The other added depth to the book was the inclusion of other people deceived by Kenner.
Although this book is classified as true crime (which is my tv preference) it did not leave me gasping in disbelief. Rather, it left me putting it down often and picking up another book instead. It felt like when one goes to get a coffee with an acquaintance or old friend and the cell phone tucked away in a purse or pocket is more tempting than hearing more bitter stories. It was predictable and the details that were focused on did not add to the story, in my opinion.
I would not recommend this book for anyone offended by deception and miscarriages. I did not note any foul language, violence, or sexual themes.

This book was a great true crime story. It is the author's own story about how she fell in love with and was later destroyed by a conman. As a fan of true crime, I really enjoyed delving into what Lee Mackenzie went through and how looking back, she realized that she had ignored things that had given her internal red flags. This story is a perfect example of how you should always trust your gut and SSDGM

Outstanding book, it kept me engrossed from beginning to end. The mental anguish was visible on every page. Highly recommend it

I was given an ARC of this ebook by netgalley and Penguin Random House Canada and Doubleday Canada in return for my honest review.

This was quite an engaging true story about a slick con man and a young woman who was intelligent and honest but perhaps a bit naive when it came to seeing what she needed to see in a new relationship. She first met Kenner Jones completely at random while she was traveling around the UK on a backpacking trip and just wandered in a place looking for a room for a few days. They become a bit further acquainted before she goes back to Canada, then he surprises her by starting up a brief correspondence with her, using her address he got when he had her sign the traveler's guestbook first thing. She claims to not be interested, and that he's not her type, but as the story develops, we can see him playing her along, every step of the way.

She finally goes back to visit him again in the UK, and he shocks her by proposing, when they have never discussed having a relationship, just things each would like to do in the future. Despite her misgivings, she allows him to pressure her into saying yes, and she agrees to return to Canada and work for a year and save up for the start for their future together. He makes the rest of their week together so properly romantic that she's decided that she's made the right decision after all, and goes home to Canada with a happy glow. Of course we all know what's ahead for her, don't we?

It's pretty amazing how adept a liar this guy is and how good he was at times at convincing people of what he was saying, despite the fact that he also got caught so often, so he really wasn't so great at getting away with it completly. Must not have thought it all the way through, apparently. Seemed to be happy with pulling it off for the moment, even if he got caught later on down the line, which makes no sense to me.

An interesting read, told more than 30 years after it happened to Lee Mackenzie/Donna and Kenner Jones, and all the emotional, financial etc. kinds of hell he put her through under the guise of love.

A true crime story. Lee MacKenzie falls in love with a charming Welshman, Kenner Jones. She had neen a capable and confident young woman. But life in rural Western Canada made her a little unworldly. It's on a backpacking trip to the UK that she meets her future husband. A man who charmed everyone he met. A man who shattered her emotionally, psychologically and financially. Kenner Jones is at large today, having committed crimes all over the world.

I don't think you have to be young and impressionable to get sucked in by a guy like this. After all we hear of this happening to people of all ages. He also used a false surname while losing Lee into his trap. No one truly know the person they marry but you don't expect them to con you out of everything you have. This is an open and honest book of deception.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Penguin, Random House, Canada and the author Lee MacKenzie for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This non-fiction book tells the story of a con man and the woman enthralled and entrapped by him. Lee MacKenzie grew up in rural Canada and in her travels meets a charming Welshman named Kenner Jones. There's a saying I recall -something to the effect "look well on the face of someone you meet for the first time" because after that point, how you see them is colored by your perceptions of them. And Lee, despite some red flags, marries Kenner Jones only to find out that he is a sociopath, had been admitted to several psychiatric hospitals and has a sordid history as a con man.

While the premise of this story is commendable (wanting to share her experiences in order to raise awareness), I found myself getting a bit bored at points in this book. I imagine it's hard to really put this out there and share what happened, but it seems there is an emotional distance at times that kept me from really getting into the story. 3 stars.

It is much more difficult to review a true story from the author. It was a book to raise awareness and to pay attention when red flags go off in your head. it was interesting just not something i was hooked on.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review. This is a non fiction, true crime book, and I enjoy that genre, even though they are sometimes troubling. This one was good, but maybe could've used tighter editing, or more emotion. I'm sure it was a difficult subject to tackle, but to be too removed from it causes the reader to be removed as well. It was interesting, and I did like reading it though.

THE CHARMING PREDATOR BY LEE MACKENZIE

This is a true story told by Lee MacKenzie told to us how she met and married a liar, embellisher, con artist and criminal. Lee MacKenzie the author first went to England travelling with her backpack. When she arrives in Wales in 1979 she comes to a fork in the road. The road has signs. Llandudno is in one direction, Colwyn Bay in the other. Conwy was straight ahead. On impulse Lee decides to walk in the direction of Llandudno. Lee walked right through the main part of town pulled in by the sound of the ocean and the sandy beaches she sees. Lee is 26 years old inexperienced -- student studying Broadcast journalism from Canada. She comes from an area where none of the neighbors locked their doors. It was typical to go into a neighbor's house and borrow a cup of sugar, while nobody is home. The inhabitants of her neighborhood would simply leave a note and return the cup of sugar. Nobody was skeptical and this type of trust set Lee up to be the perfect mark for somebody like Kenner Elias Jones. When Lee took that fateful walk up to the building that had a sign saying Welsh Tourist on a board that was no more than a green hut.

Lee had come from what she calls a dysfunctional family. Her father was an alcoholic and while her mother kept the five kids together as a family, she didn't have the ability to give her time to each kid individually. Lee wanted to be loved and cherished and was the perfect prey for Kenner Jones.
Lee goes into the tourist center and she sees Kenner who she wasn't physically attracted to but found him to be fun, entertaining and charming. Kenner was short for a man at five feet by five inches tall. He has dark curly hair and blue-gray eyes. At the time she first meets Kenner at the tourist shack he smiles and says hello and asks if he can be of any assistance. Lee explains that she is looking for a place to stay. For the first three days she roamed the town of Great Orme in Llandudno and would meet Kenner for a cup of tea at around 3:00 PM. and they would talk. He was a guy who knew how to carry a conversation. Kenner gave Lee a wealth of information about Wales. It came time for Lee to move on to visit Scotland.

After Lee visited and explored Scotland she was back in the town of Llandudno. Caernafon's festival was the reason she returned. Kenner invited Lee to stay with him and his mother Primrose. Kenner gave Lee directions and she shows up while Kenner is at work to find a crying Primrose. Primrose was a short, plump woman who lived at 11 Glan Peris. Primrose is crying and tells Lee that she feels comfortable of telling Lee her troubles. Primrose tells Lee that she has had a hard life and had to raise Kenner as a single parent. Lee describes herself as the perfect listener. Lee claims she has always had an excellent memory. Everyday there would be a routine where Primrose and Lee would finish household chores and then Primrose around 11:00 AM would tell Lee about her life and Kenner's upbringing.

Primrose was a nurse before she met Kenner's father. Primrose and her sister Arial left their home in Devon for Northern Wales as young women. They both didn't want to get married. Primrose cared for Arial who was a secretary who developed Parkinson's Disease. The two sister's shared a bedroom and each slept side by side and used to hold hands at night. Arial, according to Primrose never thanked her for the care she gave Arial up until she died. Everyday after the chores were done Primrose would talk about her life with Lee. Primrose told Lee that she was a nurse who worked at the sanitarium. Kenner's father was a patient at the sanitarium with tuberculosis. John Elias Jones would come to the men's door of the ward while Primrose worked there. He would say hello, nurse Hawkins. When Primrose would say hello to John and ask him how he was doing, he would smile like a child and say much better now that your here. Primrose couldn't possibly get involved with John. Primrose tried to brush him off because she didn't want a husband, he wasn't her type and she was much older than him.

Eventually John Elias Jones got better and was released from the sanitarium and Primrose thought that was the end of it. After Primrose would finish her shift John was waiting for her as she left work and would walk her home. Primrose said she didn't do anything to encourage John and she was blunt and said John I am not interested in you. Finally John asked Primrose to marry her and she declined. John persisted to ask Primrose to marry her until he wore her down. Primrose said she married John out of pity she did not love him.

Primrose said she moved into John's house after they were married to the house on Snowdon St. The married couple moved in with John's mother who Primrose called Old Dutch. Life on Snowdon St. turned into being a story within itself. According to Primrose it was an unhappy home and the source of that unhappiness was John and his brother William's mother. Primrose said she was a nasty old woman. She had five children and she didn't believe in Doctors. When the children got sick she wouldn't bring them to the Doctor's. She knew best. Three of her children died because she wouldn't bring them to the Doctor. She buried them and still believed she was right. Primrose was pregnant with Kenner at age 40. John went to London to look for work and Primrose gave birth to Kenner. Kenner weighed just 4 1/2 pounds and was to frail to be given the vacination for tuberculosis. Kenner had to remain in the hospital. Meanwhile John came back from London sick with tuberculosis. Kenner was only three months old when his father died from tuberculosis. Kenner was sent home and had to go back to work as a nurse and leave Old Dutch to take care of Kenner.

Kenner was the perfect host and gentleman. He patiently explained recipes, customs and some of the language of the Welsh language. Lee describes this time as being in Kenner's company as easy and she loved it. She said she let herself imagine what life would be like if this was her home and life. When the day was over and supper finished back at Primrose's house, Kenner would suggest that the two of them take a walk. It was a rainy night, so they put on their waterproof jackets and went down towards the town, past the castle and past the estuary to a park on the other side. They walked quietly in the rain for about an hour. Lee remember's looking at Kenner walking in front of her as she did earlier in that day, she asked herself if she could see herself here, with this person. He wasn't physically attractive to her, but he was charming, intelligent, entertaining. So what was it that made her feel so unsettled? She didn't know. Kenner walked ahead of her in the dim night. His jacket was dark and slick, with water streaming in the folds of the fabric. The pathway was soggy underfoot. Lee suddenly was damp and uncomfortable, with a feeling that she didn't want to be there. Right at that moment Kenner turned and looked back at her, not breaking his stride His face was framed by the hood of his jacket. She could see his eyes and a half grin, a frighteningly, sly conniving looking smile. His eyes were empty. "I felt as if he was checking to see if I was still there, within reach, as if he couldn't believe his luck, like a spider with a fly caught in his web. I didn't feel safe."

When Lee flew back to Canada it wasn't long before she started getting letters from Kenner in prison. He changed his story twice for the reasons he was there. At first he said he borrowed money from a friend and didn't pay it back. He said he borrowed and knowing he couldn't pay it back he uttered a false story to raise money from other colleagues. He said he was paying all of Primrose's bills. Could Lee send Primrose some money to help her get by. Lee started sending what amounted to $100.00 per month in Canadian money. His letters really played on her sympathies. The letter's quickly changed from friendship letters to love letters. He told her what she wanted to hear. She wanted to be loved and embraced. He told her that besides his mother Lee was his only friend and to keep writing. Kenner took advantage of Lee inviting her to visit him in London when he got out of prison. Once she flew to London, he got down on one knee and asked her to marry him and like his father before him he wouldn't get up from one knee in the middle of the city, until she said yes.

It is clear being conned and shattered by a criminal who had been in prison before. This book is the true story of how Lee married Kenner Jones without knowing he was a con man. How Kenner was an imposer of great skill and audacity. He had been in and out of court and prison in Britain before Lee ever met him. How he shattered her life. The author writes of her story conversationally as if she was talking to you. She overcomes her experience and writes to educate others not to make the same mistakes. She saw red flags, but in wanting to believe he loved her ignored them. It is a lesson to all of us who at one time in our lives might have let warning signs go, because it isn't what we want to see. I thought the mother was weird and felt sorry for herself. Kenner is s sociopath who Lee felt at times somethings were off and creepy.

Thank you to Net Galley, Lee MacKenzie and Penguin Random House Doubleday Canada for my digital copy for a fair and honest review.