This was a different read than the usual Alessandra Torre books and I liked it. She always surprises me with her ability to change her writing style.

Genius! From the moment I read the prologue I was enthralled. I couldn't read fast enough, my fingers swiftly turning the pages. I could not put this book down. I was sneaking short reads at my desk and couldn't wait to get home and hide in my cave to read. The characters, the suspense, and the emotions in this story are riveting. I was immersed in each emotion and scene as they were perfectly described:

"I can't help the goofy smile that yanks apart my lips, and I curl my fingers against my mouth, grinning like an idiot as the baby lifts its head."

I had a goofy smile! Other scenes made me cry, laugh, mad and others made me sad. I don't known how to describe the intensity with which I love this book without giving away spoilers; so I will stop. A MUST READ!!!!

EXCERPT: "What's happened to you, Helena?"
What's happened to me? I have a story that I don't have time to tell. I have an empty house that reeks of death. I have no friends, no family, and no one to ask for help. I'm dying, and it's the best thing that's happened to me in a long time.

THE BLURB: Four years ago, I lied. I stood in front of the police, my friends and family, and made up a story, my best one yet. And all of them believed me.

I wasn't surprised. Telling stories is what made me famous. Fifteen bestsellers. Millions of fans. Fame and fortune.

Now, I have one last story to write. It'll be my best one yet, with a jaw-dropping twist that will leave them stunned and gasping for breath.

They say that sticks and stones will break your bones, but this story? It will be the one that kills me.

This book is not a romance. It is contemporary fiction, but very suspenseful in nature. It is about a famous romance author and a dark secret she keeps.

MY THOUGHTS: The Ghostwriter by Alessandra Torre gripped me from the start- I come, I eat, and afterward, while Bethany draws and I settle into the recliner to write, he does the dishes. A perfect morning. A perfect husband. A perfect daughter. A perfect lie.

This is a book that I devoured, hungrily, yet a book in which I savoured every word. It is a book in which I became completely absorbed. It is intense. It is vivid. In its own way, it is scary. It is painful. It is wonderful! It is a story that is not going to leave me in a hurry, not just for its magnificent plot, but for the emotions it engendered.

5 very bright and shining stars ☆☆☆☆☆

Thank you to DCA via Netgalley for providing a digital copy of The Ghostwriter for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

I'm not sure I can put my thoughts or feelings about this book into words and the words I do come up will pale in comparison to how I really think and feel. If you are looking for the type of book that this writer usually writes you will be disappointed. This is not a romance, there is no alpha male to swoon over, or saucy writing that will make you blush. But what this does have is the authors amazing talent for words and a story that makes you pay attention.

This is a story of an author, one with a very important story to write and only a short window of time to tell it.When I first met Helena, I thought okay, maybe she is just eccentric, which turned into okay maybe she is just a b*tich. Truth...I was not initially a fan of hers. I enjoyed her voice and the story was gripping but there was something about her that I just didn't like. She is high-maintenance with her odd lists and strange demands. Living alone, with very little surrounding her and attempting to write this story but failing to get far enough. Seeking the help from the last person you'd expect, you find that there is more to Helena and her quirks than at first glance.

This story was emotional and raw, but kept you in a state of suspense. Dying to know what the story was that needed to be told I was glued to the pages. I needed to know what secrets that Helena had to tell and getting there was a journey of up and downs. Once I finished this book I had to sit to let it all sink in and sat for quite some time. There I not many books that I need to digest after the end but this was one of them. Definitely a book that will stick with me a long time from now.
~Jess

This book was stellar. No matter how many times I tried to figure out what was going on and where the plot line was going, I just couldn't. Alessandra Torre knocked this out of the park. It is a book that I couldn't put down. It had me on the edge of my seat from page one. Her characters are well developed and so 3 dimensional.

Renowned romance author, Helena Ross, is known for her swoon-inducing fictional plots, to her readers, and for the meticulously honed and extensive rules she employs in all areas of her life, to the few who know the face beyond the page. The only individual to get under this seemingly unruffled facade is erotica novelist, Marka Vantley. With her supermodel image and provocative photo shoots to boost her sales, the two battle for the top place on every bestsellers list. That is until Helena finds out she only has months left to live and only one story left to tell. And the only individual who can help her tell it is her arch-nemesis, so long despised.

This began in an enjoyable enough fashion but it was hard to understand exactly what this book exactly was. Featuring a romance author as the protagonist the reader could have expected a plot taken from Helena's own catalogue. And yet this is marketed as a mystery thriller. It is and it is not both of those things. It is a book that incorporates many different themes and plot devices and its narrative takes the readers in a multitude of directions before delivering the ultimate focus.

Whilst I found this a hard novel to categorise I had no such qualms over my feelings for it. I was intrigued, sucked down the rabbit hole, and emotionally invested in this story-line from page one. I remained exactly the same, only more tear-drenched, as I turned the very last page.

The unreliable narrator pulls us backwards through her knotted past. The reader attempts to scavenge for clues to discover the secrets that haunt her as the novel bears us along in a relatively slow and suspenseful fashion, giving up nothing before it is absolutely ready to. Every line of this is delivered for ultimate dramatic effect and it shows in how invested I remained throughout my entirety of reading this.

If you feel like this novel is not for you then think again. Whilst its genre or its synopsis might seem to give the reader one thing, the actual narrative delivers so much more, and everyone can find a piece of themselves inside Helena's tragic backstory and last fight of her life.

When I first started this book, I did not like it. I didn't like the tone of it and I didn't like the story. I thought the main character was obnoxious [and even a cancer diagnosis doesn't allow for THAT much obnoxiousness] and I was ready to chuck this completely. Two things saved me from making a huge mistake - 1. The audiobook narrator was AH-mazing. Brilliant. And 2. A very good friend [Thank you SO much Michele for encouraging me] told me to keep with it and because I trust her implicitly, I did.

This is not a happy story. There are glimmers of happy here and there, but overall, it is not a happy story. There were moments of real tears and sadness for me as I read/listened [I had several trips to make and was so grateful that this book was on Audible so I could listen in the car] and by the end, I was completely heartbroken and shattered [the end is what took this from 4 to 5 stars. It was so moving and unexpected and shattering]. I will have book hangover for days from this one and it will be a very long time before Helena and her story will leave me.

While this is not a happy story, it was a very, very, good one. Once I got into it and resolved my issues with Helena, I loved it. Even when I was crying ugly cries and was heartbroken beyond belief at where the story was taking me. The writing was so, so, good and ALL of the feelings that you feel are exactly what the author wants from you.

I am very glad that I stuck with this book, sadness and all. I would have missed out on an excellent read had I given up early in. And what a total shame that would have been.

I was lucky enough to score an ARC of this book, but then never reviewed it because I’m a huge dick. Okay, really it’s because I’m not exactly sure what to say, but that doesn’t negate the fact that I am also a huge dick. All I know is when I saw an Alessandra Torre selection up for request on NetGalley, my reaction was like . . . .

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

Especially when it came with the disclaimer that it would not be like anything she’s ever written before. She’s not lying. If you are looking for something of the hide-the-salami variety, stay far far away from The Ghostwriter and might I recommend you maybe wander over to something like Moonshot instead. If you like your slap and tickle a little grittier, Sex Love Repeat might be the story for you. Or if you want to really let your freak flag fly and commence with the stabby stabby, The Girl in 6E might be a winner. The Ghostwriter really isn’t like any of those stories – and that’s what makes Torre an instant YES for me. She’s gotta a whole lotta stories in her head.

As for this one? Here’s a teenie little bit of info. Meet Helena . . .

“She’ll rip your heart out, but she doesn’t mean it.”

Helena is a bestselling author. After being delivered a death sentence via her doctor, Helena has one more story to tell . . . .

“The book is about my husband and my daughter. They’re gone. I’m dying. … This is what is important to me. Their story … it’s all that matters to me.”

I will spoil one thing in case anyone’s brain wants to go in the direction mine did. THIS REALLY IS NOT A ROMANCE. Although Helena’s ghostwriter is a man, they do not become romantically involved so just stop your brain before it can even go down that path. This is, however, a love story in a way. It is also a confession and a baring of soul and of healing. I thought maybe only a Torre fangirl could really “get” this one, but then my friend Deanna read it having never read Alessandra Torre before and loved it and I realized I was being the weirdest kind of elitist and trying to keep this author to myself and that is seriously stupid because she has at least one thing for soooooo many readers.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you NetGalley!

Completely engrossing, surprising, and heartbreaking. I'm so glad I read this as a group read so I could discuss it with fellow book lovers as we read. This would be a fantastic pick for book clubs who want a different sort of mystery... suspenseful, easy to read but emotional. One that might break your heart!

The time has come for successful author Helena Ross to write her very last story. Though she's still young, she doesn't have long left and her health has already started deteriorating. She's not alarmed, she's not frightened. She welcomes it with relief. Her only worry is that she write her complete story. Dropping a book that's nearly finished, she has only months to write what promises to be her most engaging story left. She knows she cannot complete it without help due to her failing health and time constrictions, so she needs a ghostwriter: a talented writer who can read her outlines and listen to her tale while weaving it into a story that sounds like it was completely written by Ross. It needs to be the truth. This will be the first time Helena shares exactly what happened on the worst day of her life, and everything that led up to it.

Hard to like on her best day, Helena is demanding and anti-social. Her agent has worked with her for over ten years but doesn't really know her. She has no visitors to her large and mostly empty home. Opening it up is almost as hard as opening herself up, but she can't tell her story alone.

Heady, suspenseful, and utterly captivating. I give this one a 4.5 rounded up. I found it almost entirely unpredictable and thoroughly enjoyable. This will go down as one of my favorite Traveling Sisters reads, and I'm not alone!

I received a copy of this book from Net Galley and DCA, thank you! My review is honest and unbiased.

5 Stunning Stars!  THE GHOSTWRITER was a spectacular read that left me absolutely speechless upon finishing it and was quickly placed into my favourite reads shelf for 2017!

THE GHOSTWRITER by ALESSANDRA TORRE is a beautifully written novel that is so emotionally moving about a famous romance novelist Helena Ross that wasn’t always the most likeable person but definitely the most interesting and in the end she totally captured my heart.  I have never been so moved and touched by a novel before like I was with this one.    

ALESSANDRA TORRE delivers an extremely impressive, well-written, well-paced and touching story here with well-developed characters that was interesting, heartbreaking and captivating to read.  I was totally engrossed in this novel from start to finish and it was extremely hard for me to put down.

The way that this story was written is one of my absolute favourite ways as I love books that are about writers and stories within stories as I find them so fascinating and so interesting to read.  I also really enjoy when an author drops little shocking tidbits of truth along the way for us to pick up on and chew over which always keeps me guessing and eagerly waiting in anticipation of what is coming next.  I like not knowing what is coming next until it is right upon us and then when the big reveal happens I am totally blown away.

What an emotional and powerful end for a beautifully written book that I won't soon forget!  Would highly recommend!!

This was an absolutely wonderful book to have shared and discussed with our Traveling Sisters and I thoroughly enjoyed the reading experience! Thank you ladies!!

Thank you so much to NetGalley, DCA, and Alessandra Torre for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Helena Ross had a very important task to complete with only three months to do so. As a popular and successful romance author, writing was as natural as breathing. But her latest book proven to be the hardest because it wasn't fiction, rather it was a confession.

I was intrigued by this book since I first found out about it. I love mystery/suspense book especially the one with potential heartbreak, so this one is like a Siren's song for me.

Helena was not an easy character to love, and I love this kind of characters. I guess because they remind me of myself haha! She was a cold and insensitive workaholic who repelled people from her life.

I like the story and even though certain things were revealed outright, I still enjoyed the journey of uncovering the truth. It was interesting watching her both her coping and breaking.

Throughout the book there was a mildly depressing feel to it - which is something I like in my books. However, for most of the book, the pace was slower than I usually like. There was always a question in the air that kept me flipping the pages, but it was somewhat linear. Good thing the last 20% or so was very engaging and made up for the earlier pace.

The Ghostwriter is a story of a woman's journey in re-examining her life. I would appeal to readers who like non-romantic mystery/suspense.

I was breathless when I finished this book. My chest got all tight, and I was just utterly and completely speechless. I know Alessandra Torre is good at delivering readers some serious mind f*ucks, but this one? This one took the cake. 

Be advised this is not a romance, not even close. What it is is a brilliant, mind blowing story. One I can't even begin to summarize for you because it has to be experienced to be appreciated. Go in with an open, clear mind and just read. 

I was so consumed with this story that I couldn't put it down until I was finished. I even had to order a pizza for dinner because I didn't want to leave this world Torre created for even a second to attempt cooking a meal. Truthfully, I probably would have burned it because I wouldn't have been paying attention. 

Go forth and enjoy, readers. Because it's epically good. This is the best book I've read in 2017. 

~ A Hopeless Romantic's Booklandia, 6 Brilliant Stars

Wow wow wow i was so excited to read this and i am still on a high days later writing this review. I love complex characters that don't try to be likable, that are just honest and real and Helena was that. I'm going to be telling everyone i know to read this because it is amazing.

Profound, suspenseful and heart wrenching story.
Two best seller romance authors combine their efforts to write a book. The book had certain rules to follow, with a definite beginning a middle and an end!
The result was a flawlessly written, emotional and cathartic journey of self discovery, love and forgiveness.
The why, and what the end result was you'll have to read and find out!!
Alessandra never disappoints with her arsenal of unique creative writing.
This is one of my favorite top 5 reads if 2017!!

Supposedly this is a suspense novel. There wasn't any suspense. It was mind numbingly boring. Early on it is known that something bad happened to Helena's husband and daughter and that she had some kind of a role in it. It lacked intensity. Most of the book was about Helena and Mark writing a book. Little bits and pieces of her past were thrown in because that's what the book they were writing was about. None of those memories were endearing. It made it really hard to care about her family or what happened to them. The daughter was portrayed as a big nuisance. The husband always came off as a jerk.

Helena was an incredibly unappealing main character. She was a self-absorbed and bitter. You'd think a character who was sick and dying would arouse some sympathy but not Helena. Her condescending attitude and anal retentiveness made me detest her. I didn't care what had happened to her; all I wanted was for her story to be over.

There was barely a plot. The end was obviously going to be about what happened to her family. It took a long and relatively pointless way to get there. It wasn't like the book gave me time to become attached to the characters to feel bad when everything was revealed. They were never appealing. I wanted to give up on this around 40% of the way through.

At the very least giving some clues other than the ominous but not interesting things went badly thoughts of Helena's might have added some level of suspense or intrigue. There was Charlotte as a clue, but it was too vague to gather any info from other than the general something bad must have happened vibe. Honestly the story would have been about the same if she hadn't had her minor role in it.

Mark and Kate were the side characters. Kate was clueless and too upbeat. Good thing her role was minor. Mark and Helena were good together. He managed to bring her to life as much as possible for a heartless person like her. Clearly he was a good guy since he helped her out but overall a boring one. It annoyed me that in random parts each of them had their own POV. It didn't add anything and was written in the same tone as Helena's POV. It would have been fine if their thoughts had been seamlessly interjected, but specifically devoting small sections to them was slightly jarring.

The end was a surprise. It is the reason this story gets two stars instead of one. It wasn't worth slogging through the book to get there. The idea for this was good. The execution of it was not.

I have no words to describe the magnificence of this book. I am a huge Alessandra Torre fan. Some of her books are my favorites ever; this time around she surprised me...BIG TIME. I went into this book with hesitance because it doesn't belong to the genre I am used to from this author. But Alessandra Torre can make you fall in love with her words so easily that I was immediately sucked into this world and her characters.
Helena Ross bas to be one of my favorite heroines ever. In a weird way, I could relate to her; to her way of thinking and I fell in love with her flaws very quickly.
This is the story of a dying woman, desperate to write a book; the book of her life. But she is running out of time and her secrets are not easy to tell.
Ghostwriter is a deeply emotional book; I cried real tears with this book. It has been a while since a book has given me such a huge hangover!
I am amazed, sad but at the same time I find this story a beautiful one. It is a book about the mistakes we make, the lies we tell ourselves, the wrong choices we make and the way we let people and things blindside us.
This is one of the top books of the year for me. I highly recommend this book to everyone. It is one of those books that leave you thinking, that make you think. It's a book that gives you a new perspective on life and death. Do not miss it.

Mystery, emotions, plot twists. What more could you ask for? This was a fabulous book. I was awestruck by it. You need to read it for yourself to really appreciate it. Another hit by Ms. Torre. Keep them coming!

You know how sometimes you’re trying to explain a situation and you end up saying ‘you had to be there’? This book is the emotional equivalent of that. You have to read it for yourself. I can’t do it justice. The MC is clinical, detached and emotionally absent but she’s also captivating and compelling. The story is just not whatever you think is going to happen. Highly recommend.

**ARC provided by author via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

Mind.Blown.

All-in-all this was an amazing book with an ending that was just so not expected. I mean I had my guesses and for the most part you know what's going to happen, but the twist that leads up to that point....WOW!

I was not a fan of Helena. At all. You might read it and be like well it's everything she went through. No. She was not likable before that. She was most redeemable at the end and her story telling is flawless. She doesn't have much time left and with what she has left, she's going to confess her crimes in her last book ever.

This book might have some triggers for some and definitely make you cry at the end, but it is definitely worth the read.

The tale of an author diagnosed with terminal cancer, who wants to tell her own tragic story before the end comes, may not sound compelling, but it is.

It did not take me long at all to get into the story. I liked Helena’s voice, even if she herself was not that likaeble to start off with. I immediately felt a need to find out what happened to her to make her that way. The chapters read away quickly, the story compelling enough to want to keep reading. There were a lot of breaks in the text, which made it really easy to digest.

I did find the transition from Helena’s first-person narrative to other characters third-person narratives a bit jarring sometimes and I am not entirely sure it needed the various POVs. A tiny detail that also pulled me out of the story every now and again was the use of the word ‘butt’ on several occasions. It is a word I do not like and I have no idea why, but I felt the word did not suit the feel of the novel and I wish the author had used a different word. I know that is a very small thing to pick up on, but when it stops the flow of a narrative for me, it is worth mentioning.

Overall, I thought this was a sensitive story well told. The narrative moved forward at a nice pace and the ending heartbreaking, but satisfying. A really good read.