Thanks to NetGalley, Park Row, and Annie Ward for the opportunity to read and review this book - 3.5 stars rounded up.

The story starts with a frantic 911 call and a policewoman investigating a bloody scene. Armed with that information, the book takes us mostly through Maddie's point of view in various timeframes. Maddie was always adventurous and as a Fulbright scholar, found herself working as a travel writer oversees where she meets Jo, a humanitarian aid worker, and Ian, a bodyguard. The three have a tumultuous relationship and go in and out of each other's lives. But for Maddy, Ian was it from the beginning.

Before the killing, Maddie and Ian are married with a young son, Charlie. We also know that Maddie had a bad fall on a camping trip with Ian and she can't remember the details. She ends up in talk therapy where she talks about how afraid she is of Ian and is PTSD and drinking.

The ending was surprising and upped my opinion of the book. For some reason, I could never relate to these characters and the jumping of timelines where mostly the same thing happened slowed down the read for me.

If you are a fan of the psychological thriller genre, of which there seem to be a plethora of options, Beautiful Bad is a worthy candidate for your list.

There has been a killing. We know that because one of the time/perspectives is of the police officer responding to a 911 call. We also get Maddie's perspective starting from several weeks before the killing, and also from the early 2000s, when she lived in Bulgaria and often visited her friend Jo in Macedonia. On one of these trips, she meets Ian, a British bodyguard. Eventually, we get some of Ian's perspective too.

We know that Ian and Maddie end up married. They have a son, Charlie. But the road to how they got together and how "The day of the Killing" turned out, well, that's quite the story. Ward does a masterful job telling it, as we weave through all these time periods.

It becomes very obvious that Ian has issues -- PTSD being one of them. But...Maddie is pretty messed up herself. Along with being married to a man with PTSD, she has also been physically damaged by a couple of earlier accidents that I won't go into.

That's really about all I want to say. It is interesting that you don't even know who the victim is until the last part of Beautiful Bad. And even after you know that...well, you still don't know everything.

Beautiful Bad is well written, well-paced, and the characters are such that you really don't know who to root for. The ending is sooo twisted, and I really can't imagining anyone realizing what is going on until they read it. If you figure it out...well, you are as twisted as Annie Ward!

I loved Beautiful Bad. Read it.

I love a good thriller, and I love when books take their time to reveal what exactly happened. This book is great at doing this - keeping the suspense almost all the way to the end. I just think it overdoes a little bit in the middle, in a way that you start to connect the dots a little bit too early. Other than that, if you don't think too much about what you're reading, it is a great thriller.
We learn in the beginning that Maddie is married to Ian and has a child named Charlie. But then the book keeps alternating between the past (to a time when they haven't even meet each other), a few weeks earlier, and the day it all happened. I would say that some chapters dedicated to the past are a little bit too boring (and I struggled to go through them), but they were important to understand the present, so I understand why they were there.
Overall, I would say this is a beautiful read if you like suspense and thrillers.

I really liked this book. I loved the story of the two women's relationship. I wasn't so fond of the boyfriend/husband. I thought it was well written; loved the backstory and then the chapter of the day of the killing. I didn't guess the ending at all.

Such a great book and it has left me with such a haunting feeling. Reading it, I felt I was understanding the characters and thought the characters knew each other. The tables turned and it shows there are sides to people we don't know and there truly is more than one side to every story. Fantastic read.

This is being billed as the "2019 Thriller of the year", but I think it missed the mark by a long shot. Certainly there will be some people who enjoy this book, just not me.

I entered this book with very little information on what it was about, except I knew it would be a "thriller". At first I was surprised by the two girls, Maddie and her best friend Joanna, living abroad in out of the way countries: Bulgaria and Macedonia. Soon Maddie meets her future British husband at a fund raiser. I started to think we'd have Eastern European travel type story, no the reality of the book was quite different.

There is a lot of shifting, between time lines, and we have Ian's perspective a few times, although not many, it is mainly Maddie's. Her friend Joanna plays and important role as well, since she was a good friend when Ian comes into their lives, yet not in the present time living in Kansas. I wished to hear from Joanna.

I had several problems with the book. The shift in time lines wasn't a problem per se, but it was distracting at times. The book was longer than it needed. It felt that cutting out some of the material would have been a tighter, better book. Another problem for me was Joanna. Her story was important but we get so little of what was going on, it was frustrating. And then there was Maddie herself. It felt so off her behavior while younger, then even when she goes back home to New York.

Finally was the ending, which I will not reveal anything. I will just say that it seriously downgraded the book for me. The telling wasn't necessary, and then added more strangeness really. In the end we may find out who these characters are, or not. It felt actually unresolved. Perhaps the characters weren't fully developed on the page. I just left unsatisfied in so many ways.

I hate to do this but I could not finish this book. From the description it is about a mom who lives in Kansas and is struggling with anxiety and memory loss after a head injury. It hints that her husband is dangerous and a friend from her past returns. It also says it is similar to "The Woman in the Window". I felt like I was very misled by the description. This is a book about war. I do not read books about war, explosives, and descriptions of these things really bother me. One of the reasons I picked up this book is because the description says it takes place in Kansas where I live. Most of the book is set in Bosnia, Macedonia, Iraq and other countries with genocide and violence. I think a hint this in the description would be really helpful for this book to find the right audience. The cover has a quote "The perfect marriage leads to the perfect crime." Because of this, I was expecting a domestic thriller. I am feeling very misled.

Thank you to NetGalley and Park Row Publishing for the free advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest review.

I love psychological thrillers. The author used multiple narrators and multiple time periods to tell the story. The opening grabs the reader right away. Police respond to a 911 call in a small town in Kansas. There is blood everywhere. They discover the dead homeowner Ian dead in the basement, blood everywhere in the kitchen, and Ian’s wife, Maddie, little son Charlie, and Maddie’s friend, Joanna hiding upstairs.

I had a love/hate relationship with this book (3.5 stars). I enjoyed the investigation chapters, days before the murder, and after the murder. I do think too much time was spent on Ian and Maddie’s story about when they met . I liked the twist and the ultimate twist at the end of the book. Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This can easily be one that readers love or hate as it's got all the elements but can be challenging read because of the time lines and voices. How on earth did things go from Bulgaria to Meadowlark, Kansas? This starts with a 911 call and then races back to when Maddie met Ian. And Jo, her BFF. There's some twisted stuff here. All three of these people are unreliable narrators, for sure, and the story itself is a little bit of a haze. This is a thriller about a woman trying to figure out what happened to her and whether she should trust her husband- but can she trust herself? Forgive the questions in this review- it's hard to write about without spoilers. I liked this but can understand why others might find it frustrating. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. It's definitely a page turner.

Beautiful Bad# NetGalley
Annie Ward

This book takes off right from the start with a murder that you don’t find out who it is until further in the book. This keeps you guessing as to where te story is headed. This is one of those books in which you will not be able to guess the ending. You may think you do, but I guarantee you won’t. So if you like that, you will love this book. The main characters Maddy, Ian, Charlie and Joanna are great characters, but hard to fall into love with. I went back and forth as to what I thought of each of them. The setting moves around the MIdEast of Europe to the States and back. I did enjoy the writer’s style of writing and it was an easy read. If you like psychological, you will love this book.

4 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy read of this book for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for the e-arc of this book.

I give this book a 3.5 star rating.

I have to say that the plot of this book is fairly good. The only problem I have is that the first part is very fast paced, and then it slows down and there seems to be a lot of information that may not be totally needed, to like this rushed ending.

You do learn a lot about the characters of this book and they are well fleshed- which is where the plot slows in the middle of book. But in the end it does make sense that this happens as it plays a large part of the end.

I know this is an arc copy, but the format of this book threw me off somewhat. I'm not sure if certain parts were meant to be the way they are or not. It was distracting, and I would like to see the actual printed version to see if it is the same as the e-arc of the book.

I did figure out part of the ending, but not the whole thing. So it kept me guessing until the end of the story.

Overall, I would recommend this to people who like thriller type books.

Beautiful Bad by Annie Ward is a psychological thriller that goes behind the facade of what looks on the outside to be a perfect family. The story within is one that is told from various points of view and various timelines actually starting off at the present when police arrive to a crime scene.

The present story has readers on the edge as the police get a call from a frantic woman who gets cut off before giving a hint to what is going on. Then upon arrival find a lot of blood and the search and investigation begins to find out just what happened.

The rest of the novel alternates in various points of Maddie and Ian’s lives, how they met, the time apart, when they finally come together as a couple, getting married and having a child and all events leading to the police arriving on their doorstep in the present.

With Beautiful Bad I honestly would have to warn away anyone that prefers a clean one timeline/one point view type of story as this one was one that is very complicated. Sometimes I find books of this nature easy to follow but while I understood what was going on I couldn’t help but ask myself was all of this actually needed? The story in the present was quite compelling and the end was a solid wrap up but the middle seemed to want to want to wander the scenic view through the past that got a bit slow leaving me to rate this one at 3 1/2 stars.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

A few hundred words into the story, Beautiful Bad launches itself with the heading "Day of the Killing." Someone places a 911 call, and responding police find copious amounts of blood. We spend the rest of the book learning who was killed and how and why.

So far, so straightforward, right? Annie Ward has built a good narrative, set in locations both exotic and mundane (the Balkans and Kansas, for starters.) I notice that she is a screenwriter as well as a novelist, and the cinematic influence was there throughout the book.

We gradually get the backstories of Maddie, Ian and Jo through shifting perspectives and timelines, which sometimes seemed a bit jumpy. The three main characters, in many ways a triangle, all seemed quite superficial to me, and I puzzled over the intensity of their connections.

Gradually it became clear that their deep psychological damage was the point and the means of their mutual attraction. The conclusion was shocking but not satisfying to me. The various incarnations of Maddie, for instance, from badass, impulsive youth to devoted mother to whatever it is that we glimpse at the end, held no continuity for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance readers copy.

A whirlwind ride, guaranteed to keep you on your toes right to the end!

Maddie wants desperately to explore the world. Living abroad has been her life-long dream. The freedom and excitement of working in Eastern Europe, far away from her family in Kansas, is absolutely intoxicating. And to top it all off…her best friend Joanna is just a border crossing away.

Finally, a much anticipated visit to Joanna, and here we go! A night out on the town! The evenings’ festivities in Macedonia take a scrumptious turn when Ian - British Military, enters the bar with his friend. Well, well…the sparks are flying everywhere!

Told in multiple times lines and points of view.
The future of Ian and his wife comes to a frightful head. A frantic 911 call. So who will walk away? Oh come on, you’ll have to, (actually, want to) read this one to find out!

Annie Ward writes an ingenious, gripping psychological thriller that will shock you and leave you breathless!
I was surprised. I was entranced! Couldn’t wait to see how far Annie Ward would take this thriller. Well apparently...right to the edge!

A buddy read with Susanne!

Thank you to NetGalley Harlequin-Park Row and Annie Ward for an ARC to read and review

This was a really fun read. Taking place partially in New York, partially in rural Kansas and partially in Eastern Europe, we get to know the main character Maddie quite well. Or at least the Maddie that she wants people to see.

The book opens with an eerie, confusing 911 call. Clearly, something bad has happened, but we have no idea what or to whom. Then, for the next half or so of the book, we go back in time to follow a woman from a small Kansas town who goes in search of adventure. (I can relate.) She meets a mysterious, damaged, yet alluring man. And off we go.

This was a fun, interesting addition to the physiological thriller "If you liked Gone Girl..." genre, but I'm not sure it was anything completely new or ground-breaking. But it was fun. I immersed myself in this book over the course of a few days and I was sad when it was over.

Annie Ward does a great job with the characters (I wouldn't say I 'liked' any of them, but then again I'm not sure I was supposed to) and weaving the narrative through time. I wish we got a bit more about Joanna, and while the ending was a bit baffling, it also seemed fitting.

2.5 stars. This book was extremely readable, even though some of the "before" parts are a bit mundane. But I finished it feeling disappointed. The twist was not particularly surprising, at least knowing from so many other reviews that there was a twist, by the time it came it really seemed like the only possible outcome. I enjoyed reading most of the book, even though it was really not a thriller--the majority of the book is taken up with Maddie and Ian's relationship (or lack thereof) between 2001 and 2012, and there's nothing particularly thrilling about it. While there are twists and turns at the end, it left me feeling sad and dirty by the time I finished it, and just...meh. I feel a bit like it was trying to emulate a certain book that I won't name for fear of being a spoiler, but with much less impressive results.

I tried to read this book 6 or 7 times and I would get, not even half way through and would stop, the storyline is boring and sadly I couldn't finish the book because of this. I will not be reviewing it anywhere.

A slow burn of a novel with twists which caught me by surprise. The first half of the novel mainly deals with character development with flashes to the crime. The second half really picks up and we find out the truth of regarding the crime. A really well done thriller! Reading the ending made me wonder what the future holds for Maddie and Charlie.

Beautiful Bad told the story of Maddie and her relationships with Ian and Joanne. It is told through three different timelines and three different POVs. I thought the timelines would be confusing at first. It starts “12 weeks before the killing.” Then it goes to the day of the killing with a suspenseful 911 call. Then it goes all the way back to 2001 so you can get a feel for the characters and see where it all begins. I ended up enjoying the different timelines and didn’t want to stop reading. I wanted to get back to the present day to find out what happened. Great suspense in this one!

I didn’t care for chapters from Ian’s POV, but I understand why it was written that way. It allowed me to see more of Ian’s character and was essential to the twists so just wait for it.

Overall, it was suspenseful and entertaining. There were a couple of slow moments I thought but those were only few and far between. I would recommend it if you’re looking for a good suspense with a twist.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC!

Maddie and Ian have, what you know from page 1, will be a tragic relationship. When the second chapter is The Day of the Killing, you know what comes next will not be a happy story.

Maddie and Ian lived crazy lives when they were younger. He was a British soldier, guarding people in the most dangerous parts of the world. She is a travel writer who only seems drawn to similarly dangerous places. They meet when she is visiting her friend, a relief worker, in...also a dangerous part of the world. All of the characters are obviously damaged and obsessive types. What follows is not a quick romance. It's a slow train wreck. And all along, while the story flips back and forth between the police investigating the killing and the story of Maddie and Ian, you know it never should have happened. This is not a story of destiny. This is a story of "Get away from each other."

Through much of the book, we are seeing the story through Maddie's eyes. It bothered me for a while because sometimes it didn't make sense. I had to consider that maybe I wasn't hearing from an unreliable source. We work our way up to understanding how everything happened. Everything. The murder. Some sort of accidental fall or attack (wait to find out). A childhood accident involving water. How these two people ended up with a child in Kansas. We get to understand Maddie the best of all but we get to know Ian a little, through the lens Maddie chooses for us.

So when we get to the end, it really isn't a surprise. I wasn't sure that it was supposed to be a twist. I would rather it wasn't. Just the ending that the whole thing was working toward. This may sound like a criticism. It's not. So many go for the big twist but it's not necessary. I prefer when you get to a point in a story and everything clicks. It's not a twist, it's what you have obviously been reading all along, even if you don't know it until now. In other words, too many twists come from nowhere.

I did think the very end was a little clunky. It seemed like one of those quick explanations; hurried and unnecessary. It could have been, and should have been, just written in the same style as the rest of the story.

All in all, I enjoyed it. Which is most important. Thank you to Annie Ward, the publisher, and Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. I will look for more from the author in the future. Also see the review on may new blog-I'm Gonna Read at the End of the World at https://readeotw.wordpress.com