Title: Beautiful Bad
Author: Annie Ward
Genre: Psychological thriller
Rating: 3.0 out of 5

An aborted 911-call brings an officer to a quiet house, with signs of a struggle and blood. Lots of blood. A terrified child and two frightened, battered women, along with the dead husband of one of the women tell the same story: crazy, ex-military man snaps and tries to strangle his wife’s best friend, so his wife kills him in self-defense.

But to get the whole story, you must go back in time to when Maddie and Ian first met, back in the war-torn Balkans where she and Jo lived and worked and played, and Ian was a bodyguard. Back to when Maddie came home after 9-11 and struggled to start her life over, and Ian abandoned her for nine years. Back to their fledgling relationship and new marriage, when Ian wanted a quiet country life and Maddie wanted to travel and explore, and instead they had a baby. Back to that night in the forest camping, where Maddie was injured, but she doesn’t remember how.

Only by going back do you learn what happened now.

I finished reading this, but it was a struggle. Maddie is an unreliable—and for me, unlikable—narrator, and Jo is…erratic. So is Ian. Basically, none of the relationships in this story made sense to me. Obsession, maybe, dependence, surely, but love and caring? Nope. Didn’t see it. The ending is supposed to be a shock, but…it wasn’t. The signs are there all along and aren’t exactly subtle.

Annie Ward lived and worked in the Balkans, was a Fulbright Scholar, and now writes novels. Beautiful Bad is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Park Row via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.)

Blog: The Life & Times of a Book Addict

REVIEW:

It all started with an emotional 911 phone call and a visit by the police to a quiet well-manicured neighborhood...

Beautiful Bad had a really good beginning that grabbed my attention. I would consider this book to be more of a slow burn suspense/thriller story. The book is told mainly from Maddie’s point of view along with Ian’s POV jumping in here and there as the book progresses.

Maddie was an interesting character to get to know; though I couldn’t really connect with any of the characters. That’s probably the point with a book like this. My only major complaint was that there were times when I questioned why Maddie and Ian were even together. I didn’t really believe in their love story.

Aside from that, I thought that Beautiful Bad was well written and the author did a good job of building suspense and creating intriguing characters. I liked how the story flip-flops between the past and the present; before the incident and after the incident; which helped to draw the suspense out. I thought I pretty much had it all figured out on how everything would end. I was right about some things, but there were a couple surprises and twists at the end that I hadn’t expected.


RATING: 3½ out of 5.

MY REVIEW- Thank you TLC Book

ours and Park Row Books for gifting me a copy of this book , in exchange of an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I rate this book 3.5 out of 5 Stars.

This is one of those kind of books that is going to draw a line in the middle of the sand, people who love it will be on one side, and those who disliked it will be on the other, and then on the sidelines will be the ones who just flat out liked it.

I loved the strong start, to this book. I love being gripped by the first chapter, it sets a good precedence, and I feel like I can read the book at a much faster pace. I read a lot of Thrillers, so I love when this happens!

I did find the book a tad bit predictable, and there were parts I struggled with, but that’s to be expected with momentum building thrillers. I enjoyed Ward’s writing style, it wasn’t generic, and over dramatic, she didn’t use a lot of jargon, it flowed nicely. For me, it as a one more chapter kind of book. I am glad this book turned out so well for me, because it was a very highly anticipated one for me!

First, I would like to thank Park Row (Harlequin) Publishing and Netgalley for providing me with a free Kindle ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Annie Ward’s "Beautiful Bad" transports the reader between third-world war-stricken countries and the small town of Meadowlark, Kansas as it follows multiple timelines. Maddie lives a life of thrills and living on the edge of danger as an instructor and travel writer in her twenties, where she meets Ian, a British bodyguard with a dark allure. Twenty-six years later, we find Maddie in the present, in which she is now married to Ian in Kansas, where they live with their young son Charlie despite Maddie’s worldly nature. We also find Diane, a patrol cop, entering an active crime scene at the couple’s home where an ominous pool of blood confirms that someone inside that house is dead.

Ms. Ward does a fantastic job of making the jumps between timelines fluid for the reader. Nothing is more aggravating than struggling to orient oneself from chapter to chapter, but Ms. Ward bridges the transitions expertly. In order to gain context for how we have come to the point where someone has been murdered, we must understand each character’s past. The reader accompanies Maddie as she visits her eccentric psychologist, who is determined to establish that Maddie has suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) at the hands of her husband, despite Maddie’s insistence that she fell. The reader follows Ian through his numerous jobs in the military and in security, where he suffers near-death and otherwise traumatizing experiences that have led to the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Both Maddie and Ian live in paranoia and tend to catastrophize world events, imagining those dangers coming to their small town and destroying the ones they love.

Overall, I was completely engrossed in this book, finding myself with the urge to read at stoplights (which I avoided, painfully). Everything leading up to the end was a fantastic experience; it is just the end itself that left me feeling at a loss. Perhaps I do not agree with the author’s choice of direction, but I also feel that this was the least developed part of the book. I can see how she came to the decision to end it in the way she did, but I do not feel she expresses those reasons adequately for the reader, especially if the reader has no prior understanding of TBI or PTSD. For this reason, I feel that a near-perfect book was cheated of the perfect rating it deserved, and I feel that 4.5 stars is appropriate.

I would recommend this book for anyone interested in psychological suspense and domestic thrillers.
#breakingbad #netgalley

Beautiful Bad by Annie Ward is a great example of a book that I loved for the first half or so, then changed my mind about once the story took a sharp turn. Told in alternating viewpoints and timelines, the story of Maddie and Ian’s relationship unfolds from courtship to marriage—culminating in The Day of the Killing.

Maddie and Ian meet when she’s working as a travel writer overseas and he’s in the British Army. Maddie divides her time between writing and visiting her best friend, Joanna, an international aid worker.

When Maddie first meets Ian through mutual friends, she isn’t left with the best first impression of him. But over time, Ian charms his way into her good graces. Although Joanna attempts to steer Maddie away from Ian, Maddie follows her heart and falls in love with him.

Sixteen years later, Maddie and Ian are married with a son, Charlie, and living in Maddie’s Kansas hometown. She and Jo have had a falling out and haven’t spoken in some time. Worse yet, Maddie has had a horrible accident that took place while out camping with Ian and Charlie. The accident has left her disfigured and with no memory of what happened that night.

As Maddie attempts to recover her memories through writing therapy with a psychologist, she confesses her fear about Ian’s increasingly volatile personality. Maddie needs to get to the truth and she will protect her son at any cost.

There’s a lot to unpack in this story. As I mentioned, I enjoyed it quite a bit for the first stretch, until some of the major plot points happen and I wasn’t sure where the story was going.

When the big twist is revealed, I was actually pretty disappointed. I didn’t think that the resolution lived up to the building suspense of the first part of the story. I also didn’t love the ending, which left me feeling as if something was missing.

Overall, I wanted more of an explosive twist and that isn’t present here. I also felt that the second half of the book isn’t quite as cohesive as the first part. Unfortunately, this book just wasn’t for me.

I LOVED this book for so many reasons. It was hard to put down . The writing style was totally cinematic and engaging. It was also a pinch heartbreaking - I'm a huge fan!

This one started with a bang, quickly began to fizzle out, had some excitement near the end, then something else quite startling happens that is just briefly mentioned and the end.

I honestly almost didn't finish this one numerous times. The very beginning was very interesting but the my mind just wandered for the next 70% or so. Drew me back in at the end but it was all just so predictable that I couldn't appreciate it at all. I felt that the timeline back and forth was a bit hard to keep up with at times and then throw in different POV's and during a lot of chapters it took a bit to remember which time/person it was based around. There was just so much information that really wasn't all that useful and it started to get a bit redundant.

All in all it was just ok but I see many readers have absolutely loved it and you may as well.

**Received ARC through NetGalley. Voluntarily reviewed**

Psychological thriller with a surprise ending. This story bounces around quite a bit from character to character and past to present. Lots of buried secrets through the years which will be revealed quite slowly. This book was not what I had expected. From the opening 911 call, I did not expect to jump back in time to Eastern Europe. I found the characters very unlikable which made the story hard to read.

This thriller engaged me right from page one. It is the story of Maddie, a young mother living in the far south suburbs of Kansas City, who has twice survived life-threatening accidents and has the scars, both mental and physical, to prove it.

She is married to Ian Wilson, a British soldier of fortune who has spent more than his share of time in war-torn, unstable countries and has seen some pretty horrifying things. He says now he just wants to live in peace and quiet with his family. But does he? Can he leave the violence of his job experiences behind?

The story is told in various timelines centering around 'the killing': there is 'weeks before the killing', 'day of the killing', 'day after the killing' etc, but intermixed in this is the backstory of how Maddie and Ian met in Macedonia in 2001 and much later, become a couple.

Most chapters are told from Maddie's first person pov but I noticed a few times when it switched to third person omniscient pov, I suppose so the reader would better understand the entire picture.

Maddie's best friend is Joanna Jasinski. They met while teaching in Spain and have been inseparable while working various jobs throughout Europe until Ian comes into their lives. And always lurking on the fringes is Ian's crazy bipolar ex-girlfriend who still sends him sexy selfies.

So as one reads this thriller, one is constantly wondering who is going to be killed and by whom? The answer to that may surprise you. Nicely done!

I received an arc of this new thriller from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks for some enjoyable reading.

Beautiful Bad is an outstanding, multilayered and impressive work by Annie Ward. The story takes the reader across multiple continents and delves into many issues including, mental, illness, abuse and PTSD. At first it took some getting used to the back and forth of the time periods and multiple narrators, but it eventually made sense and had a nice flow to it. But I have to say that the last third of the book is what made it 5 stars for me. The ending was brilliant and completely unexpected and absolutely worked in making this an outstanding work of psychological fiction. I look forward to more from Annie Ward!

Many thanks to Netgalley, Park Row and Annie Ward for my complimentary e-copy ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I’m literally speechless as I’ve finished the book... lost and out of words. I’m giving this a 3.5 stars for many different reasons. I both liked it and hated it at the same time.

What I really liked about this book is it’s really well written to the point that I couldn’t stop reading it. I was literally doing other things and thinking of reading the book. I needed to get back to reading it. HOWEVER the fact that the victim of the crime, Ian her husband, had severe PTSD ended up being the one who was murdered for no reason just bothered me. Yes, he was building an underground shelter since he experienced things nobody should ever see. He was obsessed with the world falling apart and was doomsday prepping. The man experienced horrible things overseas. Maddie didn’t want to live that life for her son, but for THAT to be the reason why his wife planned to kill him just baffles me. They both wanted drastic futures and Ian’s didn’t fit Maddie’s so he had to go.

If he was a horrible human being... yes there’s a motive. But he had severe PTSD and it made me sad since I know people who have gone through that.

All in all it actuality was a good book, but I didn’t feel right reading it. That’s why I kept it at 3.5 stars because it was a good read so others should read it, but it wasn’t a great fit for me.

Beautiful Bad by Annie Ward starts with a frantic call to 911 followed by a bloody crime scene. It totally pulled me into the book and intrigued me enough to want to keep reading!

We then go to ten weeks prior to the night of the murder and meet Maddie, our main character who primarily is telling her story. The book goes back and forth from present day to the early 2000’s where we follow Maddie and her best friend through the time in Eastern Europe. This is where we meet Ian, the love interest of both women who becomes Maddie’s husband. One of these characters was murdered, but we need to read on to find out who...and why.

This book started out great, but there were a lot of parts of the book that just felt really drawn out. I wanted to know more about the murder and less about the past. Yes it was necessary to know about the way the three main characters interacted to understand why Maddie and Jo were estranged, but there was way too much backstory that was not necessary to progress the book forward.

There were a few parts told from Ian’s point of view. It didn’t make sense to me to switch POV only for a handful of chapters.

I didn’t figure out the twist which does say a lot to me about a mystery thriller so I definitely give Ward credit for that. Once the book stays in the present day I thought it was really good. I liked the ending and was glad it kept me guessing.

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin-Park Row Books for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Maddie and Ian and their young son Charlie seem to be your average family. But no one really knows what goes on behind closed doors and in sick minds.

A chance meeting overseas when they were young, Maddie and Ian soon develop a mutual crush, even though Ian has a girlfriend. Maddie's best friend Jo warns her that there is something off about Ian, but Maddie is not heeding the warning.

Years later Maddie and Ian reconnect after a few failed attempts, much to Jo's angst and anger. Their relationship becomes strained and then ends with Maddie losing her best friend.

The couple move to Kansas and have Charlie. Both their worlds revolve around him. Although their worlds are very different from each other's. During a family camping trip Maddie has a terrible accident. Due to a head injury Maddie begins to see a therapist and realizes she fears her husband and is frightened for their son Charlie.

Then there is a murder and a very suspicious police officer.

Not everything looks the way it seems does it? A story with twists and turns and an ending I never saw coming! Beautiful Bad is a psychological thriller you won't be able to put down.
#NetGalley #ParkRowBooks

Thank you @NetGalley @ParkRowBooks @Annie Ward for the advanced copy. Beautiful Bad is available now.

Beautiful Bad, and how good it is to be bad! I am a sucker for psychological thrillers especially stories involving married couples. Beautiful bad has everything your looking for, and I could not put it down. Perfect marriage? Perfect crime? So many twists and turns and an ending that completely shocked me. So well written.

What blows my mind about this book is that it actually started out as a memoir so the majority of the happenings actually did take place. If more memoirs were written in a novel type/somewhat fictionalized way then I'd probably read more... then again, they wouldn't quite be memoirs anymore now would they?

Maddie and Ian have had a hard time getting their relationship started. Considering the handful of times they met, the long distance and non-communication for several years, they somehow managed to find each other again. I didn't quite understand the attraction here or how they could pine over each other considering their limited interactions... HOWEVER, I do understand that sometimes people just get under your skin and you can't wash that away as easily as some people might expect.

There were a couple of things that I wish had a more polished finish - things with Fiona is one of them. And boy, what a character she is! Another is the camping accident... I need to know more! I felt wanting. Speaking of finishing, I definitely enjoyed the ending. While somewhat predictable, there was that extra twist that I didn't see coming.

I actually really do enjoy domestic thrillers. Though a lot have the same format and typical bad relationship turn deadly plot lines, when you include your actual life into one, it tends to read better for a reader like me. I'm always fascinated with the truth over fiction... meld them together and well, color me intrigued. Definitely a must read for domestic thriller lovers.

I'm a little on the fence on this one. I was pulled in from the opening scene with the 911 call but sometime after that, it just seemed to drag on a bit. I know that the reader needs to get a backstory of the characters to understand what has happened or will be happening at the conclusion of the book. In this case, I just felt that there was way too much backstory. The ending surprised me a little bit as I actually did believe there would be another person involved (don't want to give anything away) but it didn't leave me saying, "wow." Even though I felt it dragged on in the middle, it was still a fast read and I never thought it would be one I wouldn't finish.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy. All opinions are my own.

This book looked so good. Crazy and creepy and all the good stuff I love about psychological thrillers. I was not let down,t his book lived up to every expectation. The story was great, the creep factor was there, the mind screw was there. It was so amazing.


Maddie has had an up and down relationship with Ian for a couple of decades. She met him overseas and their paths never really lined up. Something was always keeping them apart. At one time it was even Maddie's best friend, at another it was the military, oh and then there was the time Ian had a girlfriend. So things just didn't go smooth for them. Until one day it did. So they both thought. Unfortunately it was not smooth sailing, Ian had some major PTSD from being overseas in the military and this caused some stress on their marriage. It then went well for a while once they had a child. Now things seem to be going downhill again. Maddie is attempting to get help. But something goes bad real bad.


This book was so good. I loved it all. The story is mainly told in alternate time lines from when Maddie and Ian first meet to the present day. There is the past where the story goes together. There is the past as in right before it all went wrong, and there is the present... which is the after. The story is told in pieces and in the process of getting the entire story, I was able to really get to know all the characters. The ones from way before and the ones from the current life that Maddie and Ian live. The story is told from Maddie's perspective for most the book so it was easier to get to know her and her story... however there are a few chapters from Ian's point of view that I truly enjoyed.

To say this story had some crazy moments, some shocking moments, some oh hell moments, that is an understatement. I was not at a lost for surprises and oh crap revelations in this book. Which I love. I love when I totally didn't see it coming. This book did it to me. It wasn't til the end when I was like oh snap that just happened. So it had me on my toes, in suspense. I love it when it's told in multiple time lines too... it gives my mind time to really think about what is going on and wonder where it is going. I wondered a lot in this read and I never saw it coming.

The characters were well built. Like I mentioned before I didn't connect with Ian as much since I was really going off of Maddie's thoughts and feelings for most of the book. The thing about Maddie, I liked her even though she was broken and toxic for those around her... as well as letting those around her be toxic to her. She loved having those relationships that were just bad for her. Co-dependent but for different reasons for each person. She was pretty messed up but I still liked her. I rooted for her and wanted her to find her way.

The read was paced really well, not rushed and never slacked. I was pretty content throughout the entire read. I didn't feel that I needed to know everything at once but I was still eager to find out what happened. I was happy with every little thing that was revealed.

This story isn't a happy story, or a story that has rainbows and unicorns. It's dark and twisted and full of broken and crazy people. It was addicting. It had feeling. I loved every moment of it. I didn't need the sunshine. The dark was just fine with this book.

The ending really blew me away. I think I saw a bit of it coming right before it all came together... but before that moment. but it was still mind blowing.


Loved it to peices. So grand so thrilling!

Already being called one of the most explosive thrillers of 2019, Annie Ward’s BEAUTIFUL BAD combines volatile settings, painful secrets and shocking violence for a gripping read that will keep readers on the edge of their seats right from the first page.

When we meet Maddie, it is 12 weeks before The Day of the Killing. Like so many of us with an internet connection, she is filling out a questionnaire that supposedly will confirm whether or not she should be seeing a therapist. But Maddie is distracted by her husband, Ian, and it is clear that she does not want him to see what she is looking at. As she ticks off the boxes and answers the questions, her anxiety and paranoia leap off the page as Ward forces her readers to consider what has happened between Maddie and Ian to make her so afraid.

BEAUTIFUL BAD then jumps to the scene of a grisly crime and a harrowing 911 call in Meadowlark, Kansas, a setting that starkly contrasts the terror of the moment. As an investigator arrives at the upscale neighborhood where the call came from, she scoffs at the opulence and decides that nothing too terrible could have happened --- until she peers through the window of one of the larger houses and sees a pair of giant black boots next to a glittering pool of blood.

From this point on, BEAUTIFUL BAD alternates between past and present, often crossing continents and cities to paint a full picture of Maddie and Ian’s relationship. The two meet in the early 2000s, when Maddie is overseas in the Balkans with her best friend, Joanna. Maddie is in Bulgaria working as a travel journalist, while Joanna is stationed in the far more volatile Macedonia, where she works with women and children refugees. One night, Maddie makes the dangerous journey to visit Joanna to attend a Red Cross fundraiser with her; it is here that they meet British soldier Ian. Tall, dark and handsome, Ian seems like the perfect target for both single young ladies, but it is initially Joanna who captures his fancy. Maddie is suitably jealous, but with the wine flowing and plenty of available young men around, their friendship suffers no real hits.

When Maddie visits Joanna again, though, something has changed. Joanna is cagey and wants nothing to do with Ian or his comrades. Young and naïve, Maddie is more or less oblivious to the change and thinks only of seeing Ian again. When she does, the fallout between her and Joanna is as explosive as the landscape around them --- bombings and massacres are becoming more and more frequent, and the whole world seems to be on edge. The tension only serves to make Maddie’s attraction to Ian all the more alluring, but when the attacks of September 11th occur, the two are pushed apart, and Joanna resurfaces in Maddie’s life as her only constant in the tumultuous Balkans.

Jumping forward to the near-present, we reunite with Maddie 10 weeks before The Day of the Killing. She has found an unusual, albeit competent, therapist in Cami J, a rhinestone-studded, yoga-pants-wearing older woman who treats her clients by asking them to write out answers to her questions. Although Maddie is hesitant to reveal any potentially damaging details, she soon explains that she was recently involved in an accident that left her face bludgeoned and scarred. All she remembers is that she and Ian were camping and drinking wine when she went off to use the bathroom and came back covered in blood. Ian claims that she fell and hit her head on a branch, but the doctors and police remain firm in their assessment that her wounds could not have come from a simple fall, and instead were the result of blunt-force trauma.

As Maddie continues to see Cami J, we are given a full portrait of her relationship with and marriage to Ian: the sweet highlights, like visits in England and their beautiful son, and the disturbing idiosyncrasies, such as Ian building a secret panic room in the basement and teaching their son where to shoot to kill. PTSD seems like the likeliest cause for Ian’s concerning behaviors, but is he truly deranged enough to have killed Maddie? And if not, whose blood is it that the investigator sees through the window of their beautiful home? Through careful, slow-burn pacing and expertly timed dramatic reveals, Ward details the true events of The Day of the Killing and how a beautiful couple can turn so bad so quickly.

It is easy to see why BEAUTIFUL BAD is being heralded as one of the best thrillers of the year, but what sets Ward’s debut apart is her unique and worldly settings, and her thrill-seeking characters. I am sure there exist books set in the Balkans just before and around 9/11, but Ward’s focus on such youthful, exuberant characters with their own flaws and mistakes feels particularly original and fresh. I loved seeing the ways that Maddie, Ian and Joanna each sought out thrills and risks --- by crossing borders, meeting strangers and simply living. At the same time, the friendship between Maddie and Joanna is just dramatic enough to feel real, without any of the frills and bells lesser authors might employ. The contrast between their youth and the versions of them that we meet in the weeks before The Day of the Killing is wickedly sharp and masterfully constructed. As much as BEAUTIFUL BAD is a story of a marriage gone wrong, it is also about the highs and lows of female friendships, and Ward makes some brilliant discoveries in this regard.

This is one thriller where I can truly say I could not have predicted the ending, and I feel certain that I will reread select passages so I can fully appreciate Ward’s choreography at work. That is how expertly plotted and smartly twisted it is. Whether you read for the settings, characters or pure thrill, BEAUTIFUL BAD is practically perfect on all counts, and a novel you will not want to miss.

3 Stars!

“The water poured into my mouth and down my throat. It took over and that was it. Everything was different.”

Maddie is married to Ian and they have a son named Charlie. There is a 911 call made to Maddie's house and the detectives get there right away to invest. Theres blood everywhere and a lot of questions to be asked.

Maddie and Ian's love story started overseas. He was in the British Army and she is a writer who is traveling with her bff Jo to different places. One night they meet, have a little playful banter and end of falling for each other. One day Ian asks Maddie to come visit him. She gets there and finds out that he has gone on assignment and left her. Years pass before they get in contact again. They reconnect instantly and start their life together as well as their family. However, during this time Maddie has an accident where she falls and things seemed to change after that. From there, their relationship plays out and something bad happens...

I really struggled through this book. I know it's been hyped up and I was so excited when I got an advanced readers copy. I typically give books up to 100 pages to really pull me in but this one was harder for me to get into. I thought this was going to be a thriller and it was definitely more of an emotional suspense. Maybe because I went in with the thriller mindset it ended up falling short. However, the story itself got boring at times. All the military and overseas background wasn't very interesting to me. I see how it added some to the story but I really could have done without most of it.

I may be in the minority here with my rating but it was just an OK read for me. Thank you to Bookishfirst and Park Row books for my review copy!

When I finish reading a book but before I write my review I like to read what other thought of it. Currently the book has a 3.8 in Goodreads which is a very respectable rating. The reviews are also very positive. I feel that I must have read a different book.

I was not attached to any of the characters and they were all unlikable. The relationships all seemed toxic from the beginning and none of the actions of the characters shocked me like I think the author intended. The pacing was painfully slow at times and I questioned why a lot of it was even in the book. It did not prgress the plot or build any of the charters. The foreshadowing felt heavy handed. The jumping between characters and time lines was just an added headache to the book.

I do feel that the story was more originally than most book in this genre but it could have been done better in my opinion. BUT I clearly do not share the same option as other reviewers and you may love this books so give it a go.