I just finished Beautiful Bad by Annie Ward and I was completely addicted. I love stories like this, Psycological Thrillers must be difficult to write but this one was amazing. I would get so wrapped up in the story from the past and then it would change to the current time and throw me off balance, in a good way. I really enjoyed hearing of Maddie and Jo's ambitious past and all the places they visited and good times they had. It was so hard to figure out who the bad guy really was throughout. I never thought for one minute that Ian was the villain in all this but still there was always the illusion of doubt.. I do however feel that the police investigation at the end seemed lacking but that is why the story worked, it was so focused and seemed so real. I will be looking for more from Anne Ward. Thank you for the opportunity to read this amazing story.

This book opens with a frantic 911 call.,
You know someone is dead, but you don't know who died or how they died.
This book flips back and forth between a few characters and timelines, from the early 2000's to the present day.
Slowly counting down to the day of the killing.

This book was gripping. I read it in less than 24hours.
Most mystery/thriller books start the same way, with a mystery that only gets solved at the end. But for some reason, maybe because this mystery was SO vague, I could not stop reading till I knew what was happening.

I think this would be a great book club book, because not only is it a fast and easy read, not only does it have a great mystery to solve, but it also touches on some pretty dark subjects that would make for some great discussions.

A decent thriller, but could use some editing of the back story and tightening of the plot and characters. The progression of the Maddie character didn’t ring true or realistic to me. Twist was interesting, but not entirely believable.

Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC.

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin for allowing me to be a part of the ARC team.
This story first starts with a domestic violence call and complete chaos ensues. Diane the officer on duty responds, then we meet Nick the dispatcher. Nick has to keep reminding himself not to sing "Brown eyed girl" whenever he speaks to Diane on the radio. We are to assume that he likes her and maybe they are part of the story. Yet Nick is never mentioned again and Diane has a brief appearance soon.
There is so many things wrong with the initial scene of crime that would have even the most uneducated investigator cringe. Book clubs around the world are having a field day discussing and debating just the first two chapters!
I was constantly trying to keep my attention focused on the main characters of Ian, Maddie, and Joannie admist the continuous references of the Eastern countries and their friends who lived there.
I would actually skip over quite a bit when they were over there in the eastern countries. I was lost as to who was who and who they were hanging out with. Where were they and why?
I was extremely disappointed with the psychiatrist, I feel her storyline could have been handled differently.
However, I was shocked at the ending!!! I was not expecting that!!!

Wow - what a psychological thriller!! My head is still spinning from it!! The book starts out with a 911 call and a female officer arrives in the scene and proceeds without backup. She looks inside and sees blood, definitely not a good sign. Then the book reverts back to happier times with two women, best friends, Jo and Maddie, both on the other side of the world trying to make a live for themselves. Jo is trying to help refugees, women and children in Macedonia and
Maddie is writing, teaching and traveling. Maddie visits Jo across the border as much as she can. During one of these visits Maddie meets, Ian, the love of her life. Ian is working as a bodyguard for the British Ambassador. The two seem to be attracted to each other, but the job always gets in the way. She and Jo start to constantly fight, and the arguments always center around Ian. There is a job that comes up and Ian decides that it is a great opportunity, so he leaves before Maddie can join him. Needless to say, Maddie is furious. They do not see each other for many years. When they do reconnect, Maddie and Ian feel that they want to be together. They get married, have a son, Charlie, and on a camping trip, Maddie falls down an embankment. The injuries to her face scar her tremendously, and she has to cover her face with her hair to cover up the hideousness. Ian is suffering from alcoholism and PTSD, which puts a strain on their marriage. Maddie starts seeing a therapist without Ian knowing about it. Maddie feels like she is broken and there is something that she needs to find out about her accident. She can’t seem to remember what happened. What are the secrets that these three are keeping? Whose blood is it that the officer sees? What has happened for this scene to take place? So much intrigue and mystery throughout this book. I was glued to the pages. The plot was superbly absolutely genius. And the character development was such that you could almost feel the emotions from each character. There were a few things that I didn’t care for; I was having trouble with the reverting back to dates in the history of the book, and I didn’t care for the final line in the book. I’m not exactly sure what the author was trying to say. It kind of left me clueless at the end. It seemed to throw me off and confused me a little. Other than that, you just have to read this book!!

LOVE THIS BOOK!
I am not going to give ANYTHING away as far as the plot goes because I find that it's best to go in blind. I was completely hooked from the first page! I kept turning the pages quickly cause I had to know what happened. I love the alternating points in time. It's one of my favorite things in a novel. This one did not disappoint! If you're looking for a great thriller, pick this one up!

This book is a mess that needs a heavy handed editor. It drags on endlessly. The chapter headings are times, but it is almost impossible to figure out the timeline. I think the female detective is supposed to be an important character, but she is so poorly developed and comes too late in the story. She adds very little. I guess this was supposed to be one of the "big twist" books, but it just did not work. When a character has to spend pages at the end describing what really happened, the book is a failure--"show, don't tell"! I would not recommend this to any one, but I am sure it will be requested at my library.

Excellent thriller! Full if travel, adventure, love story and scary all at once. Love the back and forth in time in book, although I usually hate it. It's so well done!

Beautiful Bad starts out with a murder...all you are told is that someone has been killed. You don’t know who or why this person was killed. There are three main characters (Jo, Maddie and Ian) that Annie Ward writes in their POVs. She also jumped back and forth between past and present. Through out the book I didn’t get a hunch on who I thought it was and why. Totally had CLUE theories but everyone in this book have secrets and are so flawed. I like how Annie wrote this book, it’s like a slow burn and everything slowly unravels and when it does wow I was shocked

This book has left me with an uneasy feeling. Not sure if that was the author’s intent, but if it was, well done. The storyline was okay, but for a thriller, the story moves pretty slow until the reveals in the final chapters.

I read the arc, which does need some editing. Hopefully those issues will be corrected in the finished copy. Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced ebook copy in exchange for this review.

5 Beautifully Bad Stars
Review by Amy
Late Night Reviewer
Up All Night w/ Books Blog

Annie Ward has successfully entertained me for hours on end with Beautiful Bad, a deeply plotted psychological thriller that will keep you up all night, guaranteed!. This was a well thought out, entertaining ride of a book.

Maddie, a writer from the US runs into a British soldier when they are both travelling. She finds herself drawn to him and they end up married and living in Maddie’s hometown of Kansas. Years into their marriage, they have a beautiful son and everything seems fine until a camping trip results in a life-changing fall for Maddie, mangling her face, and possibly affecting her emotional state. She seeks the advice of a therapist who helps her bring to light her fears, insecurities and tries to help her resolve her anxieties with her home life.

Ian has been head over heels for Maddie since the instant he met her. They end up together and have a son, but for years he has battled PTSD associated with his years in the British army. All he wants is to provide for his family and protect them, but his haunting past may be darker than anyone anticipated.

Jo, who is Maddie’s best friend was always there for Maddie, until one day she cold shouldered her and kicked her out of her life, uncharacteristically. Even though she was not a main character, as the story progresses, her role in Maddie and Ian’s relationship takes shape and clarification of how the events took place overseas begin to make sense.

Told from multiple points of view, as well as fluctuating from past to present, I found myself completely invested in this dark, intensely written, brain boggling thriller. While the premise of this book may seem more like a romantic drama, I assure you there was so much under the surface that you need to read it to fully appreciate the depth of the story.

I was able to determine the trajectory of the story, but there were so many other unforeseen twists that I didn’t mind at all. What I really enjoyed was the story followed Maddie so effectively from her twenties to her thirties, that I was able to really develop a connection with her as a character. And, of course, like any truly good psychological thriller, it’s not over until its over. Be ready for more twists just when you think there can be no more. A page turner to the very end, any true psych thriller fan will love this one!

**ARC provided for an honest review**

I received a free e-copy of Beautiful Bad by Annie Ward from NetGalley for my honest review.

This book sucks you in from the very beginning. Someone has been murdered. You don't know who and you don't know why.

There are three main characters in this book. There is Maddie, Maddie's best friend Jo, and Ian, Maddie's love. Ian, was serving in the British Army and Maddie was a journalist who was visiting her best friend, Jo. When Maddie met Ian, it was love at first sight. Although, they both had their own lives and lived in different places, they were always in love and had very close connection to one another.

Decades later, Ian reconnects with Maddie. They finally get married and Maddie becomes pregnant. Maddie falls on a camping trip with her family and is left with a terribly scarred face. Maddie ends up going to therapy in hopes of uncovering the truth behind her terrible fall. She is determined to find the truth as she can't remember anything. During her therapy sessions, Maddie beings to open up about her husband’s PTSD. Maddie is concerned for the safety of her child as she begins to really discover the truth about her husband's past and even her best friend.

The premise of this book was attractive: a specific type of victim that would seem like the last people to be murdered. The main detective is a woman who is between men- her ex, now badly hurt, her partner who she has ambivalent feelings toward.
As she tries to connect the dots about the murders and some earlier crimes, she must navigate between the two men and their issues.

This book is more about this love thing than the mystery. Its pretty clear that this was written by a woman, I simply don't believe men talk the way these two do. And while at first blush, it would be great if more men spoke this way, it got tiresome pretty quickly.

The story ends up a little too superficially for me. The explanation for why the crimes were committed seems a bit manufactured.
I was a little disappointed

Where to begin.: Domestic Violence, PTSD, and an Escape Plan
Written as a psychological thriller

This book starts with a killing or the implied killing.. "The day of the killing". I was drawn in right away., wanting more, how why who. But for me, the build up to the end took a bit too long leaving me confused and bored at times, thinking back to what happened in those 1st 10 pages, did I miss it.

Primary characters are Maddie, the wife, Jo the friend (ex lover), Ian the husband, Diane the police, and other miscellaneous indviduals that float in and out, The story is primarily told from Maddie's perspective with a few snippets from Ian.. I wanted to connect with Maddieon a deeper level as character, but I fell short.

Once the pieces came together it was predictable but slightly unfinished for me with other elements unanswered or unexplained.

I did not love this book nor dislike this book, I think for me the build up was too long yet I wanted so much more
3 🌟

Thank you for this ARC!

As wonderful as the description sounded, unfortunately I was unable to finish this book. While the international aspects were wonderful, I didn't really get the "point" of the plot and really didn't care for the back and forth storytelling.

3.5-4stars. I can’t make up my mind how to rate this book. The books itself is exactly like its title, Beautiful Bad! It starts with a mystery, all you know is that someone is dead, you don’t know who and you most certainly don’t know why. The book goes back and forth in time and places between 3 characters - Jo, Maddie and Ian. Not one of them is simple and straightforward. They are all twisted and flawed. The book in itself is not an easy read. With all the characters, narrations and the flashbacks it needs attention and focus, which is not that difficult given how well it is written. It’s not possible to guess or figure out the truth, there are multiple twists and the ending is the most surprising. This is a dark twisty tale that can truly suck you in. The description of the various locations are detailed and enticing too. Great job by the author. If you are patient and not expecting a beach read you will enjoy this book. But if you want an easy read then this book is not it.

Such a confusing and poorly edited book. I had to work way too hard to figure things out. The story jumps from character to character with no discernible transition and jumps from time period to another in a seemingly random way. Some of the worst plotting I’ve read in a while but for gods sake.....at least hire an editor, proof reader or something. This is 2018. The quality of writing should be better. And yes....I worked as an editor for 37 years so I notice these things but a 12 year old would have spotted the errors. I would have a very hard time recommending this to anyone.

Wow! What an incredible book! This author is so talented! The characters were so beautifully sculpted, almost like artwork with words. There personalities remained consistent (as in the author did an amazing job with character development, allowing the reader to read as each person’s personality was revealed like the layers of an onion slowly being peeled back.
The switching of points of view as well as times (past and present) were extremely well done.
I will be on the lookout for this author’s next masterpiece! I am completely sold!

This book was fabulous. I had a difficult time putting the book down, and kept wanting more. The description of the book is right, great psychological thriller. I'm shocked and sad about parts, but it stayed interesting.

3.5 stars!

For the first half of this book I was a little lost. The book chapters are divided into alternate timelines and character point of views. I think it takes me awhile to get familiar with the different voices so having the alternate timelines was a bit confusing.

By the second half of the book I really got into the characters and what was going on. And by the last 25% I could not stop reading! Similar to reading Gone Girl or Girl On the Train it feels like once you get to the end, so many things happen!!

Once I finished I wasn’t sure how I felt. It was almost as if too many things happened! Phew!

Overall it was a fun and gripping read!

Thank you to NetGalley and HARLEQUIN – Trade Publishing for an advance copy of this book.