Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead.

I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings.

Anything requested and approved will be read and a decent quality review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

An enjoyable read as I love a good dose of police corruption! None of the characters were particularly likeable but I still found myself shaking my head in disappointment when I realised the turn the ending was about to take.

I would rate this book 3 1/2 out 5 stars.

The author pulls the subject matter right of the world news from the last few years based on what many are labeling the me too movement.

Aaron Julian who made off the streets to become the one of the most famous and most recognizable actors and his wife of three years is no slouch either as she is a famous singer, so famous she goes by one name Veda. Between them they seem to have it all fame, money, and each other which they are entirely devoted to. But all this will be put to the test when a successful lawyer and a group of women forward with the claim that Aaron is a sexual predator. Who really is after Aaron and what lengths will they go to bring him down ? The author draws from many real world events as you will see when you read this. This book held me to the end to see what happens but i did have some issuses , one is that in my opinion the author was to descriptive or used to many metaphors at times and the other was that there were just to many twist to the point at the end it felt like it was forced in at spots when it did not need to be. A good story should have twist all the way to the end but this was a little to much therefore 3 1/2 stars. Thank you to Netgalley and Oceanview Publishing for an ARC for a fair and honest review.

Accusation by Paul Batista deals with the currently relevant #metoo movement, with a famous movie star being accused of having sexual harassed many women. It is also the 3rd book in the Raquel Rematti series. I haven't read the previous books in the series, but it wasn't difficult to catch up with the happenings of Raquel's life until now. Raquel is a well-known criminal defence attorney and she is pulled into the case to help movie star Aaron Julian, with his defence for the harassment cases brought against him.

In the course of the story, we are shown the other side of the judiciary and police departments. Raquel does everything in her power to help Aaron out of the worst of the charges brought against him; she keeps up with her job even when things get from bad to worse for Aaron. There are too many people out to get him and thus emerge new twists every few pages.

The numerous twists and relevant premise events do have the potential for a great story but the book never reaches there. The writing is racy and sharp; but to me, the whole reading experience feels a little too abrupt. In fact, there is not enough character development done for any of the characters. In trying to be intriguing and mysterious, the author has just managed to create a strangely disjointed story which didn't exactly connect with me; I couldn't feel anything for any of the characters. I can honestly say this book is just not my cup of tea.

You can try this book if you want to read something fast and quick. Thanks to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC provided in exchange for my honest review.

A legal thriller that focuses on a famous actor accused of sexual harassment.

Aaron Julian receives a call from his agent informing him that he has been accused by several young female actresses of taking liberties with them and then ruining their careers. Represented by a lawyer who brought down the Catholic Church in the Boston Archdiocese over abuse by priests, these women are appearing on television making their claims. Aaron Julian and his wife, a famous singer named Vega, have been married for 3 years and they are urged to retain defense attorney Raquel Rematti.

Although the book is short, the pace is fast and events soon pile up into a vast conspiracy as each side creates a response to the charges and engages in different efforts to reveal the truth — or do they? It was obvious quite quickly that justice in this case would be impossible as nefarious and patently illegal methods are used to seek answers that benefited either the prosecution or the defense. I was actually sort of sickened by the manipulation that went on behind the scenes and am concerned that, in many cases, justice is not served by the legal system.

The characters were hard to like as each seemed engaged in a more personal fight that had nothing to do with the case. Despite being a legal thriller, there was not much action in the courtroom as most of the narrative focused on what was going on behind the scenes. I liked the story well enough and it was hard to put it down. That’s why the ending came as such a surprise and why I knocked off a star. The author really did not provide any explanation for some of the loose ends. In any event, I had though about going back to read the previous books in the series that feature Raquel Rematti but now not sure since I was very disappointed with the conclusion.

Thank you to NetGalley and Oceanview Publishing for this e-book ARC to read and review.

An icon’s life implodes—at two in the morning. World renowned, revered actor Aaron Julian is awakened at two a.m. by his agent who informs him that he has been accused of sexual harassment. Young actresses will break the story on prime-time TV that morning—with their lawyer, the attorney who led the charge in the priests’ sexual abuse cases. This book had intrigue, suspense, drama, and a decent storyline!

This novel just kept getting worse, and worse, (for the main character that is).
I really enjoyed this book. The writing is crisp, the character development complete and effective for the story. I would highly recommend it to all genre of readers. I will be reading more by this author. I liked his style of writing.

This was an author new to me but I gave it a try and enjoyed it with some reservations.

Topically based around “Me Too” the plot races along and is filled with characters acting dishonestly and duplicitly.

There is a surprising twist at the end which made me think but none of the characters was portrayed well enough for me to really care about their fate.

Enjoyable though anyway.

First of all let me say that the publisher provided me an advance copy of the book for no cost in exchange for a fair review.

If you are one of my regular review readers let me give a disclaimer about the book as I start.

The book has some graphic language and scenes that would make me not recommend the book to young readers, nor to those who are turned off by such language. It is not overwhelming, it is true to today’s culture, so it will be nothing shocking.

The story is set when a world famous actor is accused by two women of sexual misconduct. The accusations are set, a lawsuit is filed and a prosecutor sinks her teeth into the claims to see if there is actionable material to indict Aaron Julian for a major sex crime.

Needless to say the fact that he is world famous is what drives this story to the top of the fold on newspapers throughout the country. The #metoo movement is going to be front and center in the drama to follow.

The actor claims innocence. His wife, a famous singer, also claims his innocence.

A third woman comes forward and gives an explosive interview on network television giving graphic details to what she slams was a sexual attack.

The problems mount for our star. But he maintains his innocence. He hires a high price lawyer and she and her investigators jump into action. They find evidence that the actor is being set up.

Now, let’s add a murder of an attorney to the mix and more accusations will fly.

The story is well written for the drama and intensity of emotions that the characters will work through.

The ego’s of lawyers, judges, detectives and even the FBI come into question.

Let me just remind people that human nature is sinful. We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). So, is Aaron without sin? Nope, but has he been targeted for accusations that are false? Well, that is the crux of the story.

I hope you can enjoy the read and that you will find things in it that make you ponder your trust is our judicial system as well as in human nature.

Accusations by Paul Batista was an enjoyable read. The story was realistic and could have been taken from actual recent headlines. It illustrates how true it is that you can't trust what you see and hear on the news and social media. All can be manipulated. This book held my interest and kept me guessing!

The best word I have to describe this book is frightening! Too much treachery, lying, and deceit by those who are supposed to raise all the evidence and submit them to a fair trial, the whole judiciary process might ring wrong if all the mishappenings mentioned in this story could be carried on when someone is accused of wrongdoing. Great story, although scary. The ending is also somewhat unexpected but good! This is the first book that I read by Paul Batista and I was positively surprised. I'll be looking for other titles by this author.

"I never did anything to any of these women that six hundred guys haven't already done to all of them."

What a complete disapoitment. I just can't. Do you really think that while executing a warrant, police will pocket a few thousand dollars they find? Do you think every police officer, detective, FBI agent and DA has a price tag they would be willing to accept to throw their carreer and lives down the drain just for a conviction?

The writing was tough to get through, the sentences were long and wordy. The dialogue was painful, none of it felt like real discussions. Even the court proceedings were laughable.

If they did it to Trump and his friends, Veda, why would you think they can't do it to Aarin Julian?"

I mean, when that is the plot of your whole book, I'm out.


A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

This is a tough one to review; I largely enjoyed it and was reasonably gripped by fast-moving story and the accusations made against the lead character Aaron, a major film star living what seems to be an idyllic life with his beautiful singer wife.

It struck me though that some of the subplots, such as the fate of the lawyer handling the women making the assault accusations were rather unnecessary and occasionally gratuitous, and the denouement left me in a bit of a quandary - I really couldn’t figure out what the author was trying to tell us.

However I enjoyed the read and I’d like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

The third of the Raquel Rematti legal thriller series, Accusation author Paul Batista is a practicing American trial lawyer. This time, Aaron Julian, a famous Hollywood film star with a celebrity pop-singer wife, is accused of sexual assault. Raquel Rematti takes on the case to clear his name but things get complicated and a grand jury is established. It seems some law enforcement officers will stop at nothing to convict Aaron despite his innocent protestations and the many twists and turns in the legal proceedings. Warning: there is a witness statement that is graphically sexual in nature and may trigger some strong responses. Overall, the characters lacked appeal, the tension build was tepid and the final twist was always expected. So, in all a disappointing legal thriller with a two-and-a-half-star rating. With thanks to Oceanview Publishing and the author, for an uncorrected advanced review copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own and freely given, without persuasion.

3 1/2 ⭐️‘s

Aaron Julian is a world renown actor. Married to the woman of his dreams and leading a charmed life. That is until receiving a call at 2A from his agent. A call any actor never wants to receive. He’s been accused of sexual misconduct and harassment by several women. He’s clearly confused, he’s led an exemplary life. Maintaining his innocence, his biggest concern is losing the love of his wife Veda, whom he adores. Hiring Raquel Rematti, a cut throat attorney is the next step in proving his innocence. The plot thickens when the attorney representing the women is found floating in a reservoir in Central Park. Could Aaron possibly have killed him? The evidence points to a guilty verdict, but corruption from within hinders the case. With the #MeTooMovement in full swing Aaron maintains his innocence, evidence points to his being guilty, BUT ... is he being railroaded? A story that could be ripped from today’s headlines, this was a fast paced story and although the ending felt rushed, I was hooked from page one!

Accusation by Paul Batista
#fourteenthbookof2022 #arc

CW: sexual assault, graphic murder, Me Too scenarios and discussion, derogatory terms, discussion of wartime service, discussion of statutory rape, thrown excrement

This book sounded like it was up my alley, but in the end, I didn’t love it. It’s book three in a series that follows attorney Raquel Rematti. However, her POV seems to cover less than half of this book. There are so many chapters from the POVs of other minor characters and it didn’t seem to focus enough on the series’ supposed protagonist. I haven’t read the first two books so I can’t say whether this is a consistent writing style.

It’s also really cringy, with clunky and, at times, gross dialogue. Description is often repeated. There is way too much going on.

I sensed an undercurrent of resentment towards the Me Too movement in this novel in a way that I can’t put my finger on. It starts off with six women bringing accusations of workplace sexual predation against an actor, and then quickly abandons this plot in favor of a murder related to that storyline, and then (SPOILER ALERT) a dirty prosecuting attorney. It’s very quickly swept up at the end as though the author got bored and decided he was done. However, I did appreciate the last three paragraphs of the book, which confirmed a suspicion I’d had all along.

As much as I didn’t love this book, I am actually not against reading the first two in the series. This one was interesting enough to finish it. I like stories about woman attorneys, and I want to read more about her, since her POV was given short shrift in this one. I am hoping that the gross dialogue was character specific, but if it comes up again in another of the author’s novels, I’ll wash my hands of him.

Thank you to @netgalley and @oceanviewpub for the advance copy. (Pub date 3/1/22).

#accusation #raquelrematti

This is the 1st book that I have read by this author and I have already gotten the 1st 2 that were written in this series.

The story begins with Aaron Julian receiving a call from his manager advising him that two individuals are accusing him of sexual assault. He is advised that a meeting has been setup with a lawyer, Raquel Rematti, to discuss these charges and to create a plan to answer these charges. During the meeting, Aaron, wants to publicly dispute these charges, but Raquel talks him out of doing it.

Later, the lawyer representing the accusers is murdered and all of a sudden, the charges Aaron is now facing is murder. Raquel has her investigator start looking for information, in the meantime, the U.S. Attorney for sex trafficking is sharpening her knife to convict Aaron. It is only through the assistance of an unexpected party that Raquel has hope.

To discover who the killer of the lawyer was, what the U.S. Attorney has planned, who the individual is that provided the new information and what events happened leading up to the end of the case, then you need to read this book. It is definitely worth your time.

I received this book through "NetGalley Read Now" and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

Thank you Oceanview Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book before publication.

THE PLOT

Aaron Julian is a super famous actor, living la vida loca with his equally mega rich popstar wife, Veda. His life changes in an instant when six women come forward and accuse Aaron of sexual harassment. His bad luck continues when the plaintiff's lawyer is found murdered, begging the question: is Aaron just a pervert, or a pervert murderer?

MY OPINION

Just....... LOL. I am TIREDT of these books. NetGalley, why do you play me like this??? I pick books with 5 star reviews coming out the wazoo—they're trash. I pick books with mediocre reviews—they're trash. Major first world problems.

Well it's a one star review, so you already know the vibes. Writing so bad it could only come from a free creative writing course at your local, small town library. So many run-on sentences, it would've broke Grammerly.

I understand this was supposed to be a social commentary on the #MeToo movement, and specifically men using their authority to abuse women, but the writing was too poor to make this impactful. It felt like a duck trying to growl.

The characters were annoying. There was gratuitous sex, racism, homophobia, sexism... you really got the whole gauntlet of ain't shit behaviour being passed off as normal. Another fail. The book is trying to be some topical social commentary piece, but falls back on crude and derogatory language that nobody uses (in the open) anymore. Also, the plot was contrived—a total incel circle jerk until the very end. A miss in every sense of the word. Save your time.

PROS AND CONS

Pros: I finished
Cons: I'll never get back the time it took me to read this

It has been said that justice is blind. The truth is irrelevant. All that matters is what you can prove in court.

This was a legal thriller that was almost “ripped from the headlines” in these days of MeToo! It hooked me in from the start.

Aaron Julian is a super celebrity actor who has fought his way to the top from a rough upbringing in the Bronx. He has been married to the enigmatic black singer who goes by the single name of Veda for three years. Aaron gets a call from his manager, Lawrence Jenkins, in the middle of one night to warn him of a coming sh*t storm as six women have accused him of inappropriate behaviour and of sabotaging their careers when they didn’t consent to his advances. The news will hit the media in time time for breakfast.

The women have engaged the services of attorney Victor Tabnik who rose to fame by winning huge compensation payouts for victims of the Catholic Church abuse scandal. Before then he was an unknown small time lawyer. Lawrence has engaged the well known and ruthless Raquel Rematti to represent Aaron who denies the allegations against him.

Things get more serious when Victor Tabnik is murdered that night during an assignation with a pretty young man in Central Park. Now things get complicated as the very weird NYPD Detective Joe Paradiso, who has a personal vendetta against s*x offenders, starts to mess with the evidence and witnesses. Things are not looking good for Aaron.

It was very well plotted with believable characters who were easy to like or dislike. Aaron came across as genuine and his lawyer is someone I would like to have on my side if I ever needed it. Some of the people who should have known better behaved appallingly.

The scales of justice tip first one way then the other and back again as allegations and fabricated evidence are thrown out. Personal vendettas blind some of the players. I was never sure where this one would land. I thought it was really well done until the last couple of pages. I didn’t like the ending even though it was predictable but I thought it was unnecessary and it dropped my rating from 4 to 3 stars. Many thanks to Netgalley and Oceanview Publishing for the much appreciated arc which I reviewed voluntarily and honestly.

I quite enjoyed reading this book, it was reasonably fast paced. Not a fan of the main character, but that was okay. Good book worth a read.