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.

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

It's difficult to write much of a description of this book, because much of the fun is the constant guessing about what in the world is happening. The book shuffles between present and past, starting with a desperate cut-off call to 911. Through flashbacks, we meet Maddie, Ian, and Maddie's best friend Joanne. But what happened, and why?

I enjoyed this, and the twists and turns kept me guessing.

I really liked this book, but I have to say I didn't love it. The ending left me feeling …………….. I don't even know how I feel honestly. I can't get into details as I don't want to spoil the book for people who are going to read it. But if you find yourself reading a book and you either really like or dislike characters the author has done their job. Great thriller and it's hard to determine who's good and who's bad and who's telling the truth and who's a big fat liar. The book is most certainly worth reading, you will enjoy it. But it just leaves you feeling...………………….. and again that could be a good thing ! #readthebook #teamian

Maddie and Ian appear to have a wonderful life. After a camping accident leaves Maddie disfigured, she begins going to therapy. Maddie and Ian's past is slowly revealed, along with their current situation - the day of the killing.

Told using flashbacks, this suspenseful novel covers two decades and a variety of locations. Maddie and Ian met when they were both living in the Balkans. Maddie was working as a travel writer and Ian was a soldier working as a bodyguard. They had a brief flirtation, but as their work took them elsewhere, their relationship was complicated. In the present day story, they are married and have a son, but their relationship still has difficulties.

A complex and intriguing psychological thriller. The novel opens with a frantic 911 call, which leads to the responding officer finding a bloody scene. The story then alternates between the events of Maddie and Ian's past and the present day investigation.

A captivating read for fans of slow-burning domestic thrillers. Compelling characters. Complicated relationships. Unreliable narrator. Murder investigation.

I received a free eARC of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Very disappointing. Unable to connect with character. Poorly written dialogue and action that does not follow logically.

This atmospheric, gritty thriller will appeal to fans of Gillian Flynn, Jessica Strawser and AJ Finn. Our main character is Maddie. She is married to Ian and they have a three-year-old son names CharlieThe author uses her trips to a therapist to show us her inmost thoughts through exercises like writing letters to old friends (Joanna), describing memorable photos, etc. The reader then feels like they are getting a reliable read on the whole situation . . . or are they? This is a haunting story that takes you on a bit of globetrotting (Bulgaria, Macedonia, Iraq and more), but the home base right next door near Overland Park -- another reason local Flynn fans will enjoy this one. I think the tale was a bit too winding when dealing with how Maddie and Ian finally get together, thus taking one star off my review.

A big thank you to Harlequin and NetGalley for a digital ARC of this new psychological thriller.

Beautiful Bad was a fun novel that brought in some unique elements you don't often get in American Domestic Thrillers. The book jumps back and forth from the point of view of Maddie, and her husband Ian (current day and the past years from their meeting each other until a present day crime scene), as well as the cop investigating a crime scene in present days.

There was quite a winding path from how Ian and Maddie met through her friend Jo to how things have gone so wrong @18 years later. While I did find the end maybe a tad predictable, the chapters leading me there were not. The chapters of the novel were set in war-torn Eastern Europe in the early 2000's to the quiet suburbs of Kansas in present day. Along the way, there are sections in Iraq, Nigeria, Rwanda, and even New York City. Usually, in thrillers I have read with so many locales, there is an espionage angle. That is why Beautiful Bad was so unique to my mind. There was no espionage, just two people who have careers and lives that took them to war-torn areas. How did all that affect their lives and relationships? It is a seriously dysfunctional outcome.

I loved the secondary character of Cami J., the unorthodox therapist Maddie seeks out after her accident. She was a bit of quirkiness and levity that this book needed. Wayne, the elderly neighbor was a bit of that as well. The three leads of Maddie, Jo, and Ian were fleshed out enough to understand their thoughts and motives.

All in all, Beautiful Bad is a fun, well-written, thriller that just about any lover of the genre will thoroughly enjoy.

I want to thank Netgalley for the advanced copy of Beautiful Bad so I could give my honest review
I wish I could say that I enjoyed this book but I cant. This book had an exciting beginning, but followed with a very flat story line that was dull and the.characters themselves were the same. I had found myself having to push myself to keep reading this. The story did end with a twist in the end. However I still can't recommend this book.
#BeautifulBad #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

This is a slow burn thriller it draws you in and then it takes off! The opening of this book begins with a frantic 911 call with a woman screaming and a child crying. The detective shows up to a bloody scene inside a home. The home belongs to Maddie and Ian and their toddler son Charlie. The book is set up with three point of views. The scene of the crime or the killing as they call it in the book, when Maddie and Ian begin their relationship in Europe and then when they are married. Maddie and Ian meet in 2001 in Balkins while shes working as a travel writer and he’s a member of the British army. Her friend Jo is also living overseas as a relief worker. Maddie’s and Ian’s relationship causes the breakup of her friendship with Jo , after Jo warns her that Ian is dangerous and she should stay away. Fast forward to now and Maddie is healing from a fall while camping she can’t remember what happened to cause her to fall . The doctors say she will need plastic surgery to fix her face and she’s left wondering did Ian hurt her? There are many signs that their marriage is not a happy one Maddie reveals to a counselor that Ian suffers from ptsd and he drinks. Maddie spends her day writing in her journal as instructed by the counselor and taking care of Charlie while Ian travels for his job overseas as a security contractor ,as she tries to desperately remember what happened and trying to keep Charlie safe. Whose blood is all over the house? Who is dead and what really led up to the scene of the crime. Did Ian hurt Maddie and what’s really going on in Maddie’s and Ian’s marriage? This book was amazing the constant twists and turns when you think you have the characters figured out guess again! I give this four stars! Thank you to the publisher and author for my advanced copy! This book will be available March 5th 2019!