Beautiful Bad by Annie Ward

Brief Summary: This is a psychological thriller about a mysterious accident, estranged friendship, and a marriage on the brink.

Highlights: The book opens with a murder but you don’t know who is dead and what happened. The premise is unique and having the narrator in writing therapy is an interesting twist, though I had not heard of it described that way before. Ward really nails PTSD and not just how the symptoms manifested in Ian, but how it significantly impacted his sense of safety! She really brought this disorder to life; his fear of crowds, anger, drinking, and his plan to never leave the hotel room was all very real. We also get to hear Maddie’s fears about the implications for both her and their son Charlie.

What makes this book unique?: it’s definitely a sinister domestic drama

Explanation of Rating: 3/5: Unfortunately, there were too many POV, too confusing, too much meandering and unimportant info. It was hard to hold my attention.

Psychology Factors: Very realistic depiction of PTSD. I would have loved having Ian in treatment.

Thank you to Net Galley and Park Row Books for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review

For the most part I enjoyed this book. About half way in I got a little bored and then put it down. Once I picked it back up I finished it pretty quickly. Even though I understand the back story of Jo, Ian & Maddie we’re necessary some of the flashbacks were a bit long

I thought the Jo/Ian “real” story would have been a bit more than it actually was - I felt like the author built up to it a lot and it was kind of a let down. I also thought the main twist would have been a little bit better if Fiona was somehow involved.

Overall, I did enjoy the book and give it 3.5 out of 5! I would definitely read another book by Annie Ward!

Wow wow wow!! One of my favorite thrillers this year!! Annie's writing is so amazing - I can't find a word that truly defines it. I don't want to say too much -- but the ending was one of the best endings I have ever read!! She deserves 10 stars!!

It took me a little while to get into this book, but I ended up really enjoying it. The ending was a bit crazier than I expected (or, honestly enjoyed), but overall a good book. On the plus side, the ending did allow me to feel extreme sympathy for a character that I really wanted to like the whole way through the book, but he made it difficult to do so.

I struggled with this book big time. It starts out with a frantic 911 call with a person possibly hurt or dead and that was the highlight. A book about Maggie, a journalist and Ian who is a soldier and their relationship and their struggles. It was a great read but it just seemed like their was just to much unnecessary fillers in this book. Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to review this book.

I hate leaving negative reviews, and can almost always find at least one positive thing about the book to lessen the blow, but I hated this book. Had it not been a NetGalley commitment, I would have abandoned it, which I never do. I had to force myself to finish it. There was so much that could have been cut out and wouldn’t have made any diffyto the story. It also felt like it was just all over the place, and there didn’t really seem to be a real connection of any sort between any of the characters, which also made it impossible to connect to them as a reader. The relationship between Maddie and Ian seemed far-fetched- they had not really been “dating”, or fallen in love, yet he travelled across the world to come back to her almost a decade later?? Also, the title itself basically set the ending up to be fairly predictable, as you are aware that Maddie is an unreliable narrator, just based on “Beautiful Bad.” This is my preferred genre, but this book was a definite miss for me.

I’m very torn about this book. It is nothing like the unreliable female character thrillers that are so prevalent today. (Which is a good thing) While there’s a lot of domestic issues and lots trying to figure out who can be trusted, it stands apart from others. It goes back and forth from overseas durning 2001 and present day back in America. It felt very political without being political if that makes any sense, and I think that’s what started to lose me. I was able to predict the ending, but was still engrossed by it. All in all, it was a good read, just not my most favorite.

Beautiful Bad has an interesting premise, and it starts with a 911 call that certainly grabs the attention of the reader. Unfortunately, the story quickly spiraled downward from there, at least for me. Part of that lays in the many tools used here that have been done and done again. We have the unreliable narrator, and we're spoon fed the back stories of the characters as the timeline jumps from distant past to more recent past and back again with tidbits of the day the 911 call is placed. The story is quite wordy, much more so than necessary. For me, there were whole chunks of story in the middle that could easily have been left out without hurting the book as a whole. Those chunks made for a lot of lagtime that I could've done without. I also had some problems with the relationships between the characters in that I just didn't buy them. Nothing of real substance happens between Maddie and Ian in the beginning to warrant traveling halfway round the world after years have passed, and the friendship between Maddie and Jo seems pretty shallow for most of the book. I didn't see anything between these women to believe the amount of trust they have later in the story. There are some interesting twists in the end, but most are too predictable, and the one really good one at the very end just wasn't enough to save this for me. I once heard that no two people read the same book, and I realize that I'm in the minority on this book, so take it for what it's worth. For me, the story just didn't live up to its potential.

I would like to thank the publisher, Harlequin, and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The book starts out with a 911 call and this inmediately gets the reader hooked. The book is not fast paced as such as we are led through different timelines of events. All in all a great story but towards the end, I felt that the story line became too unrealistic and overly explained. It is ok to leave the reader guessing a bit.

Kept me reading but the ending’s first twist was not very original. The second reveal was a bit more shocking though. The ending also felt a bit abrupt after such in depth and detailed writing to that point. The ending was also somewhat predictable. A fairly interesting read but ending fell a little flat.

Domestic but gripping psychological thriller. I’m going to give a brief summary of the book so as not to rob the readers of the desire to know the plot by itself. An intelligent american woman living overseas as a writer, hanging out with her best friend drinking doing drugs and traveling, falls in love with a hard working man, soldier and bodyguard later who because of his job and circumstances developed ptsd. A bad marriage that end up badly.
Well written well describe and a good choice of plot and characters. Theirs scenarios and well exposed and described places connects you with the plot very easy. I like that the characters are different from the usual, smart , independent and interesting women and troubled men because of the effects of the wars. Twists and turns are present from the beginning and the plot keeps you guessing until the end. I couldn’t predict the outcome until the last chapters. An intense roller coaster between the characters,their lives and complicated decisions and different desires. In summary in general I enjoyed it. For some reason I like but didn’t love it. It took me longer to read than usual and it is not a fast paced thriller like I prefer. About the author I can say that she is very creative, very ingenious and that she made a good effort to create this story. A good and on the point title, a good plot I see it as a good candidate for a Lifetime movie. I would definitely read another book by the author without problems.
My opinions are honest and entirely my own.

Beautiful Bad by Annie Ward opens with a chilling 911 call from a private residence. There is blood. A lot of blood. This is a dark and compelling domestic drama, and I was immediately intrigued. It is the story of a relationship gone bad and from the ominous and tantalizing start, the plot becomes wholly gripping and addictive.

Maddie meets Ian in the Balkans, where Maddie is writing a travel book and Ian is on assignment on behalf of the British military. Through alternating timelines, the relationship between the two unfolds, eventually culminating in marriage, and the birth of a son, Charlie. But Ian is a complex and troubled individual, and Maddie begins to question whether she has chosen the best possible father for her son.

The novel is, ultimately, the dissecton of a relationship that moves from loving to turbulent, and lands on every part of the spectrum in between. The ending is shocking and will surprise even the most jaded of suspense lovers. This is the first novel that I have read by the author, but it will certainly not be the last.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin - Trade Publishing (U.S. & Canada) for this ARC.

Maddie and Ian’s love story began with a chance encounter at a party overseas. Maddie was a travel writer visiting her best friend, Jo. Ian, a former member of the military, worked as a private security consultant, traveling around the world to provide his services. His work was dangerous and secretive, but after he started his own company with his brother, extremely lucrative.

Maddie and Ian's paths cross at various times as the years pass. Eventually, he comes to New York to visit her. His erratic behavior should have provided Maddie insight into his psyche. Did she choose to ignore the warning signs?

Now it is almost two decades later. Maddie and Ian have married and relocated to Maddie's Kansas hometown, along with their beautiful son, Charlie. By all appearances, they are enjoying a perfect suburban life until Maddie sustains a disfiguring injury during a camping trip. Was it an accident? Or did something sinister occur?

Unable to focus or concentrate, Maddie's parents help her care for Charlie, and she begins undergoign writing therapy. Through the writing assignments her therapist assigns her, she reveals her fears about Ian, concern for Charlie's safety, and their tumultuous past with Jo, from whom she has been estranged for years. However, she misses Jo and wants to reconcile with her.

As the story opens, there has been a killing. The police respond to a residence and discover blood, a knife, and a small, frightened child hiding upstairs. The narrative alternates time periods -- from the present-day as the police explore the residence to determine what has transpired to Maddie's revelation of the details of her relationship with Ian, as well as the dissolution of her friendship with Jo.

Author Annie Ward has devised a complex mystery, told from various viewpoints and time frames, that gradually reveals the volatile nature of Maddie and Ian's relationship, but does not prepare readers for the shocking conclusion to the story. The crime that the the police are called to investigate is shocking, but even as the identity of the victim is revealed, Ward has much more in store for her readers.

The story is fast-paced, intriguing, and full of surprising twists and turns. Ward cleverly compels the story forward with expertly-timed clues as to whether Maddie is a reliable narrator, as well as whether Ian is truly the man he appears to be based upon Maddie's explanation of their history. But the conclusion will leave readers stunned. Ward succeeds at delivering on the book's premise: "There are two sides to every story. . . . And every person."

A big thank you to Harlequin publishing and NetGalley for the advanced copy of Beautiful Bad. This is a disturbingly dark, beautiful twisty psychological thriller. Beautiful Bad by Annie Ward is a novel about an accident, a marriage and a murder. It’s a harrowing, pulse-pounding novel that kept me on the edge of my seat, up reading late into the night and guessing until the very end of the story. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Book Synopsis: Maddie and Ian’s love story began with a chance encounter at a party overseas, while she was a travel writer visiting her best friend, Jo. Now almost two decades later, married with a beautiful son, Charlie, they are living the perfect suburban life in Middle America. But when a camping accident leaves Maddie badly scarred, she begins attending writing therapy, where she gradually reveals her fears about Ian; her concerns for the safety of their young son; and the couple’s tangled and tumultuous past with Jo. From the Balkans to England, Iraq to Manhattan, and finally to an ordinary family home in Kansas, sixteen years of love and fear, adventure and suspicion culminate in The Day of the Killing, when a frantic 911 call summons the police to the scene of a shocking crime.

beautifully dark, deeply disturbing, utterly deranged, extremely deceitful, and deliciously bad!

Annie Ward made my head spin with this absorbing and wild read. I had no idea what to expect with this book, in fact for some reason I thought it was about a beauty pageant gone wrong, so boy was I surprised when I started this one. In fact at one point I looked back at the cover to make sure I was reading the right book. This book was gritty and raw, and oh so good! I love a book that keeps me off balance and leaves me unsettled and this book absolutely did both. I truly had no idea what exactly was going on until the bitter end, but I sure enjoyed trying to figure it out.

The book immediately draws you in with a chilling 911 call. There is blood, a lot of blood, but whose is it? This is something you do not find out until the end, told you it’s absorbing and head spinning! The book bounces around in time from days before the tragedy to years before. The story is primarily told from Maddie’s point of view, but we also get the perspective of Ian and Diana the police detective. In 2001 Maddie lives in Bulgaria working as a travel writer. Her BFF Joanna is just across the border and Macedonia, the girls get together often to have some fun. One night the girls meet a British soldier named Ian and their lives and friendship will never be the same. What transpires after this is unexpected, unsettling, and unpredictable. This book went in a direction I certainly was not expecting, I so love it when that happens.

None of the characters in this book were terribly likable or sympathetic, however they were all extremely well drawn and real. The pain and sorrow in this story oozed from the pages, the regret was palpable. The ending had my heart pounding and left me shook! This book was about the darkest part of humanity and these characters laid them selves bare. This is a book that made me wonder, are people born bad?Riveting and gritty, absolutely recommend!

*** many thanks to Harlequin/Park Row for my copy of this book ***

I had an idea of how this story was going to end but it kept me engaged. I also enjoyed the author’s writing style. I will recommend it to friends. Thank you NetGalley for the copy.

Maddie and Joanna are multilingual besties with high IQs living in Southern Europe. Maddie is a writer who found or she gets to stay longer to write for a travel magazine. Joanna is working to get supplies across the border for mother’s and children in war stricken country. They like to go out, drink and party. They befriend English soldiers working as bodyguards and both women become involved with Ian who appears to have a temper. Maddie and Ian end up married with a kid and the book begins with a crime committed at their home. The book jumps around with chapters from different time periods and perspectives. It was an interesting concept and. I tried to get into this one and I kept reading hoping there would be a big unexpected twist at the end, but there wasn’t.

BEAUTIFUL BAD was a remarkable read, even more fascinating that it started as a memoir. I found myself wondering what was truth and what was fiction. This is a fast paced book that will have you enraptured in the folds of pondering the line between real and the fake as well.

#NetGalley #Beautiful Bad # Harlequin-Park Row

The story is told in multiple times lines and points of view and starts off with a frantic call to 911.
Maddie wants travel the world. The excitement of working and living in Eastern Europe, is so much better than life in Kansas with her parents. Her best friend and travel companion Joanna lives nearby, only a border crossing away.
While visiting Joanna in Macedonia they meet Ian a member of the British military and his friends and then the fun really begins. This story is well written and draws you in from page one. Plenty of twists and turns and a ending that I was not expecting. I look forward to reading more from Annie Ward.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3.

Imagine taking a long road trip to a restaurant you have heard has great food. Especially desserts...their deserts are supposed to be "explosive" and amazing. Once you get there, the food is mediocre and the highly anticipated dessert is nothing new. That was my experience reading this book.

I liked the multiple POVs and the writing sessions with the therapist were mildly interesting, but for me this book boiled down to relationship drama and love triangle that was predictable and rather tedious. The murder that is intended to drive the plot was obvious from the beginning and barely enough to make me want to finish the book. I had more sympathy for Ian trying to overcome his PTSD and financially provide for his family than I ever did for Maddie or Joanna, who I mostly found to be whiny and wholly unlikeable.

Overall not my cup of tea and a very forgettable entry into the psychological "thriller" genre.