Publisher: Grand
Central
Published: June
30, 2020
ISBN: 978-1538733639
Genre: Suspense
Format: Print from Publisher
THREE HEARTS
Belle has been invited on what is possibly the vacation of a
lifetime. Billed as a birthday cruise
for her long-time friend, Summer, she and several others are going for an all-expense
paid trip to the Mediterranean. Who can
beat that? Packed and ready to go there are some last minute changes to the
itinerary, or at least what Belle thought was going to happen. Aside from having to wait for the rest of the
vacationers in the heat, there’s the arrival of an unexpected guest. Apparently a pre-approved friend of Summer’s
sister, had taken sick and she has invited her friend Amythest. Yes, named after the stone but spelled
differently. As they board the private
jet to head to the Med, their passports are confiscated and they have to sign
NDAs. It isn’t long before the rigid
control of their host begins to show—assigned seats on the plane, no food or
water and two tough looking body guards.
Arriving at their destination Belle begins to see a nastier side of
Summer than she’d previously shown. The
death—alleged suicide of Summer’s ex-boyfriend may contribute to the controlling,
vindictive person she’s become, but there is something more going on. When one of the guests dies in a mysterious
accident Belle has no doubt the cruise from hell has become even more so.
The blurb for this book caught my attention the moment I saw it. It looked like a fabulous summer beach
read. I had imagines of imagining myself
along for the cruise of a life time. I
set my expectations too high.
LION’S DEN by Katherine St. John wasn’t a bad read. It was saved from that by the last 75 or so
pages when the truth came out. What wasn’t
there to like? Horrible characters. The only one with redeeming qualities that I’d
even want to meet would by Dylan—and he’s portrayed by Belle as
questionable. I don’t think he was. You can have the rest of them. Summer is your typical blonde bimbo who isn’t
a bimbo at all, but a money grubbing bully who will step on anyone who gets in
her way. She is amoral and immoral with
no redeemable qualities at all. I
disliked her from the first time we meet her and throughout the whole book
wondered what someone as good hearted as Belle would even be around such a despicable
person. You can kind of forgive Summer’s
mother and sister because of their background as St. John portrays them as low
life trailer trash. The rest of the “girls”
are just along for the ride and are your typical high school girls who want to
follow the popular girl (Summer) because she’s such a bully they have no
choice. Wendy is the typical “good friend” of the bully. Amythest has some decent qualities, but she’s
no one I’d want for a friend, especially when she goes after someone else’s
man, not because she wants him but because of the money.
For most of the book Belle came off as a spineless
pushover. Yes, she’s the character with
the heart of gold that will do anything for her friends, but the way she let
Summer walk all over her was ridiculous.
If she really wanted to make it as an actress she would have had some
backbone. We learn why at the very end,
but by then it was too late to care about what happened to her. A little showing of the core she had would
have made liking her a little easier.
The bits about the Med and cruising were easy to visualize. The writing was okay. Told essentially from Belle’s point of view,
the flip flopping within paragraphs of first and third person was a little
distracting.
Initially I thought the book was going to take a Jeffrey Epstein
like turn with something more dire happening to the girls. What the actual plot was about turned out to
be pretty good. I wouldn’t say this was
a total suspense although there were elements of it. More of a chik lit with suspense overtones.
Because of the ending and how satisfying it was I did something
I rarely ever do because there are so many good books out there just waiting
for me. I went back and re-read the
parts that led up to the conclusion, reading between the lines this time. It made Belle a bit more likeable which is
why I rated this book a three instead of a two. Which brings me back to recommending
this book. I would – if you are looking
for a beach read this is the one to pick.
Would I read St. John again? Sure. This was her debut and because the idea for
this one was solid I’d give her another chance.
This is an objective review and not an endorsement of
this book.
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