Official Review: In The Victim's Shadow

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angelbeats1
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Official Review: In The Victim's Shadow

Post by angelbeats1 »

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "In The Victim's Shadow" by Victoria Schwimley.]
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3 out of 4 stars
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In the Victim’s Shadow, by Victoria Schwimley, is a romance novel with hints of suspense, that steers away from the cliched, typical romance feel. This book touches upon certain aspects such as love, friendship, murder, and desire. However, In the Victim’s Shadow, seems to orbit around one prominent theme: revenge.

In the classic romance novel, a girl meets a boy, they are the perfect match, and it's a happily ever after. In this book, it’s just the opposite. This story takes place in modern-day San Francisco and follows the life of the rich and successful lawyer, Katherine Winters. At just five years old, Katherine had witnessed the horrific murder of her mother right in front of her eyes. Now, almost twenty-seven years later, her mother’s murderer had never been caught and is still roaming about the busy streets of San Francisco. This terrifies Katherine but is not her main concern at the moment. At thirty-two years old, she wants nothing more than to find the perfect husband and start a family of her own before it’s too late.

Chad Simons had spent his whole life living in the shadow of Katherine Winters. Ever since his dad, Spencer Simons, had accidentally shot her mother, Spencer’s guilt and depression had taken over his life, leaving no time for his son Chad. Naturally, Chad blames his lousy childhood on Katherine. While she supposedly had everything from wealth to friends, he had nothing. Chad vows on his soul that he would get revenge on Katherine and her family and make her experience the same sadness and pain he had lived with since his childhood. However, in order for his plan to succeed, he needs to make Katherine fall in love with him. Will he succeed or will Katherine see through his flirting and charming smile? And how far is Chad willing to go to ‘get even’?

Like every other book, I had my likes and dislikes. I liked the amount of details the writer provided. Especially since this story had a lot of characters (well over 20), it could have been extremely confusing if the author failed to provide adequate background information. Yes, I appreciated the background information about the characters, but I felt like the transition from the present time, to flashbacks of the characters, were extremely abrupt. Additionally, this book is written in the third person omniscient point of view, which means that the readers are able to see into the minds of all the characters. I wish that the author would have put some sort of break in the story whenever the point of view changed or a flashback started. At times, it did get quite hard for me to interpret and differentiate the moments.

After reading this book, I realized how thought provoking it was. When someone loses a loved one, such as how Katherine lost her mom, my heart would have reached out to Katherine and her family only, because of their loss. However, I have now realized that it’s not just about the family of the person who died, but that it’s actually about everyone who was somehow connected to the murder, such as Chad. At first, I thought Chad was an extremely annoying and selfish character. I couldn’t stand him! I was puzzled at why would he want revenge when he did not even lose someone like Katherine had. As the story progressed, it dawned on me that Katherine was not the only one who lost someone dear to her; Chad had lost his father to guilt. Yes, his father was always there but wasn’t really there (like Chris Kyle, in ¨American Sniper¨, after he had come back from the war with PTSD). Now, my heart goes out to both families, as they have both lost loved ones in one way or another.

Overall, I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. Some parts of the book were a bit dry and uneventful, which was probably hard to avoid, seeing as this book was about 420 pages long. To my surprise, there were very few grammatical or spelling errors in this novel. I would definitely recommend this book to romance lovers as well as anyone who’s in search of a great novel to read.

******
In The Victim's Shadow
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Post by bookowlie »

Nice review. I don't read a lot of romance novels, but it does seem that the book is not the typical romance-only story.
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angelbeats1
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Post by angelbeats1 »

Thanks for the positive post! :)
Yeah, this book won't overwhelm the reader with gushy romance scenes. Sometimes books that are overly romantic can become a little uncomfortable to read, at least for me.
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Post by Stevefromtheblock »

Thanks for a nice review!
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angelbeats1
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Post by angelbeats1 »

Steve, it was a pleasure! :)
Thanks for the feedback!
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Post by ashley_claire »

Ooh, I'm intrigued. Might have to add this book to my list. Nice review!
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angelbeats1
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Post by angelbeats1 »

Many thanks for your kind words. c:
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Post by debo9967 »

Nice review, though the book doesn't seem like my cup of tea.
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Post by Birdlady1950 »

STORY-LINE IN THE VICTIM'S SHADOW BY VICTORIA SCHWIMLEY:

In The Victim's Shadow by author Victoira Schwimley, the reader finds a suspense filled romance. Amber Winters lost her mother to violent when a child; without leads, the police never caught the culprit.. Never receiving closure of her mother's murder affected Amber greatly . Amber, a successful attorney, lives a life of luxury, as her father's wealthy and she's wealthy in her own right. However lately, she felt dissatisfied with her life. She's feeling her internal biological clock ticking. As the next anniversary of her mother's death approaches strange things begin to happen; she turns to her best friend.

John, an attorney in the same firm and Amber's best friend, secretly felt more for her. As a result, John recognizes Amber's unease; someone's messing with her mind and life. A psychotic stalker has Amber in his sights. My suspense romance book reviews of In The Victim's Shadow follows.

CHARACTERS, PLOTTING, DEVELOPMENT:

Author Victoria Schwimley filled In The Victim's Shadow with intrigue, suspense, and romance. Stalked by a psychotic deranged man, fueled by revenge and jealousy, Schwinley created a first-class villain in Chad. As Schwimley developed the character of Chad, I found him a scary man. With a personality filled with hate, Chad hides his true character as best he can from Amber. However at times of stress, he reveals his true nature; Chad's temper sits on the edge of explosion and he erupts often. Chad's a crude rude man raised in an atmosphere of uncaring and poverty. I can not reveal the reasons for Chad's mental instabilities without spoilers. Needless to say, the turn of events will surprise the reader.

Amber and John, although wealthy and privileged, have caring hearts for the underdog, their friends, and family. Schwimley skillfully introduced the romance between them; including very tasteful love scene which did not include erotica, explicit, or graphic sex. This is a sweet romance between best friends as they realize they want more than friendship. Each have strong personalities; John's the perfect love interest for Amber. Each are classy, articulate, and successful.

With many plot threads to bring together and weave into a solid book, Schwimley wove the plot threads together and masterly leads the reader through this action packed story. I found the pace of story correct for the length of the book and the characters well-developed. Schwimley also added in tidbits of faith into the story-line. Schwimley demonstrates how past events affect many lives. The reader views this story from the prospect of the victim and culprit.

After I started this book, sleep was the only thing which had me laying it down. The suspense, intrigue, and mystery, kept at high peak, had me reading long into the night. The inventive way Schwimley introduced Chad into Amber and John's life made his crossing their path seem normal.

In Chad, the reader finds not only a first-class villain, he's also intelligent in a crude way, angry, sneaky, street wise, and bordering on insanity. You will love to hate him and wish for his demise. He is far beneath Amber's class and his dreams of the future ridiculous. With an explosive surprise ending with multiple revelations, I sat on the edge of my chair as Amber learns the reasons behind Chad's madness. An epilogue brings closure to this intense story. I closed this book with a sigh of satisfaction for a story which held my attention from the first page, characters I came to love and a story which me kept intrigued. Kudos Ms. Schweinley, kudos for a job well done.
IN THE VICTIM'S SHADOW RECOMMENDATION: STARS 4

FINALLY, PLEASE NOTE:

Additionally, I received this book from the author and chose to voluntarily review the book with honest suspense romance book reviews. Lastly, book reviews of any novel are dependent on the book review author’s opinion. Consequently, all book reviews on-line and on my blog, are my opinions. No one influenced my voluntary suspense romance book reviews of In The Victim's Shadow.
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